The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1912-09-26


brought the color back to her cheek
and the sparkle into her eye; yet he
was sure that behind this apparent
liveliness lay the pitiful desperation
Of the helpless. He had not spoken
again about old Mortimer. He would
wait till after he had sent a long
cable. Then he would speak and
show her the answer, of which he
had not particle Of doubt. AS mat
tiers now stood, he could not tell her
that he loved her; his quixotic sense
OF chivalry was too strong to permit
this step, urge as his heart might
upon 1t. She might misinterpret his
love as born of pity, and that would
be the end Of everything. He was con-
fident now that Ryanne meant moth
ing to her. Her lack OF enthusiasm,
these days; the peculiar horizontally
OF her lips and brows. whenever Ry.
anne offered trifling courtesy--an
pointed to distrust. George felt q
guilty gladness. After all, why
shouldn't she distrust Ryanne?
quire patience She was far too loyal
to run away without first giving him
warning. In the event Of her refus-
ing Mortimer's roof and protection, he
knew what his plans would be. Some
one else could do the buying for Nor
timer & Jones; his business would be
to revolve round this lonely girl, to
watch and guard her without her be-
ing aware of it. Of what use were
riches if he could not put them to
whatever use heschose? So he would
wait near her, to see that she came
and went unmolested, till against that
time when she would recognize how
futile her efforts were and how wide
and high the wall of the world was.
That mother of hers! To his mind
1t was positively unreal that one so
charming and lovely should be at
heart strong as the wind and merci.
less as the sea. His mother had been
everything; hers, worse than none.
an eternal question. What a drama
she had moved about in, without I'M.
derstanding!
George did not possess that easy
and adjustable sophistry which made
Ryanne look upon smuggling as
clever game between two cheats. His
point or view conceded with For.
tunes; 1t was thievery, more or less
condoned, but the ethics covering il
were soundly established. He had
come very near being culpable him.
self. True, he would not have been
guilty Of smuggling for profit; but
none the less he would have tried to
cheat the government. His sin had
found him out; he had now neither
the rug nor his thousand pounds
All these cogitations passed through
his mind, disjointedly, as the dinner
progressed toward it's end They bade
Ackermann good-by and Godspeed, as
he was to leave early for Beirut, upon
his way to Smyrna. Fortune went to
bed; Ryanne sought the billiard.
room and knocked about the balls:
while George asked the manager il
he could send cable from the hotel.
Certainly he could 1t took some
time to compose the cable to Morti.
mer; and it required some gold be.
sides. Mortimer must have fair view
Of the case; and George presented it,
requesting reply to be sent to Cooks
in Naples, where they expected to be
within ten days.
"How much will this be-"
The porter got out his telegraph.
book and studied the rates carefully.
twelve pounds six, sir"
The porter greeted each sovereign
with a genufection, the lowest being
the twelfth. George pocketed the re.
ceipt and went in search of Ryanne,
But that gentleman was no longer
in the billiard-room. Indeed, he had
gone quietly to the other hotel and
written cable himself, the code OF
which was not to be found in any
book. For long time he seemed to
be in doubt, for he folded and refold.
ed his message half dozen times be.
fore his actions became decisive He
tore It up and threw the scraps upon
the floor and fastened into the street,
as II away from temptation. He
walked fast and indirectly, smoking
ing hard, the evil in him against the
good, the chances of the future against
the irreclaimable past. At the end of
an hour he returned to the strange no.
tel. His lips were pulled and bleed,
ing. He had smoked so many ciga
rettes and had pulled them so impa
tiently from his mouth, that the dry
paper had cracked the delicate skin.
He rewrote his cable and paid fol-
the sending Of it. Then he poke6
about the unfamiliar corridors till he
found the dingy bar. He sat down be-
fore a peg Of whisky, which was fol
lowed by many more, each bit sitter
than it's predecessor. At last, when
he had had enough to put a normal
mans head upon the table or to cover
his face with the mask of inanity,
Ryanne fell into the old habit of talk,
ing aloud.
Horace, old top, what's the use
We'd just like to be good if we could,
Ell? But they won't let us. We'd
grow raving mad in monastery. We
were honest at the time, but we
couldn't stand the monotony of watch.