The Washington times., 1919-04-04
The Heart Breakers
AREAL AMERICAN ROMANCE
Arthur Meets HOnOra at Luncheon
and Tells Piece of News That
Makes Her Proud of Him.
A REAL AMERICAN ROMANCE

! please, and eat a good uaeal-and
! take plenty OF time about. You
don't look quite up 10 the mark
today"
She thanked him, and, when he
had left the office, telephOned to
Arthur Bruce, explaining that she
was free whenever he was.
Fifteen minutes later, when she
stepped from the elevator into the
great hall on the ground floor of
the building, Arthur was waiting
for her.
He smiled brightly, lifted his hat
and fell into step beside her.
suppose we go over to the Har-
land" he suggested. Its a quiet,
restful place where we can talk in
peace"
There was q strain of excitement
in his voice that caused her to re-
gard him curiously.
Something has happened" she
declared. Something that has made
you look better than you did early
this morning.
Walt until We are at the HarlanI
before 1 try to talk" he evaded.
When they were seated at q table
in a secluded corner of the res
.taurant and Arthur had ordered the
luncheon he leaned toward his com
panion and spoke, his voice slightly
unsteady.
You have been such a wonderful
friend, HonoTa," he began, that I
want you to be the first person to
hear what has happened. II is no;
an easy thing TO tell, for 1t is rather
tragic, I think
'Hou have known a little some
thing Of my fathers affairs, and of
how he wanted me to go into his
business with him. 1 wasn't very
well fitted to step into his shoes
when left college. Then the war
started and his health, which hal
been poor for several years, failed
rapidly.
Il wanted to enlist" he contin-
ued, flushing. yet meeting her eyes
honestly. Il had been at a military
school and was an officer in our
student battalion at college. When
II looked as IL war was a certainty
1 told father wanted to go into It.
Then he told me things that
made IL impossible for me to leavs
him There IL no use Of bothering
you with technical details, but
father had mortgaged the credit OF
his firm, and had put all his own
money into a venture that would
have made him a very rich man II
the war had held OF. But 1t didn":
and when the war came the whole
scheme went up in smoke. Condi-
tions were such that IL was almost
impossible to pull through. Father
thought it was impossible-for he
was not up in some modern ideas.
That is what killed him"
He paused, swallowing hard.
Il gave up what 1 wanted to do"
he continued after a moment. 81
worked harder than I had believed
could As you know, we are con-
tractors and builders. No private
concerns were doing any building.
But the Government was. and
went at IL along that line.
There's no use in going into
details about that either. But I
learned that the Government was
considering erecting a big mUni-
ton plant at Hillsborough-a few
miles up the river. 1t would have
meant everything to US to get the
contract for that job, and 1 went
after it Then things got worse
here-and father died We seemed
to have lost all.
Success at Last
To-day I received a telegram
from Washington. We have been
awarded the contract 1t means
we have won"
There were tears in the girls
eyes. He looked away.
"I hope father knows" he said
softly.
Honora waited to steady her
voice. "I am so proud Of you"
she murmured. Then-'Milly will
be proud. too" she added with an
effort.
CTO He COntlnUed.)