The Press. (Stafford Springs, Conn.) 1883-1935, 1903-01-01
! ONE TOUCH
!; OF NATURE
By Martha
McCul: 0 h WilliA ms
Copyright, 1901, by
Martha McCu,lOch- " alidnls

y
< Martha McCu,lOcl- Williams
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NO! Can't do it. dear boy! Sorry
but pom my life simply can't" Ridge
ley said. nodding soemnly and blink
ing like an owl. Ridgeley was forty
i've bibulous, dubious, with a fortune
swollen to match his bulk and fond
ness for spending his money in strictly
his own ways.
The room was deadly still. Trenwick
started little at the click of coal
cracking in the CRATE. He got up. stood
with his back to the fire, so it's telltale
light could not reach his face as he
said. with the least little shrug:
That must be as you please. | Won
der. though, if you quite realize what
your refusal must mean to me-"
For moment Ridgeley sat silent;
then his band went to the bell. and he
sale half ENORMOUSLY: Say what, my
boy? You must have braccr-two
bracers-before you go down to the
street. Beastly place anyway! It's
it's IL shame you ever went into it."
1T will lie a blacker shame my get
ting out of it," Trenwick said grimly.
Then, his voice shaking with passion:
"Ridgeley. surely you-yon don't I'M
derstand it. lit is all true, every
word told you. To Save myself from
beggary | used another mans money
without his knowledge. UnleSS-unless
| replace it before he does know | shall
20 behind the bars-that is, if | let my
self live. You know ! would never do
that
Cut the whole wrptched mess! III
lend you five hundred" Ridgeley be-
gan.
Trenwick's face got gray. Something
seemed to clutch his throat. lnvolun-
larily he stood Il thought straighter.
~ Trenwick never yet ran away from
ANYTHING" he began. then dropped his
face i'm his hands. saying lnIskily, nor
stole until ! disgraced the blood.
Cheer up! You-you make me
nervous Ridgeley sad. noddng
again and settling the big diamond
upon his shirt front where it would
catch brighter gleam of freight.
Ridgeley was given to purple and fine
linen. Upon the least occasion his raj
ment was positively riOtOus. A ruby,
almost priceless. glimmered upon his
hand. He turned the stone. glanced
cOmplacently at 1t and called to his
man, who came noiselessly through
the door. Two tizZy ones. Jenkins. aud
make EN- good and long" Then as
the door closed behind Jenkins: "'Pon
me soul. dear boy, I'd like to see you
through. but twenty thousand! 1t
would be downright immoral TO risk so
much money. Why. that would keep
yacht i'm commission almost a sea
son through
Trenwick turned to the window. Out
side the tide of life in the avenue was
at flood. 1t was turning ~ O'Clock.
He had until to make good his bal
ances. If only he could make good. he
was sure. the very next day would find
him in the food tide of fortune. There
was fickle. semipanicky market. He
stood to win the stake of his life if
only he seould keep above water until
the,tide turned. Nothing short of that
imminent hazard would have brought
him to Ridgeley.
Rfdgefey had seemed to him these
twenty: years past. ever since he came
suddenly into great riches. as not much
more than a human clot. wholly unlike
the slow witted yet gallant lad who
had been his chum at college Because
of that neutrality-suspicious. regard he
had never sought to profit by old time
intimacy with the bachelor millionaire.
Trenwick wondered duly as he looked
at him how 1t came about that he was
a bachelor. 1t could not be that old
boy and girl affair with his sister May.
May had been dead this twenty
years and more. She had died indeed
before her wedding gown was out of
fashion. Judge Barton. her rich old
husband. had mourned her deeply. but
not enough to keep him from eXacting
usurious interest for every loan he
made Trenwick nor from turning him
outdoors when the debts and the inter-
est ate up the family estate. The
judges widow lived there now. with
her healthy young son to come after
her. Mays child had not lived. Some
how Trenwick felt that as a sort OF
special punishment to himself He had
virtually made the match for his Sis
ter. He was worldly. even case hard
ened, but still he did not like to recell
her eyes when he had said to her:
"Of course you'll marry the judge.
You are the luckiest girl know to
have the chance of him. Think what it
would be to put up with an ordinary
dull fellow-say with poor old Ridge
ley" And then he had stopped short,
for May had run away. with her head
high. but her cheeks like ashes.
1t all came back to him as he stood
beside the window watching the vivid
human stream without Stealthily he
turned and looked RidgeIey over. try
ing to recall in his unwieldy bulk the
open features. the manly. fair proper
tons of his old college mate. A vague,
keen anguish shot through him. Why
was all life SO criSScrosS? Why every
thing one laid hold ON futile! If for
tune needs must come to Ridgeley,
why not have come i'm time? He was
sensible 1t had been pride and poverty
that had kept Ridgeley from speaking
ont In the old lovS Ri1Uolpr had had