Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1913-11-08
60 PNsiSHL

whistle blow" laughed Conover, as
with a jerk of his red head and a
word of pleasant welcome, he
passed them on down the recep-
ton line. Then the Railroader s
light, deep-set eyes fell on Greer.
and he stepped forward.
"Good evening, Greer!' he cried,
both hands outstretched, and
! there was subcurrent of Ia
tent power in his hearty voice.
"Good evening Pleased TO see you
in my house. Mrs. Greer, l pre-
sumo. Most kind of you to come.
ma'am. Proud to make your ac-
| quaintance. Letty!'- SUNNI oning
with a Jerk of the head an over
/ dressed, frightened-looking little
woman from the line behind him
Lefty, this is my very good
| friend, Mr.. Talbot Firth Greer
Mrs. ConoN er-Mr. and Mrs. Greer.
| Mr.. Greer is the next Congress-
/ man from the Eleventh District.
| That's a little prophecy, Mr..
Greer. You can gamble on it's
coming true.) My daughter, Prin-
cess dAntri-Mr! and Mrs. Greer.
! Prince Amadeo d'Antrl.
My secretary, Miss Alice Lanier-
Mr. and Mrs."
A new batch of guests swarmed
down the hall toward the host,
and the ordeal was over. The
Greers swept on in the rush, did
not hear Conover's next greeting.
This was rather pity, since II
differed materially from that law
ished upon themselves.
man, with a shock of light hair
and quiet dark eyes. He wore his
clothes well, and looked out OF
place in his vulgar garish sur
roundings. Caleb Conover Rail-
reader, eyed the newcomer all over
with a cold eXpressionless glance.
A glance that no seer on earn
could have read the glance that
had gained him more than
one victor, when wits and
concealment of purpose were
and corcealment of purpose were
rife. Then he held out grudg-
ing hand.
"Well, Mr.. Give Standish,' he
observed, 1T seems the lion and
tAe lamb lie down together, after
ala considerable distance this
side of tne millennium. And the
lamb inside, at that. 70 think OF
clubman and a cotillon leader,
and a first-families scion and
Civic Lacquer and all that sort OF
thing condescendipg to honor my
poor shanty-'
MY aunt, Mrs. ConoYer, wrote
asking me especially to come, as
lavor to her. replied the young
or man stiffly. l thought
"And you were o. h. in thinking
it. | know Lefty wrote, because
| dictated the letter. WANTED to
count you in with the rest tonight
and / had kind Of a bashlul fear
taat your love for me, personally,
might not be strong enough to
fetch you. You've got too much
sense to think the invite will score
either way in our feelings to each
other, or thai I'm going hack on
what ] said to you four years ago.
Now that you're here, chase in
ana enjoy yourself. This pace u
like heaven, tonight In che way.
you'll see whole lot Of people
here you never expected to and
you'll miss more'n a ew you
thought would sure belong. Good
by. Don't let me block your job
of heavenly recognition"
The wilful coarseness and brutal
itv of the man came as no surprise
TO Standish. He had expected
something of the sort, and had
braced himself for it. To please
his aunt, whom he sincerely pitied,
he had entered the Conover house
tonight for the first time since
the Homeric quarrel, incident on
his refusal to avail himself of
Caleb's prestige in his law work,
and, Incidentally to enroll him.
self as one of the Railroaders
numberless political vassals. That
the roughness to which Conover
had subjected him was no more
part of the Railroader's real ma
ture than had been the nerN Gus eff
fectiveness of his greeting to the
Gree1t, Give we'll knew. 1t lad
been intended to cover any en-
barrassing memories of a former
and somewhat less strained &C
uuaintanceship; and as such it
fac most os Conover's moves-had
served it's turn.
So resisting his first impulse to
depart as he had come, Standish
moved on. The formal receiving
rhalanx was erumpling up. He
paused for a moments talk with
little Mrs. Conover, exchanged a
civil word or two with his cousin
Blanche and her prince, and then
came to where Anice Lanier was
trying to make conversation for
several awed-looking, bediamond-
ed persons who were evidently
horribly ill at ease in theiI sur
roundings.
At sight of the girl, the formal
lines about Gives mouth were
broken by a smile of very genu-
irc pleasure. A smile that rave a
younger aspect to his grave face,
and found ready answer in the
brown eyes that met his.
"Haven't you toiled at a for
lorn hope long enough?" he ask
ed, as the awed beings drifted APP
way into the uncomfortable crowd,
carrying their burden of jewels
with them.
"a forlorn hope?" she queried,
puzzled.
"You actually seemed to be try