The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1908-08-26

broom gTtnned dtdbolicdlly as he re-
Suned the rtiblfnO of his hands.
He was past thirty-1ve when he en-
tered the school. at least twelve years
the senior of Bansemer.
His appearance and attire proclaimed
him to be from the country, but his
sophistry, his knowledge Of the world
and his wonderful insight into human
nature contradicted his looks immeas-
urably. A conflict or two convinced
his fellow students that he was more
than a match for them i'm stealth and
cunning If not in dress and deport-
ment.
Elias broom had not succeeded as a
lawyer. He repealed people, growing
more and more bitter against the world
as his struggles became harder. What
little money he had accumulated-heav
en- alone knew how he came by it
dwindled to nothing, and he was in &C
tual squalor when later Bansemer
found him in an attic in Baltimore.
Even as he engaged the half starved
wretch to become his confidential clerk
the lawyer shuddered and almost re-
pented of his action.
But Elias broom was worth his
weight in gold to James Bansemer
from that day forth. His employers
sole aim in life was to get rich and
thereby TO achieve power His ambl-
ton was laudable If one accepts the
creed of morals, but his methods were
not so praiseworthy. After a year or
two of starvation struggles to get on
with the legitimate he packed up his
scruples and laid them away-tempo-
rarily, he said He resorted TO sharp
practice, knavery and all the forms of
legal blackmail. 1t was not long be-
fore his bank account began to swell.
His business thrived. He was so clev-
er that not one of his shady proceed
ings reacted. 1t is safe to venture that
80 per cent Of the people who were
bilked through his manipulations prom
ised In the heat of virtuous wrath to
expose him. but he had learned to
smile in security. He knew that ex-
posture for him meant humiliation for
the instigatOr, and he continued to rest
easy while he worked hard.
You're getting rich at this sort of
thing" observed broom one day after
the lawyer had closed a particularly
nauseous deal to his own satisfaction,
'but what are you going to do when
the tide turns?'
Bansemer, lrritated on perceiving that
the other was engaged in his exasper-
~ of v-,,hl no 10 70
gether, did not answer, but merely
Numbered out "Will you stop thatT
There was a faint suggestion of the
possibility of transition Of the hands
to claws as broom abruptly desisted,
but smilingly went on:
"Some day the other shark will get
the better of you, and you'll have moth
ing to fall back on. You've been build
ing on mighty slim foundations. There
isn't a sign of support If the worst
comes to the worst" he chuckled.
tits a large world, Droom," said his
employer easily.
"And small also, according to another
saying" supplemented broom. "Wheh
a mans down, everybody kicks him.
I'm afraid you could not survive the
kicking"
broom grinned so diabolically as
again he resumed tile rubbing of his
hands that the other turned away, with
an oath, and closed the door TO the in
side office. Bansemer was alone and
where Droom's eyes could not see him,
but something told him that the grin
hung outside the door for many min
utes, as If waiting for chance to pop
in and tantalize him.
Bansemer was a good looking man of
the coarser mold-the kind Of man that
merits second look in passing, and
the second look is not always in his
favor. He was thirty-fve years of age,
but looked older. His face was hard
and deeply marked with the lines of In
tensity. The black eyes were fascinat-
ing in their brilliancy, but there was a
cruel, savage light in their depths. The
nose and mouth were clean cut and
pitiless in their very symmetry. Short
ly after leaving college to hang out his
shingle he had married the daughter
of a minister. For two years her sweet
influence kept his efforts along the
righteous path, but he writhed beneath
the yoke Of poverty. His pride suffered
because he was unable to provide her
with more of the luXuries Of life. In
his selfish way he loved her. Failure
to advance made him surly and i'll tenn
pered, despite her amiable efforts to
tighten the shadows around their little
home. When the baby boy was born
to them and she suffered more and
more from the unkindness of privation
James Bansemer, by nature an aggres-
sor, threw off restraint and plunged
into the traffic that soon made him in
famously successful. She died, how
ever, before the faint of his duplicity
touched her. and he. even in his grief.