The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1906-12-26

marked adoption of him Loder
behaved with a discretion that
. spoke well for his qualities.
Many a man placed in the same re-
sponsible and yet strangely irresponsi-
BILE position might have been excused If,
for the time at least, he gave himself
a loose rein. But Loder kept free of
the temptation.
Like all other experiments, his show
ed unlocked for features when put to
working test It's expected difficulties
smoothed themselves away, while others,
scarcely anticipated, came into promi
nence. Most notable of all, the physical
likeness between himself and Chilcote,
the bedrock of the whole scheme, which
had been counted on to offer most dan
ger, worked without a hitch. He stood
literally amazed before the sweeping
credulity that met him on every hand.
Men who had known Chilcote from his
youth, servants who had been in his
employment for years, Joined issue in
the unquestioning acceptance At times
the ease of deception bewildered him.
There were moments when he realized
that, should circumstances force him to
a declaration of the truth, he would
not be believed. Human nature pre-
fers its own eyesight to the testimony
Of any man.
But in face Of this astonishing sue
cess he steered steady course. In the
first eXhilaration of Fraides favor, in
the first egotistical wish to break down
Ewes skepticism, he might possibly
have plunged into a vortex of action,
let it be in what direction it might;
but, fortunately for himself, for Chill
cote and for their scheme, he was liable
to strenuous second thoughts-those
wise and necessary curbs that go fur
Their to the steadying Of the universe
than the universe guesSes. Sitting in
the quiet of the house on the same day
that he had spoken with Eve on the
terrace he had weighed possibilities
slowly and cautiously. Impressed to
the full by the atmosphere of the place
that in his eyes could never lack char
acter, however dull its mOmentary bust
ness, however prosy the voice that fill
ed it, he had sifted impulse from ex-
pedience as only a man who has lived
within himself can sift and distinguish,
and at the close of that first day his
programme had been formed. There
must be no rush, no headlong plunge,
he had decided. Things must work
around It was his first expedition
into the new country, and it lay with
fate to say whether it would be his
last
He had been leaning back in his seat,
his eyes on the ministers opposite, his
arms folded in imitation of Chilcote's
most natural attitude, when this final
speculation had come to him, and as it
came his lips had frightened for a mo-
ment and his face become hard and
cold. 1t is an unpleasant thing when
a man first unconsciously reckons on
the weakness of another, and the look
that expresses the idea is not good to
see. He had stirred uneasily, then his
lips had closed again He was tena-
cious by nature, and by nature intol-
Cl ant VI w CdhlIGSS. ~ TIC ulSl SuS-
gestion of reckoning upon Chilcote's
lapses his mind had drawn back in
disgust, but as the thought came again
the disgust had lessened.
In a weel1-two weeks, perhaps-Chil-
cote would reclaim his place. Then
would begin the routine OF the affair.
Chilcote, fresh from indulgence and
freedom, would find his obligations a
thousand times more irksome than be
fore; he would struggle for a time,
then
A shadowy smile had touched Lo-
der's lips as the idea formed itself.
Then would come the inevitable re
call; then in earnest he might venture
to put his hand to the pillow. He never
INDUCED in day dreams, but something
in the nature of a vision had flashed
over his mind in that instant. He had
seen himself standing In that same
building, seen the rows of faces first
bored, then hesitatingly transformed
under his personal domination, under
the one great power he knew himself
to possess-the power of eloQuence
The strength of the suggestion had
been almost painful. Men who have
attained self repression are occasion
ally open to a perilous onrush of feel
ing. Believing that they know them
selves, they walk boldly forward to
ward the highroad and pitfall alike.
These had been Loder's disconnected
ideas and speculations on the first day
of his new life. At 4 o'clock on the
ninth day he was pacing with quiet
confidence up and down Chilcote's
study. his mind pleasantly busy and
his cigar comfortably alight, when he
paused in his walk and frowned, inter
rupted by the entrance of a servant.
The man came softly into the room
drew a small table toward the fire anC
proceeded to lay an extremely fine anC
unserviceable looking cloth.
Loder watched him in silence. II,