The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1910-06-29

opinions about him over their whis.
liies The men he had desplsed
would pity him and utter inanitiea
about him OF course the news
would reach his constituency too.
What capital his opponents would
make of it all He imagined the
leading article which would appear
in the rag called the Taviton Argus,
about the reasons for Miss Castle
maine being taken suddenly ILL., And
it would all be true Aye, and what
was worse. people would say that
he. Leicester, the cynic, the man
who despised the conventional good
ness of the age, had become tee
totaler a supporter of philanthropic
Institutions, in order to win wa
ger. Aye, more, he who had laughed
AT religion had gone to church like
a family grocer, had sat in the
pew of NonCOnforming conventi-
Gle. and had listened to the prosy
platitudes of an unctious spiritual
shepherd, to win a girl who had
found him out. lie fancied the car
toons which would appear IN the
Tayiton Argus, picturing him sitting
in church and singing Sankey's
hymns Perhaps they would have
him kneeling at the penitent form,
all to get a girl who found him out
TO be a liar and a hypocrite.
The reflection maddeDed him But
he would pay them all out. Yes,
Puryis and Sprague should bitterly
repent the day they opposed his
wll as for Olive Castlemaine-wel
she should suffer more than he was
suffering
But this mood did not last long.
Try as ne might he could not
hide the gloomy black future which
loomed before him. He pictured
himself as he was before the wager
was made hopeless cynic, hard
bitter man, a slave to whisky And
he was worse now. He had been in
heaven during these last few months
yes, he could not deny tha'
woman had cleared his cloudy sky,
and hau aroused in him hopes dhd
lodgings to which he had been
stranger. The future had appeared
IA him as a paradise, heaven ne
cause woman he loved more thaA
words could say had promised ID
be his wife Oh, and he had loVeI
her. Say what he would about the
falseness of women, and the eVil OF
the world. this woman had changed
everything for him, so that ne aau
contemplated the future with Joy
INT row he saw nothing but neil
What had the future for him now?
Lonely misery, haunted by bl,ter
thoughts of what might have been
What was a seat in Parliament;
Who cared about him? For years
he had alenated those who "Uu'1
he his friends. he had become pa
riah. a kind of intellectual and NOR
al Ishmael. How could he bear -
With this thought the craving fof
whisky came back to him asalh'
He had promised Olive he would
never touch it again, but that was
thing of the past Yes, he would
90 back to the club, and he "ou'a
drink until he forgot. He would de
bauch himself with spirits. He had
been a fool ever to give it up. God
If there we're a God, offered him
rothing; nay. more, He had taken
from him the one thing that NcIld
have made a man of him. but iht
devil was faithful The whisky bot
tie could be kept always close to his
elbow. Yes, and he would run the
whole gamut of sin. There was
nothing to restrain him. and he had
no motive power to make him de-
sire anything else.
When the train arrived at the ter
minus, he jumped into a cab and
drove straight to his club. No, ne
would not go to the smoke-rcoA.
he would go to his own priya;e
room. and there he would drink and
forget. A few minutes later, he sat
alone in his room, a bottle Of whis-
. ky by his side. With steady hants
he uncorked it, and poured out a
large quantity; he filled the tum
bier with soda water and looked
at the yellow liquid as it sparklei
in the glass.