Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1906-03-09
THE TWO
VANREVELS
By BOOTH HARRINGTON.
Author of THE Gentleman From Indiana"
and Monsieur BeaucaiYe"
Copyright, 1909. BY s. S. Mcclure Co.
CHAPTER XI

1 ~ VRAlLE1 came nome the next
~ day with new poem, but no
STR1I fish. He lounged up the stairs
GS late in the afternoon hum
ming cheerfully to himself and, drop
ping his rod in corner Of Toms Of
flee, laid the poem ON the desk before
his partner, chuckled softly and re-
quested Mr.. Vanrevel to set the rhymes
to music Immediately.
"Try 1t on your instrument" he said.
cts a simple verse about nothing but
stars, and you can work it out in TWEEN
ty minutes with the guitar"
ut is broken" said Tom, not looking
up from his work.
Broken! WhenY
"Last night"
''Who broke it2"
ut fell from the table in my room"
"How? Easily mended. isn't itY'
II think l shall not play it soon
again.
Crailey swung his long legs off the
sofa and abruptly sat up. whats
this?" he asked gravely.
Tom pushed his papers away from
him, rose and went to the dusty win
dow that looked to the west, where, at
the end Of the long street, the sun was
setting behind the ruin of charred tim
bers OH the bank of the shining river.
ut seems that played once too Of
ten," he said
Crailey was thoroughly astonished.
He went to his friend and dropped a
hand lightly on his shoulder. What
made you break the guitar7 Tell me-"
"What makes you think I broke it?"
asked his partner sharply.
"Tell me why you did it." said Graf
ley.
And Tom, pacing the room, told him,
while Crailey stood in silence looking
him eagerly in the eye whenever Tom
turned his way. The listener interrupt
ed seldom. Once 1t was to exclaim:
"But you haven't said why you broke
the guitar?"
"If thine eye offend thee, pluck it
out! I ought to have cut off the hands
that played to her"
"And cut your throat for singing to
her?'
"She was right" the other answered,
stridtng up and down the room. Right
IA thousand times-in everything she
did. That should even approach her
was an unspeakable insolence. 1 had
forgotten, and so, possibly, had she,
but had not even been propsrly intro
-duced to her."
mo, you hadn't; that's true" observ-
ed Crailey refectvely. "You don't
seem to have much to reproach her
with, Tom"
"Reproach her." cried the other.
"That should dream she would speak
to me or have anything to do with mo
was to cast a doubt upon her loyalty as
a daughter. She was right sayl And
she did the only thing she could do
rebuked me before them all. No one
ever merited what he got more roundly
than deserved that. Who was I, In
her eyes, that I should besiege her WITH
my opportunities, who but her fathers
worst enemy?"
Deep anxietysknitted Crailey's brow.
Il understood she knew of the quar-
rel" he said thoughtfully. II saw that
the other evening when helped her
out Of the crowd. She spoke of it on
the way home, remember. But how
did she know that you were Vanrevel?
No one in town would be apt to men
ton you to her."
mo, but she did know, you see"
EYES," returned Mr.. Gray slowly, $50
1t seems. Probably her father told her
to avoid you and described you so that
she recognized you as the man who
caught thekitten."
He paused and looked at Tom, who
continued to pace up and down the