The Bismarck tribune., 1919-04-09
THE THOROUGHBRED"
By Henry KHckeU Webster
90 LtgtEo0r of
THE Zeal Adventure The Painted Scene," Etc
AgsE0r of

rew rhiGsr Uhan amy emotion that Y
qTlicX-JeN,F9tspe nsssfl Gc w0nlssni c:sn sY-
periss,,,sta Celia ksarseTf .wouIL have
ba-e,a h.arrutfe.a etA1E She have hIswa
the temperature of hfr hTas'lanst,s-
.hpl blats way g@ town in rhs trsaTn-
hei.jfad the sfasIEer of his nteT per
he saeGhe,i like na.9ITen sTess The
last Look Of RleBpless furry he. had s.sen
IN Ceffa'x face. and the tears that
stained id. wers his only SQUEEZE of sat
fsfac1TGa FIFE had given As good az
| be- gor I'M rSat last five minutes amy
way, Ffe wE.hety he bad begun SoDn-
\ er. Fse Yves sSrrys on the whole he
. hsdsE'E shaken fsesr- fa@.@
Bgt the episode Of the Ie~e9ry was
! rsfDres or less sstfsfa cfnTy. The injury
| which acted as bfoTpfTe to Keep his
wrath FROM cooling. was the thing that
I had happened before thaE-fler avowaE
I of the story she meant to tell Ruth
Collier ahoHt his nervous brezk zkGown
and her intention to take him west
s6meUhere~; her admission that she
felt herself tfagracetI by his failure.
TO the point where nothing but their
severance Of all ties connetcing with
the old life. their total disappearance
Ike pair Of abscOnding criminals.
would satisfy her. That ranked
/ frightfulIy He didn't know whether
/ I: was more. maddening to believe that
/ she really meant it. or that she had
40 id il merely in the hope Of wOunding
him AZ deeply as possible. He tried out
/ each Of these theories. with the idea
o discovering which infuris ted him
| the worse, and at last. although they
were mutually contradictory, COM
promised by adopting them both.
It was not until, the train pulled into
| the terminal station and imposed on
him the necessity OF deciding what
! he'd do next that he regretfully clamp
cd down Tho lid upon this pot and. as
! it were. took it off the fire 4 real
| rage like that was an unaccustomed
| luxury to Alfred Blair.
But he must now turn his mind to
| more practical matters. He had come
| n town TO look for job. and ne must
find one before he again confronted
| Celia. The notion Of going back to
| her tonight and confessing the fail
ure Of his quest, gave her chance to
drop the acid Of pity into his wounds,
! was intOlerable.
| He realized now that he ought to
| have spent those waking hours before
| he came down to breakfast to better
advantage than In sentimental maun-
dcrings about his wife He ought to
have laid out plan Of campaign.
| When he said. last night, that all he
was good for now was twenty-five dol
| lars a week or so over n drafting board.
he'd expressed an emotion rather than
u thonght-ont plan. And even when
she'd pressed him as to whether he
could get Job Mt that, he'd answered,
Yes, guess So with only half his
mind. Surely any one Of his former
competitors would see that he was
worth that But now that it was no
longer case for emotions or oratOry.
simply question OF picking out one
Of those former competitors going to
him and asking for a job, 1t wasn't
so easy.
| II had been one thing to tell Celia.
| last night, that he was ut the end of
his rope: that he had lost his nerve,
and that nll he was good for was
routine job. II would be another
thing to 20 into the office Of man
who still regarded him as potentially
formidable rival and say So
This unexpected flare-up of pride.
hardly to- be differentiated from
Celia's own. disconnected him fright
fully. II was with All understandable
wrench that he realized how much
easier It would he to apply to a strang-
er who knew nothing Of his business
history and need be told nothing Of it,
for any sort Of ol,--street-sweeping
ccal-shoveling to submit himself
to the half-kindly contempt Of an in
| habitant OF his own world. He triel
to charge this feeling up to Celia's
account and make himself believe that