The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1914-03-24

aggerates: be Is too Kind. But since
he has chosen to publicly call attention
to our relations. | will confess that
what he tells you is all true. Through
my assistance-partly. at any rate-he
has made a man of himself. He has
been welcome at my house. at my
table: be has come and gone as he
pleased, like one Of the family, you
might say. But those are little things;
they count for nothing" His tone
gripped bis bearers. and Anthony
stirred uneasily, thinking this an odd
way Of accepting gift
Unclasping his long. white fingers.
Cortlandt held up the watch to public
view.
"In payment for my poor friendship
be has given me this magnificent thing
Of gold and jewels, the finest ever
saw. I never counted upon such graft
tude. It is too much. and yet man
cannot refuse the gift of his friend
and not seem ungracious, can he?
Somewhere in the orient they have
custom Of exchanging gifts. No man
may accept a thing Of value without
making adequate return. and 1t has al
ways struck me as wise practice"
He turned full upon Kirk for the first
time since he had begun speaking, and
his voice rose tone as he said, Il
can't let the obligation rest entirely
upon me. We have been friends, An
thony, and l am going to give you
something in return which have
priced highly. 1t would be counted Of
great value by some" Once more he
paused and drew his lips back in that
grimace of mockery. 1t could no long
er be termed a smile. 1T is this-l am
going to give you--my wife. You have
had her from the first, and now she is
yours"
For one frightful moment there was
no sound; even the mems breathing
was hushed, and they sat slack jawed,
stunned. half minded to believe this
some hideous, incredible jest. Cort-
landt turned away gloatingly.
Kirk was the last to recover his pow
ers, but when they did revive they
came with prodigious rush. He
plunged upward out Of his chair with
a cry like wounded animal, and the
others rose with him. The table rock
ed. something smashed, chair was
hurled backward. The room broke into
instant turmoil. Kirk felt hands upon
him, and then went blind with fury,
struggling in a passion too strong for
coherent speech. He was engulfed in
chaos. He felt things break beneath
his touch, felt bodies give way before
him.
How or when Kirk left the room he
never knew. Eventually he found him
self pinned in his chair, with Runnels'
white face close against his own and
other hands upon his arms. His first
frenzy quickly gave way to a sickenins
horror.
Its lie. The mans crazy" he
cried hoarsely; then, as his compan-
ions drew away from him, he rose to
his feet. why are you looking at me
like that? l tell you it's a ID lie!
| never
Runnels turned to the table and
with shaking hand put a glass to his
lips and gulped its contents. Wade
and Kimble exchanged glances, then,
avoiding each others eyes, took their
hats from the hooks behind them.
Wait. Bring him back" Kirk
mumbled. "Ill get him and make him
say it's a le." But still no one an
swered, no one looked at him. God!
You don't believe it?'
I'm going home, fellows. I'm kind
of SICK" kimble said. One Of the
others murmured unintelligibly. and.
wetting a napkin. bound up his hand.
which was bleeding. They continued
to watch Kirk as If fearful of some in
sane action. yet they refused to meet
his eyes squarely. There was no SYM
patty in their faces.
The knowledge of what these actions
meant came to him slowly. Was 1t
possible that his friends believed this
incredible accusation2 AS he began to
collect himself he saw his plight more
clearly. His first thought had been
that Cortlandt was insane, but the
mans actions were not those of a
maniac. No! He actually believed
and these fellows also. He wanted to
shout his innocence at them, to beat
it into their heads.
One by one they took their hats and
went out, mtmbling goodnight to one
another, as If intending to go home
singly in order to avoid all discussion
Of this thing that had fallen among
them Runnels alone remained.
"You don't believe | did-that?" An.
thony asked in a strained voice.
al think l do" There was a mis-.
cradle silence, and then: ut isn't the
thing itself. you know. so much as the
Observation-Disclosures advantage YOU
took. If he'd been a stranger, now
Honestly. isn't Il truefm
Continued on Page 6.