The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1916-03-15

Fraud.
At Gosnold house that day, ten
persons sat at luncheon meal
admirably ordered and served mp
on a clothless eXpanse of dark
mahogany. relieved at each place
! by little squares of lace and fine
! linen, and in the center by a great
! brazen bowl of vivid roses.
In this strange atmosphere, the
outsider maintained a coyertly
watchful silence.
Aside from a Mrs. Artemas, the
faces strange to Sally were those
of a Miss Pride and Messrs. Lyt-
Teton and Trego.
After luncheon, the party dis
persed without formality. Thego
was snapped up for auction bridge
by Mrs. Gosnold and Mercedes
Pride, Sally being elected to
fourth place as one whose defect
i've education must be promptly
} remedied, lest the roof fall in.
A circumstance which Sally her.
self had overlooked turned out to
be the tacit understanding on
which the game had been made
up; and when, at the conclusion
of the third rubber, Mr.. Trego
} summed up the score, then calmly
presented her with $40 bill and
some loose silver-Mercedes with
stole countenance, performing the
same painful operation on her own
purse in favor of dear Abigail
! the girl was overcome with con-
! sternation
"But-no!" she protested, and
blushed. I'VE weren't playing for
money, surely"
TITS our CUSTOM" Mrs. Gosnold
smiled serenely. IF you haven't
tried the view from the terrace
] Miss Manwaring, I'm sure you'll
I find it worth while"
Mind if | show you the way,
Miss Manwaring?"
"Oh, no." Sally started to find
Trego had fingered. 'I'll be very
} glad"
] But the truth was that she was
not glad of this unsolicited COM
4 pany. This Mr.. Trego inspired a
sharp impression that he would
prove man easy to dislike in
Z tenSely.
And If that were so-if, as II
! seemed, she had already, intuitive.
I ly acquired distaste for Mr.
/ Trego-how could she at once re-
tain her self-respect and his
money-money which she had
won in defiance of the rules OF
! fair play? o. -
1t stuck in her fist, a hard lit
4 tie wad of silver wrapped in the
! bill; nearly $21, the equivalent OF
three weeks pay for drugery.
She plunged boldly: "Mr. Ire.
ga, | do wish you'd let me give
back this money!"
He clasped his hands behind
him and shook his head.
II don't like to refuse you any
3 thing, but my notion of playing
the game is to lose like loser and
win like a winner"
That's Just it, | can't win like
winner because-I'm penniless
Tm-nobody. Mrs. Standish took
! pity on me because was out OF
! work and brought me here to &C,
as secretary to Mrs. Gosnold."
Thego nodded heavily. 81 guess
ed 1t. mean l felt pretty sure
B you were = we'll, of another
q world" He jerked a disrespect-
j full head toward the smiling ia.
} cade of Gosnold house. "The same
as me-" he added. Sometimes
wish the old man hadn't struck il
! quite so rich. If he hadn't, we'd
both be happier"
She sat beside the wide window
of her bed chamber, on that third
midnight at Gosnold house.
For upward of two hours Sally
) had been passive there in her
chair, a prey to uneasy thoughts;
now she was. weary with much
! thinking, consumed with desire to
y go out into the scented moon
struck night and lose herself In
its loneliness. Why not? No one
need ever know.
In another minute, without
turning on the light, she was
! inspecting the hallway. 1t was
! quite empty and silent. Satisfied
she closed the door and crept
noiselessly down the steps, to find
the side door not even locked.
She stepped out beneath the
/ stars, then darted across an open
! space of moonlight, and gained al
length that corner of the terrace
overlooking the water where she
and Trego had paused for theil
first talk.
Abruptly a man came out into
5 broad moonlight and, pausiHg on
0 stone platform at the edge OF
the cliff by the head of the stairs
to the sands, looked back toward
the house. 'n
Sally held her breath. The. man
was Donald Lyttleton. He carried
one shoulder stiffly, as IL holding
something in the hollow of his
arm. His hesitation was brief
Satisfied, he swung round to the
stairway, In another instant had
4 vanished.
Then some freak of chance
!! drew her attention to a small
! dark shape, with one staring. red
| eye, that was stealing quietly
u