Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1916-08-04

did not @ that she caught her liz
between her teeth to stop its trem-
bling.
AS you know, l had a debt to pay
before could say: Come, little girl,
let's go and get married. So | became
a stakeholder in Coftwright's power
company, knowing perfectly well when
| consented that the hundred thousand
dollars worth Of stock he gave me was
a bribe-the price Of my silence and
noninterference with his greedy
schemes"
But you didn't mean to keep it:
you know you couldn't keep it," she
broke in; and now he did not need to
look to know that her lips were trem.
bling piteously.
i did keep it,"
She dropped quickly on the step be.
side him and a sympathetic hand crept
into his.
You kept 1t until the unhappy day
when you gave 1t to my father, and he
and he threw it away" She was
crying softly, but his attempt to com.
fort her was almost mechanical.
Don't cry about the money. It had
the DEVILS thumb-prints on it, and he
merely claimed his W and got It."
Then he went on as one determined to
leave nothing untold. "Cortwright had
bought me, and | served him as only a
man IN my position could serve him. I
became a promoter, a booster with
the others. There have been times
when a word from me would have
pricked the bubble. l haven't said the
word; l am not saying 1t now. II I
should say 1t Id lose at a single
stroke all that l have been fighting for.
And am not a good loser, Amy"
For once the keen, apprehending per-
ception failed.
Il don't understand" she said, speak.
ing as If she were cropping in thick
darkness. II mean l don't understand
the motive that could"
He turned to her In dumb astonish.
ment.
Il thought I had been making Il
plain as I went along. You wanted
something-you needed ~it-therefore
it must be purchased for you. And
the curious part of the besetment is
that have known all along that I was
killing your love for me. If 1t wasn't
quite dead before, 1t will die now-now
that | have told you how | am f1inging
the last vestiges Of u~prightness and
honor to the winds"
But how" she queried. "You
haven't told me-"
with the dam completed before con.
gress could intervene, Mirapolis would,
Of course, be quite dead and ready for
its funeral. But If the Cartwright peo-
pie industriously insist that the spend. |
ing Of another million or two of gov
eminent money is only another plum
for the city and It's merchants and in
dustries, that, Notwithstanding the re-
newed activities. the work will still
stop short Of completion and the city
will be saved by legislative enactment.
the innocent sheep may be made to
.l9eS- again and 'ths wolves will es-
She shuddered and drew a little
apart from him on the log step.
But your part in this horrible plot,
Victor?" she asked.
1T Is as simple as 1t Is despicable.
In the first place, / am to set the stu
alton before the department in such a
light as to make it clearly a matter Of
public policy to take advantage OF the
present Metropolitan crisis by pushing
the work vigorously to a conclusion.
After thus turning on the spigot OF
plenty, l am expected to crowd the
pay rolls and at the same time to hold
back on the actual progress OF the
work. That is all-except that | am to
keep my mouth shut"
but you can't, you can't" she cried.
Then, in a passionate outburst; III
you should do such a thing as that, 1t
wouldn't kill my love-I can't say that
any more; but it would kill mel
shouldn't want to live!"
He looked around at her curiously,
as II he were holding her at arm
length.
Shall l do what you would have me
do, Amy? Or shall l do what is best
for you?" The opposing queries were
as impersonal as the arm's-length gaze.
The tears had burned out of the
steadfast eyes which were resting,
with the shining soul looking out
| through them, upon the crimsonins
snow peaks of the distant T~imanyonis.
How little you know the real lover
she said slowly.
He got up stifly and helped her to
her feet and together they stood look
ing down upon the city of the plain
living now under the curved, sunset
shadow cast by the mighty, intending
sweep of the great dam.
Monsieur ~Poudrecaulx Bongras, 70
tund, smiling and reached and waxed
to a broad burlesque of second-empire
fierceness, looked in vain among his
dinner guests that evening for the
chief of the reclamation service. and
Br~ouillard's absence held a small dis
appointment for the Frenchman. Ru
NOR, the rumor which was never quie'
and which could never be traced con