The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1917-03-24
mir. Meade, What Is the Matter?"

and this letter had been handed To
his father. His first mind had been To
tear it up after he had read it and
had overhorne the objections contained .
therein. hut on second thought he had /
carefully filed it away with the ori@i-
nal drawings. 1t was, of course. in the
younger Mrade'S own handwriting.
He went To his private safe. opened
the drawings and found the letter at
cached To the sheet of drawings. He
mi back the other drawings and
closed the safe without locking ii.
Then he went back To the desk and
considered the document. He had been
blind mad. He laid the paper down
on his desk and Put his hand to his
heart.
of course he would submit those pa
perS to the public AT once. Was there
ruvrhing else he could do? Yes. He
sat down M the desk ana drew sheet
of papcr before him and began to
write. Slowly, trcmblingly. he pcrSc-
vcred. carefully weighing his words be
fore he traced them on paper. He had
not written very long before the door
of the outer office opened and he heard
the sound of soft footsteps entering
the room. He recognized the new
conner. II WAS old Shurtlift. man
, who had been his private secretary
and confidential clerk !or many years.
! He stopped writing and called to him.
SburrIffr was an old bachelor, gray,
| Thin tall. reticent. He had but one
: nossion-Meade, ST.: hut one glory
the reputation Of the great engineer
Yes and as there is no great passion
: without jealousy, Shurtliff was filled
:. with womanly jealousy of Bertram
Meade because his father loved hin
l. and was proud of him. ShurtlIit knew
all about the private affairs of the two
i engineers. father and son. He knew
II MI about the protest of the younger
II Meade. The father had tpld him JUS
u what he intended To do with II.
Shurtliff might have been Grea
Ie man if left To- himself or forced To aC
4 for himself But pursuing a great pas
W sion So long aS he had. he had MERGE
lr himself in the more aggressive person
d oIitv Of his employer and friend. IL
l" had received Il good engineering ecu
s. cotion. but had got into trouble owe
IN = failure. II rather bad mistake IN III
a. oorIv career. too big to he rectitied, I
g. bo FORGIVEN. or c0ndOncd. The olde
IS Neode had taken him up, had bee
!d Lind to him. had offered To try To pt
=
Id ure had increased his natural tlinldll
- 50 he stayed on. He had become
he mart of the old mans life.
IT, Younc Meade had never been an
er "a got very far into the personality
SbrrtIiff. hut he liked him and reSpeC
de ,J him. He realized the mans dev
ty. tion 10 his father, and he underSto'
al- and admired him. Aside from IN
70. ioorousv the old man could not but Ill
id Tho vounr one. He was too like n
he fothcr for Shurtliff to dislike him. II
Ter secretary wished him well; he want'
he 10 see him a great engineer. or cour
de no could never be the engineer IN
hit. his father was. That would not be
tho mower Of man. But still. even
.bo no never attainedethat height, he cou
ON vet rise very high. Shurtlitf would Il
tho admit that there was anything on ear
Ills to equal Meade. Sr.
,st The secretary was greatly surpris
He rs he stopped beside his own desk
is boar his name called from the inn
is Office. He recognized his employe
we voice. of course, yet there was
nv strange note in it which somehow ga
ert him a sense of uneasiness. He We
mr. into the room at once and stopI
4er. aghast.
ose "Good God, Mr.. Meade!" he
zed claimed.