Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1908-03-18

upright in her low chair, every curved
outline rigid under the flowing silken
wrap, stared at him as though stun
ned.
"Well, we're good for it, aren't wew
he said threateningly. eff he's going
to turn ugly about it, here's the
house?"
'My-housew
Eyes. your house! l suppose you'd
rather raise something on the house
than have the thing come out in the
papers,"
do you think SOP" she asked, star
ing into his bloodshot eyes.
Eyes, 1 do. Pm sure of itY'
"You are wrong"
"You mean that you are not inclined
to stand by me-" he demanded.
eyes, l mean that"
''You don't intend to help me out?"
81 do not intend to-not this time"
He began to show his big teeth and
that nervous snickering stick" witch
ed his upper lip.
'How about the divorce courts" he
sneered. "Do you want to figure in
them with Plank"
"I don't want to-" she said steadily,
shut you cannot brighten me by that
threat"
ooh! Can't brighten you! Perhaps
you think you'll marry Plank when
get a decree? Do you? We'll, you
won't for several reasons. First, be-
cause I'll name other correspondents
and that will make Plank sick; second,
because Plank wants to marry some
body else and I'm able to assist him.
So where do you come out in the
shuffie?" -
81 don't know" she said under her
breath and rested her head against the
back of the chair. as though suddenly
tired
"Well, l know. You'll come out
smirched, and you know it." said Nor
timer, gazing intently at her. "Look
here, Leila. l didn't come mere TO
threaten you. I'm no blackmailer.
I'm no criminal, I'm simply decent
sort of a man, who is pretty badly
scared over what he's done in a mo-
ment Of temptation. You know had
no thought of anything except to bor-
row enough on my l o U's to make
a killing at Burbank's. l had to show
them something big, so l filed in that
check, not meaning to use it. and be-
fore 1 knew it I'd Endorsed it and was
plunging against it. Then they stack
ed everything on me-by God, they
did, and if had not been in the condi-
ton l was in I'd have stopped pay
ment. But it was too late when I re-
allied what / was against. Leila, you
know I'm not a bad man at heart
Can't you help a fellow"
His manner, completely changed,
had become the resentful and fretful
appeal Of the victim of plot and cir
cumstance. All the savage brutality
had been eliminated. The sheer, the
truculent attempts to browbeat, the
pitiful swagger, the cynical justiica-
ton, all were gone. 1t was really the
man himself now, normally scared and
repentant; the frightened, overfed pen
sioner on his wife's bounty, not the
human beast maddened by fear and
dissipation, half stunned, half panic
stricken, driven by sheer terror into a
role which even he shrank from-had
shrunk from all these years. For,
leech and parasite that he was, Nor
timer, however much the dirty acqui-
sition of money might tempt him in
theory, had not yet brought himself to
the point of attempting the practice,
even when in sorest straits and bitter
est need. He didn't want to do it.
He wished to get along without it,
partly because of native inertia and
an aversion to the mental nimbleness
that he would be required to show as
a iawbreaker, partly because the word
"blackmail" stood for what he did not
dare suggest that he had come to, even
to himself. His distaste was genuine.
There were certain things which he
didn't want TO commit, and extortiOn
was one of them. He could at pinch
lie to his wife or try to scare her into
giving him money. He could when
necessary borrow from such men
as Plank, but he had never cheated at
cards, and he had never attempted to
blackmail anybody except his wife
which, of course, was purely a family
matter and concerned nobody else.
His policy of alternately frightening,
dragooning and supplicating Leila had
carried him so far, and though it was
true that this was a more serious stu
alton than he had ever yet faced he
was convinced that his wife would
pull him out somehow, and how that
was to be accomplished he did not
very much care as long as he was pull
ed out safely.