Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-02

DO you know" observed standish.
when you open your eyes that way you
| really look
Never mind how I look! Tell me
MY campaign? 1t Is nothing yet But
| the Civic League Is planning one more eff
fort to shake on Conover's grip on the
throat Of the Mountain state-another good
stump. line. by the way. And I have been
asked aI to run for governor"
"Oh. yes. know Conover holds the con-
vention in the hollow of his hand. He
owns the delegates and the newspapers and
| the legislature as well as the railroads.
And no sane man would dream Of bucking
such a combination. But maybe I'm not
quite sane. For I'm going to. try 1t. Now
laugh all you like"
Laugh? I feel more like crying. It's
It's knightly and splendid Of you, Give!
| And-perhaps 1t may prove less crazy than
| you think"
You mean?"
II mean nothing at all. wish you luck
though. All the luck in the world. Tell me
more
There is no more Besides. I'd rather
talk about you. Tell me of your life here"
There's nothing to tell It's work
Pleasant enough work, even though it's
| hard. Every one Is nice to me. l.
THAT doesn't explain your choosing such
career out Of all that were open to you.
| Why did you take it?''
1--WE often explained it to you, but you
never seem to understand. When father
died he left me nothing. 1 had my living to
make. and
But surely there were thousand easier
| pleasanter ways of earning 1t than to kill
| yourself socially by becoming an employee
in such family as this 1t can't be con-
genial"
The odd smile in her eyes checked him
| and gave him a vague sense of uneasiness.
| at is congenial,'' said the girl after
| pause Il have my own suite of rooms. my
| own hours, my own way. 1 have natural
| bent for finance, and business association
| with Mr.. Conover is a real education. The
salary Is good. My word in all household
| matter is law. Mr.. Conover knows I I'M
derstand how things should be conducted,
and he has grown to rely on me. l am
more mistress here than most women In
| their own homes. Mrs. Conover is i'll so
much-and Blanche being away"
'Anice.'' he broke in, I've known you
| since you first went into long dresses. And
I know that the reasons you've just given
are none of them the sort that appeal to
But not to you. Why did you come here,
| and why do you stay? There is some rea-
son you haven't
"Scuse me- Miss Lanier," said voice
at the entrance of the alcove, ''the boss sent
me to ask you would you come to the
drorin' room. He says the supper rooms
open. an he'd like you to scoop rintend
things. I've been lookin' everywhere for
you. Gee, but goin' through bunch of
cops in a pool room raid is pie alongside
! of workin' a way through this push"
The speaker was a squat, sWarthy little
man on whom his ready-made evening
clothes sat with the grace and comfort Of
a set of thumb screws. Give recognized
him with difficulty the usually self-as-
sured Billy" shevlin, Conovers most
trusted political henchman.
VERY WELL" replied Anice Lanier, rising
to obey the summons. She noted the dumb
misery in Billy's face, and paused to ask:
Aren't you having good time, Mr..
Shevlin?
"a good time? Me? Oh, yes. Sure,
am. I only hope no one'll mistake me in
this open-face suit for senator a matti-
nay idol. That's all that's botherin' me.
I've been rubin elbows with the Van AL
stynes that own half of Pompton Av'no
| and live in Yoorup and with Stat Kerrigans
wife, who used to push coffee and sinkers
right An 1 feel like pair Of yeller shoes
at a fun'ral."
Never mind!'' laughed Anlce. 1.-The sup
per rooms open, and you'll enjoy that part
of the evening, at any rate
II WILL Ell? Not me, miss! The boss
passed the word that the boys is to hold
back, and kind of make noise like inner
cent bystanders till the swell push is all
fed So it's for the merry outskirts
while they're gettin' their moneys worth
Give Standish watched them thread their
way through the crowd, until Anices dainty
little head with its crown of shimmerlng
bronze hair was lost to sight Then he sat
looking modify out on the heterogeneous,
ill-assorted company before him:
longer regretted the impulse that had led
him to accept Mrs. Conovers invitation.
The girl had always exerted a subtle charm,
| a nameless influence, over him. Years be-
fore, when he was struggling, penniless, to
| make a living in a city where his family
name opened every door to him, yet where
| it was more of impeachment than other
wise in his task of bread winning; even then
he had worked with a vague, half-formed
hope of Anice Lanier sharing his final vic
| tory.
Then had come her own financial reverses
her fathers death, and her withdrawal from
| the world that had known them both. Since
| that time circumstances had checked their
| growing intimacy 1t was pleasant to Stan
dish to feel that that intimacy and under
| standing were now renewed almost just
| where they had left off. His battle for live
lihood and success had beaten from him
much of the buoyancy that had once been
| his charm. Anice seemed the one link con-
Meeting him with Youth-the link whereby
| he might one day win his way back to that
| dear lost country of his boyish hopes and
| dreams. 1t would be good to forget. with
her, the dreary uphill struggle that so
bitter and youth-sapping when endured
alone. Then he laughed grmly at his own
silly fantasy, and came back to everyday
| self-control.
| The rooms were clearing. Give got to his
feet and followed the general drift toward
| the enormous ball room in the rear of the
mansion that had for the occasion been
! converted into banquet hall.
On the way he encountered long, lean.
pasty-faced young man who hailed him
| with a weary:
| Hello, Standish! Didn't expect to see
you here. Beastly bore, isn't 1t? And the
| governor dragged me all the way from New
York to show up at it,
| You spend most of your time in New
York nowadays, don't you, Jerry?' said
| Give.
"say, old chap, protested young Con-
over, "cut out the Jerry can't you?- My
Christian names Gerald. Jerry was all
right enough when 1 was a kid in this one
horse provincial hole. But it would swamp
a man of my standing in New York"
| Give had fair idea of the standing" in
question. A half-baked lad, turned out of
| Harvard after two years of futile loafng,
| sent on a trip around the world chat cul-
minated in a delightfully."- misspent year in
Paris), at last coming home with we'll
grounded contempt for his native city, and
! turned loose at his own request on long
suffering New York, with more money than
| belonged to him IND fewer brains than suf-
feed to keep it. This in nutshell was the
history-so far as the world a. large knew
of Caleb Conover's only son.
| From time to time newspaper accounts
| OF beaten cabmen, suppers that ended in
! police stations and similar feats of youth
! FIJI aNynfxr and