Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1906-10-19

Un, Was MS reply. we've been try
ing to get you ever since I've gone
everywhere after textile stock. Very
few will sell, or even lend, and they
ask-the best price was ten points
above tO-day's closing A strong tips
out that textiles are to be. rocketed."
Ten points up already-on the mere
rumor! Already ten dollars to pay on
every share was short and | short
more than two hundred thousand |
felt the claws of the fiend Ruin sink
into the flesh of my shoulders. Ball
doesn't know how I'm fixed" remem,
Der | thought, land he mustn't know"
| lit cigar with a steady hand and
waited for Joe's next words,
81 went to see Jenkins at once" he
went on. Jenkins was then first vice.
president of the textile trust. He's
all cut up because the news got out
says LangdOn and he wese the only
ones who knew, so he supposed-says
the announcement wasn't to have
been made for month-not till Lang.
don returned. He has had to confirm
1t, though. That vas the only way to
free his crowd from suspicion OF in,
tending to rig the market"
"All right" said |.
Have you seen the afternoon pa.
per-" he asked. AS he held it out to
me, my eye caught big textile head.
lines, then flashed to some others
something about my going to marry
Miss Ellersly.
"All right" said |, and with the
paper in my hand, went to my outside
Office. | kept on toward my inner Of
nee, saying over my shoulder-to the
stenOgrapher: Don't let anybody in
terrupt me-" Behind the closed and
locked door my body ventured to come
to life again and my face to reflect
as much as it could Of the chaos that
was heaving in me like ten thousand
warning devils.
Three months before, in the same
situation, my gamblers instinct would
probably have helped me out. For |
had not been gambling in the great
American Monte Carlo all those years
without getting used to the downs as
well as to the ups, had not-and
have nOt-anything of the business
man in my composition. To me- it was
wholly finance, wholly game, with
excitement the chief factor and the
sure winning, whether the little ball
rolled my way or not. | was the
fnancier, the gambler and adven-
turer; and that had been my principal
asset. For, the man who wins in the
long run at any Of the great games
of life-and they are all alike-is the
man with the cool head; and the only
man whose head is cool is he who
plays for the games sake, not caring
greatly whether he wins or loses on
any one play, because he feels that if
he wins to-day, he will lose to-mor-
row. But now a new factor had come
into the game. | spread out the paper
and stared at the headlines: BLACK
Matt To Wed Society Belle-The
Bucket-Shop King Will Lead Anita FL
lersly To The Altar" | tried to read
the vulgar article under whose vulgar
lines, but | could not. | was sick,
sick in body and in mind. My nerve
was gone | was no longer the free
lance; had responsibilities.
That thought dragged another in its
train, an ugly, grinning imp that
leered at me and sneered: But she
won't have you now!"
She will! She must!" | cried
aloud, starting up. And then the
storm burst-I ragged up and down the
floor, shaking my clenched fists,
crashing my teeth, muttering all
kinds of furious commands and
threats-a truly ridiculous exhibition
of impotent rage. For through it all !
saw clearly enough that she wouldn't
have me, that all these people Id been
trying to climb up among would kick
loose my clinging hands and laugh az
they watched me disappear. They
who we're none too gentle and slow
In disengaging themselves from those
of their own lifelong associates who
had reverses Of fortune-what consid
Grafton could "Black Matt" expect
from them?s And she-the necessity
and the ability to deceive myself hat
gone, now that | could not pay the
purchase price for her. The full hid
eousness Of my bargain for hel
J dropped its veil and stood naked be
fore me.
At last, disguised and exhausted,
flung myself down again. and dumblI
and helplessly inspected the ruins o
my professor, rather. the ruin o
the one project upon which had m!
heart set. had known | cared foI
her, but it had seemed to me she wa
simply one more. the latest Of thu
objects on which I was in the habi
Of fixing my will from time to time Il
make the game more deeply interest
ing. | now saw that never before hat
l really been in earnest about any
thing, that on winning her | hal
staked myself, and that myself was ;
wholly different person from what
had been imagining. In word, sa
face to face with that unfathomabl
mystery Of sex-afinity that every mai
laughs at and mocks another man TO
believing in. until he has himself fel
1t drawing him against will, agains