Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-05-23
CHAPTER V.
An Issue Is Forced.

CHAPTER V.
An Issue Is Forced.
1t was noon when Stuart reached
the Primrose house and Nan was
again out. He received the announce
ment from her mother with a feeling
of rage he could i'll conceal.
Where is she? I seem never to be
able to find her at home"
Now, don't be absurd. Jim. You
know she would have broken any en-
gagement to see you, had she known
you were going to call today. She
has only gone to the dressmaker's."
How long will she be there?"
Until four"
-Four hours at a dressmaker's-"
And then she's going to the hair
dresser's."
And then?"
she has an engagement for tea I
don't expect her home until seven.
I'm awfully sorry"
"Of course, l understand, Mrs.
Primrose" Stuart said with a light
laugh, II should have told her-but I
didn't know until a few moments ago
that l was coming"
Nothing serious has happened, l
hope?" she asked, with carefully
modulated sympathy which said plain
Is that she hoped for the worst.
No. Just say that I'll call after
dinner"
"Al right, Jim, dear" the mother
purred.. I'll see that she's here If I
have to lock the door"
Stuart smiled in spite of himself as
he passed out murmuring:
Thank YOU"
1t was useless to try TO work. His
mind was in a tumult of passionate
protest He must have this thing out
with Nan once for all. Their engage
ment must be announced Immediately.
He went to the Players Club and
lunched alone in brooding silence. He
tried to read and couldn't. He stroll
ed out aimlessly and began to ramble
without purpose. Somehow today ev-
erything on which his eye rested and
every sound that struck his ear pro-
claimed the advent of the new power
of which Bivens was the symbol-Biv-
ems with his delicate, careful little
hand, his bulging forehead, his dark
keen eyes! An ice wagon dashed by.
1t belonged to the ice trust. big
coal cart blocked the sidewalk. The
coal trust was one of the first. The
street crossing at Broadway and
| Twenty third street was jammed with
a string of delivery wagons from the
department stores whose growth had
crushed a hundred small trades. The
clang Of the cars proclaimed the
Street Railway Merger and sky
scraper called The Flatiron" was just
raising it's giant frame on the little
triangle where a half dozen old-fash-
ioned buildings had stood for genera
tions. Across Madison Square the
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
was tearing down a whole block, Sec
ton by section, and a palace of white
marble was slowly rearing its huge
form. The passing of an era was
plain. He could see the hand of the
new mysterious power building world
before his very eyes. Strange he
hadn't noticed it until Bivenss dark
sneering face this morning, insolent in
it's conscious strength, had opened his
| eyes. What chance had his old friend
| Woodman against such forces?
| Yet why should he resent them per-
sonally? He was young. The future
was his-not the past. He didn't re-
| sent them. Of course rot. What he
did resent was the approach Of the
particular Juggernaut named John c.
Calhoun Bivens toward the woman he
loved. That Bivens should fall hope
lessly and ,blindly in love with Nan at
first sight was too stupefying to be
grasped at once. She couldn't love
| such man-and yet his millions and
| that slippery mother were a sinister
combination. He congratulated him.
self that his interview with Bivens had
put him i'm possession of a most i'm
portant secret, and he would force the
| issue at once.
BY evening he had thrown off his
depression and met Nan with some
of thing of his old gaiety, to when she
responded with a touch of c"quetry.
Tell me, jim" she began with a
smile of mischief i'm her eyes, why
YOU called at the remarkable hour "i
twelve noon, today? Am l becoming
su resistless that work no longer mas
any charms? You must nave some
thing very important to say? Hei
eyes danced with the consciousness o'
her advantage
Yes. have. Man." he answered
soberly, taking her hand. Il want
public announcement of our engage
ment in tomorrow mornings papers