Evening star., 1909-06-28
CHAPTER XX-Continued.

big tumble. of course. For those that
owns it outright that'll be no great loss.
cause it'll rocket again as soon as | sick
one of my judges onto the bills consti-
tootionality But the fellers I've tipped
off to buy on margin-d'you understand
all this line of talk?-those fellers are
plungin pretty deep, / hear, AM
Twill they lose much?"
Some Of 'em are li'be to be bout
wiped out, l guess The ergant AMI
Nicholas Caine, f'r instance, an old Reu-
ben Standish. He'll go to pot. sure. An
Mr."
You mean they went into this on
your advice and if you aren't there TO
stand by them they will be ruined?"
Just bout that, 1 guess. Don't blame
me- They wasn't 'bliged to take my
tips an I'm not responsible for 'em.
Anyhow, they've made enough of me
You must go back" she declared. Il
was very wrong. 1t just shows what
harm a fiuff-brained girl can do by polk
ing her fingers into business she doesn't
with startled awe, IF you'd done as l
asked, who knows how many families
might have been made horribly poor?
And it would all have been my fault
You must go back.
But. Dey!" he protested. you're all
off. It's no affair of mine what that
gold-shirt crowd put their cash on. 1
don't owe anything to 'em. An If J. can
give you good time by stayin the
whole bunch OF 'em can hire brass
all 1 care. If you say stay I'll stay"
Il say you mustn't" she insisted
And it was dear of you to be willing to
for my sake. Anyway III see you again
in three weeks. That won't be SO very
long" >,
grumbled Caleb, and the subject drop
ped.
They were on their way to the pretty
waterside building that served the quad
-ruple purpose Of casino, store, post ofnce
and boathouse for the Antlers. The
arrival of the evening mail was one of
the days two great events; the other
being the morning mails advent. The
night had sting to its air; and the
mail-time gathering was held in the
or dock. A tall clerk was busy sorting
letters and packages to eager groups OF
sweater-clad girls and to men In cold
weather outing garb., Conover and
Desiree, awaiting their turn. leaned
against the glass cases opposite the the
laughing. excited guests.
What / can't see." commenced Caleb,
lis why evrybody's always In such
sweat about their mail. What is there
in 1t for any one? To ev'ry env,lope
that has bills; an a dozen with ad-
v'tisements. To ev'ry letter that's worth
readin' there's ten that's stoopid or
grouchy or maxim a hard-luck touch
An as for soov'nir postals-the only
EN-. People come up here to get away
from the world they've been livin' in.
Yet they scramble for noospapers an
letters from that same world like they
was stranded on desert island. Here
our chance"
The crowd had thinned. Caleb and
Desiree went forward to the mail counter.
For Conover there was a sheaf OF let
ters in business envelopes. He thrust
them without glance into the pocket
of his tweed overcoat- Desirees sole
mail consisted Of a long pasteboard box
thickly strewn with vari-colored stamps
and bearing the gold-lettered legend or
a New York florist.
In second her quick fingers had torn
away the wrappings. AS the box was
lifted a Whit Of warm fragrance rushed
out. filing the room
"Oh." gasped Desiree. burying her face
rapturously in a crimson nest OF Amert-
can beauty roses.
Then, her cheeks aglow and her eyes
shining she lifted her head and faced
Conover.
Thank you! Thank you SO much"
she exclaimed. "It was perfectly darling
of you to remember my birthday 50
beautifully And / love American beau
ties so. I might have known you
would think of that. It's just like you:
Smell them! What q dear, thoughtful
blessed old"
She checked herself at sight of Con-
overs blank expression. If her own face
had borrowed the flush Of her armful
of roses. Caleb had eXacted similar trib-
ute from a whole wagonload of imag-
mary peonies.
'I'm-rm sorry. Dey." he blurted out
at last, but they amt from me. I
well, they must be from somebody who's
got more sense. 1 didn't think to get
you anything at ALL 1 didn't ever know
folks gave reg'lar presents on birth
days"
Of the happy light from Desiree's eyes
had its usual effect Of leaving him word
less and miserable.
The girl, embarrassed. fell to turning
the flowers over in their long box. She
looked little tired and her arrange
card was disodged from among stems
and fell to the floor. Caleb. picking 1t up
read Jack Hawarden's name.
THE measly brat!' ragged Conover to
back an yet he can bring off grand
stand play like this an make her look
like she was a kid seein' her first Christ
mas tree! An now I've made her look
like she wanted to cry! Lord! If don't
give her a whole joolry store for Christ
mas. I'm a Chinaman"'
Never mind. dear old boy" she whis-
pered. pressing close to his arm as they
turned to mount the hill on the way to
the Hawarden cottage, Til make believe
they're from you and that will be every
bit as nice as il they really were. And
you've done more lovely things for me
than everybody else put together. And
won't have you looking pathetic. Stop
It. Now. smile. Oh. what squidgy.
weak sort Of a smile? It's all right.
tell you 1 know you'd have given me
much lovelier roses than these If you'd
thought"
That's just it, he growled bitterly.
II don't think. I never think. l guess
bloc's If I'd make a hit with you. Dey.
But what good does that do? When it
comes to bein on hand with the million
dinky little stunts that women likes
I'm always a mile away, somewhere,
hoein corn. l wouldn't blame you If
you-
Stop" she cried, a break in her voice.
you shan't talk that way. Do you sup
pose all the presents in the world would
you here this two weeks? Would any
present have cost you one-tenth the
sacrifice of giving up your work for my
sake? And just now you offered to
throw away thousands of dollars and
wreck half a dozen of peoples fortunes
in order to please me by staying longer
at the Antlers. What more could any
one do for me than you do?"
II don't know" he answered simply.
I Gy,I