Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1908-07-17

II aonr Know" she said under hef
breath and rested her head against tne
back of the chair, as though suddenly
tired.
"Well, | know. You'll come out
smirched, and you know it, SAID NOR
timer, gazing intently at her, LOOK
hey.. Leila. didn't come here to
threaten you. I'm no blackmaiier.
I'm no criminal. Pm simply decent
sort of man, who is pretty Dadly
scared over what he's done i'll a. mo-
ment of temptation. You know l had
no thought of anything except to bor-
row enough on my ] o US to make
q killing at Burbank's. | had to snow
them something big, so filled In that
check, moi meaning to use 1t, and be-
fore | knew it I'd Endorsed 1t and was
plunging against it, Then they stack
ed everything on me-by Cod. they
did and If had not been In the condl-
ton | was in Id have stopped pay
ment. But 1t was too late when ! re-
allied what was against. Leila, you
know Pm not bad man at heart
Can't you help fellow"
His manner, completely changed,
had become the resentful and fretful
appeal of the victim of plot and cir
cumstaice. All the savage brutality
had been eliminated. The sheer. the
truculent attempts to browbeat, the
pitiful swagger the cynical justihca-
ton, all were gone. 1t was really the
man himself now. normally scared anu
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 Il
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 1t.
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 lawbreaker, partly because the word
"blackmai" 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 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 more serious situ-
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.
"What this household requires" he
said, lis economy" He spread bis
legs, denting the Aubusson carpet with
his boot heels, and glanced askance at
his wife. Economy" he repeated,
furtively wetting his lips with 4
heavily coated tongue, that's the true
solution Economical administration
in domestic matters. Retrenchment,
Leila, retrenchment. Fewer folderols."
Leila's head was lowered. He could
not see her expression. but he had al
ways been confident of his ability to
talk himself out of trouble, so he ram