The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-08-29

its failure. Stanton had picked up his
dresser in London. and by kindness and
unwavering faith in the old fellows
better nature had transformed him
from an unreliable, shiftless drunkard
to steady, hardworking, self-respect-
ing servant, whose loyalty approached
sublimity Stanton had met Edith
Thornton in London, too. Hollis re-
membered very we'll the letter telling
of this meeting; the letter In which
was drawn pathetic picture OF this
beautiful girl, stranded in the modern
Babylon, four thousand miles from
home, without friends and surrounded
as by ravening wolves. The writer
spoke then of her impregnable virtue,
Of her purity of thought, Of her sweet
ness of temper, of her abundant graft
tude for the small assistance he had
been able to accord her. And Hollis
had hoped that 1t might all be true,
but had mentally commented that
"Warrie was so easy"
He recalled now the whole ensuing
history of his friends infatuation for
the woman. 1t had been Of that blind
description which he feared it might
be. Stanton had believed in Edith
Thornton against overwhelming evil
dence that she was unworthy of his
fidelity. He would have married her,
long ago, but for her conjured .rea-
sons for delay; SO, at least, he had
been spared that ignominy. And, as
time passed and her bold, open unfaith
became obvious to about everyone.
save to the man who adored her, Hob
! lis had tremhled at the thought of
what might result when the veil should
eventually be torn from his friends
| eyes.
Within the week just passed, the
| actor and the woman had had words
He had begun, at length, to suspect;
| and her lies, lacking the care or even
| the will to make them plausible, had
taken on rather the nature of insults
i to his power of reason. Disillusion,
horrid and sickening, had begun
mistily to emerge. But. instead Of
weakening Stanton's ardor, it had
seemed to quicken 1t. And it was in
this that Hollis had foreseen the
! danger.
| Once the lover had said to him: ri
suppose I'm about as peace-loving a
chap as you'll find anywhere But
/ there's one humiliation wouldn't
| stand for. If loved and trusted a
woman, and she deceived me, I'd kill
| her"
| The young lawyer wondered II Stan.
| ton had said this to others. The news.
| paper had made mention of threats;
| yet that line might, after all, have
| been only a bit of reportorial inven.
| ton
He recovered the paper from the
| floor to which it had fallen, and read
the account through once more, care.
| fully. Then he began, with close at.
| tention and deep concentration, to ana.
| lyze the situation, and to adjust SO far
as possible the conflicting elements
| The testimony of the elevator boy was
necessarily OF first Importance. Stan.
ton was a frequent visitor at the
| "Clydesdale," and the elevator boy
/ knew him well. Therefore it was not
likely that the boy could be mistaken
| But the boys statement. so far as the
| printed summary disclosed, was with
| out confederation. What weight would
| it carry. therefore, against the testi-
| mony of dozen, a score, of persons
who knew him even still better. that
at the time of the crime'acommission
| he was on the stage Of the theater?
And this testimony was easily procur-
| able. If, however, Fahy's witness
should persist in his assertion of Stan
! tons absence, the balance might be
| thrown the other way Assuredly it
would be sufficient to raise very
| grave doubt 1t was of primary inn
| portance, therefore, to find this witness
! and to convince him that his imagina-
| ton had been playing him tricks.
Whom q moth Hollis raca froy,, ~ a
edge Of his bed and crossed the outer
/ room to one of the windows which
looked out upon the street, he found
| that the rain had ceased and that the
sky, gray with the coming dawn, was
clear of clouds. The sidewalks, how
ever. were still wet and dimly shining
in the early light Already the city
was beginning to stir. A truck lum-
bered by; and then came speeding
hanson. From the Broadway corner,
a messenger boy was crossing the
street diagonally. Hollis's gaze fol-
lowed him until he disappeared below,
! out of range. But few minutes later
there was knock at his door, and in
answer to his Come int" the mes
senger boy reappeared in his room,
4 with two kilograms
Until then, it had not occurred to
him that Stanton would communicate.
| He had rather fancied that his friend
| would take 1t for granted that he must
certainly learn Of the arrest and en-
| gage at once in his defense. Neverthe-
less, one of the messages was from the
accused actor, bidding him come as
early as possible to the Tombs.
While this was unlocked for, the
other was a distinct, II not altogether
perplexing surprise.
II must see you to-day. Arrange
time most convenient" it read And
1t bore the signature OF Beryl Wynne,
leading woman in "The Soul of the
Town" Hollis knew Miss Wynne; but
only in casual. disinterested sort of
way. He questioned whether, in all
his acquaintance with the actress, he
had addressed dozen words to her
But of late, in some intangible fashion,
he had gathered the impression that
If she were not in love with Warren
Stanton she was at least, SO attracted
by him as to resent his devotion to the
unworthy woman who was now dead
and, in the telegraphed message, the
young lawyer was quick to detect a
confederation of this view He was at