Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1911-03-01

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moment Crushed In his left hand
was copy of the New York Herald
containing an elaborate account of the
brilliant reception and musicale given
the previous evening at her home.
With an exclamation of impotence he
rose from his seat, threw the paper
from him. and began to pace the floor.
Was this the end of everything?
Had he reached the end Of his rope?
He must pay the reckoning, IL not to.
day, tomorrow. AS his eyes wan
dered around the room and he took
mental inventory of each costly OBJ
ject, he experienced a sudden shock
as he recalled the things that were
missing. How could he explain their
absence? The art dealers were al
ready suspicious. They were not to
be put OF any longer with excuses.
Any moment they might insist either
on the immediate return of their prop
erty or on payment in full. He was,
In the position to do neither. The
articles had been sold and the money
lost gambling. Curse the luck! Every
thing had gone against him Of late.
The dealers would begin criminal pro-
ceedings, disgrace and prison stripes
would follow. There was no way out
of 1t. He had no one to whom he
could turn In this crisis.
And now even Alicia had deserted
him. This was the last straw. While
he was still able to boast of the
friendship and patronage of the aris-
tocratic Mrs. Howard Jeffries he
could still hold his head high in the
world. No one would dare question.
his integrity. but now she had aban-
doned him to his fate, people would be-
gin to talk. There was no use keep
ing up hopeless fght-suicide was
the only way out!
He stopped in front of a mirror,
startled at what he saw there. 1t
was the face of man not yet 30, but
apparently much older. The features
were drawn and haggard, and his dark
hair was plentifully streaked with
gray. He looked like man who had
lived two lives in one. Tonight his
face frightened him. His eyes had a
fixed stare like those of man he
had once seen in madhouse. He
wondered ii men looked like that when
they were about to be executed. Was
not his own hour close at hand? He
wondered why the clock was SO noisy;
it seemed to him that the ticks were
louder than usual. He started sud
denly and looked around fearfully. He
thought he had heard a sound outside.
He shuddered as he glared toward the
little drawer on the right-hand side Of
his desk, in which he knew thea was
loaded revolver.
If Alicia would only relent escape
might yet be possible. If he did not
hear from her 1t must be for tonight.
One slight little pressure on the trig-
ger and all would be over.
Suddenly the bell of the telephone
connecting the apartment with the
main hall downstairs rang violently.
interrupted thus abruptly in the
midst of his reflections, Underwood
jumped forward, startled. His nerves
L ~
were SO unstrung that he was ever
apprehensive of danger. With trem-
ulous hand, he took hold of the re-
ceiver and placed 1t to his ear. AS he
listened. his already pallid face turned
winter and the lines about his mouth
frightened. He hesitated moment be.
fore replying. Then, with an effort,
ne said:
send MIN up.
Dropping the receiver. he began to
walk neryousiy up and down the
room. The crisis had come sooner than
ne expected-exposure was at hand.
This man Bennington was the man.
ager OF the nrm or dealers whose
goods ne disposed OF. He could not
make restitution. prosecution was in
evitable. disgrace and prison would
! follow. He could not stand It; he
would rather XIII himself. Trouble was
very close at nand, that was certain.
How could ne get out OF It? Pacing
the floor. he bit his lips till the blood
There was a sharp ring. at the front
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