Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1917-08-03

DGNllLlAitS NOunS WOIldll HUN Tic VIII
derness had proved to be mocking
critic of the commonplace conventions,
and had been moved to pillory the
same liz 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
piquant and attractive to be cheapened
by the word pretty" these and
thing she had said at the moment Of
parting: yes; 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 it
breeds men who live and grow up and
die without ever having a chance to
find themselves"
Some day, perhaps. ne would tell
Verda Richlander OF the sharp-tongued
| little Western beauty. Verda-and all
sensible people-wouId 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 Il 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 PLATA. with his name
scrubbed on 1t in pencil. The other
bore a typewriter address with the
card of Westfall Foundrles company in
its upper left-hand corner. Smith
opened Carter Westfalrs 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.
J we, of the little inside pool, have got
] 1t 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 a finish.
He was able to vote 55 per cent of the
t 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, / stand to lose every
thing, but that isn't all OF it. 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 I am certain
you told me you had his consent TO
take my Foundries stock as collateral.
That part of it is all right, but, as mat
ters stand. the stock isn't worth the
! paper it 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 go
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.
at is a hldeous mess, and 1t 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 Westfall 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. still have
the stock books in my hands, and TIL
make the entry in the record and date
it 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, unofflcially, to dis
suade Westfall from borrowing after
he had admitted that he was going to
use the money in an attempt to buy
I'D the control of his own companys
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
inelosed slip of scratch-paper. 1t was
note from the president and it was
dated within the hour. Mr.. Durham
was back In LawrenceviIle earlier than
expected and the note had been writ
ten at the bank. 1t was curt sum-
nous; the cashier was wanted, at once.
A., - ......,,,,k cr,t+l, ala not CON.