The midland journal., 1917-08-31

mirror ana nOQQoQ, nOL1ng 10r Lne urSI
time the sacks beneath his eyes, the
haggard lines from nostrils to lip cor
ners.
"I'm all in. Lorelei's quit me-" he
said, duly
"Quit your Pope frowned. "Tell me
about It,"
"Well, / climbed the vine again and
fell Off. She packed up-disappeared-
been gone since Saturday night, and
can't find her. Nobody seems to
know where she Is. /. I'm hard
hit, Pope. God! keep think
ing that maybe she took the river. You
see, I'm all gone" He sank into a
chair, twitching and trembling in a
nervous collapse.
"Better have drink" Pope suggest
ed; but Bob returned roughly:
''That's what broke up the sketch.
got stewed at Fennellcourt-high-h
weekend party-fast crowd, and the
usual trimmings. Never again! That
is, If 1 find my wife"
"Fennellcourt! Suppose you tell me
all about it. If there's a chance that
| it's suicide" Pope's reportorial in
stinct brought the last word into juxta-
position with "Fennellcourt," and he
saw black headlines.
Judge for yourself Maybe you can
help me; nobody else can" Bob re-
counted the story of the house party.
He could remember little Of Sundays
occurrences; not until late that evening
had he fully grasped the fact that Lo-
| relei had gone. Even then he was too
| befuddled to act Neither Mrs. Fen
| nell nor her husband could give him
any help, and Bert Hayman had been
the result Of a fall or an accident of
some sort. Monday morning, while
still suffering from the effects of his
spree, Bob had returned to the city to
| find his home deserted, and he could
| find no trace of Lorelei in any quarter.
So, as a last resort before calling in
the police, he had come to Pope. When
he had finished his somewhat muddled
tale he stared at the critic with a look
Of dumb appeal.
Campbell began in a matter-of-fact,
| positive tone. "She's altogether too
healthy to think of suicide; rest easy
on that score. You're weak enough
emotionally to do such thing, but
not she. Besides, why should she?
1 can't imagine that any act of yours
could very deeply offend anybody, even
your wife. However," He studied
briefly. "Have you been to see Miss
Demorest?"
"Sure! Adoree hasn't seen her"
"Possiblyw Pope eyed his caller
speculatively. $50 you decided to
| Jimmy her into society, eh! Who was
at the party? oh, heavens!' he ex-
claimed, as Bob muttered over the list
Of names. How did she compare with
those sacred cows?"
'tOh, great! The men went crazy
over her-I knew they would"
"But how did the women treat herW
"Why, all right I didn't notice any
thing"
what? No, of course you didn't.
You were probably too drunk to no
| tice much" Bob flushed. 'Well,
something must have happened to
| alarm her, and, since you were too
maudlin to be Of any assistance, she
evidently took the bit in her teeth. /
can't blame her. For heavens sake.
why did you set her in with that
crowd? If you wanted to take her
Summing, why didn't you hire guide
and go into the red-light district?"
Bob defended himself listlessly.
''That's the only crowd I know; it's
the only set that's open to Pittsburgh
| furnace mans son. Those people aren't
so bad; guess they're no worse than
the rest. If person goes looking for
nastiness he can find it nearly any
where never did-and I never saw
anything very scandalous around that
bunch"
| zones observations are never very
keen when they're made through the
bottom of a glass;" observed Pope.
Bob exploded irritably. GAIL right,
lieutenant! Play Jerusalem on the
cornet while I pass the tambourine.
want my wife, not 'Ballington
Booth on the terrors of intemperance
She's the only person who can straight
en- me up. 1 was doing fine.
Had job I'll go straight to
hell again If don't find her." There
was no doubt of the mans sincerity;
his mental and his physical condition
We're obvious.
Pope did his best to repair the wreck
age in some degree, and, having qui-
eted the sufferer, he set out for Miss
Demorest's home.
Adoree, clad in slightly soiled neg
ligee, answered his ring, then, recog-
nizing him, blocked the door hastily,
exposing face overcast with defiance
and contempt.
"Aha" she exclaimed. "Aha" and
Pope's sensitive ego recoiled before the
fierce challenge of her tone Invariably
she greeted him with contumely; in
| VQriahlv he ar0Sn m tho ohallQnOo and