The Elbert County tribune., 1917-03-16

on the other side of the globe or you'll
wish you had never been born. know
what you are up to and advise you
not to undertake It. I mean 1t. /
warn you that will stop at nothing
to prevent you from wrecking both of
those homes
| A spark of manhood fiickered yet In
Freneau's soul, and he attempted to
explain in some part his own helpless
ness. but Royce cut him short. The
facts as he had seen them permitted
no explanation.
"Of course you won't listen; you
want Gloria yourself. You are only too
anxious to get me out. OF the way.
But don't let your jealousy drive you
absolutely insane"
| Royce stopped the car and got out.
I've warned you," was his parting
shot.
All the rest of the day Royce pom
dered over where his own duty in
the matter lay. He could not tell
Gloria what he had seen. The shock
might have thrown her back into
fever. He could never bring himself
to smirch her love and young faith
in his rivals honor He could not put
the responsibility and the horror of
full knowledge on his friend David,
nor cast the burden on David's old IA
ther. 1t was not Royce's nature to
shift responsibility on other shoulders.
He tried to clear his brain by for
getting. He took up a medical book
for study, but between his eyes and
the page came a vision of Freneau as
a leering satan. 1t laughed and
Knocked at him, seeming to say:
81 will destroy Gloria and Lois and
David. and you cannot stop me-"
Royce jumped up and closed his
| book. a look of set purpose coming to
his grim face. 1t was nearly midnight
when he took from the drawer of his
| desk table a revolver and slipped it
into his pocket
When Royce had met David. David
| had not told him that he was leaving
town for week. David was not sure
| what would happen. and Lois was the
| only one he wanted to deceive. She
was SO badly duping him that she had
no thought of his returning the COM
| pliment. It was difficult for him to
| play the part he had assumed. and If
she had been moro on the alert, she
would have seen the constraint in his
| manner.
She played her own role with the
ease of long practice. There was moth
| ing sincere about her except her Joy
| in David's departure. She thought
| that nothing IN the world could have
| been more opportune. But she wanted
to make sure that no accident befell
him She did not want him to miss
that train.
She went to the Pennsylvania sta
tion with him, acting the heartbroken,
deserted wife with all her art She
bade him good-by at the gate and when
he went down the stairs to the train
underground she still would not leave
| till she saw the roofs of the cars move
OF into the tunnel and the porter who
carried David's baggage come back.
Then she felt it safe and she departed
from the station with a sigh of deep
relief.
II she had been little less impa-
tient she would have seen David re-
| turn through the gate after the train
had pulled out. David. making sure
that she had not caught sight of him,
took his miserable doubts with him to
one OF his clubs.
Judge Freeman found him there,
and. noting his expression, asked him
what had kept him from taking his
train. When David saw his father-in-
law the smoldering of his trouble burst
into flame. He snatched the anony-
nous letter from his pocket and was
on the verge of showing it. But he
the bitter words: "If this letter is
true may. have to kill man"
An icy hand seemed to grip at the
| Judges heart. He knew without see
ing 1t what that letter said. He put
his hand on David's arm and was
about to speak, when a man slapped
| him on the back. He turned to face
the clubs most notorious bore, nick
named the white Mans Burden"
The fellow was fat and even more i'm
| pervious to snubs than usual, as he
had been drinking heavily. Judge
Freeman tried to escape him, but as
the Burden had him clasped by the
| lapel of his coat 1t was impossible to
get away at once without knocking
him down. So the Judge stood the
repetition OF an ancient story as well
as he could, waiting only for the loos-
ening of the grip on his coat. which
came with the roar of laughter the
Burden emitted at the end of his yarn
The Judge turned to rejoin David,
but found him gone. He started at
once in terrified pursuit,
David meanwhile had fed to his own
house, where he watched on the out
side, eavesdropping on his own prop
| erty Presently he saw ois silhouef-