The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1911-11-01

III up against IL at the moment,
smiled the smart-looking young Ameri,
can, intent on carrying through his
project with all expedition, and re.
Quire fifty pounds on this for a few
days"
The broker, after a cursory glance
at the jewel through glass, thrust
forward a slip of paper and a pencil,
and F'ulteuer wrote his name and the
name Of his hotel. A ticket was made
out and passed TO him with the sum
requested Ia crisp white notes and
shining yellow gold. All told, the
transaction had lot taken three min.
utes.
IF, on the occasion of his meeting
that morning with Alice Davenant,
Fairy Fultener had been at pains to
invest his manner with seeming
lightness which far from reflected his
real mood, there was need of no such
effort in the evening. His gayety then
was no matter of adjusted cap and
bells. He had of his own wit COM
trived. for the first time in his life,
an experimental feat In financial jug.
glery, concerning the outcome of which
he was ebulliently confident. In the
design he recognized token of direct
Inheritance And he was proud of it,
For him, therefore, there was no
less music in the pelt and splash OF
the wind-driven rain against the win
dows of the hanson cab in which
he fetched the young woman than in
nf ha tor1
iant orchestra which accompanied
their dinner And the girl, too, was
light-apIrited For the cable had
saiyed her solicitude Her mothers
illness had been serious, it was true,
but the graver period was now past
her life was no longer menaced; and
the daughter of her mother, because
of this, was as jubilantiy in feather as
was the son Of his father over his
discovered capacity for commercial in
trigue.
In the intimacy of the table the
two young persons came, at length, to
somewhat free exchange of conf
dences.
'This is far and away the jolliest
dinner I've had in six months" said
Fultener, setting down his glass of
Apollinaris; "and I've dined with
kings and sultans and maharajahs
since | saw you
His companions eyes were bent on
the clear transparency Of his lowered
goblet.
you seem to enjoy the water wag-
on" she observed, with a smile that
lit up her beauty as If spotlight had
been thrown on it.
"And why shouldn't r." he asked,
her with contemplative appre-
citation. 81 never really knew what 1t
was in the old days to have a clear
head for two hours at stretch. Ev-
cry idea that | had was a twisted, dis
torted caricature of the real thing |
see. now. that / ran altogether to cen
traries: the only good people were bad |
people; the only bad people were the |
good sort that wanted to check me in |
my insane career as a drunkard, |
spendthrift, and general nuisance, |
resented their unselfsh interest, and |
squandered a long-suffering old gen
lleman's money on those that selfshly |
tgreed with me that | was going the
tight way about being a good fellow
Ind a thorough all-round sport" He
hook some salt and pepper into a
ablespoon and reached for the oil
.ruet. "When | could snatch a cloth
rom a table in a private room at
Rector's and break a couple of hun
1red dollars worth of china and glass
ware, and ruin a few costly frocks, for
which | afterwards always paid dou
lie, | foolishly fancied I was draining
he cup of life in brimming measure
And when | took a policeman's locust
tway from him, and cracked first his
hins and then his skull with 1t. |
nadly regarded myself as bigger
zero than Saint George, the dragon
layer. And sometimes it cost my
ather a thousand, and sometimes
more, to square il"
'I've heard something of those
hings," said the girl. There have
,een nights when there was nothing
much talked about in the dressing
Dom but you"
How it must have sickened you"
le exclaimed God knows It does me,
low. to think of it. I've only been
aIking as a sort of penance. and |
Iope you'll forgive me for recalling
uch an unpleasant subject"
"I don't mind she returned taking
leaf of lettuce. daintily. between her
humb and forefnger Il am only too
lad TO find you different, | knew 1t
his morning. on the Strand, as soon
S you began talking to me. l had
ever. really. seen fou just like that
'efore"
And that was the only reason You
onsented to dine with me- wasn't it?'
She nodded a smiling assent, and
he young man acrcss the table con-
inued: