The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1906-12-17
G Me 3
MASQUERADER.
BY Katherine Cecil Thurston,
Author of THE Circle Etc.
Copyright, 1908. 1901, by Hopper & Brothers
CONTINUED.
Copyright, 1905, 1901, BY Harper& Brother.

the family tree, he went south to Wark
/ and entered d shipOwning firm. In
thirty years time he died, the owner
Of one of the biggest trades in England,
having married the daughter of his
chief. My father was twenty-four and
still at oxford when he inherited. Al
most his first act was to reverse my
grandfather early move by going
north and piecing together the family
friendship. He married his first cousin,
and then, with the Chilcote prestige re-
vived and the shipping money to back
/ it, he entered on his ambition, which
was to represent East Wark In the Con-
| servative interest It was a big fight,
! but he won-as much by personal in
/ fiuence as by any other. He was an
/ aristocrat, but he was a keen business
man as we'll The combination carries
| weight with your lower classes. He
never did Ouch in the house, but he
was a power to his party in Wark.
/ They still use his name there to con-
! jure with"
Loder leaned forward interestedly.
Robert Chilcote? 2" he said. 81 have
heard Of him. One of those fine, unos-
tentatious figures-strong in action,
1 little narrow In outlook, perhaps, but
essential to a country's staying power.
/ You have every reason to be proud of
/ your father"
Chlcote laughed suddenly. How
easily we sum up when a matter is i'm
personal! My father may have been a
fine figure, but he shouldn't have left
me to climb to his pedestal"
Loders eyes questioned. In his new
] " awakened interest he had let his
pipe 60 out.
Don't you grasp my meaning"
Chi1cote went on. "N1y father died and
/ was elected for East Wark. You may
say that if had no real inclination for
the position l could have kicked, but
tell you l couldn't. Every local inter
est, political and commercial, hung up
on the candidate being q Chilcote.
did what eight men out Of ten would
have done. I yielded to pressure"
1T was a fine openingw The words
escaped Loder.
Most prisons have wide gates"
4 r.
THAT was six years ago. 1 had started
on the morphia track four years earlier,
but up to my fathers death had it I'M
der my thumb, or believed 1 had, and
In the realization Of my new RESPONSE
bilities and the excitement of the po-
litical fight l almost put it aside. For
several months after l entered parlia-
| 7 IoI I
speech that marked me as q coming
man" He laughed derisively. 81 even
married"-
"Married?'
"Yes-a girl of nineteen, the ward
Of great politician. 1t was a brilliant
marriage, politically as well as socially
but it didn't work. l was born without
the capacity for love. First the social
life palled on me, then my work grew
irksome. There was only one factor to
make life endurable-morphia Before
six months were out had fully admit
ted that"
''But your wife?"
ooh, my wife knew nothing-knows
nothing 1t is the political business
the beastly routine of the political life
that is wearing me out" He stopped
neryously, then hurried on again. %
tell you it's hard to see the same faces
to sit in the same seat day in, day out
knowing all the time that you mus
hold yourself in hand, must keep you
grip on the reins"-
ut is always possible to apply 70,
tba Chiltar0 Hundreds
ITO retire? Possible to retire 2
laugh You don't know what the 10
cal pressure of a place like Warl
stands for. Twenty times I have beel
within an ace of chucking the who'll
thing. Once last year wrote private
" to Vale, one Of our big men there
and limited that my health was bad
Two hours after he had read my lette
he was in my study. Had been il
Greenland the result would have beer
the same. No; resignation is q mean
/ tngless word to q man like me-"
Loder looked down. 81 see," he salt
slowly; Il see.''
Then you see everything DIFF
| f1culty, the isolation of the position
Five years ago-three-even two year
ago-I was able to endure it. Now
gets more unbearable with ever
month. The day is bound to com
when when" he paused, hesitatin
nervously-"when it will be PHYSICAL
impossible for me to be at my post"
Loder remained silent.
| physically impossible" Chilcote IT
peated excitedly. Until lately 1 wa
able to calculate-to count upon my
self TO some extent-but yesterday
received a shock-yesterday I discoN
cred thst-that''- he hesitate
painfully = that I have passed til
stage when one may calculate"
| The situation was growing more en-
barrassing. To hide its awkwardnest
Loder moved back to the CRATE an
rebuilt the fire, which had fallen low.
| Chilcote, still excited by his unusui