Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1914-03-31


high with sudden fear. but not this.
o God! Not this"
She repeated the pathetic words of
Little Ella
There's enough of us drops IN Bel
mont to fill a pretty big bucket'-oh,
1t can't be my father! 1t can't be my
father!-He has daughter-It's all
horrid mistake. There must be an
other David Kerr. I'm sure"
Gloria sprang from her chair and
seized the sleeping woman roughly by
he arm.
Listen to me. Tell me something
more of David Kerr"
She shook Little Ella into con-
scious state and repeated the question.
Which David Kerr is it?"
There's only one / know Of" an
swered Ella. He's got real estate
office on Fifth street"
What"
The net of circumstances was be-
ing drawn tighter and tighter about
one man. and that man her father
Are you sure he's the man, girl?"
Gloria asked the question in as sub
dued a manner as possible. Suddenly
she had become afraid. She did not
wish to arouse suspicion.
Sure, he's the man." It>tried ones
patience to be reused from sleep. and
then to meet with contradiction was
enough to make one petuIant. To set
tie the question so that she could go
back to sleep, little Ella added:
Look on my bureau and you'll see
a program of the Dave Kerr DENNY
cratic club ball"
Gloria walked over to the bureau
with its tumble of odds and ends. and
began to turn over the things me-
chanically.
NO. not that. Look behind that
photygraft. That's it. That's his pic
ture ON the front"
Gloria gave one look. The picture
was that of her father.
For a time Little Ella chartered
was Frustrated by grief that numbed
her every faculty. The foundation of
her faith had been swept away
What she beheld seemed to burn it
self into her brain. On the cover of
the program were the words: Annual
Ball. David Kerr Democratic Club"
and the picture Of her father. 1t was
the truth; her father was the boss of
Belmont. So different was her posi-
ton from that pinnacle on which she
had thought herself to be that the
whole world would have to go through
revolutionary orientation. There was
nothing in her life which would not
have to be adjusted anew because of
this revelation.
AS she turned the pages of the pro-
gram, pages filed with liquor and sa-
loon advertisements. her thoughts
were all of herself. Resentment and
anger there were, directed toward her
father, but now in the first moments
when she saw herself as Belmont saw
her humiliation conquered all other
emotions. Her first thought of Joe
Wright was that he had kept the truth
from her. She could not grow more
sick at heart, comparatively feeling
was out of the question because she
vas completely crushed, but she saw
as in book that had been written and
laid away as finished, the sacrifice
he had made for her, the supreme re-
nunciation he had made because he
would not denounce her father before
her.
The thought of how different her
Homecoming had been from what she
had planned made her laugh hysteric-
ally. Then when she recalled the few
staunch friends she had made she
clutched wildly at the hope that after
all it was untrue.
tits lie, every word of it, lie his
enemies invent. What big man but
has about him envious wasps that
prick and sting? Judge Gilbert, Mr.
Kendall. Doctor Hayes. they'll all say
that he-Joe Wright! What of him?
What will he say?"
She put this man that had loved her
in one balance and the other men In
the other. He outweighed them all,
and the momentary hope was gone
She could see it all now. AS the baf-
self to her bit by bit she buried her
face in her arms and sobbed.
And l was SO proud, oh, so proud"
moaned the daughter of David Kerr.
Joe! Joe! You did love NEIL sent
him away, and l never understood
Now can see it all. The social Sights
the cold disdain 4 could not under
he
before they reached my ears--all, all.
all because l was David Kerr's daugh-
ter, David Kerr, the boss Of Belmont"
Her fathers pane exercised a fasci-
nation over her. Again and again she
repeated 1t, her lips curling with
scorn.
David Kerr. the boss of Belmont"
she cried with contempt that wrung
her heart. David Kerr, the king of
underhand manipulators! David Kerr,
the man these wretched women look
to for protection-and pay him for it,"
This new thought was a poisoned
arrow that sank into her heart. AS
she dwelt upon it her eyes fell upon
her handsome tailored coat and her
beautiful hat she had laid aside
And with the money these unhappy
creatures pay, he-he-God In Heaveni
Where did the money come from for
these clothes l wear? What shall
do? All these years. ard I never
knew!"
Where the money came from to pay
for her handsome clothes wracked her
as poignantly as would a great phys
ical pain. Her thoughts were incoher-
ent. skipping from one horrid phase
of the situation to another Though
they were disconnected. they we're not
vague. Each was a ruthless view of
her deplorable position.
Why did he let me. come home?