The Nevada County picayune., 1909-05-20

Ralph Schuyler, went to prep. school with him. so 1 got his character straight off the bat. His father was patent m 4dicine man from Mississippi, who made a fair pile. couple of hun dred thousand which looked good to that section. you know. l don't know anything about his people except that his father made the Celebrated At kins' Ague Busters;' and that Atkins was ashamed of his people and shook his married sisters who came to see him, in rather a brutal fashion; but l know a thing or two about him; he was one of those bounders who curry favor with the faculty and the popular boys and never break rules apparently, but go off and have sly little bats by themselves He never was popular, yet, somehow, he got into things; he knew where to lend money; and he was simply sickeningly clever; in math he was wonder. Ralph hated him. For one thing, he caught him in a dirty lie. Atkins hated him back and contriyed to prevent his being elected class president, and when he couldn't prevent Ralph's making his senior society the happy thought struck Atkins to get on the initiation committee. They had cheery little branding game to make the fellows quite sure they belonged, you know, and he rammed his cigar stump into Ralph's arm so that Ralph had blood poisoning and narrow squeak for his life You see that I'm not prepos sessed in the fellows favor He's got too vivid an imagination for me-,
 Seems to have" acquiesced the colonel
 T think, you know"-Tracy made an effort to be just-'I think Atkins was rather soured Some of the fellows made fun of the 'Ague Busters; he had a notion that the reason Il was such up hill work for him in the school was his fathers trade. No doubt he did get nasty licks at first: and he's revengful. He hasn't got on in society out side either-this he lays to his not being a university man, You see his father lost some of his money and put him to work instead of in college. He was willing enough at the time-l think he wanted to get married-but afterward. when he was getting a good salary and piling up money on his tips, he began to think that he had lost more than he had bargained for. Al together. he's sOured. Now, what he o,l- ht1t, fl or inc strike and to pull out of Wall street, buy what he calls a seat on the James and set up for a southern gen tleman. He's trying to marry south ern girl, they say who is kin to the Carters and the Byrds and the Lees and the Carys-why, you know her, she's Mrs Winters secretary.
 "Does-does she care for him?' The colonel suddenly felt his mouth parched; he was savagely conscious of his mounting color What tiendish trick of fate, he had never dreamed of this, We'll whether she cared for him or not, the man was a brute; he shouldn't get her. That was one cer. tainty in the colonels mind.
 Why. Cary vows she doesn't, that it was only a girlish bit of nonsense up in Virginia, that time he was pros pecting. you know. But I don't feel so safe Shes too nice for such a eur. But you know what women are; the incest of them seem to be awfully queer about men. There's no betting on them.
 I'm afraid not" remasked the colo nel lightly But he put his fingers in- side his collar and loosened it, as if he felt choked.
 Because he had a dozen questions quarrclins for precedence in his head, he asked not one He only inquired regarding the situation; discovering that both Mercer and Tracy were equally in the dark with himself as to Atkins plans, Atkins store of infor- nation. Atkins resources. How he could have waylaid Tracy and the boy without knowing whence they came was puz2ling; il was quite as puzzling, however assuming that he did know their whereabouts, to decide why he was so keen 10 interTogate the boy. In fact, it was, as Tracy said, too much like Prof Santa Anna's description of a German definition of metaphysics. "A blind man hunting in a dark room for a black eat that isn't there. -
 Tn any event, you would better keep away from me was the colonels sum ming up of the situation; "I don't want 10 he inhosPitable. but the sooner you are off, and out of the hotel, the safer for ycGr speculation
 Friends will please accept the in- timahon, said Tracy, ood-hmnoredIy. "Vory well, it's 23 for me. I'm hopine you'N see your way clear to run over as scon as the old man has surren- dercd; I'm going to invite him to make HIS a proper visit, then and see the