The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1910-08-25
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| On the Ed1e of
a PreCipiCe
A Woman Is Saved From
a False Step.
BY MARGARET BARR.
Copyright, 1910, by American Press
Association.
By MARGARET BARR.

|
9 Association.
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No one could understand why it was
that Helen Aver. the wife Of an ex
| cellent man and the mother of a lovely
boy six years old, fell under the in
fuence of Schuyler Quigley, with moth
| ing except swagger and cheek to rec
ommend him. When Quigley first be,
gan to pay attention to Mrs. Aver heI
husband did not appear to notice it.
The truth is he saw that his wife
was drifting away from him and he
| dared not oppose her, fearing that by
his very opposition he might bring
about catastrophe. If he permitted
the matter to work itself out perhaps
the wife and mother would in time
tire Of her new fancy and realize the
danger to herself. her husband and her
son.
But Quigley was so aggressive, SO
persistent, that Helen never got away
from certain dominating force there
was about him long enough to recover
herself. Finally Aver decided to take
action. Since they all belonged to the
same set he had frequent opportunity
to meet the man who was undermin-
ing his home. Their first meeting was
at the house of a mutual friend, where
number of men were accustomed to
play poker. Ayers object was to be-
gin series Of attempts to force a
quarrel upon Quigley, concealing the
true cause. The better to cover his
motive at the poker party he met
Quigley cordially. But during the
game he suddenly arose from the table,
declaring that he would not play with
cheat, making it plain that Quig-
ley was the man referred to.
Quigley, who was perfectly innocent
Of the charge, retorted. High words
followed, and Aver struck him. Quig-
ley was prevented from returning the
blow by the others, who protested
against the men fighting under the
hosts roof about matter Of cheat
ing at cards, thereby bringing a scan
dal upon the house and the party.
This left Quigley not only under a
disgraceful charge, but as having re-
ceived blow from Aver that ne had
not returned. Under the regime of
half a century or more ago, he would
have been obliged to challenge Aver
or be cut by his friends. Living in
the twentieth century, he was not
obliged to do anything. He let the
matter drop. He did not call at Ayers
house any more, but he met Mrs. Aver
when she went out ON the street and
at the houses Of mutual friends. All
he said to her about his trouble with
her husband was that Aver had ac-
cused him of cheating at cards and
that every member of the party pres
ent had exonorated him of the charge
And so it was that Russell Aver by
trying to get rid Of the man who was
really his wifes worst enemy, and at
the same time protect her good name,
only made himself appear to her a
very unjust and ignoble person. She
thought that she was taking care of
her reputation by never being with
Quigley, except when others were
present. But she found 1t difficult to
live with one man as his wife and
have a. love affair-though devoid Of
criminality with another.
Aver followed up his first attack
on Quigley by telling number Of
Quigley's friends that he (Ayer) had
struck him and Quigley had not had
the manliness to resent the blow.
The situation was not pleasing toI
any one Of the three persons involved.
Quigley represented to Mrs. Aver that
he was refraining from resenting her
husbands insults on her account and
begged her to vindicate him by secur-
ing divorce and marrying him. SheI
was distressed, feeling that this was
due Quigley, but dreading to take a
step that would seperate her from her
husband and her child.
One day Aver met Quigley ON the
street. Each was walking with al
friend. AS they passed Aver said
loud enough for Quigley and his COM
panion to hear:
There goes a coward l am trying to
make fight"
This was too much for Quigley, who
turned and said "WelI, we'll have 1t
out now"
Every WELL" replied Aver, draw"
Taking revolver from his pocket he
raised it, cooking 1t at the same time.
But since Quigley was unarmed there
was no fight