Rocky Ford enterprise., 1916-12-22


know enough about him to establish
his real identity.
Charlotte worried over the wretched
ENHANCEMENT all day, and was so dis
trait and absent-minded that her aunt
remarked it, naming it malaria and
prescribing Quinine. Whereat Char
lotte dissembled and put on a mask of
cheerfulness. keeping 1t on until after
the evening meal and her aunt's early
retiring. But when she was released
she was glad enough to go out on the
promenade Just forward of the star
board paddle-box, where there were
no after-dinner loungers, to be alone
with her problem and free to plunge
once more into Its intricacies.
It was possibly ten minutes later.
while she stood leaning against
stanchion and watching the lights of a
distant town rise out Of the watery
horizon ahead, that chance. the final
arbiter In so many human involve
ments, led her quickly into the valley
OF decision. She heard a mans step
on the steeply pitched stair leading
down from the hurricane deck. Before
she could turn away he was confront
ing her; the man whose name on the
Belle jules crew roster was John
Wesley Gavitt.
Griswold's appearance was less for
tuitous than It seemed to be. As re-
ward of merit for having saved the
mates life. he had been told on to
serve temporarily as man-of.all-work
for the day pilot, who chanced to be
without a steersman. His watch in
the pilothouse was over, and he was
on his way to the crews quarters be-
low when he stumbled upon Miss
Farnham. Mindful Of his earlier slip.
he passed her as II she had been In
visible. She let him go until her op-
portunity was all but lost: then. pluck
Ing courage out of the heart Of des.
peration. she spoke.
"One moment, II you please; IL
want to ask you something" she fsl-
tered; and he wheeled obediently and
faced her.
Followed a pause. inevitable. but
none the less awkward for the one
who was responsible. Griswold felt
rather than saw, her embarrassment.
and was generous enough to try 10
help her.
Il think know what you wish to
say: you are quite at liberty to say
it." he offered, when the pause had
grown into an obstacle which she
seemed powerless to surmount.
Il thought perhaps-I had hoped
oh, for goodness sake, why did you
do it?" she burst out, no longer able
to fence with the weapons of indirect
ness.
He answered her frankly.
1T was the old story Of one mans
overplenty and another mans need.
Have you ever known what 1t means
to go hungry for sheer poverty's
sake?-but, of course. you haven't"
No" she admitted
We'll, l have; l was hungry that
morning; very hungry. l know this
doesn't excuse the thing-to you. But
perhaps it may help to explain it"
Il think l can understands little.
But surely"
He stopped her with a quick little
gesture.
Il know what you are going to say
that | should have been willing to
work. or even to beg, rather than
steal. l was willing to work; l was
not willing to beg. l know It is all
wrong from your point OF view; but I
should be sorry to have you think
that l did what l beloved to be
wrong"
But think of 1t; If you are right.
ole ret ha
No; not quite everyone. But that
is a very large question, and we
needn't go into 1t. l confess that my
method was unconventional; a little
more summary than that of the usu-
rers and the strictly legal robbers, but
quite as defensible. For they rob the
poor and the helpless. &hile l merely
dispossessed one rich corporation OF
q portion of its exactions from the
many"
Then you are not sorry? l saw
you yesterday afternoon and hoped
you were"
He laughed unpleasantly. Il was
sorry, then, and l am now; for the
same reason. I have lost the money"
Lost it7" she gasped. "How?"
Il had hidden it, and suppose some
one else has found 1t. 1t is all right,
SO far as the ownership is concerned;
but l am still self-centered enough to
be chagrined about It."
But you must have returned it in
the end. You could never have been
content to keep it"
DO you think so?'' he rejoined. 81
think l could have been quite content
to keep it. But that Is past: 1t is
gone, and l couldn't return II II
wanted to-"
No" she acquiesced: "ans that
makes 1t all the harder"