Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1908-04-17

trousers aud adjusted the squat gold
fob, which nrnamented his protrudlng
waiStcuai
so you'n fix II. won't You. Leila|
he said. apparently ohliviuus that he
had expressed himself us able To al
Just the matter In hundred equally
edifying and satisfactory manners.
She did not answer. lie fingered a
moment nj the door. lonkin. back with
an ingratiating lccr. hut she paid him
no attention and he took himself of.
confident that her Su!kineSs could not
result In anything unpleasant 10 any
body except herself
Nor did II. as Tar as he could see
The days brought no noticeable change
IN his wife'S dcmranOr toward him.
Plank. when he met him. was civil
enough. though 1t did occur to Morii-
mer that he saw very little of Plank
In these days.
"Ungratcful bcggar," he thought bit
terry. Hes toadymg to Belwether
now. cant do anything more for
And for awhile he wore either a
truculent. aggrieNed air in Plank's
presence or the meeker demeanor of a
martyr. sentimentally misunderstood
but patient under the atlliction.
Then there came time when he
needed money. During the few days
he spent circlng tentatively and ap-
prehenSivcly around his wife he learn
ed enough To know that there was
money to he had from her ut present
No doubt the money she raised 10 pla-
cate plank-if she had placated him in
that fashion-waS Il strain on her re-
sources. whatever those resources
were
One thing was certain, Plank had
not remained very long In ignorance
of the check drawn against his bal
ance if indeed. as Mortimer feared
the bank itself had not communicated
with Plank as soon as the check was
presented for payment. Therefore
Plank must have been placated by
Leila-how. Mortimer was satisfied not
to know.
"Some of these days" he said to
himself. "lIl catch her tripping and
then there'll be a decent division of
property or - therell be divorce"
But. as usual, Mortimer found such
practices more attractive in theory
than in execution. and he was really
anita tn Ia,
were going, If somebody would see
that he had some money occasionally.
One of these occasions when he need
ed II was approaching He had made
killing" at Desmond's and had used
the money to stop up the more threat
ening gaps in the lettering financial
fabric known as his personal ac-
counts" The fabric would hold for
awhile, but meantime he needed mon
ey to 20 on with. And Leila evidently
had none. He tried everybody except
Plank. He had scarcely the impu-
dence TO go TO Plank just yet, but
when completing the vicious circle he
found his borrowing capacity exhaust
ed and himself once more face to face
with the only hope, Plank. he sat
down to consider seriously the posi-
bility of the matter.
OF course Plank owed him more than
he could ever pay-th ungrateful par
venu!-but what Plank had thought Of
been able to discover.
Somehow or other he must put Plank
under fresh obligations. and that
might have been possible had not
Leila Invaded the ground, leaving
nothing. now that Plank was secure in
club life.
OF course the first thing that pre-
sented itself to MOrtimers conSidera-
ton was the engineering of Plank's
matrimonial ambitions. Clearly the
man had not changed. He was al
ways at Sylvia's heels. He was seen
with her in public. He went to the
BelWether house Il great deal. No pos
sible doubt but that he was as infat-
uated as ever. And Quarter was 60
ing to marry her next November-that
Is. if he, Mortimer. chose to keep 81
lent about Il certain midnight episode
at Shotover.
Several times he called up Quarter
on the phone and made appointments
to lunch with him. but these meetings
never resulted in anything except
luncheons which Mortimer paid for
and matters We're becoming desperate