Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1909-07-08

could be no outside help. A thousand
pounds. The money must be paid be-
fore the week had elapsed, or some
binding promise given. And there
could be no outside help.
Trotty had found but one answer to
the question paramount Put in SYM
pathetic English, he had decided to
commit suicide. His life insurance
for thousand pounds was the help
Harding required. the only help he
could give. There was no other way.
He had reasoned it all out carefully
And he gave 1t gladly. For the sixth
Harding's sake, and for the sake Of
the wonderful "only girl In the world"
After ALL what was It? His race was
run. Beth married, he would have
nothing to live for. There was no al
tentative.
Confronting the INFINITE necessities
steady eye born Of a pure heart
Trotty faced it unfiinchinEly. There
was no bravado, no pathos in his at
titude. He had estimated to the full
the crime he had decided upon. And
that it was a crime he fully under
stood. There must be no mistake, for
suicide Is greater disgrace than en-
bezzlement.
For long time he had been troubled
with his heart, and had been In the
habit of occasionally taking strych-
be very easy to take an overdose by
mistake. Very easy indeed.
The first step was to make Harding
the beneficiary in his policy. The COM
pany he was insured with was old and
trustworthy. He had paid his prem
iums faithfully for years. The COM
pany would pay promptly and without
cavil.
He had intended the thousand pounds
to be divided between the seven daugh-
tiers. but now a greater necessity had
arisen. There would be enough left to
start Harding afresh. His next step
was to write to Harding's firm. assur-
ing them of the ultimate settlement of
their loss. Then Trotty bent every eff
fort to make Beth's marriage a sue
cess.
And Beth's marriage was a success
As many OF the six daughters who
could came on with their husbands for
the event. 1t was gala day, and
even the neighbors were en- fete. Moth
ing that love and money could supply
had been omitted. And Trotty was
the gayest Of them all. 1t was the
eliminating point in his existence. The
finishing touch had been put on his
lifes work. No, there remained one
other. But that would be tomorrow
AS the guests fingered over the fare
well supplied in the dining room, Trot-
ty slipped away unnoticed to his room
He was feeling very strange. 1t sud-
denly seemed as If he had come out
of a very long illness. He felt curl
ously weak. Now that Beth was mar
ried the last Drop seemed to have
fallen from his life. The stimulant
had vanished. His heart was fiutter-
ing, beating against his breast like
some bird battling for freedom.
His years, his overdrawn energy the
excitement-all had risen up suddenly
to take their toll, and would not be
denied. Hope, necessity, were not
there to battle against them as they
had done in the old days. And his
heart-why would it persist in racing
like an engine by fits and starts, and
then throb away to mere half beat?
1t was all so very queer.
He went unsteadily ito a small desk
that stood between the windows, and
unlocked a drawer. No. he would not
take any strychnine just yet. Some
how the drug had taken on the shape
of huge denunciation during the past
day. Instead, he unlocked another
drawer. and brought out an old pho.
tograph. faded to discreet yellow. In
the gathering twilight he scanned it
with loving near-sighted eyes, and
then kissed it reverently. A burst of
merriment came frcm the dining room
and some one started to play the we'd
ding march. Trotty smiled.
He remembered the day when the
"only girl in the world" had had the
Photograph taken. She was then just
Beths age. and. indeed, this seventh
daughter was more like her than any
Of the others. Trotty wondered II
he loved her more than he did any Of
hA ~ ho 81 IN nv
now that Harding was in trouble 1t
seemed to him that the sixth daughter
was the one to be cherished more than
all. The old photograph smiled at him
through the years, and seemed to say
I've been watching all that you've
done for my girls. Nothing has escaped
me; nothing is forgotten
Trotty wondered, now that he had
come to the end Of the road, what his
long life would have been like If these
seven little women had not been in 1t.
What would 1t have been like if the
only girl in the world" and he had
carried out their little romance to the
end; If there had been for her and
him, as there was this very minute
for Beth, the chords of a wedding
march and the tinkling of the wedding
merriment?
But such thoughts belonged to that
day Of long ago, when the photograph
in his land had not been discreet
yellow. He had done his best. He
would do the one thing left, and il
after that the price of his old love was
not paid, somewhere, somehow, out in
eternity he would know it.
Dear" he whispered. bending over
the old photograph. dear, Beth Is just
married-the last one. They are all
happy. And 1t will be all right with
Jack" A sudden spasm Of pain grip
Ieo at his heart, and he CROPPED blind
Is to chair. In a flash a great under.
standing broke upon him like a bril-.
liant light. God had understood. His
old, while head fell forward upon his
breast. Trotty had gone, unsullied, on
his long expected holiday.