, 1909-03-18

his gaze. she looked away anu
stammered lamely: "You-you should
MT say such things, you know"
why not? Hasn't everything been
running smooth the last few days?
Haven't we been good chummy com-
rades? or course you've got the worst
of the deal. | know I'm not much on
fancy talk; but 1 like to hear 1T when
I've a chance. I've led a lone ;ome
sort of life since they did for my. sis
ters- No. I'm not going to rake that
up again. I'm only trying to give you
an idea what 1T means to a fellow to
be with a lady like you. Maybe it
isn't polite to tell you all this, but It's
Just what I feel, and I never did
amount to shucks as a liar"
81 believe l understand you, Mr..
Blake. and ! really feel highly COM
p~limented."
mo, you don't. any such thing, Miss
Jenny. Own up now! II / met you
tomorrow on your papa's doorstep.
you'd cut me colo"
II should if o continued to be so
rude. Have you no regard for my
feelings? But here we are. talking
nonsense when we should be going
"Is 1t nonsense?" he broke In.
What does life mean, anyway? Here
we can be true friends and comrades
real, free living people. 1t can't be
that you want to go back to all those
society shams after you've seen real
iifei AS for me, what have / to gain
by going back to the everlasting
grind? l don't mind work; but when
a man has nothing ahead to work foI
but a bank account, when it's grind,
grind, grind till your head goes stale
and all the world looks black, then
there's NO choice but throw up your
Job and 20 on a drunk, IL you want 10
keep from a gun accident. Maybe
you don't understand 1t. But that's
what I've had to go through, time and
again. Do you wonder / like to fancy
an everlasting picnic here, with a
little partner who wouldn't let me
come within shouting distance of her
in the land of Observation-Disclosures and
peek-a-boos@"
"Mr. Blake. really you are most I'M
just! l could not be $3.50 migrate
full, after all your kindness. I've
should certainly be glad to number
you among our friends"
Drink and all, eh?"
"a man of your will-power has no
need whatever to give a to such a
habit"
Course not, II he's got anything
in sight worth while. Guess, though,
my folks must have been poor white
trash. never could go after money
Just for the fun of the game. No
family, no friends, notwithstanding
t?-culture- What's the use? ]
have a fair head for figures; but all
the mathematics that l know I've had
to catch hot off the bat. It's true ]
: grubbed my C. E. out of a CORE
!, spondence school; but a fellow has to
have an %all-round, crack-up education
to put him where it's worth while"
You still have time to work up
You are not much over 30"
"Twenty-seven."
'"Twenty-seven! / should have
l thought What a hard life you must
have had!"
!, Hard work? Well. l suppose Pana'
: SO much that. Few fellows could hit
{ up the pace I've set and come out al
e ALL"
i 90 not unQeTSIduu.
"Just what you might expect OF q
fellow in my fx--all kinds Of gamble
5 and drink and-the rest Of it."
Miss Leslie looked away, visfbly
distressed. She had not been reared
after the French method. Young as
I she was, she had futtered at will
about the borders of the garden OF
vice, knowing well that the gaudy
blossoms were lures to entice n into
the pitfall. Yet neve before had she
I caught SO clear a glimpse Of the Shiny
I depths.
That's it," growled Blake. Throw
/ me down cold just because I'm square
t enough to tell you straight out. You
# make me tired! I'm not n Of the
work-ox sort, that car chew the cud
r all the year round and cork the blood
out of their brains. I've got to cut
$ loose from the Internal grind once In
a while, and barring . chance now and
- then at opera. there's never been any
z thing but a spree
r "Oh, but that's SO dreadfully shock
a ing, Mr.. Blake!"
And then like all the other little
hypocrites, you'll go and marry one
{ Of those swell dudes who's made thai
l. sort of thing his business, n every
body knows it, but it's all politely un
r derstood to've been sub rosa, so it,
all right, because he knows how tc
part his name in the middle and"
L please, please stop, Mr.. Blake!
e Yep don't know how-crnel You are,'