Lincoln County times. (Jerome, Idaho) 1911-1919, 1912-05-02

back on him. He sat up suddenly
No. he had gone back on it. He had
gone back on himself He had gone
back on Dede She was right thou
sand times right. and she had sense
enough TO know It. sense enough TO
refuse to marry a money-slave with
whisky-rotted carcass
He got out OF bed and looked at /
/ himself in the long mirror on the +
wardrobe door He wasn't pretty. The /
old-time lean cheeks were gone. These +
were heavy. seeming TO hang down by
their own weight He looked for the
lines Of cruelty Dede had spoken OF. /
and he found them. and he found the
harshness in the eyes as we'll the
eyes that were muddy now after all
the cocktails of the night before. and
of the months and years before. He
looked at the clearly defined pouches
that showed under his eyes. and they
shocked him. He rolled up the sleeve
OF his pajamas. No wonder the ham
mer-thrower had put his hand down.
Those weren't muscles. A rising tide
of fat had submerged them He
stripped off the pajama coat Again
he was shocked this time by the bulk
of his body II wasn't pretty The
lean stomach had become a paunch.
The rigid muscles of chest and shout
ders and abdomen had broken down
into rolls of flesh And this was age.
Then there drifted across the field OF
vision of his minds eye the old man
he had encountered at Glen Ellen.
coming up the hillside through the
fires of sunset. white-headed and
white bearded. eighty-four. in his hand
the pail of foaming milk and in his
face all the warm glow and content
of the passing summer day. That had
been age Yes stree. eighty-four. and
spryer than most" he could hear the
old man say.
Next he remembered Ferguson. the
little man who had scuttled into the
road like a rabbit. the one-time man
aging editor of great newspaper,
who was content to live in the chapar-
raj along with his spring of mountain
water and his hand.reared and mani
cured fruit trees. Ferguson had solved
a problem 4 weakling and an alco
holic. he had run away from the doc
tors and the chicken-coOp of city
and soaked up health like a thirsty
sponge He sat down suddenly on the
bed. startled by the greatness of the
idea that had come to him He die
not sit long His mi~d. working in its
customary way. like a steel trap can
vassed the idea in all its bearings. u
was big-bigger than anything he haC
faced before And he faced il square
~. picked 1t up in his two hands anC
turned 1t over and around and looked
lie at it The simplicity OF it delighted
I'd him. He chuckled over it. reached hi
Id decision. and began TO dress. Midwa,
ID in the dressing he stopped in order t
n. use the telephone
lie Dede was the first he called up.
ST Don't come to the Office this morn
ing" he said I'm coming out TO Sc
Mt YOU for a moment"
lr- He called up others. He ordere
nd his motor-car To Jones he gave II
no structions for the forwarding of 30
be and Wolf to Glen Ellen Hogan h
a surprised by asking him to look Il
OF the deed of the Glen Ellen ranch an
ed make out a new one In Dede Mason
IN name "Who?" Hogan demanded
en- "Dede Mason" Daylight replied in
ad perturbably-"the phone must be IL
IN distinct this morning. D-e-d-e M-a-s-ol
of Got it?"
NV Half an hour later he was flying on
,et to Berkeley And for the first tim
no. the big red car halted directly befor
rio the house. Dede offered to receiv
he him in the parlor but he shook h
CO. head and nodded toward her rooms
lid in there" he said. mo other plac
de would suit"
IRE AS the door closed. his arms wei
he out aud around her. Then he stoc
ct with his hands on her shoulders an
ch looking down into her face.
All (To BE CoNTINUEDI