Middletown transcript., 1907-09-14

0lQ6 OIL LIS pCu. MA. Ois7S ~ |
7rote with a sharp pen. It vas
toward dusk, and but few people
! fingered in the building. Peters,
Of the Tenth National. was still
hanging over his books on the
other side of the hall. Mr.
Averill wondered il he were doc
toring them. Then he snatched
himself back, q hot surge OF
blood burning like fire into his
face-this thing he thought OF
doing made him doubt all the
rest OF the world
The Office cat leaped upon his
desk, fawned on his shoulder and
swept her plumy tail across his
face. He stroked her fur a
moment and gently set her on
the floor; and then, as she re-
newed her attentions, he rose
and put her into the next room.
Net even a cat must see what he
was about to do.
Well, should make haste he
there was but little more day
light, and he needed all he could
have for so delicate a piece of
work as this.
He had always had an initiative
faculty; he had always been,
without thinking twice about it,
q rather remarkable penman.
Now was the time, then, to see
what could be done with that
sort of ability. His affairs were
in a bad way; the choice lay
between this thing and failure.
He had been an lnestimable fool
to get on the, wrong side of the
arket in a year. of great crops.
nnamischief was done. To-
he would be
beggS did this thing,
a prince esT Reginald AV-
erill's name was untafnished j.
no one would doubt paper he
presented with Folsom's sigma
ture, even though the fulfilnent
of its bond took half of Folsom s
estate. And of what use was the
other half of that estate to Fol
SONS widow dying woman
with a fortune Of her own, whose
needs were small at the most,
compared with the use it would
be to him, man in the rush of
the world, manipulating markets,
making big combinations, capa-
Bile Of quadrupling it in year
and of giving it back to Mrs.
Folsom if she lived or to her ex-
ecutors if she did not d? Surely
the end justified the means, he
said. Without this hours work,
he must drag out his days as
somebody's bookkeeper perhaps
come down to the bucket-shop ;;
or, If worst came to worst, go
upon the road he saw himself,
unshaven, unshorn, in rags, sink
ing, sinking, because at this for
inmate moment he had not grasp
ed opportunity. And then, be-
sides, could a man on the brink
of failure propose marriage to
Mary Carmichael, that child of
the gods, that thing of loveliness
and luxury, who made all other
women lovely because she was
one of them? One of them ? Oh,
no, she was alone and peerless /;
there was none like ner, none ; if
nature ever broke the mould, it
was broken after Mary Car
michael came into the world the
fair white creature whose soul
was as white as her forehead
What chance, thought Averill
to himself, could a poor man have
going to Mr.. Carmichael and ask
ing for his daughter? What
right, what decency, in going, if
one were out of the running, with
no power to care for her as be-
came her? But if one could go
to her father saying No one can
deserve the treasure of her hand
and faith but kind heaven does
not deal with US as we deserve.
And so far as worldly affairs are
concerned, am of good report,
and I was the partner of Andrew
Folsom in the great Dossiter
deal, and am entitled to half the
profits, and should have them in
hand at this moment but for bis
sudden death ? And if he asks
for proof, here is the article of
partnership, with Andrew Fol
SONS signature and my own,
witnessed by Luke Morgan.
Luke Morgan can no more deny
it than Folsom can here is a
letter I had from him the week
before his stroke, the script as
bold as John Hancock's. I hope
when my time comes I shall go
the way Luke Morgan did, with