River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1913-03-06
CHAPTER Vii.
An old Perfume.

fused to see or speak to Nan.
He met Bivens as a matter Of
course. but always downtown
during business hours or at one OF his
clubs. For the first year Nan had re-
scented his attitude in angry pride and
remained silent And then she began
to do curious thing which had grown
to be a part of his inmost life. For
the past eight years she had written a
brief daily diary recording her doings.
thoughts and memories which she mail
ed to him every Sunday night. She
asked no reply and he gave none. No
names appeared in it's story and no
name was signed to the dainty sheets
of paper which always bore the per-
fume of wild Strawberries. But the
man who read them in silence knew
and understood.
The letter from her he held today
was not an unsigned sheet of her diary
1t was a direct. personal appeal, tender
and beautiful in its sincerity. She beg
ged him to forget the past because she
needed his friendship and advice, and
asked that he come to see her at once.
This letter was his first temptation
to break the resolution by which he
had lived for years.
He rose and paced the room with
fury as he began to realize how des-
perate was his desire to go.
"Have | fought all these years for
nOthingP' he cried.
The thing that drew him with all
but resistless power was the deeper
meaning between the lines. He knew
that each day the incompleteness of
her life had been borne in upon her
with crushing force And yet he felt,
by an instinct deeper than reason, that
the day he returned from his exile and
touched her hand would mark the be-
ginning of. tragedy for both
In the past nine years he had thrown
his life away only to find it in greater
power The first year which he had.
given of unselfish devotion to the serv-
Ice Of the; people had been a failure.
but at the end Of four years he was
nominated for district attorney and
was swept into Office by a large ma.
jority. The enforcement of justice
ceased to be a Joke and became a liv-
ing faith.
His work had stirred the state to
nobler and Ieaner civic life During
the past year he had become one of
the foremost figures in American De
nocracy-the best loved and the most
hated and feared man in public life in
New York He asked no favors; he
sought no preferment
The work on which he had just en-
tered was an investigation before an
unusually intelligent grand jury of the
criminal acts of a group of the most
daring and powerful financiers of the
world When be realized the magni-
tude of the task he had undertaken
he at once put his house in order for
the supreme effort 1t was necessary
that he give up every outside interest
that might distract his attention from
the greater task.
The one matter OF grave Importance
to which he was giving his time out
side his office was his position as ad-
visory counsel to DR. Woodman in his
suit for damages against the chemical
trust. which had been dragging its
course through the courts for years.
To his amazement he had lust re-
ceived an offer from Bivens attorneys
to compromise this suit for 100000.
He would of course advise the doctor
to accept it Immediately. He had
never believed he could win a penny.
What could be Bivens' motive in
making such an offer? 1t was impoS-
si6le that the shrewd little president
had anything to fear personally from
this attack His fortune now could
not be less than S40.0O0,000, and the
issue of such a suit as the one Wood
man had brought and on which he
had spent so much of his time and
money was to Bivens a mere bagatelle.
1t might be Nan-it must be! Her
letter surely made the explanation rea-
sonable. She knew this suit was an
obstacle in the way of their meeting.
During the past winter she had be-
come the sensation of the metropolis
Her wealth. her beauty. her palaces
and her entertainments had made her
the subject of endless comment. She
had set a pace for extravaganza which
made the old leaders stand aghast.
Her worldly wise mother had been dead
for the past five years.
He was waiting the arrival of Wood
man for a conference over Bivens' Of
fer of comnromise and he dreaded the
ordeal
$50 the little weasel has offered to
compromise my suit for half the sum
we named, eh?" the doctor asked in