Morgan County democrat. (Versailles, Mo.) 1900-1906, 1903-10-30

htii'oS' |
Il Suppose, Mike, I'd better just
see her. %and-hum, ASK her how she
feels after her involuntary Dip"
Sure. ana It's herself that's waiting
outside in the corridor now for that
identical purpose"
| went out, awkwardly enough. The
two girls We're standing at the hotel
door chatting and laughing gayly. AS
| bowed, wondering how to begin, one
came forward and held out a dainty
hand.
MIR. Weldon, | can never hope to
thank You enough for your bravery,
but | am grateful
oar eyes met, and mine fell instant
ly. For in thai brief flash of time |
read my fate,
And | could have grOaned aloud in
bitterness of heart at the cruel irony
of it. Ia common scribbler-and she,
a m%illionaire's daughter.
Despising myself for my moral weak
ness, almost ready to curse myself for
my folly, mo better than my brother
men. worse, perhaps, thar many
counted henceforward that hour lost
in which ! did not see, and speak to,
Peggy Burford, A week had passed
since our adventure, and each day
almost each hour-had brought to me
happiness and u~nspeakable pain that
could not be measured in words.
But in my blindness, though | could
deceive myself, there was one who
saw.
My dear sgd, you must forgive the
%frankness OF "A lifelong pal. Last
Tuesday called you an unmitieated
ass: to-day | regard you as a.
MacDermott stopped abruptly, and
in some confusion. Even his blunt
candor had a limit, and he had just
discovered that limit was reached.
60 on, old chap. Nothing you can
say would ever offend me. Faithful
are the wounds OF "A friend. Don't
keep me in suspense"
well, | will. sydney Weldon-you
don't know it-but you're a scoundrel."
"Anybody can see the girls madly in
love with you--l, your best chum, can
see you're madly in love with her.
Yet you say nothing."
There is nothing to say" NUT
tered. sullcnly. though my heart cried
shame upon me.
For the sake of a foolish whim-
an idiotic, false idea of honor, or deli
cacy, or whatever the thing is-you
are going deliberately to wreck two
lives he repeated, tierCcly. Yours
is our own affair, but Pegey's- o,
I've no patience with you. Weldon"
Mine IS incxhaustiblc," | observed,
coldly, Though You are giving 1t a
greater strain han it is used to-"
Il don't care. Punch my head if
you cant bear to hear the truth. |
must speak
"Then'--I began to change the topic
and carry the war into his own cOun-
try, most valuable strategy in such
controversy as this-''if YOU want to
talk. let us discuss your own matri
mOnial intentions. Have you proposed
To Miss Vandevcr YETI"
yes"
"Ah! | can see she has accepted
You"
IdI'H. 6Il' p iit >" ffi'oI EllI III III
world-so simple and a%rtlcss, and-O.
90 on
went on impcrturbably.
And yOu-the man vino wants to
marry an h%eircss, TO further his par
Elementary ambitionS-hav" slccumbed
to the pretty face and dcmurC lacina-
lions Of II poor ron,lcwuman who is
the companion. friend if you like, of a
m~illionairc's daughter"
II have he cried. delantly. after
all, tbs love and love only thai spurs a
man on. Besides, Margaret, VINO was
a schooli"IIow OF PEGGY and has lived
with her, being a. orphan, ever since,
has considerable influence with Bur
ford. She thinks he might make me
his private secretary, as a start, 50 the
dream of my life seems in a fair way
to come true, But yoG, sgd
Il absolutely decline to ask Peggy
Burford TO make the tremendous sacri-
fee that marriage with me"
"A successful novelist"
yet nor the less hOpclc8sly out OF
her proper grOove-would entail. More
over, | viii give no one-nOt even my
dearest riyals-a chance to point the
finger Of scorn at me as a fOrttine
hunter"
Then, in heavens name, why all
these walks and talks, these picnics
and boating trips Of the last week
unless you were as seriOu in the game
as II"
1t was no easy question to answer
| shrugged my shoulders, a careless
gesture COnCoaling my inner ~self-re-