Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-05-16

hasn't been declared yet, Out you Gan
bet on 1t to q dead moral certainty"
CHAPTER XIII.
INTO THE PRIMITIVE.
Tested upon purely diplomatic
principles, Miss Van Brooks temper
was little less than angelic, exhibiting
itself under provocation only in guard
ed pin-pricks Of sarcasm. or in small
sharp-clawed acknowledging of
repartee. But she was at no pains to
conceal her scornful disappointment
when David Kent made known his
doubts concerning his moral right to
use the weapon he had SO skillfully
forged.
He delayed the inevitable confession
to Portia until he had told Loring;
and in making 1t he did not tell Miss
Van Brock to whom he owed the sud-
den change in the point Of view. Pit
Portia would have greatly discredited
her gift of insight II she had not In
stantly reduced the problem to Its low
est terms.
"You have been asking Miss Brent
wood to lend you her conscience, and
she has done It," was the form In
which she stated the fact. And when
Kent did not deny it: You lack at
least one quality Of greatness. David;
you sway too easily"
mo. I don't!" he protested. II am
as obstinate as a mule. Ask Ormsby
or Loring. But the logic Of the thing
Is blankly unanswerable. can either
get down to the dirty level OF these
highbinders-fight the devil with a
brand taken out of his own fire; Or"
"Or what?" she asked.
"Or think up some other scheme;
some plan which doesn't involve sur.
render on my part Of common decency
and self-respect."
Yes" she retorted. 81 suppose you
have the other plan all wrought out
and ready to drop into placer"
mo, l haven't" he admitted re-
luctantly.
But at least you have some notion
of what tits going to be?"
mo"
She was pacing back and forth In
front of his chair in a way that was
almost man-like: but her contemptu-
Gus impatience made her dangerously
beautiful. Suddenly she stopped and
turned upon him. and there were sharp
claws in the kitten-buffetinss.
do you know you're spelling a fu-
ture that most men would hesitate to
throw away?" she asked. while you
have been a man of one idea in this
railroad affair, We haven't been idle
your newspaper and political friends.
and Ormsby and |. You are ambitious;
you want to succeed; and we have been
laying the foundations for you. The
next election would give you anything
in the gift of the state that a man OF
your years could aspire to. Have you
known this?"
Il have guessed it" he said quite
humbly.
"Of course you have. But 1t has all
been contingent upon one thing: you
were to crush the grafters in this rail-
road struggle-show them up-and
climb 10 distinction yourself on the
ladder from which you have shaken
them. 1t might have been done; 1t
was in a fair way to be done. And
now you turn back and leave the plow
in the furrow!"
There was more Of like quality
q good bit more; some Of 1t regretful;
all Of it pungent and logical from
Miss Van Brooks point OF view; and
Kent was no rock not to be moved
by the small tempest Of disappointed
vicarious ambition. Wherefore he es-
capped when he could, though only to
begin the ethican battle all over again;
TO fight and wander among the tombs
in the valley of indecision for a week
and a day, eight miserable twirlings
Of the earth in space, during which in
terval he was invisible to his friends
and innocuous to his enemies.
On the morning Of the ninth day
Editor Hildreth telephoned Miss Van
Brock to ask If she knew where Kent
could be found. The answer was q
rather anxious negative; though the
query could have been answered af-
firmatively by the conductor and mot
orman OF an early morning electric
car which ran TO the farthest out
skirts of the eastern suburbs of the
city. Following a boyish habit he
had never fully outgrown. Kent had
once more taken his problem to the
open, and the hour after luncheon
time found him plodding wearily back
to the end OF the car line, jaded, dusty
and stiff from much tramping OF the
brown plain, but with the long duel
finally fought out to some despairing
conclusion.
The city hall clock was upon the
stroke OF three when the inbound troll
ley-car landed him in front OF the
Clarendon. 1t was a measure OF his
purposeful abstraction that he went
on around the corner to the Security
bank, dusty and unpresentable as he
was, and transferred the packet of in
eliminating aftidavits from the safety
deposit box to his pocket before going
to his rooms in the hotel.
This paper weapon was the centering
point Of the struggle which had now
lasted for nearly fortnight. So long
as the weapon was his to use or to
cast away, the outcome Of the moral
conflict hung in the balance. But now
he was emerging from the night wan
derings among the tombs OF the unde-
cided.
81 can't give it up; there is too much
at stake" he muttered, as he trudged
heavily back to the hotel. And before
he went above the stairs he asked the
young woman at the house telephone
exchange to ascertain If Governor
! Bucks were in his Office at the capitol