Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-02-19
THE ,SPENDERS
By HARRY LEON WILSON
{ Copyright, by Lothrop Publishing Company
A TALE OF THE THIRD GENERATION

morning-it was apt to be nine hundred and some odd dollars-requesting that l he cover by cneck at his early conven- | fence.
 Yet the diversion was not all gam | bling. There were long sessions at all- | night restaurants where the element of chance in his favor, incenspicuous else- where, was wholly eliminated; suppers for hungry Thespians and thirsty para sites, protracted with song and talk until the gas-fames grew pale yellow, and the cabmen, when the party went out into the wan light, would be low voiced, confidential and suggestive in ! their approaches.
 Broadway would be weirdly quiet at such times, save for the occasional l frenzied chatter of 8 hurrying milk wagon. Even the cars seemed to move with less sound than by day, and the early-rising workers inside, holding dinner pails and lunch baskets, were subdued and silent, yet strangely ob- serving, as If the hour were one in which the vision was made clear to appraise the values of life justly. To the north, whence the cars bulked si- i lently, would be an awakening sky of such tender beauty that the revelers often paid it the tribute of moments i notice. eE3 -4..& , <,
 Pure turquoise" one would declare.
 With just a dash of orange bitters in it." another might add.
 And then perhaps they burst into song under the spell, blending their voices into what the professional gen tlemen termed 'barber-shop harmon ies," until a policeman would saunter across the street, pretending, however, that he was not aware of them.
 Then perhaps a ride toward the beautiful northern sky would be pro- posed, whereupon three or four hanson or coupe loads would begin a journey that wound up through Central park toward the northern light, but which never attained point remoter than some suburban road house, where sleepy cooks and bartenders would have to be routed out to collaborate toward breakfast. - Oftener the party fell away into struggling groups with notions for sleep, chanting at last, perhaps:
 While beer brings gladness, don't forget | That water only makes you wet"
 IT, xN hof sobered and perhaps made a little re- fiective by the unwonted quiet. But they were pleasant, careless folk, he concluded always. They permitted him to ST d his money. but he was quite sure they would spend 1t as freely as he if they had it. More than one ap- preciative soubrette, met under such circumstances, was subsequently en- abled to laud the sureness of his taste in jewels-he cared little for anything but large diamonds, it transpired.
 Under this more or less happy sur face of diversion, however, was an ex- perience decidedly less felicitous. He knew he should not, must not, hold Avice Milbrey in his mind; yet when he tried to put her out it hurt him. At first he had plumed himself upon his lucky escape that night, when he would have declared his love to her. To have married girl who cared only for his money; that would have been dire enough. But to marry girl like that, He had been lucky indeed!
 Yet, as the weeks went by the shock of the scene wore oil. The scene itself remained clear, with the grinning gro- tesquerie of the Jack-o'-lanterns light ing it and mocking his simplicity. But the first sharp physical hurt had healed. He was forced to admit that the girl still had power to trouble him. At times his strained nerves would re- lax to no other device than the pictur- ing of her as his own. Exactly in the measure that he indulged this would | his pride smart. With a budding gift for negation he could imagine her car ing for nothing but his money; and there was that other picture. swift and awful, a pantomime in shadow, with the 1eering yellow faces above it.
 In the far night, when he awoke to sudden and hungry aloneness. he would let his arms feel their hunger for her. The vision of her would be flowers and music and sunlight and time and all things perfect to mystify and delight, | 10 satisfy aad-greatest of all bOons- to unsatisfy. The thought of her be- l came a rest house for all veariless: a haven where ne was free to choose hs nook and lie down away from all that was not her, which vas all that was not beautiful He would go back to seek the lost sweetness of their first meeting; to mount the poor dead belief that she would care for him-that he could make her care for him-and en- dow the thing with artificial life. try ing to capture the faint breath of it; | but the memory was always feeting. sttenuzted. like the spirit of the mem | ory of a perfume that had been elusive at best And always. to bznish what joy even this poor device might bring. came the more vivid vision of the brutal. sordid facts. He forced himself to face them regularly as a peuance and c corrective
 They came before him with especial eIearue4x when he met her from time to time during the winter. He watched her ia talk with others. noting the con- tradictio1 in her that she you'd at one moment appear knowing and mas tsrfuI. with depths of reserve that the