The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1911-04-01
CONTINUED
CHAPTER XII.
By CHARLES KLEIN.

CHAPTER X1.
~HE Hon. FitZroy Bagley had
every reason to feel satisfied
with himself. Els affaire de
coCur with the senator's
daughter was progressing more smooth
" than ever, and nothing now seemed
likely to interfere with his carefully
prepared plans to capture an American
heiress. The interview with Kate Rob-
erts in the library, so awkwardly dis
turbed by Jefferson's unexpected intru-
ston, had been followed by other inter-
views more secret and more successful,
and the plausible secretary had con-
rived so we'll to persuade the girl that
he really thought the world Of her and
that brilliant future awaited her as
his wife that it was not long before
he found her in a mood to refuse him
nothing.
Bagley urged immediate marriage.
he insinuated that Jefferson had treat
ed her shamefully and that she owed it
to herself to show the world that there
were other men as good as the one who
bad Tilted her. He argued that in view
Of the senator being bent on the match
with Ryder's son It would be worse
than useless for him Bagley) to make
formal application for her hand, so,
as he explained, the only thing which
remained was a runaway marriage.
Confronted with the fat accompli
Papa Roberts would bow to the ineV.
table. They could get married quietly
In town, go away for short trip, and
when the senator had got over his first
disappointment they would be well
coined back with open arms.
Kate listened willingly enough to this
specious reasoning. In her heart she
was piqued at Jefferson's Indifference
and she was foolish enough to really
believe that this marriage with Brit
1sh nobleman, twice removed, would
be in the nature Of triumph over
him. Besides, this project Of an elope-
ment appealed strangely to her frivol-
Gus imagination; it put her in the same
class as all her favor1te novel heroines.
And it would be capital fun.
Meantime Senator Roberts, in bliss
full ignorance Of this little plot against
his domestic peace, was growing i'm
patient, and he approached his friend
Ryder once more on the subject Of his
son Jefferson. The young man, he
said, had been back from Europe some
time. He insisted on knowing what
his attitude was toward his daughter.
l1f they were engaged to be married,
ne said there should be public an
nouncement Of the fact. It was unfair
to him and slight to his daughter to
let matters hang fire in this unsatisfac-
tory way, and he hinted that both him
aelf and his daughter might demand
their passports from the Ryder man
sion unless some explanation were
forthcoming.
Ryder was in quandary. He had
no wish to quarrel with his useful
Washington ally. He recognized the
reasonableness Of his complaint Yet
what could he do? Much as he him
self desired the marriage, his son was
obstinate and showed little inclination
to settle down. He even limited at at
fractions in another quarter. He did
not tell the senator Of his recent inter-
view with his son when the latter
made 1t very plain that the marriag
could never take place. Ryder senior
had his own reasons for wishing to
temporlze. 1t was quite possible that
Jefferson might change his mind and
abandon his idea Of going abroad, and
he suggested to the senator that per-
haps If he, the senator, made the en-
gagement public through the newspa-
pers 1t might have the salutary effect
of forcing his sons hand.
So few mornings later there ap-
peared among the society notes in sew
eral of the New York papers this para
graph:
The engagement is announced of Miss
katherine Roberts. only daughter Of Sen
Ptor Roberts Of Wisconsin,, to Jefferson
Ryder. son Of Mr.. John Burkett Ryder.
Two persons in New York happened
TO see the item about the same time,
and both were equally interested. al
though 1T affected them in a different
manner. One was Shirley Rossmore,
who had CHANGED to pick up the news
R0pcI dI Lu6 UISdkldSL LdDle In l0r
boarding house.
80 soon?' she murmured to herself.
We'll, why not? She could not blame
Jefferson. He had often spoken to her
lpf this match arranged by his father,
and they had laughed over it as a
Typical marriage of convenience mod
eled after the continental pattern. JET
4erson, she knew, had never cared for
the girl, nor taken the affair seriously.
Some powerful influences must have
been at work to make him surrender
30 easily. Here again she recognized
The mastery hand of Ryder senior, and
more than ever she was eager to meet
this extraordinary man and measure
her strength with his. Her mind, in
deed, was too full Of her fathers trou-
bles to grieve over her own however
much she might have been inclined to
DO so under other circumstances, and
all that day she did her best to ban
1sh the paragraph from her thoughts.
More than week had passed since