The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1913-08-23

insisted Mark "If this story will beat
rou tonight 1t will beat you 20 years
rom today. Particularly If this wom-
IN proves to be-what shall we call
TIA trife off color?"
"Robertson!"
"Ah! That hurts, does tit Then
t's probably true. II the Woman is
he kind that-that would not do you
credit, you can understand how much
more effective 1t 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
here must have been a bad streak in
ner, somewhere. You left her to sink
as low as expect TO find her and"
| Drop that, Mark" burst out Tom
Blake, jumping from his seat and con-
fronting his brotherin-law. Don't!
can't listen to 1t any longer. Standish
Is right. What you men are doing is
vile. If you've got scrap of man
hood left in the whole bunch of you, |
you won't drag this Woman into your
dirty schemes. L"
a sleepy man bothered by a fly, "for
the love Of Mike, don't you butt in!
The situations punk enough as it is,
without your laying your trophies Of
idiocy at its feet"
'Tdiocy?" fiared Tom. Perhaps
common decency's 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 20 a currish trick like
this! Isn't there enough Wilderness in
the whole lot of you for single voice
to protest against such use of wom-
ans name? You've just been told
she's of good family. That she has a
name to lose. And you answer: 'Po-
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. If you
use that power, l tell you now, one
and all-my father as well as the rest
I'm ashamed to have breathed the
same air with you'll"
Good night, Tom" drawled Blake
not so much as troubling to glance II
=" his irate sons direction.
mo-" corrected Tom, "good-by."
III Its up to you," yawned Blake.
en- "Good-by," reiterated Tom, stamp
ing from the room and slamming tn
outer door of the suite behind him.
Id The others stared after him in dul
ht wonder But an exclamation from thei
,lf host suddenly shifted their attention
II "Grace!" cried Mark in surprise
ell disapproval.
ur She had come, unnoticed, from he
hiding place behind the inner doc
an and was standing among them befoI
his they were aware of her presence.
! Mark" she painted. Il hear
ca what Tom said. And he was RICH
us You must not"
please keep out of this, Grace" r
ave quested her husband in dire emba
o. rassment. you don't know anythir
WI about it. You couldn't possibly"
81 do" she denied. 1--WE hear
Oh And"
Grace, dear girl" soothed Blak
Ills 10 DA0AhOoo az bSoS- ~
!, ~" no time for you to be here. You'll on
soil those pretty hands of yours"
ut is the time for me to be here
Du' she declared Il can see this from l.
IL Womans standpoint. You men can't
There is nothing in common /
ue tween your standpoint and that of Il
~ ~. Woman we are talking about" prote'
~, ~ ed Mark.
80, TON was right" she persiste
" You must not sink to using this stor
TED me whirr of the buzzer interrupt
her. At such high tension were tn
tc all that the sound made them turn
though to confront a physical pre-
tter ence Neligan strobe to the door, &C
nee farred fol an instant with some o
,ooi outside, then returned with slip
ere blue paper in his hand.
"The duplicate list of phone uu
or, bers from central" he announce
turning over the paper to Van Dyke
Good" approved Blake. M
euy we'll get to what we're chasing. A
'.,a we'll get it mighty quick"
~,, Van Dyke and Neligan were alrea
~ pOrlnR over ln6 sheet VI HuLnuSIb u
iie' the lawyer had just spread on
table under the lamp.
i"N Now, then, Standish," exulted RI
ertson; we're ready to begin. o
DC of these numbers leads directly to
anu Woman. Well put a man at VIC
|" tracing each one Of them. In I
Dc hours at longest we will have what
res want. And when we find the Won
We'll lay bare every soiled page in
cred life and in yours"
to 1t was Standish who broke the I
the ment's silence.
red, VERY well, Robertson" he 81
we; calmly. i've done what l promii
Tour to do. And l have failed. You dr.
to me now to the use Of your o
weapons. shall have to fight
ex posture with exposure"
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