Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1906-12-28

did bargain to sell myself, but I'd have
thrown up the bargain IL you had been
as-as you seemed at first" For some
reason-perhaps ii was her dress, or
hat-she was looking particularly girl
Ish that day., her skin was even
more transparent han usual You're
different from the men I've been used
to all my life," she went on, d
smiling in a friendly way-"you often
give me a terrifying sense OF your be-
Ing IA wild man on his good be-
havior. But I've come to feel that
you're generous and unselfish and that
you'll be kind 10 me-won't you? And
I must make a life for myself must
Il must oh, l can't explain 10 you,
but" She turned her little head
toward me, and 1 was looking into
those eyes hat the flowers were like.
l thought she meant her home life.
You needn't tell me-" / said, and I'll
have TO confess my voice was anything
but steady. And, l repeat, you'll new
err regret"
She evidently feared hat she had
said too much, for she lapsed into ST.
lence, and when / tried to resume the
subject of ourselves, she answered me
with painful conStraint. l respected
her nervousness and soon began to
talk OF things not so personal to us.
Again, my mistake of treating her as
II she were marked Fragile. Handle
with care" l know now hat she, like
all women, had the plain, tough, dur
able human fiber under that exterior
Of delicacy and fragility, and hat my
Decentralization caused her to exag-
gerate to herself her own preposterous
notions Of her superior ineness. We
walked for an hour, talking with less
eonstraint and more friendliness than
ever before, and when l left her i, for
49, A. - E1A 49, 4 - 1AEN -
good impression.
When / entered my office, I, from
force of habit, mechanically went di-
rect to the ticker-and dropped all in
an instant from the pinnacle of heaven
into a boiling inferno. For the ticker
was just spelling out these words:
"Mowbray Langdon, president of the
Textile association, sailed unexpectedly
on the Kaiser Wilhelm at noon A 2
per cent. raise OF the dividend rate of
common, from the present 4
per cent. to 6, has been determined up
on"
And / had staked up to, perhaps be-
yond, my limit of safety that Textile
fall!
Ball was watching narrowly for some
sign that the news was as bad as he
Blu it cost me no effort to
keep my face expressionless: l was
~ q man WIN illS bCNll hlllGu ny
lightning and lies dead with the look
on his face that he had just before
the bolt struck him.
why didn't you tell me this" said
I to Ball, when / had you on the
'phone?" My tone was quiet enough,
but the very question ought to have
shown him that my brain was like a
schooner in a cyclone.
I'VE heard 1t just after you rang
nff ~ Yo hiG Vnp1u ssNNafua haap frUfng |
TO get you ever since. I've gone every
where after Textile stock. Very few
will sell, or even lend, and they ask
best price was ten points above to-
closing. A strong tips out that
Textiles are to be rocketed."
Ten points up already-on the mere
.umorl Already $40 to pay on every
share | was Shorthand / short more
han 200, 900! I felt the claws of the
lend Ruin sink into the flesh of my
Ball doesn't know how
I'm fixed" / remember l thought, and
lie mustn't know"
/ lit a cigar with a steady hand and
waited for Joe's next words.
II went TO see Jenkins at once" he
vent on. Jenkins was then first vice
PRESIDENT OF the Textile trust. He's
III cut up because the news got out
lays Langdon and he were the only
mes who knew, so he supposed-says
he announcement wasn't TO have been
for a month-not till Langdon
'eturned. He has had to confirm 1t,
hough That was the only way to
rec his crowd from suspicion OF in
to rig the market"
"All right" said !.
s'Have you seen the afternoon pa
he asked. AS he held ii out to
my eye caught big Textile head
ines, then flashed to some others
pomething about my going to marry
Hiss Ellersly.
"All right" said 1, and with the pa
Ter in my hand, went to my outside
'ffice. / kept on toward my inner Of
Ice, saying over my shoulder-to the
tenographer: Don't let anybody in
errupt me- Behind the closed and
ocked door my body ventured to come
o life again and my face to refec as
much as 1t could OF the chaos that was
In me like ten thousand war
Ing devils.
Three months before, in the same
ituation, my gamblers instinct would
probably have helped me out. For /
not been gambling in the great
American Monte Carlo all those years
Without getting used to the downs as
veil as to the . / had not-and
lave not-anything Of the business
nan in my composition. To me. 1t
vas wholly finance, wholly a game,
With excitement the chief factor and
he sure winning, whether the little
,all rolled my way or not. / was the
lnancier, the gambler and Adventures;
md that had been my principal asset.
For, the man who wins In the long run
t any of the great games OF life-and
hey are all alike-is the man with the
DOL head; and the only man whose
lead Is cool Is he who plays for the
sake. not caring greatly wheth-
II he wins or loses on any one play,
ecause he feels that IL he wins to-
he will lose tomorrow: IL ne loses
oday, he viii win tomorrow. But now
new factor had come into the game.
spread out the paper and stared at
he headlines: Black Matt To Wed
Belle-The Bucket Shop King
VIII Lead Anita Ellersly@ to the Altar"
tried to read the vulgar article un-
Ter these vulgar lines. but I could not.
was sick. sick In body and In mind.
dy nerve" was gone. / was no long
II the free lance: ! had responsible
les.
That thought dragged another in its
rain, an ugly, grinning imp that leered
u me and sneered: But she won't
you now!"
''She wilt She must!" I cried aloud.
UP. And then the storm burst
II ragged up and down the floor, shak-
ng my clinched fists. crashing my
teeth. muttering all kinds Of furious
n ~threats-a truly ridicul-
exhibition OF impotent rage. For
lhyanl1Uh a. NIL 7 M W rlon rlv oncv,~h 49, 1