The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-04-21
By HENRY M. HYDE

perfectly still, staring at the speaker
with half-closed eyes through cloud
of tobacco smoke
'sThis afternoon, / got a note from
Margaret. She wanted to see me.
went over when the bank closed. When
she came into the room 1 hardly knew
her. What on earth's the matter.
Madge?' I asked, walking across to
meet her. She backed herself up
against the wall as if she were afraid
of me. I am going to break our en-
gagement,' she said. I don't love you.
For a second / felt like laughing.
Then / saw that the poor girl was all
keyed up to a swapping point. She was
tearing a lace curtain to pieces with
one hand. / could hear it rip.
Don't try to argue with me- she
went on, while I stood like a gaWk. My
mind is made UP. It's all over between
US. l can't explain. 1 don't love you
There were big. black circles under
Ter eyes and her lips were all twisted
up.
g 'Madge, dear 1 said, for I could
see she was deadly serious, though it
sounded like a piece from the stage,
you might as well tell me the truth
I don't love you, and our engage
ment Is broken she repeated like a
parrot, never taking her eyes off me.
Then she backed out of the room. In
the doorway she nodded her head to
me and said Goodbye, Billy
Il called after her but she had gone
Her father came in a minute later.
Poor old man! He looked all worked
UP. too. He tainted down at the bank
yesterday.
Mr. Winters, 1 said, you know
what Margaret has just told me?'
Yes he answered, without sitting
down. Under the circumstances she
could do nothing else
"T want to know the real reasons
for it.
" She told me half a dozen times she
didn't love me-
well, young man. he said, I can't
give you any better reason than that +"
You say" broke in Peter Potter,
that Mr.. Winters tainted down at the
bank yesterday"
Yes Old man Wagner came in
about O'Clock and called him into the
directors room. When Mr.. Winters
came out an hour later he looked ten
years older. His face was white, and
when he sat down at his desk I saw
| that his hands were shaking. A little
bit later he Ke5led over and fell off his
chair. We sent him home, and he
wasn't down to the bank at all today"
Peter Potter said nothing. He was
rocking back and forth now-heels,
toes, heels, toes. His heavy eyebrows
were pulled far down. his sunken head
thrust far forward from his shoulders.
Never had his resemblance to a great
bird of prey. posing itself for flight,
been more striking.
Ike Wagner" he asked, finally
Billy MaGinn suIlenly nodded his head
in assent. He's a director in the
bank the boy said.
In the cold, gray eyes of the Priva-
/ teer glowed a wicked light. You come
back here at s o'clock tomorrow night.
Billy" he said. And don't say a word
to anybody about What has happened"
Billy Maginn went out and Peter
Potter sat down to his scrap books He
had two whole volumes devoted to the
career of Isaac Wagner. He read them
through from the beginning. 1t was a
tremendous story. Born the son of a
butcher in Hungary. Wagner had come
to the United States forty years before
an ignorant, half-savage, bull-chested
lout of boy. By piecing together
scattered bits of Information, the Pri-
vateer could make out the whole record
of mis- career. Starting in a country
slaughter house in the prairie village of
Chicago. where he killed steers with
his own hand, Wagner had elm bed re-
lentlessly until now he was the master
of the provision trade of the world. He
could stretch out his hand and the gov
errors of a dozen great states would
jump through his fingers. In Ear cor
ners of the earth his name was known
and feared. Now, in his later years, all
his Unsuitable ambition was conferred in
his only son, Isaac Wagner, jr.. a young
man chiefly celebrated so far for his
sensational escapades with chorus girls.
Recently the elder Wagner had built
himself a Gothic castle on the Lake
Shore drive, and was beginning to chop
his way into society with his hitherto
invincible cleaver of a master butcher.
Another big scrap book was filed
with clippings about Thomas Winters
and his family. That also Potter care
fully read. Then, until o'clock, he lay
awake, trying to figure out what posi-
bic hold Wagner could have on the
president of the Ninth National bank,
and what possible interest he could
have in forcing Mr.. Winters to compel
his daughter TO break her engagement
with young Billy Maginn.
By o'clock the next morning the
Privateer was in his Office. There, in
rapid succession. he held conferences
with half a dozen Of the most impor-
tant brokers on LaSalle street Clar-
ence Darling, who acted as Potters
agent in the case of the Senator's
daughter, and who is a standard au-
thority of the gossip of the Smart Set,
was also consulted. By noon Peter
Potter had made up his mind. He sent