Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-06-27

An Angry Encounter.


I'm leaving the Office on the first: I'm
going down to the mercantile company
with Walsh
This was the first intimation Wayne
had given his father OF the proposed
change. He had purposely waited until
this last hour before making the an
nouncement. to avoid discussing the mat
ter. Col. Craighill looked up from his
desk quickly and compressed his lips be-
fore speaking. 1t was a blow ne had not
expected and he did not meet 1t at once.
Wayne turned uneasily and. as his father
made no response. he added:
You remember that I kept my interest
there and Tom says I can be OF use to
him. 1 am of no use here-and never
have BEEN
I'm other words. you prefer Walsh to
me as an ally. Very we'll, I might have
expected It, This is the last irony Of my
parenthood and it is quite fitting; quite
in keeping
In the silence following the announce
ment Wayne's heart had been tenderer
toward his father than In many a day
1t was not SO easy after all to leave
him: at a word he might have relented:
with a sharp clatter and his spirit de-
clared war
What's quite fitting: what's in keep
ing?" he demanded.
Your desertion. your apostasy. After
these years OF humiliation you have
brought me. you throw me of as lightly
as though you were q clerk who had
worked here q week and left to take an
other job. But it's what l deserve for
my forbearance. It's too bad you didn't
go sooner. But it's quite characteristic
that you should wait till there was
chance Of your being Of some service to
me. as age comes on and sons right
arm would mean much-yOu walt Tor
volley and leave. No servant ever served
me SO Ill. But deserve it: go to Walsh;
very likely you and he will find your
selves well suited to each other
walsh did your work for you for
twenty years; it's rather base OF you to
visit your contempt on him now. If you
don't know it, every man In Pittsburg
knows what Tom Walsh was to you-he
was your brains"
Col. Craighill jumped to his feet, the
blood suffusing his face.
You ungrateful dog-the reason I dis
pensed with Walsh was that he's crooked
hes a man Of no principles, he's a
rascal,'
But it took you twenty years to find
it out-twenty years of faithful service.
and you gave a farewell dinner to a ras-
cal. your rascal. and babe him God
speed"
Il didn't know then what he was."
roared Col Craighill but have learned
since. He lied about the mercantile
company TO get it away from me. He
falsified the statements and l sold to
him on an inventory he made himself.
No doubt you were in collision with him
and now you're to be paid for robbing
your father. It's all Of a piece; it's
what 1 have trained you for and my re-
ward for shielding you and bearing with
you all these years"
For your prayers. your hypocritical
sniveling, for wearing the martyrs crown
father! Every time I got drunk You re-
sanctif1ed yourself; you were glad when
1 went bad because 1t brought your own
virtue into higher relief. You never met
outer shell of a man; there's no heart in
you; no soul in you! And don't be too sure
you deceive the people of this town; they
know you and just now they're sneering
because they know you've been In trOu-
BILE and they're glad to find that any
thing as perfect as you are has clay
feet. Walsh never said a word OF Ill to
me of you; he served you with the hui
mility you demanded. and the best things
you ever did he managed and you got the
wanted to sail out into snowy schemes
like that Mexican fake and he knew
where they would land you. The finest
testimony Of your high character Is poor
old Gregory. who trusted you-trusted
you like a child because you were the
great Roger Craighill. who could do no
wrong; and when you had got that Sand
Creek deal through you didn't know him
any more. but turned him over to your
lawyer. And he's sitting out there now
in the reception room waiting for you to
see him; he's been trying to see you all
winter, but you won't let him in. And
Addie. poor Addie, up there at the house.
you deceived her. too. for she thought
you went to Boston without her because
you were afraid to spring her on the
Brodericks. she found you out"
II should strike you down for this-for
speaking to me of my wife in such in
famous terms. The fact that you as
sumo the role Of her champion is an in
suit to her-a fragrant, objectionable in
sult!''
Its you that insulted her; you were
ashamed of her; men treat their mis-
tresses better than that. She deserved
better of the great Roger Craighill.'
Suspicion and distrust were warmed In
the fierce flames of Roger Craighilrs
anger.
Why are; you so eager to chan champion
I'm sorry for her, that's the reason;
more than that. 1 knew her before you
did-a poor girl with a hideous mother
tied about her neck. and she married
you in the mistaken belief that you
your passion cooled a little you began to
treat her just as you have treated me-
as an incumbrance to be borne and sur
fered. And don't you believe, because
never told you I had known her. that
she's not q good woman-she's SO su-
perior to you that you are not worthy
to fasten her shoes-that's what I think
of her-and this is what 1 think of you"
The door slammed upon Wayne as he
returned for the last time to his own
room and began collecting the papers in
his desk He had burned his bridges and
there was no retracing his steps. His
heart was still hot: he experienced no
contrition, though he regretted immedi-
only react upon her. But in the main he
was satisfied that he had settled accounts
with his father at last.
The door was closed between Roger
Craighill and his son. blown shut by the
winds Of wrath. Col. Craighill sat star
ing at the wall that separated them
These last weeks he'd tried him sorely.
and his head sank upon his breast and
he remained there late, bordering his al
fairs. The stringency Of the fall and
winter had pinched hard; his own buoy
ant optimism had been badly shattered
by it, The control Of the towering Craig
hill building had passed from the
colonePs hands. When the banks de-
manded additional collateral on loans
that had been carried easily for several
number Of his enterprises were looked
upon coldly by discount boards. Even
the Hercules National, in which he had
been q director since its Organization and
which had always readily accommodated
him. called his loans on q hint, 1t was