Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-07-23
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Yes. Just got in few minutes ago.
The road expects to do lot of work
west his year, and I've been talking
with the ways and means gentlemen
polite and parliamentary way to put
it,
:. Il suppose Wen all be congratulating
you after the annual election, Mr.. Ca
ble?"
"Oh, that's just talk, my boy. Wine.
mann is the logical man for president
But where is Jane?''
"She's-ah-downstairs, think" said
the tall young man, putting vigorously.
Il came up-er-to see you about Jane,
Mr.. Cable. l have asked her to be my
wife, SIR
For full minute the keen eyes of
the older man. sharpened by strife and
experience, looked straight into the
earnest gray eyes of the young man
who now stood across the room w.t.:
his hand on the mantelpiece. Cables
cigar was held poised in his fingers,
half way to his lips. Graydon Ban
semer felt that the man aged a year in
that brief moment.
"You know, Graydon, l love Jane
myself" said Gable at last, arising
slowly. His voice shook
II know, Mr.. Cable. She is every
thing to you. And yet l have come to
ask you to give her to me-"
1T isn't that l have not suspected
aye. known-what the outcome would
be-" said the other mechanically. "She
will marry, l know. 1t is right that
she should. 1t is right that she should
marry you, my boy. You-yon do love
herr" He asked the question almost
fiercely
with all my soul, Mr. Cable She
loves me. l don't know how to con-
vince you that my whole life will be
given to her happiness. 1 am sure 1
cam
Il know. It's all right, my boy. It
it costs a good deal to let her go, but
I'd rather give her to you than to any
man I've ever known. I believe in
YOU"
THANK you. Mr.. Cable" said Graz.
don Bansemer. Two strong hands
clasped each other. and there was no
mistaking the integrity of the grasp.
But this is Il matter in which James
mother is far more deeply concerned
than j" added the older man. ''She
likes you, my boy. l know that to be
true, but we must both abide by her
/ wishes. Ii she has not retired
Jane is with her, Mr. Gable. She
knows by this time"
.She is coming" Mrs. Cables light
footsteps were heard crossing the hall,
and an instant later Bansemer was
, holding open the den door for her to en-
ter. He had fleeting glimpse of Jane
as that tall young woman turned down
| the stairway.
Frances Cables face was white and
drawn. and her eyes were wet. Her
/ husband started forward as she extend
| ed her hand to him. He clasped them
| in his own and looked down into her
| face with the deepest tenderness and
usefulness in his own. Her body
| swayed suddenly, and his expression
changed to one of surprise and alarm.
"Don't-don't mind, DEAR" he said
hoarsely. 1T had to come. Sit down,
do. There. Good Lord, Frances, if
| you cry now Ill-Fll go all to smashr
| He sat down abruptly on the arm of
the big leather chair into which she
had sunk Imply. Something seemed
| to choke him, and his fingers went
nervousiy to his collar. Before them
stood the straight, strong figure of the
man who was to have Jane forever
! Neither of them-nor Jane-knew
what Frances Cable had suffered dur
| ing the last hour. She accidentally had
heard the words which passed between
the lovers in the den downstairs. She
was prepared when Jane came to her
with the news later on. but that prep
aration had cost her more than any of
them ever could know.
1 Lying back in chair after she had
almost crept to her room, she stared
white faced and frightened at the cell
ing until it became peopled with her
/ wretched thoughts. All along she had
seen what was coming. The end was
inevitable. Love as 1t grew for them
had known no regard for her misery
She. could not have prevented its
growth; she could not now Illustrate its
elimination, and yet as she sat there
and stared into the past and the future
she knew that it was left for her tc
drink of the cup which they were fill
ling the cup of their joy and of hel
bitterness.
Fear of exposure at the hand OF
Graydon Bansemer's- father had KEEP
her purposeIy blind to the inevitable
Her woman's intuition long since hat
convinced her that Graydon was no
like his father. She knew him to bt
honorable. noble, fair and worthy
Long and often had she wondered a
james Bansemer's design in permitting
his son to go to the extreme point il
relation with Jane. AS she sat there
and suffered it came to her that tn,
man perhaps had purpose after all
an unfathomable,s selfish design which
none could forestall She knew him TO
all that he was. In that knowledge sh'
felt slight, timid sense of power. III,
stood for honor so far as his son wa
concerned. In fair play she could ex
pose him if he sought to expose her.
But all conjectures, all fears, paies
into insignificance with the one prea