The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-05-10

Billy Prior started for the door. Once
he reached, 1t, however, he paused
turned suddenly, and came back.
''Why?"
That was what he had asked himself
too often. Now he was asking her.
Well, thunder! so he told himself, he
had a right to.
I'm a game gutter, Genevieve," he
assured her, ''but there must be a rea-
son. and I've got to know it. Seer"
Genevieve backed into a corner, and
still shook her head.
rs there somebody else?" persisted
Prior.
Genevieve smiled. NO." she answer
ed, you know that. Who could there
be?"
Prior gloomily seated himself up
on a straightforward chair.
I'm right here until I know" he
announced.
Genevieve hesitated for an instant.
Then she crept softly into a chair fac
ing him. and glanced squarely into his
eyes.
Fguess you've got a right to know,
Billy" she finally assented, land I'm
going TO tell you"
Tell me-
The girl drew a long breath. TITS
finally conceded.
Billy Prior rose and sprang toward
her, his arms outstretched. Despair
dropped from his face. and hope-no,
certainty, stood there in its stead.
"Genevieve." he cried.
But the girl merely drew back into
her corner once more, and once more
snook her head.
You don't understand, Billy" she
went on. and L must make you under
stand. love you too much to marry
you"
TOO much to marry me?" repeated
Prior.
She nodded briskly. Love isn't
enough for me, or for you, either, Bill
~, | must admire the man 1 marry.
If I can't, I shall not be happy, and
my unhappiness is going to drag him
down"
And you can't admire me, can
your sighed Billy Prior. He laughed.
"Well, l don't blame you he admitted.
"If I could make you understand
the girl answered him. If L could
only make you see things as l see them.
You're a failure, Billy Prior. Now I've
said it. And 1 mean it. And yet you
don't understand.
win you put yourself in my place,
Just for once?" she went on MY
father-he's the man I've lived with all
my lie. He's a failure, Billy-a dismal
failure. oh, how sick at heart it makes
me. Yes, l love him, but l can't adj
mire him. L can hardly respect him.
He's good, and he's good to me. But
YOU can't understand. He hasn't got
what 1 demand in men. He hasn't got
success And-the whole thing taints
my love for him"
Prior had turned pale. 'Genevieve,
he said, ''listen to me. If you love me,
come with me. / know that I'm thirty
two years old. 1 know that I'm barely
scraping together twelve hundred a
year But what of it? Let us start in
two rooms. Let us-Don't sacrifice the
happiness of two people like thisr'
Genevieve stopped him. 1T is just
what l am not going to do" she an
swered. 4 am not going to sacrifice
our happiness. Oh" she burst forth,
cant you understand? What do l
care about the money part of it. L
could live in a howell with the man who
had-who had accomplished things;
who had once, by his own efforts, been
somebody If you had twelve thousand
a year l wouldn't marry you-unless
that twelve thousand stood for some
thing in your blood. something that
I am looking for in men-Success. You
don't know me, Billy. I'm starving for
the thing I've never had. My grand
fathers, my father, my uncles-look at
them think of them, stumbling fall ,
ures! I've watched you, Billy, hoping I
against hope" {
Something belligerent mingled with
the confused expressions upon BIlly's 7
face.
DO YOU really understand what +,
you're talking about?" he Querled I
Don't you know there's nothing in !
success but luck? Don't you believe
there may have been ten or nun c
bred Abraham Lincolns who never had :
he chance TO take first place? Don't !
,ou believe there are a thousand Theo- :
lore Roosevelts actually starving in ,
,bscurity today, who, were they placed }
n his high place, would do what he
,oes. would be what he is? Don't you?"
She smiled sadly. Luck" she re- !,
heated. Her lip curled. 1t was the
God her father had fed her. Luck"
every successful man was merely a
lucky man: he had married rich !
wife; he had had a rich father; some "
,ody had left him fortune; he had
political pull: there was always some
and its name was
Luck" 1t sickened her.
IT'S no use, Billy" she went on,
YOU even have the patter of the un- $
uccessful man. 'Luck?' Why. to me ;
here's no such thing as luck. I've read n
bout successful men, and l can put b
nv finger upon their every move, and a
how you how they created opportu- e
Iitv themselves. Look at me. Can't c
ou see how feel? Can't you see am
lot sordid? 1 don't care for wealth or $
osition or ease. but, Billy, I'm going
o be very frank; I'm going to be IN Il
sonani1y; 1 do want man. l want 10 n
marry q man in whose veins runs the 1
hing I'm looking for-Success. If he Il
oesn't find me; if I don't find him; p
hen can't marry anybody else. If II
hould. then the man Ia marry would :
e unhappier than L. +,
She held forth her hand. a.
billy" she went on, very softly. Il h
Ike You too much TO make you UNI ;,
appy by marrying you" -
Lets take a chance, Genevieve,'
loaded Prior; IF we marry know ;,