Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-05-04


mine-if it's only two rooms"
Matt strobe homeward In state or
indescribable Joy, though with many
care running blackly through the
bright wool of his hopes and raptures.
He was pledged to a desperate plan,
and one that would bring down on
him a universal reproach; such mar
riage would shake Manaswan to its
foundations and unloose torrent OF
gossip that would be harder to en-
dure than poverty itself Alternately
he gloated over Chris fortune-those
three SNUG old houses then
inconsistency wished them to the
devil Matt was a proud man. and the
thought of being misrepresented and
, misjulged was more than CALLING.
What humiliating figure he would
cut before her father when the in
evitable day of reckoning arrived! He
would be seen as an adventurer prey
ding on innocence and wealth. Yet ever
before him, quickening his pulses and
stirring him with delight was Chris
herself, with appraised lips and quiv-
ering body and misty, haunting eyes,
all her young womanhood his to take
, by the divinest of divine rights. No
wonder that his hands clenched; that
he put by every doubt and scruple;
that his determination was almost
brutal in its intensity. He had passed
beyond the state where he could give
her up, or even consider 1t.
The >boarders. assembled at supper,
found him at first very backward and
moody, while he found them alto
gether uncomfortable The mean din
ing room with it's prattling occupants,
| was purgatory to man in the throes
of an elemental passion. There was a
new boarder, a heavy, gray-haired
deNerential man with a gold tooth,
who was tremendously presented.
1.-TWO good fellows ought to know
each other said Mr.. Price. taking it
on himself to make the Introduction.
"Mr. Broughton-Mr. Bates!" Matt
politely expressed his qualification,
and the two good fellows subsidized into
their respective seats. Mr.. Bates, as
/ it appeared later, was spying out the
land for shoe-factory site in the in
| terests of the famous Walk Eezee
Shoe Co.. and had been very much i'm
pressed by the possibilities OF Mana
swan-yes, sir-very much impressed.
At this Matt walked up and cultivated
Mr.. Bates as potential dispenser OF
jobs: grew very animated and friend
ly; and was more than pleased to
learn that the Walk Eezee Co. main
tanned the principle Of the "open
shop"
! Here was certainly chance for a
non-union manor a shadowy chance,
anyhow-and Matt, with satisfactory
possibilities dancing in his head. alb
sorbed himself in the conquest Of Mr.
Bates. After supper, over a, pipe and
cigar, he continued the good work,
even broaching the subject tentative
| ly, and receiving announcement. A
new factory-a Walk Eezee factory
was a big enterprise, with plenty OF
opportunities for energetic young men.
The trouble, indeed. was to find them
chaps with initiative and brains and
stick-to-itiveness, who could handle
labor" Mr.. Bates would be glad to put
him Gin the way of something; wrote
down his name In large, greasy note
hook; it mightn't be very much, but
enough to get his teeth in" Mr.
Bates, with his own gold one very
much in evidence, repeated that the
great thing was to get your teeth IN
the rest was easy and sure If you had
the needful ability.
With a feeling that he already had
bull-doggish grip on the shoe bust
ness, Matt said good night and went
up to his room, more than satisfied
with his evenings work AS he lit a
match, however and touched 1t to the
gas, he was confronted by sight that
drove all these reflections from his
head. The mattress was tumbled and
bare; the bureau drawers were open;
| his clothes were strewn about every
where in pell-mell confusion, and his
cheap blue ulster lay slashed and des
troyed, with every inch Of its lining
torn away and littering the floor IN
melancholy ribbons.
The room had been searched in his
absence, and the moment he recovered
from his establishment he knew by
whom. They had been there. seeking
a clue, a scrap of paper, anything that
lmight put them on John Morris track