Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1916-10-19

1 4
you Stabbed at the morgue."
Jimmy's reply left no doubt of the
genuineness of his fears, if not of his
intentions. Strange stories were told
in the Tenderloin-tales of treachery
| punished and iDgratitude revenged.
Jimmy knew several young men who
appeared out of the East side at Mel
chers signal. They were inconspicu-
GUS fellows, who bore fanciful dime
novel names-and no rustler's strong
hold of the old-time western cattle
country ever boosted more formidable
outlaws than they. Jim knew these
9nnmen well; he had no wish to know
them worse.
| Il can't promise anything definite
when she's sore on me-" he declared.
Hes about ready to ask her-she's
the one to fix. She hates men, though,
and that Merkle story made her crazy"
Melcher pondered for several mo-
ments. II think 1 Know Lorelei better
than you do" he stated, deliberately,
"and believe we can pull this off, pro-
vided Wharton really wants to marry
her. Anyhow, he's SO rich it's worth
the ODDS, and she's just the sort to
fall for it. Meanwhile / want it I'M
derstood with your mother that /
share in what comes her way"
| "I'll fix that" promised Jim.
| He found it, in fact, no very difficult
task to regain at least a part of his
sisters lost esteem, though the process
| took time. He went about it with the
| lazy, catlike patience of his kind, be-
haved himself, kept his mouth shut,
and assumed just enough of an injured
air to be plausible. He enlisted the
aid of his mother and of Lilas Lynn,
and meanwhile made himself as agree
able as possible to Robert Wharton.
Melcher was as good as his word,
and there shortly appeared in the Dis
patch an unpleasant rehash of the for
mer story. 1t was published in con-
nection with the Harmon divorce pro-
ceed1ngs, news of which was exciting
comment, and it further smirched Lo-
releis reputation. Jim was appropri-
| ately indignant, but helpless, and Mrs
Knight unweariedly blamed everything
upon her daughters desertion of the
family circle, predicting more evil to
follow unless Lorelei came home at
once. She also dwelt upon the fact
that Peter was steadily failing and
was in immediate need of both medical
and surgical attention. The doctor had
pronounced sentence, prescribing to-
tai change of living and treatment
by foreign specialists.
In some unaccountable way the story
of Nobel Bergman's humiliation be-
came public and afforded the basis for
a newspaper article that brought him
to Lorelei's dressing room in a fine
fury. Even after she had convinced
him of her innocence his resentment
missal at any time.
Other press stories followed; the girl
suddenly found herself notorious;
scarcely day passed without some
disagreeable mention of her Adoree
Demorest, as indignant as Lorelei her
self, declared finally that her friend
must be the object of a premeditated
and once this suspicion had entered
Lorelei's mind it took root in spite of |
it's seeming extravaganza Her good |
sense argued that she was of too little |
consequence to warrant such an as
sault, but her relatives seized the sug-
gestion so avidly as to more than half |
convince her.
Mrs. Knight attributed this injustice |
first to Bergman, then to Merkle, whom |
she hated bitterly since her unfortu- |
nate attempt at blackmail; Jim was |
inclined to agree with her Mrs. |
Knight, as always, ended her sympa- |
thetic reassurances by saying, "If you |
were only married, my dear, that |
would end all our troubles"
The climax of these annoyances |
came one night after party at which |
Lorelei had been presented to an old |
friend of Miss Lynn's. Lilas had in |
troduced the man as one of her girl |
hood chums, and Lorelei had tried to |
be nice to him; then in some way he |
arranged to take her home. The men, /
ory of that ride was a horror She |
KNEW NOW tudL sue was hunted, LQ6 |
man had told her so. She felt like a |
deer covering in a brake with the
hounds working close. This first at |
tack left her trembling and wary. Her
cover seemed pitifully insecure.
Thus far Max Melcher's campaign
had worked even better than he had
expected; and meanwhile he had en-
ployed Jim in assiduously cultivating
Bob Wharton and arranging as many
meetings as possible between Bob and
Lorelei. A short experience had taught
Jim to avoid his victim in daylight, for
in Bob's sober hours the two did not
agree; but once mellowed by intoxica-
ton, Wharton became imbued with a
carnival spirit and welcomed Jim as
freely as he welcomed everyone. In
cidentally the latter managed to reap
a considerable harvest from the asso-
citation, for Bob was habitual gam