Mexico Missouri message., 1917-06-28

bewitching young woman from the will
derness had proved to be a mocking
critic Of the commonplace conventions,
and had been moved to pillory the
same in the person of her momentary
entertainer. Some thrills this young
person from the wide horizons had
stirred In him were his only excuse for
stealing her glove. There remained
now nothing of the clashing encounter
at the lawn party save the soIled glove,
a rather obscure memory of face too
plquant and attractive to be cheapened
by the word pretty" these and
thing she had said at the moment Of
parting: Eyes; am going back home
very soon. don't like your SNUG mid
die West civilization, Mr.. Smith-it
smothers me. l don't wonder that II
breeds men who live and grow up and
die without ever having a chance to
find themselves"
Some day, perhaps, he would tell
Verda HIGHLANDER of the sharp-tongued
little Western beauty. Verda-and all
sensible people-would smile at the
idea that he, John Montague Smith,
was of those who had not found"
themselves, or that the finding-by
which he had understood the Western
young woman to mean something radi-
cal and upsetting-could in any way
be forced upon a man who was old
enough and sane enough to know his
own lengths and breadths and depths.
He was stripping off his coat to dress
when he saw two letters which had evil
IDENTIFY been thrust under the door dur
ing his absence at supper time. One Of
the envelopes was plain, with his name
scrubbed on 1t in pencil. The other
bore a typewriter address with the
card Of Westfall Foundries company in
its upper left-hand corner. Smith
opened Carter Westfal's letter first
and read 1t with a little twinge of
shocked surprise, as one reads the story
of brave battle fought and lost.
Dear Monty" it ran. 81 have been
trying to reach you by phone Off and
on ever since the adjournment Of our
stockholders meeting at three o'clock.
We. Of the little inside pool, have got
It where the chicken got the ak. Rich
lander had more proxies up his sleeve
than we thought he had, and he has
put the steam roller over US to finish.
lie was able to vote 50 per cent of the
stock straight, and you know what that
means: consolidation with the Rich
lander foundry trust, and the hearse
and white horses for yours truly and
the minority stockholders. We're dead
dead and buried.
"Of course, I stand to lose every
thing, but that Isn't all of 1t. I'm hor-
ribly anxious for fear you'll be tangled
up personally in some way in the mat
ter Of that last loan Of 100000 that I
got from the Bank and Trust. You will
remember you made the loan while
Durham was away, and 1 am certain
you told me you had his consent to
take my Foundries stock as collateral.
That part Of 1t is all right, but, as mat
tiers stand, the stock isn't worth the
paper 1t is printed on, and-well, to
| tell the bald truth, I'm scared Of Dun
ham. Brickley, the Chicago lawyer
they have brought down here, tells me
that your bank is'behind the consolida-
ton deal, and If that is SO, there is 60
Ing to be bank loss to show up on my
paper, and Durham will carefully cover
his tracks for the sake of the banks
standing.
ut Is hideous mess, and It has oc-
CURED to me that Durham can put you
In bad, If he wants to. When you made
that 100000 loan, you forgot-and /
forgot for the moment-that you own
ten shares of WestfalI Foundries In
your own name. If Durham wants to
stand from under, this might be used
against you. You must get rid of that
stock, Monty, and do 1t quick. Trans
fer the ten shares to me, dating the
transfer back to Saturday. I still have
the stock books in my hands, and I'll
make the entry in the record and date
1t to fit. This may look little crook
ed, on the surface, but it's your saliva
ton, and we can't stop to split hairs
when we've just been shot full of holes.
"WESTFALL."
Smith folded the letter mechanically
and thrust It into his pocket. Carter
Westfall was his good friend, and the
cashier had tried, unofficially, to dis
suade Westfall from borrowing after
he had admitted that he was going to
use the money in an attempt to buy
up the control Of his own company's
stock. Smith was thinking of the big
bank loss and the hopeless ruin of
Carter Westfall when he tore the sec
Ond envelope across and took out the
inclosed slip Of scratch-paper. 1t was
note from the president and 1t was
dated within the hour. Mr.. Durham
was back In Lawreneevllle earlier than
expected, and the note had been writ
ten at the bank. 1t was a curt sum-
mons; the cashier was wanted, at once.
At the moment, Smith did not con-
meet the summons with the Westfall
| ~ tac lVsm or with any other untoward