Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1906-12-19
CHAPTER discontinued.
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said he.
"All right" said 1. And from that
minute was almost silent. 1t was
| something in her tone and manner
that silenced me. 1 suddenly realized
that l wasn't making as good an i'm
preston as 1 had been 1attering my
| self.
When man has money and is will
ing to spend it, he can readily fool
himself into imagining he gets on
grandly with women. But had bet
ter grounds than that for thinking
myself not unattractive to them, as a
rule. Women had liked me when 1
had nothing; women had liked me
when they didn't know who 1 was.
felt that this woman did not like
me. And yet, by the way she looked
at me in spite of her efforts not to do
SO, 1 could tell that 1 had some sort
of unusual interest for her. Why
didn't she like me? She made me feel
the reason. 1 didn't belong to her
world. My. ways and my looks offend
ed her. She disliked me good deal;
she feared me a little. She would
have felt safer if she had been graft
tying her curiosity, gazing in at me
through the bars of a cage.
Sam-not without hesitation, as l
recalled afterward- me with her,
when 1 sent him to bring her brough-
am up to the Broadway entrance. AS
she and l were standing there alone,
waiting in silence, 1 turned on her
suddenly, and blurted out: "You don't
| like me-"
She redeemed little smiled slight
ly. What a quaint remark" said
she.
1 looked straight at her. "But you
shall"
! Our eyes met. Her chin came out
a little, her eyebrows lifted. Then,
in scorn Of herself as we'll as of me,
she locked herself in behind a frozen
haughtiness that ignored me. "Ah,
here is the carriage" she said. fol-
lowed her to the curb; she just
touched my hand, just nodded her
fascinating little head.
See you Saturday, old man." called
her brother friendlily. My lowering
face had alarmed him.
THAT party is off," said 1, CURLY.
And 1 lifted my hat and strobe away
AS I had formed the habit of dis
missing the disagreeable, I soon put
her out of my mind. But she took
with her my joy in the taste of things.
couldn't get back my former keen
satisfaction in all 1 had done and
was doing. The luxury, the tangible
evidences of my achievement. no long
| er gave me pleasure; they seemed to
add to my irritation.
| l worked myself up, or rather, down.
| to such a mood that when my office
| boy told me Mr.. Langdon would like
me to come to his Office as soon as
it was convenient, 1 snapped out:
''The hell he does! Tell Mr.. Langdon
| I'll be glad to see him here whenever
he calls That was stupidity. a pre-
mature assertion of my right to be
| treated as an equal. l had always
gone to Langdon, and to any other
of the rulers of finance, whenever
had got summons. For, while I
was rich and powerful, l held both
wealth and power, in a sense, on suf-
ferance; l knew that, so long as
had no absolute control of any great
| department of industry, these rulers
could destroy me should they decide
that they needed my holdings or were
not satisfied with my use of my
power. I was surprised when Lang
don appeared in my Office a few min
utes later.
He was tallish, slim man, care
fully dressed, with a bored, weary
look and a slow, bored way of talk
Ing. l had always said that if I had
not been myself should have wished
| to be Langdon.
| His expression. as he came into my
office, was one of cynical amusement,
as If he were saying to himself: Our
friend Blackjack has caught the swoll-
en- head at last" Not a suggestion
of i'll humor, of resentment at my i'm
pertinence- for, in the circumstances,
/ had been guilty of an impertinence.
Just languid, amused patience with
the frailty of friend. Il see," said
he, that you have got Textile I'D to
S."
He was the head of the Textile
trust. which had been built by his
| OA OSAAOa anu uhu Idll0u 10 u1n
| In the confusion following his broth
er-in-law's death. AS he was just then
needing some money for his share in
the National Coal undertaking, he had
directed me to push Textile up toward
par and unload him of two or three
hundred thousand shares-he, of
| course. to repurchase the shares after
| he had taken profits and Textile had
dropped back to its normal so.
I'll have it up to SO by the middle
OF next month";" said l. "And there
think we'd better STOP"
stop at about co." said he. 'That
will give me all l find I'll need for
this Coal business / don't want to be
bothered with hunting up an invest
ment."
I shook my head. 81 must put it up
| to within a point or two of par" I de-