Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1905-12-27
THE
GRAF I,ERS
FRANCIS E 3 ] Y LYNDB
tpepyriEat. ssaA BY The Booos-xezrsu Co,
. CHAPTER NXII.-CoNr1NuED.

She was pacing back and forth In
front Of his chair in a way that was
almost man-like; but har contemptu-
Dls impatience made her dangerously
beautiful. Suddenly she stopped and
turned upon him, and there were sharp
El3ws in the kitten-budetingS.
II 'Doyou know you're spelling q fu-
tnre that most men would hesitate to
Throw away" she asked. while you
have been q man OF one idea in this
railroad affair. We haven't been idle
your newspaper and political friends,
and Ormsby and I. You are ambitious;
you want to succeed: and We have been
1aying the foundations for you. The
next election would give you anything
In the gift of the state that man of
your years could aspire to. Have you
known this?"
4 have guessed it," he said quite
huAsbly.
"Of course you have. But it has all
been contingent upon one thing: you
were to crush the grafters in this rail-
climb to distinction yourself on the
ladder from which you have shaken
them. 1t might have been done; it
was III a fair way to be done. And
now you turn back and leave the plow
In the furrow!"
There was more OF a like quality
n good bit more; some Of it resretful;
nll Of it pungent and logical from
Hiss Van Brooks point of view; and
Kent WAS no rock not 10 be moved
by the small tempest OF disappointed
vjcarioHs ambition. Wherefore he es-
capped when he could. though only to
begin the ekhican battle al over again;
to fight and wander among the tombs
In the valley of indecision for week
ind & day, eight miserable writings
Of the earth in space, during which in
teryal he was invisible 70 his friends
and innocuous to his enemies.
On the morning of the ninth day
Editor Eildveth telephoned Miss Van
Brock to ask if she knew where Kent
could be found. The answer was a
rather anxious negative; though the
query could have been answered at
tlrmatively 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 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 Flooding YEARLY back
to the end OF the car lire, faded, dusty
and stiff from much tramping of the
brcwn 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
1ey-car landed him in front of the
Clarendon. It was a measure of his
parposeful abstraction that he went
on around the corner 70 the Security
-'ank, dusty and unpresentable as he
vas, and transferred the packet of in
eliminating affidavits 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
Tasted for nearly a fortnight. So long
rs the weapon was his to use or to
cast away, the outcome Of the moral
conflict hung in the balance. But now
ne WAS emerging from the night wan
lerings among the tombs Of the unde-
cited
Il 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,
and if so, if he were likely to remain
there for an hour.
When he reached his rooms he flung
the packet of papers on the writing
table and went to freshen himself with
a bath. That which lay before him
called for fitness, menta! and physical,
and cool sanity,
He was struggling into clean linen,
and the packet was still lying where
he had tossed it or entering, when
bell-boy came up with card. Kent
read the name with ghost Of a smile
relaxing the care-drawn lines about
his mouth. There are times when a
mans fate rushes to meet him, and he
had fallen upon one of them.
"show him up" was the brief d.
Tection; and when the door of the
elevator. cage clacked again, Kent
was. waiting. +
His visitor was a man Of heroic
proportions; a large man a little
oreathed. as it seemed, by the swift
upward rush of the elevator. Kent adj
united him with a nod; and the gov
erncr planted himself heavily in q
chair and begged light for his cigar.
In the match passing he gathered his
spent breath and declared his errand.
think we have a little score to
settle between us as man to man
Kent" he began, when Kent had
clipped the end from his own cigar and
Sighted it In stolid silence.
Possibly: that Is for you to say"
!Kas the unencouraging reply.
Bucks rose deliberately, walked to
The bathroom door, and looked be-
yond It into the bedroom. =
We are quite alone, il that is what
you want to make sure o." said Kent,
In tho same Indifferent tone; and the
governor came back and resumed his
chair. @s .>s !. <: g.. ~.%.=...E
7, y came, up to see what you want
what YOU will take to quit" he an
no,lnced, crossing his legs and locking
the huge ham-like hands over his
knee THAT. Is putting it rather abb