The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1907-07-06

are driving at" said Mr.. Keller, tart.
~.
You are holder in the Denver Mug
get Mine to that amount, as | happen
TO know 1t has had a misfortune.
Water has broken in, and the mine
will probably never be worth work.
ing again. The news is not out, but
l have friend on the spot-one Of my
friends-who sent ME a private tele-
gram. You may rely absolutely upon
his Information. On the strength OF it,
l have disposed Of my stock
kelter never for one moment doubt
ed the story. His knowledge Of the
young man would not permit of it.
Things looked decidedly serious. He
jumped at the one possible loophole-
the fact that the news was not yet
public property, and moved toward
the telephone.
NO use, Mr. Keller; it can't be done
in the time
Keller turned quickly.
Then why the devil have you come
here to tell me this? | presume you
tom"
Certainly not" replied Dick, imper.
turbably; self interest-that is all.
My representative in the Exchange has
instructions TO give the thing away at
eleven-thirty unless he hears from me
to the contrary Whether he does so
or not depends upon yourself In the
one case. you lose your money; in the
other, you will have time to sell cut.
as there is no suspicion at present OF
anything being wrong with the mine
Shares are now slightly above par. and
the disaster will be kept dark as long
as possible by the parties interested"
"Well.' said Keller, impatiently; go
on What are you driving att"
Well returned Dick quietly,
lin the event of your giving your con-
sent to my marrying your daughter my
man will be told to keep his mouth
shut. You have not much time, Mr..
kelter.'
The audacity Of the scheme took
away Mr.. kelter's breath for a mo-
ment, and then for the second time
within three days he boiled over
Mo-" he shouted violently; con
found your impudence."
The sounds penetrated to the outer
office. and the clerks marveled at such
unwonted ebullition on the part Of
their usually calm and impressive en-
ployer Dick took up his hat and
gloves.
Very well, sir" he said, Indifferent
ly; Il wish you good-day.'
At times the mind works with light
ming rapidity and before Dick was half
way down the stars Mr.. Keller hal
done lot of thinking. He had al
that day, and another hundred was rs
good as gone if he did not quickly de-
eide upon accepting the young mans
odious condition.
Whether he accepted it or not the
result was likely to be the same, for
his daughters first defiance of his
wishes had opened his eyes to strength
of will he did not credit her with pes
sessing, and which he did not conceal
from himself would ultimately end in
her going her own way, in spite of
any opposition on his part. And one
hundred and sixty thousand dollars,
He groaned: it must not be!
He rushed to the door.
Ask Mr. Rudford to come back. he
shouted; and clerk started in pur-
suit.
Dick came back. He knew quite we'll
what this meant, but did not allow any
undue elation to appear.
Il agree, Rudford," said Mr. Keller.
briefly; and, having passed his word.
Dick knew that Madeline was as good
as his
He dived at the telephone; there was
just time. He rang up his man and
cancelled his previous instructions.
When he came out of the box his pros
having rushed off to the Stock Ex-
change, where he made the most of his
opportunity and finally succeeded in
unloading his shares at very slight
loss before the bubble burst The
doubtfulness of the transaction did not
trouble the two men-they were stock
brokers.
Dick returned to his office consider
ably elated. He was considerably more
elated when. in the course of the after
noon, he received an invitation to dine
with Mr.. Keller that evening
That gentleman never did things by
halves, and Dicks action, though by
no means disinterested, had undoubt-
eddy saved him very heavy loss, for
which he was correspondingly grateful
So. when the wedding day took place,