The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1906-12-27


instinct has been telling n,c that. too
I'm not so had rs you mus, think
did bargain to sell myself. but I'd have
thrown up the bargain u you had been
as-as you seemed Mt ursi For some
reason perhaps u ws- her dress. OF
hat--sbc was looking particularly girl
ish that day. and her skin was even
more TRANSPARENT than usual You're
different from the men I've been used
20 ,ak-pny life" she went on. and
SlI shg in u friendly wuy-'y"u oft'n
give nc terrifying sense of your be-
Ing "a Wild man or hts good be-
havtor. hut I've come To feel that
you're generous and unseiiish and that
you'll be kind To mc--wont your Ana
4 must make q life for myself must
Il must. on. I can't explain Ia you.
but" She turned her little head
toward me. and I was looking Int"
Shose eyes that the flowers were Ike.
I thought she meant hcr home ne.
You needn't tell me I said. and III
but STEADY. And. I repeat. you'i new
er regret"
Hhe evidently feared that she had
Said too much. for she iapsed Into 81
iencc. and when I tried tn resume the
subject of ourselves. she answercd me
with painful c,nstrnint. I respected
her nervousness and soon began 10
talk of things not SO personal to us.
Again. my mistake q treating her as
~ she were marked Fragile Handle
with cnrc" I know now that she. IKE
all women. had the plain. tough. dur
able human fiber under that exterior
of deiicncy and fragiiliy. aud that my
DEMONSTRATION caused her To eShg-
gerstc to herself her own prepostcrous
notions az her superior nnencss. We
walked for an hour. talking with less
co0s trs,int and more fTisndliness than
ever before. and when ] icft her l. for
the flrSt time. felt that l had LETT
Eood impression.
When I entered my office. !. from
force OF habit. mechanically went d.
rect Ia the ticker--and dropped all la
an instant from the pinnacle or heaven
into boiling inferno For the ticker
was tust spelling cut these words:
''Mowbrny Langdon. president Of the
Textile association. sailed Unexpectedly
an the Kaiser Wilhelm at noon.
pcr cent raise al the dividend rate of
Textile common. from the present
per cent. to 6, has been determined up
on
And Z had stakcd up to. perhaps be-
yond. my limit Of safety that Textile
would fall.
Rail- WIS watching narrowly for some
stgn that the news was as bad rs he
feared. hut II cost inc no effort To
keep my face cxpressioniess: I was
like man who has been killed by
lightning and lies dead with tho look
on his face that he had just before
tire .lyUlt struck him
"why didn't you tell me this said
I TO Ball. when I Ind you on the
hut the very question ought To have
shown him that my brain was like
schooner in a cyclone.
we heard u just after you rang
OF" was his reply. We've been trying
20 get you ever since. I've gone every
where after Textile stock. Very few
wsu sell. or even lend. and they ask
the best price was ten points above to-
days closing. A strong tips out that
Textiles are TO be rocketed."
Ten points up alrcady---on the mere
rumor, Already ete Gu pay or every
share I was ''short''--and I short more
than 100000! l. felt the claws OF the
fiend Ruin sink into the Hcsh Of my
shoulders BAH dcesnt ka"w how
he inustat know"
nc n cigar with n steady hand and
waited for Joe's next words
II went to ace JcNklnS AT once. he
went on. Jenkins was then first vice
president 81 the Textile trust. He's
all cut up because the news got out
says I.angdon and he were the only
the announcement wasn't to have been
made for a month-not till Langdon
returned He has had to confirm IL.
though That WAS the only way TO
free his crowd from suspicion Of In
tending Ia rig the market"
AN right" said I
Have you seen tho afternoon pa
PERI" he asked. As he held IL out 10
mc. my eye caught big Textile head
n nj
something ,bou; my going 10 marry
Miss Eiiersly.
"AIi right" said I. and with the pa
per la my hand. went to my outside
Office. I kept on toward my inner Of
Ace. saying over my shoulder--to the
,'ienographer: Don't let anybody In.
tcrrupt me-" Behind the closed and
locked door my body ventured To come
To life again and my face TO reflect as
much as u could OF the chaos that was
heaving la me like ten thousand war
ring devils.
Three months before. In the same
situation. my gamblers instinct would
probably have helped me out. For I
had not been gambling La the great
American Monte Carlo all those years
without getting used To the downs an
well as To the ups. I had not--and
have not-snything az the business
man in my composition. To rnc. II
wns wholly finance. wholly game.
with excitement the chief factor and
thc sure winning. whether the little
ba. rolled my way or not. I was the
flnAncier. the gambler an6 advcuturer:
arr that had been my principal asset.
j'o-. the man who Wins in the long run
-. any az the great games OF life--and
they are all alikc-ls the paan with the
coot hend. and the only man whose
head H. cooi IL he who plays for the
games sake. not caring greatly wheth-
or he wins or loses on any one play.
because n. fleets that u he wins to-
day. hc viii lose tomorrow: IL he loses
today. he win win tomorrow. Hut now
n new fnctor had com. into the game
I spread out the paper and stared at
4 nc headlines: BLACK Matt To Wed
Society Bclic--Tte Bucket shop King
Will Lead Anita Eilcrsly to the Altar"
I tried "a read the vulgar article un-
der these vulgar lines. hut could not
I was sick. sick Ia body and Ia mind
My nerve" WAS gone. I was no long
cr the free lance: I had responsible
ties.
That thought dragged another In its
trnin. un ugly. grinning imp that lcercd
mt me and sncercd: But she won't
have you pow!"
"She will. She must" I cried aloud.
a