The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1910-06-07

these walls. That's fair isn't it,"
That's nothing but Just" said
Winfield
But how are you to get an intro
duction?" said Sprague Old John
Castlemaine is very particular as to
whom he has at his house, and al
though have consented to this
business, I'll take no part in it,"
Nor l." said Purvis, and now
/ come to think about it, ! with
draw from it altogether
Except to pay YOU hundred
pounds. if | succeed said Leicester.
You cant back out from that,
remarked Winfield.
Still, I'll be a party to nothing,
he said weakly. "Of course know
it'll end in nothing. Miss Castle
maine is one of the cleyerest won
en- / know, and shell see through
everything at a glance
Then, I'm TO have fair play?'
"Oh. yes, | shall not interfere with
YOU. There will be no neeh'
That is 60 say, not whisper of
this conversation goes outside this
room"
"Of course that fs but fair" urg
ed Winfield again.
Very we'll" said Puryis, Il shall
say nothing; but mind you. l do
not believe in the business. It's
wrong, it's not-well, its not in good
form. But there, 1t doesn't matter.
Itn end in nothing
Exactly" said Leicester, but there
was a strange light in his eyes. And
you. Sprague, you'll act straight
too?"
"Oh, certainly" said Sprague. Il
shall say nothing; all the same
don't like it, But Leicester'll give up
the whole idea tomorrow. He'd new
er have thought of it If he hadn't
been drunk"
81 drunk, my friends am as
sober as the Nonconforming parson
of the church that Miss Castlemaine
attends. I'm as serious as Judge.
No, no. | stand on principle-prin
ciple, my friends. | have a theory OF
life. and | stand by it, and am
ready to make sacrifices.
But how are you to get an in.
troduction?" asked Sprague. Evi-
IDENTIFY he was uneasy in his mind.
Leave that to me; | ask you to
do nothing but to hold your tongues
and that you've promised to do. !
stand alone. I'm like your Martin
Luther of old times. Against me are
arrayed conventions and orthodoxy
pride and prejudice - thunders
temporal and spiritual, but | fear
them not II, poor solitary cynic,
am stronger than you all, because !
stand on truth, and you stand on
sentiment, convention, orthodoxy.
Gentlemen, l drink to you in very
mediocre club whiskey; nay, | don't
drink to you, drink to the man
who stands on truth-truth. gentle
men, truth"
Again he lifted a glass Of whis
key to his lips and set 1t down.
1empty.
I'm going to bed" said Sprague.
And l." said Purvis.
And |, gentlemen, remain here,
said Leicester. Like all men who
undertake great enterprises, ] must
make my plans. As champion of
truth. | must vindicate it. | live TO
rid the world of lies, Of sham. of
hypocricy Goodnight. gentlemen,
good night"
The whiskey was beginning TO
show its effect at last, although his
voice was still clear his hand still
steady An unhealthy flush had come
to his cheeks, the strange look in
his eyes had become more pro
nOunced.
And yet had a stranger entered
the room at that moment, that
stranger would have been struck by
his tall, stalwart figure and his
striking face. For Radford Leicester
was no ordinary looking man. Com
parel with him the others were
commonplace. Neither was his face
bad face. 1t suggested lack of
faith. and lack of hope, but 1t did
not suggest evil. Moreover. the we'll
shaped head, the broad forehead.
the finely formed features, suggest
ed intellectually and force of char
acter 1t also told of a man wnom
nothing could daunt when his mind
was made up. But il was not the
face of a happy man. No man who