River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1912-09-26
The COrrectOr of DeStinieS
Being Tales of Randolph Mason as Related by
His Private Secretary, Courtland Parks
THE LAST CHECK
Bv Melville DAVIDSON Posi-
Copyright by Edward ]. clode

no sense of completer pnyslcdl GULL
fort in this life than to escape from the
"Bastille of Civilization" and dine on
timed bologna and cake Of chocolate
under the pines of Gevaudan, Where
God keeps an open house" The aV-
erage dweller in New York, who could
hardly locate Gevaudan with an atlas,
will think, be found skeptically dis
genting. He will cite, rather, the
comfortable state of one who takes
his steaming dinner at a good hosiery.
Let the table be set snugly by a win
dow, let the night be dark and rainy,
let one warm and hungry look out at
the splashing street, the bedrabbled
passers, the huddled cabmen turning
their glistening backs to the wind. 1t
Is like sitting comfortably in AbrA
hams bosom with a good view of
Dives!
On such a night of April, had the
corner table at window in the Dres-
den looking out In the dripping ave
nue., a good dinner set over white
cloth, bottle cooling in a tub of ice,
a cigar awaiting me on the servants
tray, hunger like a Wood-chopper's
and a certainty of exemption from the
rigor Of the elements.
l had arrived happily at my coffee
with it's thimble of brandy, when
servant came to say that carriage
was waiting for me at the door. l re-
piled that | had ordered no carriage,
and began to cut the end Of my cigar.
The man went away, but almost in
stantly returned, saying that some one
In a carriage wished to see me at
once. / went to the door and the
porter took me under his umbrella to
the carriage. I had no idea who de-
manded thus peremptorily to see me,
and my surprise was not greatly less
ened when Randolph Mason's voice
spoke to me out of the darkness of the
carriage bidding me accompany him.
| returned to the hotel, got my coat
and hat ard sat down in the carriage
beside him, wondering what could be
his mission on this uncomfortable
night 1t must be an unusual, high
ly important matter to take him up
town in this chilling rain, for it was
rare that Randolph Mason would
leave his house to see any man, no
matter of what Importance. His view
Of men was that attributed academical-
ly to the law-an equality ideally ex-
act: if ones affairs presented a suit
able problem, the individual in it was
q factor to be estimated and dealt
with, but otherwise not to be consid-
cred. This voyaging in the night then
meant first that the person involved |
could not go to Mason. 1t might be
some man behind lock, some inno- |
cent person involved in another's |
wrong-doing who had been suddenly
seized and must be helped back to
his freedom. or else it was a woman
In the meantime the carriage contin-
ued uptown. Randolph Mason was 81 |
lently smoking cigar, lying back in
his corner of the seat, and l followed |
his example. It thus happened / took |
no notice of our route. However aft |
er perhaps an hour, the carriage |
stopped and l observed that we were |
under the porte-cochere of one of the
new palaces on Riverside Drive.
The door was thrown open and we
stepped down into the presence Of a |
liveried footman, who led us into the |
house and removed our coats, and then |
took us up flight of great stairs. On
the first landing we passed two nur
ses in their white caps and aprons
moment later we were ushered into
q sitting-room off a bedchamber. Be
side a table man sat propped up in
an invalid chair. He was huge bulk
of a man, rather over six feet, should
think, with a tremendous, muscular
chest, thin gray hair and heavy,
puffy face Nature had built him for
gigantic labors. Energy, strength, de
clsive action sat in his big muscles;
but they were dying now, like the
man. A mere loose, devitalized, pudgy
hulk remained of what was once a
splendid animal. The eye alone
seemed living. A brilliant, determined
brown eye, burning steady and clear
like ships light The last, unfailing
servant of an indomitable spirit max
ing ready to abandon it's worthless
house.
The man nodded to Randolph Ma
son. For a moment he regarded me
with a curious glance, then he nodded
likewise to me. The servant closed
the door, leaving the three of us alone,
aud we sat down opposite the table be-
side the sick MAI. With the light
of the lamp full in his face, l knew
him now, from his Autograph on va
rious bond issues. He was Richard
r. Curtis, president of the Life Assur-
ance Company of North America His
CHASTITY physical condition oppressed
me. he was so evidently intended for
all the vitalities of life and he was so
evidently dying. looked at Randolph
Mason. He sat scrutinizing the in
valid's face with the sharp, steady
glance Of one taking stock of what
qualities yet remained vital The help
less man awoke no sentiment in the
bosom of Randolph Mason; he re-
garded him as an engineer examines
his machine, tapping on its wheels;
as the elephant of a circus does
bridge, feeling it with his foot. The
strength remaining to the sick man
was important, not as a measure of
life but as a means to the solution of
q difficulty.
The invalid put out a trembling
hand to a glass of some colored liquid
on the table, drank it, and finally ad-
dressed Randolph Mason, speaking in
a thick, scarcely Ineligible voice.