Evening star., 1914-08-02

paid for his cruelty by his disgrace and his death
"You dev7 cried Troy. Beside himself with fury.
he would have fired had not Daura rushed between
them.
II have given him my word!' she said. "You must
spare him. He is mine now"
"Forgive me- Troy answered. II mad for an
instant Don't be afraid that it will happen again,
Go on, Morton You're safe from me; though you de-
death than this weapon of mine could
give. Speak out, and let's hear the end"
MORTON livid under the red stain of his dis
glise II wish I'd got you before the girl screamed
through the wall!' he snared you're your brother
again No touch of pity for poor in your
hearts! And Conway's as bad But I've given him
black hours. Now for the story though. / want
those jewels! I've got for everyone. l guess if
| get them | can afford to cry quits with the Troy
family, and Conway too Nobody dreamed David
Grey, the superintendent of the mint, was in any
trouble; but he got into precious mess with his fl
close onto year ago. He specuated in his
name: too foxy for that. His lawyer did his odd
jobs, maybe Anyhow, they went wrong So much the
for his charities. So much the for him,
and for his family who looked up to him saint
his wife who'd been mother to Conway and the girls
who like his sisters. Grey had to keep his end up
somehow
4Then came the great chance at the mint He must
have thought of it while Conway holiday in
Europe. He'd have brought off the coup alone if he
could but he had to get help. 1t case Of the
lion and the in the fable the mouse. The
doorkeeper had to help fix things up l knew before
George Conway came back what was doing. But Con-
way himself hadn't an inklng, when he confded his
love troubles to his old friend and Grey offered lend
him twenty thousand dollars, to carry through deal
Conway fortune in Grey believed in his young
friends luck, and risked his own honor on it. though
Conway wasn't in position to appreciate the compi-
ment to its full extent.
@Twenty thousand for Grey, twenty thousand for
Conway, in the venture That's the way it stood And
thew | he Who'll inu heco
used to confide bit in me- at the time helping
him get out the gold, and put it back again into the
vaults later, when luck had turned. He was weak in
ways, and it did him good to tak-relieved the
pressure. And had right to know how things were
going. Once in awhile Grey handed me bit of his
winnings to keep sweet; and the bargain was that
if the shortage found out to stand the racket
Ten thousand dollars to be put in bank for me-
a certain name, and was to find the money waiting
for me when got out of prison
well, the gold had to be put back slowly where it
from, and it almost all in, right as rain,
when day the blank space where the missing
sacks ought to have been discovered Then the
fat in the fire for all! But l stood pat and
took my cruel like gentleman, counting Grey's
word for the ten thousand, and his promise to look
after my wife.
EXACTLY what happened when l was down and
out don't know; but my idea is that when old
Grey taken sick with pneumonia (which carried
him off pretty quick after all his worry and the
strain he'd been through) he must have
essed to Conway where the money to start their for
tunes came from.
q" guess Grey let out at the last that Gerald Troy
innocent; and Conway, rather than ruin his best
friend and the family that like his own, kept his
mouth shut. Troy dead anyhow, and far
Conway knew not relation was left alive to mourn
him. He have felt considerable of sneak though
keeping dark about thing like that, especially when,
without knowing what up, he'd shared the whole
plunder. l bet he wasn't happy engaged man
ought to have been And through my wife Minnie
able to keep him rubbed up bit the wrong way.