Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1916-04-12

| Siletz leaned forward and dropped
her burden in Sandry's lap, showering
him with the blood of the bleeding
hearts. She did not look at him. Then
they trotted away around the corner
to the shed and Sandry's lips tight
| ened pitifully as he gathered UP each
| smallest spray of the woods-treasures
| Where she stood back against the
| wall, one hand at her pulsing throat
| Miss Ordway saw that Tightening of
the lips, the droop that came into the
mans whole face, and her eyes mar
rowed and hardened like a cats.
| That night she came to him in the
| eating room
Walter" she said. I'm stuck in
| the middle of chapter. Will you go
| over few pages with me and give me
the benefit of a mans ideas?"
He smiled
I'm afraid mine will not be of much
account, but such as they are you are
welcome to them"
| They will answer" said Miss Ord
| way, "a woman cannot write from her
self for men-she must write from
man to man. I'll bring my manuscript
out here"
And turning, she went from him to
the sanctuary of the little south room
When she returned she carried hand
fuI of closely typewriter pages.
They drew up one of the pine
benches, spread out the manuscript be-
tween the catchup bottles and sat down
together.
Instantly with the touch of the shift
ing sheets in her fingers Miss Ordway
seemed to drift away from the per-
sonal. She became detached. absorbed,
swallowed w in the thrall of work
and Sandry had a feeling of what such
a work must mean to one.
Nov see." she said, half excitedly,
here is the point about which | am
trif1e in doubt. But | will have to
| sketch the situation for you so you
can get grip on it"
| She turned toward him, spreading
out fiat on the paper one exquisite
hand. Among her other hidden vani-
ties, Poppy Ordway cherished an inor-
| dinate pride in these hands of hers
and she knew their value and their POI
| tehcy to the last atom.
With an unconscious appreciation
Sandry now looked down at it where
it spread across the page. Uncon-
sciously. too, his mind caught a shad-
| owy comparison-the memory of the
| olive-colored, slim hands of the girl
| Siletz But she was speaking and he
looked again.
| Nov suppose my hero Is confront
ed with a man-his friend. it hap
pens-who, in the plausible and un-
| improbable methods of modern busi-
ness, has calmly become possessed of
my hero's wealth Tnere is no DOS
sibie way of touching the swindler. for
it has been done in a manner that
gives it the seeming of legality Yet
the victim knows in his heart that the
other is a thief. Now here is my
point"
| Miss Ordway was talking slowly as
| If thinking carefully and no one listen
! ing would have suspected that the
words she uttered were purely me-
chanical, having been written out and
memoriZed that afternoon. and that
her mind was busy with different set
of ideas. In fact, this was what she
was thinking, tabulating rapidly e set
of items.
Widening eyes-aroused interest,
abnormal Fingers tapping the table
startled nerves. No suspicion. but as
constituent at so unique a coinci-
dence."
Aloud she was going on: Suppose
my hero to be a modern man Of aver
age good principles. could he bring
himself to steal back deliberately an
amount equal to, or compromising for,
the amount stolen from him, and not
consider himself criminal? Could he
go out among men with his head up,
not deeming himself a thief? And
would the modern man of average
honor do such a thing?"
| Miss Ordway was leaning forward,
seemingly absorbed in her problem,
her eyes on Sandry's face, where con-
flicting expressions were struggling
for the mastery.
I'm a moment" she was saying to
| herself. eager as hound; in mo-
ment he will commit himself" for the
bright, blue glance of the young owner
wavered bit, he opened his lips, shut
his hand upon the oilcloth and his jaw
| hardened with tautened muscles.
| mo! He wouldn't be thief-that
| would he the right law"
Every nerve in Miss Ordways body
| jumped, though there was no outward
sign, as the tension that had been
growing between them snapped with
| the voice of Siietz.
The girl had stopped on the far side
| of the room, unnoticed by either. and
now she stood leaning forward with
her hands upon the table, her braids
hanging beside them. The shadow of
| her parted hair was over her eyes.
Miss Ordways fingers crawled into
her palm. rigid with desire to inf1ict
bodily pain upon this unlimited blum
| derer. But Siletz was of the wilder
ness and she did not know she had
committed faux pas. She knew