Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1917-10-03

The Real Man
By FRANCIS LYNDE
0npydsh, by scibners sOnsO


Joined quickly.
Il know you did; and yet, when you
went away this morning you knew
perfectly well that | was going to do
1t If should get the opportunity.
Didn't you. Montague?"
He nodded slowly; common honesty
demanded that much.
Every well; you accepted the serv-
ice, and l gave 1t freely. Mr. KInzIe
believes now that you are another
Smith-not the enc who ran away
from Lawrenceville last May. Tell
me; would the other woman have done
as much if the chance had fallen to
herr
1t was on the tip of his tongue to
say, 81 hope not" but he did not say
It, Instead, he said: But you don't
really care, Verda in the way your are
trying TO make me believe you do"
Possibly not; possibly am wholly
selfish in the matter and am only look
ing for some Ioophole of escape"
Escape? From whom?"
She looked away and shook her
head. "From Watrous Durham. let
us say. You didn't suspect that, did
you? 1t is so, nevertheless. MY ia
ther desires it; and suppose Watrous
Durham would like to have my money
you know I have something in my
own right. Perhaps this may help to
account for some other things-for
your trouble, for one. You were In
his way. you see. But never mind
that; there are other matters to be
considered now. Though Mr.. Kinzie
has been put off the track Mr.. Stan
ton hasn't. I have earned Mr.. STAN
toms ill-will because 1 wouldn't tell
him about you, and this evening, at
table, he took it out on me-"
"In what way?"
. "He gave me to understand, very
plainly, that he had done something;
that there was a sensation in prospect
for all Brewster. He was so exult-
antly triumphant that it fairly fright
ened me. The fact that he wasn't
afraid to show some part of his hand
to me-knowing that / would be sure
to tell you-makes me afraid that the
trap has already been set for you"
"In other words, you think he has
gone over Kinzie's head and has tele-
graphed to LawrenceviIle?"
Montague, I'm almost certain of
itw
Smith stood up and put his hands
behind him.
(which means that I have only few
hours, at the longest" he said quietly.
And then: There is a good bit to
be done, turning over the business of
the Office. and all that: I've been put
ting II Off from day to day, saying that
there would be time enough to set my
house in order after the trap had
been sprung. Now I am like the man
who puts off the making of his Will
until ii is too late. Will you let me
thank you very heartily and vanishP"
what shall you do?" she asked.
"Set my house in order, as / say
as well as ! can in the time that re-
mains. There are others to be con
sidered, you know"
"Oh; the plain-faced little ranch
girl among them, l suppose?"
mo; thank God, she is out of it
entirely-in the way you mean" he
broke out fervently.
you mean that you haven't spoken
to her-yetf'
"Of course l haven't. Do you sup
pose l would ask any woman to marry
me with the shadow of the peniten-
tiary hanging over me?"
But you are not really guilty"
''That doesn't make any difference:
Watrous Durham will see to 1t that
I get what he has planned to give me-"
She was tapping an impatient tat
too on the carpet with one shapely
foot
Of yours back and go home and fight
it out with Watrous Durham, once
for all?" she suggested.
81 shall probably go, fast enough,
when Macauley or one of his deputies
gets here with the extradition papers"
he returned. But as to fighting
Durham, without money"
She looked up quickly, and this time
there was no installing the meaning
of the glow in the magnificent brown
eyes.
"Your friends have money, MOnta-
gue-plenty of it. All you have to
do is to say that you will defend your
self. / am not sure that Watrous
Durham couldn't be made to take your
place in the prisoners dock, or that
you couldn't be put in his place in the
Lawrenceville Bank and Trust. You
have captured Tucker Jibbey, and that
means Tucker'S father; and my ia
ther-well, when II comes % the
worst, my father always does what /
want him to. It's his one weakness"
For one little instant Smith felt the
solid ground slipping from beneath his
quick mentality was showing him that
it was a perfectly feasible way. AS
verda Richlander's husband and Jo-
siah Richlander's son-in-law, he could
fight Durham and win. And the re-
ward: once more he could take his
place in the small Lawrenceville
world. and settle down to the life of
conventional good report and ease
which he had once thought the acme
of any reasonable mans aspirations.
But at the half-yielding moment
word of Corona Baldwin's flashed into
his brain and turned the scale: 1T
did happen in your case Civ
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