Lower coast gazette., 1913-11-15
sary trouble II you'll quietly step down
and out"

and out"
IF l did," said Standish, Il would
be politically dead. You know that"
You're politically dead, anyway"
insisted Mark. If this story will beat
you tonight it will beat you 20 years
from today. Particularly If this Wom-
an proves to be-what shall we call
TIA trifle off color?"
"Robertson!"
"Ah! That hurts, does it? Then
It's probably true. If the Woman is
the kind that-that would not do you
credit, you can understand how much
more effective it will be-"
"You are wrong!' denied Standish.
"She is of good family. She"
"She may have been a good woman
when you found her." said Mark. But
there must have been a bad streak In
her, somewhere. You left her to sink
as low as l expect to find her and"
Drop that, Mark" burst out Tom
Blake, jumping from his seat and con-
fronting his brother-in-law. Don't! I
can't listen to 1t any longer. Standish
is right. What you men are doing is
vile. II you've got a scrap of man
hood left in the whole bunch Of you,
you won't drag this Woman into your
dirty schemes. +"
"Oh," drawled Blake with the air of
a sleepy man bothered by q fly, for
the love Of Mike, don't you butt in!
The situations punk enough as 1t Is.
without your laying your trophies of
idiocy at its feet"
"Idiocy?" flared Tom. Perhaps
common decency's a better term. Or
perhaps in your vocabulary the two
mean the same thing. You men are
known as political leaders. The pub
lie looks to you for examples. And
yet you stoop to a currish trick like
this! Isn't there enough whiteness In
the whole lot OF you for a single voice
to protest against such use Of a WON.
ans name? You've just been told
she's Of good family. That she has q
name to lose. And you answer: Pc.
litical necessity You know this story
will destroy at least two lives. Prob.
ably several more. And again you an.
swer: Political necessity You have
the power to ruin these lives. II you
use that power, I tell you now, one
and all-my father as we'll as the rest
Pm ashamed to have breathed the
same air with you!"
Good night, Tom" drawled Blake,
no. so much as troubling to glance In
his irate sons direction.
NO." corrected Tom, %"good.by."
Its up to YOU" yawned Blake.
"Good.by," reiterated Tom, stamp
ing from the room and slamming the
outer door of the suite behind him.
The others stared after him In dull
wonder. But an exclamation from their
host suddenly shifted their attention.
"Grace!" cried Mark in surprised
disapproval.
She had come, unnoticed, from her
hiding place behind tho inner door
and "a standing among them before
they were aware of her presence.
Mark" she painted. I'll heard
what Tom said. And he was right
You must not"
please keep out Of this, Grace" re
quested her husband in dire embar.
rassment. you don't know anything
about it. You couldn't possibly"
Il do" she denied. i've heard,
And"
Grace, dear girl" soothed Blake.
This is muddy business at best. It's
10 time for you to be here. You'll only
soil those pretty hands Of yours"
ut is the time for ne to be hcre!'
sac declared. Il can see this FROM the
Woman's standpoint. You men can't
There Is nothing in common be
tween your standpoint and that of the
Woman we are talking about" protest.
ed Mark.
"1'o1 WAS right" she persisted,
'You must not sink to using this story.
IL"
The whirr of the buzzer interrupted
her. At such high tension wore they
all that the sound made them turn as
though to confront a physical pres
ence. Neligan strobe to the door, col.
ferred fol an instant with sone one
outside, then returned with q slip OF
blue paper in his hand.
"The duplicate list Of phone NUN.
bers from central" he announced,
turning over the paper to Van Dyke.
Good" approved Blake. Nov
we'll get to what we're chasing. And
we'll get it mighty quick"
Van Dyke and Neligan we're already
porting over the sheet Of numbers that
the lawyer had just spread on the
table under the lamp.
Now, then, Standish," exulted Rob
ertson; we're ready to begin. One
of these numbers leads directly to the
Woman. Wen put a nan at work
tracing each one Of them. In a few
hours at longest we will have what we
want. And when we find the Woman
we'll lay bare every soiled page in her
life and in yours"
1t was Standish who broke the mo.
ment's silence.
Very well, Robertson," he said
calmly. I've done what ! promised
to do. And | have failed. You drive
me now to tbs use Of your own
weapons. I shall have tc fight ex-
posture with exposure"
NO, mol" mJaned Grace, incolerent
with fear.
~ n.h,rtron hnd n,,,oh& go