The Detroit times., 1913-10-30

II was to picture life as a desperate
handicap In which they were forever
three jumps ahead Of the sherin.
somehow managed to cling TO their
yachts and their stables. Few OF DIS
friends had really gone smash, and
of these all but one had taken them
selves speedily and decently on. he
thought OF Red Creighton. the one fall
ure who had chung to the old Ire,
achieving for a transient period the
brilliant success Of living on his
friends. When this ended he had
gone on the road for some champagne
or other. Everybody had ordered
from him ut the start But this, TOO,
had failed. He had dropped out OF the
clubs and there had Mt last befalien
an evil time when he had come 10
haunt tho avenue, as keen for stray
quarters es any panhandler. Wnere
was Creighton now. he wondered!
Across tho avenue was Larry Tread
wells brokerage Office. Larry had
brain for business; as youtnrui
scamp In knickerbockers he had been
as sharp as steel-trap. But what
6id-he, John Valiant. know OF bust
ness? Less than Of law Why, he
was not At TO smirk behind counter
and measure lace insertion Tor the
petticoats of the women he waltze1
with All he was really TT for was
to work with his hands.
He thought OF gang OF laborers
he had seen that afternoon breaking
the asphalt with crowbars. What
must IL be to toll through the clammy
cold OF winter and the smothering fur
feat Of summer, In some revolving
routine of filth and unredeemable
uglness? He looked down at bis
supple white fingers and shivered.
He rose grimly and dragged his
chair facing the window. The night
was balmy and he looked down across
the darker sea of reefs, barred like
a gigantic checker board by the shin
ing lines OF streets, to where the flash
, ing electric signs OF the theater dis
trict laid their wide swath OF colored
radiance. The manifold calls OF the
street and the buzz Of trolleys made
dull tonal background, subdued and
far-away.
To be outside, All that light and
color and comfort and pleasure would
hum and sparkle on just the same,
though he was no longer within the
circle OF It's effulgence-slavlng per-
haps, he thought with twisted smile,
al some tawdry occupation that called
for no experience, to pay for a meal
In some second-ratc restaurant and
pallet In some shabby-genteel. hall
bedroom. till his clothes were replaced
BY ill-htting "hand-me-downs"- by
wretched gradations he arrived finally
at the status OF the dime seat in the
On 1lory and fiye-cpnt cigars
There was one way back. II lay
thu ough the hackneyed gateway OF
marriage. Youth. comeliness and fine
linen. In the world he knew. were
fair exchange for wealth any day
Outlet for cutlet"-the satiric phrase
ran through his mind. Why not? 9th
ers did so. And as for himself, 1t per-
haps need he no question OF plain and
spinstered millions-there was kath-
arine Fargo.
He had known her since time
when she bestrode small fuzzy pony
In the park, cool as grapefruit and
with q critical eye, even in her ten
years, for social forms and observ-
ances. In the intervals of fashionable
boarding schools he had seen her de-
velop, beautiful. cold. stately and cor
rect. The Fargo fortune-thanks to
modern journalism, which was fond or
stating that II the steel rails Of the
Fargo railways were set end to end
the chain would reach from the earth
TO the planet Saturn or thereaboues-
was as familiar to the public magma
ton as Caruso or the Hope damon"
And the daughter Katharine had not
lacked admirers, shop-girls knew the
scalps that danglei from her gfrdle.
But In his heart John Valiant was
aware. by those subtle signs which
men and women alike distinguish, that
while Katharine Fargo loved first and
foremost only her own wonderful per-
son. he had been an easy second in
her regard.
He remembered the last Christmas
house party at the Fargos' place on the
St Lawrence. Its habitues irreverent-
~ dubbed this THE Shack but i
was the nursing of folk who took
their camping luxuriously, In a palatial
structure which, though built, as ~
it's exterior, of logs, was equipped
within with Turkish bath billiard
room and the most interchangeable chef
west of st. Petersburg. The evening
before his hosts swift motor had boot
ed him of TO the station. as its wide
hall exhaled the bouquet of after
dinner cigars. he had looked at her
standing in the wide doorway, a rar"
exquisite creature-her face fore
shortened and touched to borrowed
tenderness by the ilckering glow oil
the burning logs i'm the room behind
the perfect flower, he had thought, or
the civilization In which he lived.
John Valiant looked down at the
bulldog squattcd on the floor, his eyes
shining In the dimness. A little no;
ripple run over him. Not on your
life, Chum," he said. mo shameless
barter. There must be other things
,.esides money and social position IN
this doddering old world. after all!
Tho dog whinod with delight at the
voice and jumped up to lick the strong
tense hand held down to him. "Do
you know, old chap" his master con-
tinuod, I've been handing myself a
collection OF cold marble truths in the
last few weeks, I've been the prize
dclt OF the whole show. and you ought
to have thrown rie over long ago.
You've probably realized Ii all along.
but II has never lawncd on nc until
lately I've worn tho .,luc ribbon so
long I'd como To think Il was decora-
lion. All my life rye been Just an
other 81 those well-mcenine. brain
less ycuns idiots who have never
dine n tlcsscd thinr. that's the slight
est value To anybody else. Well. Chum.
we're through We're going to begin
a.