Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-08-13
A Forgotten
Promise
How 1t Was Recalled.
By REINETTE LOyEWELL
Copyright by r. A. Munsey Co.

and revealed a small safe. The light
from the shaded library lamp fell upon
her bare shoulders as she bent toward
1t, resting n hand on the black metal.
'In there" she said to Crawford, "is
$4,000"
She paused.
"In a shape l can convert into mon
ey," she added after a moment.
The man stood a few feet away,
leaning against the maptey apd pot by
the slightest movement did he betray
that he heard her.
"Oh, Bob, what is the user she
pleaded. This house Is just a prison
cell for me-" The last words were al
most a sob.
"That money Is as much mine as
his" she went on defantly. HE got
It away from other people, and why
shouldn't l take 1t from himY'
HE is your husband" Crawford said
slowly.
"My husbandl' the oma returned,
so bitterly that an ugly shadow seemed
to mar her face. She made a cropping
gesture with her o~utstretched hands.
Eyes, he is my husbands"
She paused, and her lips moved scorn-
fully.
"He gives me all the things l want"
she went on. I'm the envy of the
n%eighbors. I've everything money can
buy.
Bob" she whispered, 'the only real
feeling I've ever had from anybody is
what you've given me since that time
you picked me up in the park and
brought me home for dead"
She paused and drew in her breath
with a quick sob.
81 want another chance to live a.
oh, a real life-to get away from all
this. Somehow | can't help feeling
that we Just had TO meet as we did"
Her head, with it's weight of shining
hair, dropped down upon the table, her
chest resting against the leather skin
which covered 1t.
1--WE felt just like a show window
dummy" she ended brokenly. II need
something to make me over into a
WODluu.
Mrs. Fairbanks took from a drawer
a map and spread before him the out
line of the north coast of Massachu-
sets.
II know every inch of the way from
Boston," she said. with an alert deci-
sion that surprised the man she tempt
ed, land up there''--she put her finger
on an irregular projection-"is where
Captain Zeb has his old whaleboat.
He's the biggest old miser ever you
saw, and | know for a hundred dollars
he'll take us out and keep us out weeks
if we want. Well take the car part
way and bride a man to bring 1t back
and leave 1t. oh, 1t is easy enoughf'
Crawford tipped his head back upon
the leather cushions of the chair In
which he sat and closed his eyes,
drawing his hand across them YEARLY.
Eyes, it's easy enough" he repeated
slowly.
He was thinking of the last ten
years Of his life, the years between If
teen and twenty-five. Hard years they
had been, spent In struggle and pow
erty, with always the %torturing desire
to break away into strange new lands
of promise.
He remembered the October day that
he had dropped on a bench in the park,
determined to get into something, any
thing which would rid him of the plod-
ding pace he had trod so long. The hoof
beats of a horse striking the road with
terrific speed had startled him, and a
moment later Mrs. Fairbanks had been
pitched into a pile of red. r~ustling
leaves at his very feet.
From that hour to the present mo-
ment her fascination had seemed to be
beyond his power of resistance, and in
her presence Crawford felt himself be-
coming the man he had long wanted
to be. The whole change in his life In
both business and social connections
ne owed to the circumstance which
had thrown their lives together.
Lying there in the great chair, with
his eyes closed. he recalled his first
meeting with John Fairbanks. There
came to his mind his invitation to
make himself at home about the great
house.
'I'm almost never there" the older
man had said carelessly. you'll
amuse Mrs. Fairbanks"
This Crawford had done. He had
learned to drive her automobile. and
almost every hour that he was free he
spent in her company.
The silent man at the head OF the
household, with his strange indiffer-
ence. had remained a mystery to Craw-
ford. Selfish and sordid he might be,
but some way
Mrs. Fairbanks reached owe and
touched his sleeve.
"Wake up, Bob,' she said with a
little shake. Lets plan some more
Twenty-four hours later Crawford
guided the Fairbanks a out from the
city. far down the sound. The woman
at his side laughed joyfully as he In