The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-09-05
CHAPTER XXI.
The Storm Center Moves.

AS soon as udu lSlI HIS VI
Ace Bill Cannon wrote note to Mrs.
Ryan, telling her Of the interview he
had just had with her daughter-in,law.
He did not mention the check, simply
stating Berny's decision to accept
their proposal and leave her husband.
The matter was of too intimate a ma
ture to trust to the telephone and he
sent the note by one of his own
clerks. who had instructions to wait
for an answer, as the old man did not
know what Mrs. Ryan might already
have heard from Dominick.
It threw it's recipient into a state OF
agitated, quivering exultation. Mrs.
Ryan had heard nothing from her son,
and her hopes of the separation had
sunk to the lowest ebb. Not so pru-
dent as Cannon, she called, up Domi-
nick at the bank, asking him If it
were true that his wife had left him,
and beseeching him simply to tell her
yes" or mo" The young man, ham,
pered by the publicity of his surround
ings and his promise to Berry, an
swered her with the utmost brevity,
telling her that there had been a
change in his domestic life, but that
he could not enter into details now.
He begged her to ask him no further
questions as he would be at home at
three O'Clock that afternoon, when he
would explain the whole matter to
her
She wrote this to the Bonanza King
and sent it by his waiting messenger.
The old man felt relieved when he
read the letter. He was confident
now that Berry had not deceived him.
She had told the truth, and was leav
ing the town and her husband, for
what reason he could not yet be sure,
but there seemed no doubt that she
was going. They would ignore the
subject before Rose, and, in the
course of time, Dominick would break
down the unf1inching resistance she
had threatened to make to his suit. The
old man felt buoyant and exhilarated.
1t looked as if things were at last go
Ing their way.
He sent a message to Mrs. Ryan,
asking her to let him know as soon as
possible what Dominick said, and
waited in his office in a state of ten
sion very foreign to his usual iron
stolidity. It was four o'clock before
word came from her in the form Of a
telephone message, demanding his
presence at her house at the earliest
possible moment. He responded to it
at once, and in the sitting-room of the
Ryan mansion heard from Dominick' 8
own lips the story of his false and
tragic marriage.
The old man listened, unwinking,
speeches., immovable. 1t was the
one thing he had never thought of, a
solution of the situation that was as
completely unexpected to him as
death would have been. He said moth
ing to Dominick about the money he
had given Berry, did not mention hay
ing seen her. A sharp observer might
have noticed that he looked a little
blank, that the first shock of sur
prise over, there was a slight express
sion Of wandering attention in his
eye. a suggestion Of mental faculties
inwardly focusing on an unseen point,
about his manner.
He walked home. deeply thinking.
abashed a little by the ease with
which Fate unties the knots that
mans clumsy fingers work over in
vain. And it was united. They were
free-the boy and girl he Ioved-to
realize his and their own dreams 1t
would need no years of wooing to melt
Rose from stony resistance. Nobody
had been sacrificed.
He felt a sense of gratitude toward
Berry. Down in his heart he was
conscious of stirring OF something
that was kindly. almost affectionate.
toward her. 1t did not require a great
stretch of imagination to see himself
and her as two knowing, world-batter-
ed rogues who had combined to let
youth and innocence have their hap
piness. He could almost feel the part
nership with her she had spoken of.
a sort of bond of Masonic understand
ing, a kindred attitude in matters of
ethics. They had a mutually low es-
innate of human nature, a bold, cool.
unscrupulousness, a daring courage
that never faltered. In fact, he was
sorry he had not given Berry the
whole fifty thousand dollars.
She could have got it out OF me"
he said to himself. bordering pensive-
ly. IF she'd stuck out for it Id have
given it to her. And she might Just
as well have had it,