Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1915-01-09
CHAPTER xII-contInued.

CHAPTER XII-ContInued.
There had been a snow. hard packed
by traffic, and the blacks caught the
sleigh swiftly along through the dusk
When the crowded business section
lay behind them, Henley remarked
casually:
Il saw your little charity back
there"
He was a cripple
Il see.' Henley nodded. That's
your greatest asset"
What is?"
Your health"
MY lack of it, you mean" Mark an
aswered grimly. But 1 don't quite
get your point of view
1T keeps you from making fool
of yourself. There's Hare, for in
stance, a capable man, drinking him
self into incompetency And Harmon,
with his women. For them prosperity
means indulgence. You keep your
appetites under control"
Il have to-
Exactly my point For a few
blocks Henley apparently gave himself
over wholly to the agreeable exercise
OF breathing in the keen frosty air.
When he resumed. no one could have
guessed from his tone that he was
working toward a given point. .'Higs-
bees case is worse. One woman"
Has he
His wife. A smooth catty creature,
with craze for display. Married him
after he made his stake, of course. Al
ways nagging him for new Jewels, new
carriages, new-house. Makes him
1r-nZ Er-- H. IL 4
Go dances and receptions and box par
ties-when 80 minutes of that takes
it out of him more than IL hours at
the rolls used to-" Mark might have
been sitting for his portrait "Egging
him on until he's scheming as un-
scrupulously as a toothless old dow
ager to get into society-or what with
her passes for society. He spent six
months beating about the bush to get
me to send my wife around to call on
her. Queer. how a big talented man
will let pretty useless woman pull
him around by the earsi"
Damned queeri" said Mark
suppose we, who aren't in the
same case. can't understand it,
Henley. Mark thought. seemed to
understand it very we'll
A few minutes more brought them
dashing up to a stop under the porte
cochere of Henley's big house.
Much obliged for the lift," said
Henley as he sprang out of the sleigh.
He added casually. 'Er-by the way, 1
think 1 heard my wife say she was
planning to call on Mrs. Truitt in the
near future"
Despite a quick flush, Mark looked
at him steadily. "Higsbee, then, was
a parable?"
by no MEANS Henley returned
blandly. 1T seems they have met at
ST. Swithin's and were-mutually In
terested." He paused. but as no reply
came from Mark. continued in the i'm
personal tone of one who philosophers
generally After all, there's a Higs-
bee in all of us. We affect to ieer at
this society thing. But we want our
wives to have the best It's more com
Portable. too. And besides. when a man
has charming wife. he can't hide her
light under a bushel. Good night"
Good night Especially Marx
muttered to himself. when she pro
poses to let It shine" He gave the
reins an angry jerk The horses leaped
and raced down the driveway and into
the street The music of the sleigh
bS411 rang uAGEE1y Oh the Keen air.
Once he laughed aloud, sneeringly
.Complaisant toady!" He did not re
fer to Henley. He had, in fact, him
self In mind One can not well openly
resent the insolent If friendly inter
est-eyen In ones domestic affairs
OF the man whose eccentric favor spells
prosperity. Still 1t stings, especially
when It argues shrewd guess as te
the fact And the fact was, Superin
tendent TRUTHS domestic estate, like
the neighborhood in which he lived
left something to be desired.
He stopped at brick house thai
differed from its neighbors only in tina
the lot was wide enough to allow fol
. driveway to the little stable in ths
rear. A groom, who had come to tht
front In answer to the summons of tn,
bells, took the team.