The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1912-02-21

as long as they were and no 20 ger.
The treason had to come from them,
and then it was Ware Daylight.
The business men and fnanciers of
the Pacific coast never forgot the les
son of Charles Klinkner and the CALI
fornia & Altamont Trust Company.
Klinkner was the president. In part
nership with Daylight, the pair raided
the San jose Interurban. The power
tul Lake Power G. Electric Lighting
corporation came to the rescue. and
kllnkner, seeing what he thought was
the opportunity, went over to the en-
emy In the thick Of the pitched battle.
Daylight lost three millions before he
was done with 1t, and before he was
done with 1t he saw the California e.
Altamont Trust Company hopelessly
wrecked, and Charles Klinkner a sui.
side in a felons cell.
So 1T was that Daylight became a
successful f1nancier He did not go
In for swindling the workers. Not
only did he not have the heart for 1t.
but 1t did not strike him as sporting
proposition. The workers were SO
easy. so stupid. 1t was more like
slaughtering fat, hand-reared pleas
ants on the English preserves he had
read about. The sport, to him, was
In waylaying the successful robbers
and taking their spoils from them.
The grim Yukon life had failed to
make Daylight hard It required CIV
ilization to produce this result. In
the fierce, savage game he now play
ed, his habitual geniality imper-
ceptibly slipped away from him, as did
his lazy Western drawl.
He still had "reminiscences of genial
1ty, but they were largely periodical
and forced, and they were usually due
to the cocktails he took prior to meal
time. In the North he had drunk
deeply and at irregular intervals; but
now his drinking became systematic
and disciplined. 1t was an unconscious
development, but 1t was based upon
physical and mental conditions. The
cocktails served as an inhibition.
Without reasoning or thinking about
1t, the strain Of the Office, which was
essentially due to the daring and au-
dacity Of his ventures, required check
or cessation; and he found, through
the weeks and months, that the cock
tails supplied this very thing. They
constituted a stone WALL He never
drank during the morning, nor In Of
fice hours; but the instant he left the
office he proceeded to rear this wall
OF alcoholic inhibition athwart his
consciousness. The office became i'm
mediately closed affair. 1t ceased
to exist. In the afternoon, after lunch.
1t lived again for one or two hours,
when, leaving it, he rebuilt the wall Of
inhibition. OF course, there were ex-
ceptions to this; and, such was the rig.
or of his discipline, that IL he had a
dinner or conference before him In
which. in a business way, he encoun-
tered enemies or allies and planned or
prosecuted campaigns, he abstained
from drinking. But the instant the
business was settled, his everlasting
call went out for a Martini, and for a
double-M Martini at that, in a long glass
so as not to excite comment.
Into Daylight's life came Dede Ma
son. She came rather imperceptibly.
He had accepted her impersonally
along with the Office furnishing, the
office boy, Morrison, the chief, conf
dental, and only clerk, and all the
rest OF the accessories of a SUPER
mans gambling place Of business. Had
ne been asked any time during the first
months she was in his employ, he
would have been unable to tell the
color of her eyes. From the fact that
she was a demi-blonde, there resiI-
ed dimly in his subconsciousness q
conception that she was a brunette.
Likewise he had an idea that she was
not thin, while there was an absence
in his mind of any idea that she was
fat. And how she dressed. he had no
idea at all. He had no trained eye In
such matters, nor was he interested.
He took it for granted, In the lack of
any impression to the contrary, that
she was dressed somehow. He knew
her as Miss Mason" and that was
all, though he was aware that as
stenographer she was quick and accu-
rate. He watched her leaving one aft
ernoon, and was aware for the first
time that she was well-formed, and
that her manner Of dress was salts
flying. He knew none Of the details of
woman's dress, and he saw none Of
the details Of her neat shirt waist
and well-cut tailor suit. He saw only
the effect in a general. sketchy way.
She looked right. This was In the alb
sence Of anything wrong or out Of the 4
way
She's trim little good-looker," was
his verdict, when the outer office door
closed on her.
The next morning, debating. he con-
cluded that he liked the way she did
her hair, though for the life Of him