Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-02-08

VI, WHICH, liz TelatIVeS Claimed was Ill
Are you going back there?" she
asked
Yes. dear: must. Mr.. Mortimer
will 60 with me-"
and I?'
"No. heart omine; you've got to
stay here"
IT you do not take me with you,
you will not find me here when you
return"
my child" began Mortimer sooth.
lingly, you must not talk like that.
There will be danger"
! Then notify the police, and let the
danger rest upon their shoulders" she
said, her jaws set squarely.
| 81 can't call in the police" replied
George miserably.
| shall I tell you whyr'
! Dearest, can't you understand that
it is you am thinking of"
| II am determined. II do not 60
with you, you shall never see me
again. My mother is there!"
Tragedy Mrs. Mortimer stretched
out hand, but the girl did not see it.
Her mother; her own flesh and blood!
Oh, the poor child!
Come, then" said George, in des-
pair. But you are hurting me For
tune" #&J
Forgive me, but I must go with
you. l must!" ..
Get me the revolvers, Mr. Mortimer.
Well wait for Wadsworth Will you
please telephone him? I'm afraid
couldn't talk steadily enough. Elk.
plain nothing save that it concerns his
bank"
George sat down. Not during those
early days Of the journey across the
desert had he felt SO pitiably weak and
inef1cient
Fortune paced the room, her arms
folded tightly across her breast.
Strange, there was neither fear nor
pain in her heart, only q wild wrath.
When Mortimer returned from the
telephone, saying that Wadsworth
would be right over, he asked George
to explain fully what was going on. 1t
was rather long story. George man
aged to get through it with coherency
Understandable, but no more. Mrs.
Mortimer put her motherly arms about
the girl, but she found no pliancy.
There was no resistance, but there
Twas that stiffness peculiar to felines
when picked up under protest. And
there was little more than the cat in
Fortune then; the tigress. She was
not her mothers daughter for nothing.
TO confront her, to overwhelm her
with reproach, to show her not the
least mercy, stonily to see her led away
to prison!
George inspected the revolvers care
fully to see if they were loaded.
The bell rang, and Arthur Wads-
worth came in. Mortimer knew him;
George did not. He drew his interest
as it fell due and deposited 1t in an
other bank. That was the extent OF
his relations with Arthur Wadsworth.
president of the MISUNDERSTANDING
} bank Of New York.
} Arthur was small, thin, blond like
his brother, but the hair was so light
upon the top Of his head that he gave
one the impression that he was bald.
His eyes looked out from behind half.
shut lids; his cheeks were cadaverous;
his pale lips met in a straight, un-
. pleasant line. There was not the
slightest resemblance between the two
brothers, either in their bodies or in
their souls George recognized this
fact Immediately. He disliked the man
instinstinctively, just as he could not
help admiring his rogue Of brother.
IT want you to go with me to my
house at once" began George.
please explain"
George disliked the voice even more
than the man himself. Everything
will be explained there" he replied.
"This is very unusual" the banker
complained.
"You will find it so. Come" George
moved toward the hall, the revolvers
in his coat-pocket.
"But insist
"Mr. Wadsworth, everything will be
, fully explained to you the moment you
enter my house. More I shall not tell
,, you. You are at liberty to return
home"
ut concerns the bank?" The voice
had something human In it now;
note Of affection.
Arthur Wadsworth loved the bank
as man loves his sweetheart, but
more explicitly, as miser loves the
hoard hidden in the stocking. He
loved every corner of the building. He
worshiped the glass-covered marbles
over which the gold passed and re-
} passed He adored the sight Of the
bent backs of the bookkeepers, the
Iindividual-account clerks, the little
cages of the paying and receiving tell
ers, always so beautifully Uttered with
little slips of paper, packets of bills,
. stacks of gold and silver; he loved
the huge steelvault, stored with bags
of gold and bundles Of notes. bonds,
land stocks. Money was his god.
) Summed up, he was miser in all that
contemplate word implies; stingy.
] frugal, cautious, suspicious, sly, cruel,
+ and relentless; he was in the concrete
what his father had been in the
labstract.