Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1915-03-04
III IN I'M
MARY MIDTHORNE
GEORGE BARR M~cCUTCHEON.
Author of "Graustark," "Truxton King" etc.
Copyright, 1911. BY Dodd. Mead & Co
I'LL I'LL I'LL
CHAPTER 1.--(continued,

CHAPTER l.--(Continued).
Up to the time Eric, the boy. was 5,
n his sister, the new Mary, 2, they
lived with their parents in a thriving
Georgia own the home place of the IA
Their and his father before him. Old
Mr.. Blagden resented his daughters
marriage to the handsome, whilum
M1dthorne. The young man once had
been a visitor in Corinth, coming from
Harvard with college mates for the
ummer and his carryings~on had
quite thoroughly s~candalised the stald,
puritanical element in the town, al
though affording great delight and On
enlargement to the youth of the place.
1t is said that the spirit of emulation
which thrived in Corinth long after he
went his joyous way, following that
first and only visit, was such that il
had been as vigorously directed in am
other cause might have produced moth
ing but saints among the young men of
Corinth. But it took a different di-
rection altogether. For q time it was
feared that there would be no stopping
the lads. They went a dreadful pace
and seemed proud of it. Old Mr.. Blagden
took odd up Horace in good time. He
commanded him to have nothing in
common with Phil Midthorne, pro-
Claiming him to be an imp Of perdition.
The young men had been friends
Horace made the fatal mistake Of snub-
b1ng the Georgian on the street ole
day, whereupon Midthorne. after de-
proceeded to thrash his future brother
lnlaw. 1t is needless to say that
Horace despised him from that day
forth. If Mary Blagden was not easily
managed by her father. Midthorne found
the task by no means difficult. She
was in love with him-as were all the
girls in Corinth. for that matter-and
his belaboring of Horace increased
rather than checked her interest.
She never got On well with her
brother. He bullied her after a polite
fashion, all his own, and, as she
couldn't retaliate SO politely. he had
all the better of her. Midthorne. to his
own intense amazement, fell desperately
In love with the girl. But he had il
thrash Horace, just the same. You Il
we'll imagine his qualification when he
found, almost at once, hat he went up
considerably In the girls estimation af-
ter that disgraceful encounter. She
experienced a malicious delight in
standing up for him against Horace,
not only in public, but in the
bosom of her own family. She
ended up" by marrying the family
bug -bear-for that Is what Midthorne
grew to be-and promptly abandoned
Corinth forever. Horace W. quite
got it out of his head that she married
w AAAAo IN III
Be that as it may. they made a sorry
failure of it, those Midthornes. Phil
was not heavily endowed with this
worlds goods, nor was he likely to
acquire anything. He was a good fell
low. a fayorite, and it was his secret
belief that the world owed a living to
all good fellows.
Together they lived rather a thrift
less life in he Georgia town, neither of
them caring much whence s~ustenance
came, just so long as 1t zane. His
people were poor. He had but little nelp
from them. Mary's were rich, but She
would not have accepted aid from them
if she had been starving. BE it re-
corded. to PhiIs credit. he would no
more nave taken from them than she.
She was the iii of woman who
thrives on the attention of other men.
There was a-plenty Of them in their
wide circle of friends who were -eady
and willing to give it to her. for she
was beautiful, h was gay, she was
witty. 1t was not long before gossip
attached itself to her. Soon after the
second child was born, Mary Midtnorne
began to chafe restlessly under the re-
straint Of a quiet nome life in the
southern town.
Phil had grown tiresome, commonplace
in the extreme. He RAJ no longer the
dashing beau of her a~nte-nuptial days.
Instead, he was slowly drifting into a
disgusting state of complacency-and
complacency was the one condition that
Mary despised more than all others. He
loved his home and his children; he
was getting over his love for the world.
They quarreled less than had been
their Won't. He was getting so that he
would not even take the trouble to
quarrel with her over the attention
other men paid her-with her per-
mission. She went farther and farther
In a Spirit of defiance to him-and his
complacency. She got over her love
for him. but 1T was like gall and worm
wood to feel that he did not love her
at least. in the old, impass1oned way.
h was still young still pretty, still
worth while: h could feel.
One day Phil found her lunching with
a man he had particularly advised her
to avoid. as there had already been
talk about them. He u%pbraided her,
in the presence OF the man. That night
She did not come home He followed
her to New Orleans, and from that city
to Pass Christian. Out on the famous
Shell road he came upon her and the
man.
He took her to the county seat with
him, but he left the mar lying by the
roadside. n bullet through his heart.
The unwritten law! He was discharged
by q chivalrous Mississippi jury. and
~journeyed. amiably back to his home
and his babies. but without the wife
and mother. 1t was a part OF his u,,-
written law that she should keep 20
the path she had chosen.
OF course, in this grave
] Horace Blagden n his father might
| have been expected to come forward
with a helping hand outstretched to
the Maynard outcast. But not they,
They We're of Corinth and they were
great men and impeccable. They closed
their hearts and their hands against
her. Sh wore a scarlet letter.
Mary was not of the kin that goes
to the gutter. The gutter is not a com
Portable abiding place. nor is it one OF
luxury. She liked comfort and luxury.
She went to Paris instead. Two wears
after the tragedy on the Shell road
she came to a sudden and perhaps
timely n through an attack Of fever
while acting in the capacity Of govern
ess In the home OF a wealthy expatri-
ated New Yorker, whose wife, for rea-
sons V made public, became
estranged from him after Mary had
been in the family a spare three
months.
A strange coincidence followed. Phil
ip Midthorne died Of pneumonia in less