Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-02-25
|CHApTER
! THIRTEEN
THE heat, which had been severe
in June, driving the last fash
ionablc loiterer into the coun
4 try. continued tlercely through

try, continued t1ercely through
out July. August was sitting.
Nobody who was anybody remained
in town except some wealthy bushes
men and their million odd employees
but the million. being nobodies. didn
count.
Quarters huge limestone mansion
/ looming golden In the sun. was tenant
less. Its owner. closing even Ih
Sedges, his Long Island house. and
driven northward for breath Of air
was expected at Shotover.
| The house of Mrs. Mortimer was
| closed and boarded up. A caretnkel
| apparently guarded Major Belwether's
house, peeping out ut intervals from
behind the basement windows. AS fol
! Plank's great pile OF masonry edgine
| the outer hundreds in the north, sew
| ernl lighted windows were to be seer
| in 1t at night. and II big yellow and
black touring car whizzed down town
from It's bronze gateway every morn
ing with perfect regularity
For there was q fight on that had
steadily grown hotter with the wealth
, er and Plank had little time to con
Germ himself with the temperature OF
to mop his red features over the
weather bureau report. Harrington
and Quarter were after him-horse
foot and dragons. Harrington had
even taken Il house at Seabright IN
order to be near in person, and Quar-
rier's move from Long Island to Shot
over House was not us flppant as II
might appear. for he had his private
car there and locomotive ut Black
Fels Crossing station, and he was
within striking distance Of Rochester
Utica, Syracuse and Albany, which
was what Harrington thought neces
Sary.
The noise Of the fray in the papers
which had first excited then stunned
the outside public. continued in de
lirium Of rumor. report, forecast and
summing up at the weeks end.
Scare heads involving everybody and
everything, from the district attorney
to Plnnk's office boy. succeeded one
another. Plank's name headed col
umn after column. Already becoming
familiar in the society and financial
sections, 1t began to appear In neigh.
boring paragraphs.
Plank scarcely noticed what the
press said Of him He was too busy;
his days We're full days, trimming
over deep into the night. Tndaunted,
MEMORABLE. slow to the verge Of stu.
pl,lity ut times, at times swift as a
startled tiger, this new. amazing per-
sonaIity steadily oe:cl, o.g, looming
higher. heavier, athwart the financial
horizon. in stature holding his own
among giants. then growing gradual
". inch by inch, dominated his sur
rounding level sky line.
Harrington, old, honry, scanned
Scared. MANNED in onslaughts Of long
forgotten battles, looked long and hard
upon this weird of his own dead youth
which now rose towering to confront
him, menacing him with the armed
point Of the same shield behind which
he himself had so long found shelter
the law.
The closing of the courts enforced
armed truces along certain lines OF
Plank's battle front, the adjournment
of the legislature emptied Albany
Once 1t was rumored that Plank had
passed an entire morning with the
governor of the greatest state in the
Union and that the conference was ia
be repeated. A swarm Of newspaper
men settled about the governors sum
mer cottage at Saratoga, but they
learned nothing, nor could they find
trace Of Plank's tracks in the trod'
den trails Of the great spa.
Besides, the racing had begun. Des
mond, Burbank, Sneed and others OF
the gilded guild had opened new club
houses. There was plenty of copy fol
newspaper men without the daily spec
ulative paragraph devoted to the do
ings of Beverly Plank. Some scandal
too-but newspapers never touch that
And after all it was nobody's analr
that Leroy Mortimer drove large
yellow and black touring car, new
model, all over Saratoga county. Per
haps the similarity Of machines gave
rise to the rumor Of Plank's presence
perhaps not, because the car was often
driven by tall, slender girl with dark
eyes and hair, and nobody ever saw
that sort Of pretty woman in Plank
car or saw Leroy Mortimer for many
days without companion Of that spe-
cies.
Mortimers health was excellent
The races had not proved remunera-
tive, however, and his new motor car
was horribly expensive. SO was Ly'
dia. And he began to be seriously
afraid that by the end of August he
would be obliged to apply to Quarter
once more for some slight temporary
token Of that genueman's good will.
He told Lydia this, and she seemed to
agree with him. This pleased him.
She had not pleased him very much
recently. For one thing she was be-
coming too friendly with some Of bis
friends, Desmond in particular.
Plank, it was known, had opened his
great house ut Black Fells. His serv-
ants, gamekeepers, were there, his
stables, kennels, greenhouses, model
stock farm-all had been put in I'm
maculate condition pending the advent
of the master But Plank had not
appeared. His new seagoing steam
yacht Siwanoa still lay In the East nv
er. and at rare intervals signthcant
elimner of bunting disclosed the own