Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-14
THE MAN
ONTHE BOX
By
HAROLD MAC GRATH
a, IN. eoes, rfRRill Co

| more effort He must win. must must!
| He raised more money on the property. He
| became irritable nervous, to which were
| added sudden bursts of tenderness which
the girl could not very we'll understand.
The summer preceding the action of this
| tale saw them at Dieppe. At one time he
| had recovered something between sixty and
| seventy thousand of his losses. All, mad
| he stopped then, confessed to his daughter,
| all would have gone well. But. no; ne
| must win the entire sum. He lost, iost'
| lost The crash came in August But
| corner of the vast Virginian estates
| was left, and this did not amount
! to twenty thousand. Five francs care
| lessly tossed upon roulette table had
ruined and dshonored him. The angel or
| the pitch robes had fairly enveloped him
| now. The thought that he had gambied
! uselessly his daughters legacy, the legacy
which her mother had left confid1ngly IN
| his care, filled his soul with the bitterness
| of gall. And she continued the merry
round of happiness, purchasing expensive
| garments, jewelry, furs, the little things
| which women love; gave dinners and teas
and dances considered herself an heiress,
and thought the world very pleasant place
| to live in. Every laugh from her was "a
| thorn to him, the light of happiness in her
eyes was a reproach, for he knew shat she
was dancing toward the precipice which
he had digged for her.
| Struggling futilely among these nettles of
despair, he took the final step. His ruin be-
| came definite. His evil goddess saw to 1t
| that an opportunity should present itself:
| (How simple all this reads! AS read II
over it does not seem credible. Think OF
man who has reached the height of his am
bition, has dwelt there serenely, and then
| falls in this silly, ineXcusable fashion! Well.
| that is human nature the human part OF II.
! Only here and there do we fall grandly)
| One starltt night he met distinguished
young diplomat rich and handsome He
played some, but to pass away the time
| rather than to cOquet with fortune. lie
was lucky. The man who plays for the
1 mere fun of it is generally lucky He asks
| no favors from fortune; .he does not pay
any attention to her. and woman-like, she
| is piqued. He won heavily this night; my
soldier lost correspondingly heavily. The
diplomat pressed a loan upon his new
| found friend, who, with his usual luck, lost
it.
| The diplomat was presented to the daugh-
| ter. They owned to mutual acquaintance
in Paris and Washington. The three at
| tended the concert The girl returned to
| the hotel bubbling with happiness ana the
echoes of enchanting melodies for she was
an accomplished musician. She retired and
| left the two men to their coffee and cigars.
The conversation took several turns, ana
at length stopped at diplomacy.
| TT has always puzzled me-. said the
soldier how Russia finds out all she does
THAT is easily explained. Russia has the
| wisdom of the serpent. Here is a man who
possesses a secret which Russia must have.
| They study him. If he is gallant, one day
| he meets a fascinating woman IL ne IS
greedy he turns to find bowl of gold at
out the shortest road.
| But her knowledge of foreign army and
naval strength?'
| "Money does all that Russia possesses
| an accurate knowledge of every fort, ship
and gun England boasts of; France, Ger
| many and Japan. We have never taken
| it into heads to investigate America.
| Till recently your country as foe to Rus
| sian interests had dropped below the hori-
| zon. And now Russia finds that she must
| proceed to do what she has done to all
| other countries; that is, duplicate her RI
| walls fertilization plans, her total military
| and naval strength and SO forth, and so
| on The United States is not enemy,
| but there are possibilities of her becoming
| SO. Some day she must wrest Cuba from
| Spain, and then she may become recog-
| nized quantity In the Pacific
1.-The Pacific?'
"EVen SO. Having taken Cuba, the
| United States, to protect her western coast,
| will be forced to occupy the Philippines;
| and having taken that archipelago, she be-
! comes a menace to Russian territorial ex-
! pansion in the far east. do not always
| speak so frankly. But l wish you to see
| the necessity of knowing all about your
coast defenses."
ut cannot be donev'-spiritedly. So far
the American had only gambled
1T can and will be DONE, smiling. De
| spite the watchfulness of your officials, de-
| spite your secret service, despite all OBJ
stacles, Russia will quietly gain the required
information. She possesses key to every
| lock-
And what might this key be?"-with
tolerant irony.
| Gold
| But if the United States found out what
| Russia was doing, there might be war"
| Nothing of the kind. Russia would
simply deny all knowledge The man whom
| she selected to do the work would be dis
| credited, banished, perhaps sent to Siberia
| to rot in the mines. No, there would be
| no war. Russia would weigh all these
possibilities in selecting her arm. She would
choose man of high intellect, rich, we'll
| known in social circles ingulst, man
| acquainted with all histories and all phases
of life. a diplomat, perhaps young and
pleasing. You will say, why does he
| accept so base a task? When a Rus
! sian noble takes his oath in the pres
ence of his car he becomes simply an arm;
he nc longer thinks, his master thinks for
| him. He only acts. So long as he offers
| his services without remuneration, his honor
remains untouched, unsuiled. A paid spy
! is the basest of all FEATURES"
| Count, take care that l do not warn my
country of Russia's purpose. You are tell
| ing very strange things. The Amerl-
| can eyed his companion sharply.
Warn the United States? 1 tell you, it
will not matter. All Russia would need
| would be a dissatisfied clerk. What could
he not do with half million francs?" The
| diplomat blew a cloud of smoke through his
| nostrils and filliped the end of his cigarette.
| "a hundred thousand dollars?'
| The diplomat glanced amusedly at his
| American friend. Il suppose that sounds
small enough to you rich Americans. But TO
a clerk it reads wealth"
| The American was silent A terrible
/ thought flashed through his brain, a
! thought that he repulsed almost immedi
| ately.
! "Of course, I am only specializing; moth
| ing has been done as yet
| Then something is going to be dOne?"
| asked the American clearing his voice.
| "One day another If We cannot find
the clerk, we shall look higher. We should
consider a million francs well invested
] America is rapidly becoming great power.
But let us drop the subject and turn to
| something more agreeable to us BOTH Your
| daughter is charming. l honestly confess
| to you that / have not met her equal in
| any country. Pardon my presumption. but
| may 1 ask II she is engaged to be married?'
| Not to my knowledge vastly surprised
and at the same time pleased.
Are you averse to foreign alliances?"
| The diplomat dipped the end of fresh
| lighted cigar into his coffee.
| My dear count, 1 am not averse to for
| eign alliances, but 1 rather suspect that
| my daughter is. This aversion might be
overcome, however"
| What vista was opened to this wretched
| father! Il only she might marry riches
| how easily he might confess what he had
| done, how easily all this despair and ter
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