Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1914-11-19
The Ambition Of Mark Trultt
Author Of
THE MAN HIGHER UP" tbs RISE
TO POWER" Etc.
Uopydg ht. 1913. by The Bobbs,Merril Company

mailman who cringed before q squall, |
had shot him and was IN his way to
blow up the mills. Piotr must be fore
stalled. With an effort he forced his
eyes open and held them so until the
first giddiness passed. He raised his
head; it fell back with a thud.
II can't do it," he groaned.
But the mills-and Kazia!
1--WE got to do, it. I must stop him.
I must get to her"
Then began a fight to- sit up, to
stand, to beat off the Invisible hands
trying to drag him back into the black
ness. How long the struggle lasted,
by what degrees he progressed. he did
not know; but when it vas over he
was leaning weakly against the door
jamb. His brain was reeling, he
breathed sobbingly. but by bracing him
self desperately with the cane. recov-
cred in the struggle to stand. he man
aged to hold what he had won.
His brain cleared again, a little
steadiness came to the trembling
limbs. Summoning all his will, he
passed with uncertain dragging steps
out of the shed. A cold damp wind
breathed refreshingly upon him. He
gripped his cane % tightly and
started slowly down the weedy road.
He reached the foot of the hill and
sank down in a little rain pool. rested
pantingly and laved his hot face a few
minutes, then staggered to his feet
and limped on until weakness over
came him once more and he fell. -.
More than an hour later he was still
lurchipg along the road. Kazia and
the mills! They were in danger, they
we're being taken from him; he must
save them.
So he beat his way slowly along
moonlit stretches Of rough road.
through darkened ravines where only
instinct found a path, until at last,
rounding a curve, he saw the furnace
looming huge before him.
AS hours passed and Mark did
not return, a sense OF an approaching
crisis, of a danger, came to Kazia. The
sQuall died away. full darkness fell,
the train she was to have taken with
1 ! AOLA AO110u " q 0LOQr dt kA0< 6ldJ1Ou
and out again, and still he had not re-
turned. The ems grew heavier. pas
sive waiting u~nbearab1e. To escape
her foreboding she went out into the
night and walked about again in the
place she had once thought OF as a
haven. But she quickly left the ram.
bling old village, seen for the first
| tiroo uof hn1din0 ca yrronu ~omnrioc
of which she must not think, and went
over to the new Bethel with its wide
paved streets and rows ,of pretty little
cottages. Many of the cottages were
dark and untenanted as yet. but she
saw them as they would be when they
were the homes of a happy folk whe
toiled without exhaustion or fear, with
kindness in their hearts one for an
other.
She left the cluster of homes-to-bs
and retraced her steps over the stree
that led past the mills to the bridge
started to CROSS. But at the entranc.
she stopped. Everywhere it was tn
same. a redolence of him. After all
to her Bethel, the haven. was JUS
Mark Truitt. +
All her fine resolutions and philosc
ply. had become insufficient. The sigh
of the river, the woods in. their au
tumnal glory, thers song of the rapid
had reviviied the scenes of her on
happiness.
She did not think that there Nigh
be some to see. She was weeping
head bowed on the bridge rail-.
ooh, / shouldn't have, come. wan
him-him. And l have no right t
have him. 1t would be the crueles
thing l could do to him-even If b
cared. l was wrong to come"
Thus she told hope-the immortal
it must not live.
Old Simon had no skill for it an
, hence no part in the building of tn
mills. But he spent his days watchin
, them grow. Often at night, whe
Bethel was sleeping, he would sill
across the river to realize again tha
after SO many years his dreams wer
: coming magnificently true.
+ That night he left his seat on th
= stoop, where he had been wondering
I but patiently awaiting the abse1
r Mark, and trudged down to the rive
and across the bridge. He saw til
figure leaning on the rail at the farthe
I end, but not until he was close did b
o. see it was that of a weeping woma
I" He would have turned aside, but h
perceived that she had heard him an
n lifted her head.
He stopped short, staring in asto
ishment at the woman, a sort that be
never before come within his ken.
8 After a moments hesitation he wei
e to her.
"Is anything wrong, ma'am?"
She shook her head.
Il "Is there anything I kin do fur ye'
Again the silent gesture.
It IF there is" he persisted: I'D iii
A to do it fur ye."
Is She found her voice. "1t Is not
ing" She tried to smile. "Sometim
women cry for nothing, about lit
things"
a Some women do" Simon answer
gravely. II guess ye're q strang
here, amt We? I'm Simon Truitt."
la She started. You're his father? p