Mountain advocate., 1919-05-02
tcontinued from last week.


ihai .yi'ory was at hand. and he had
dor ach toward winning IT,
somcthns lacked in Corwin; there
was void somewhere In bis heart.
He felt as a child feels who has not
reesived an invitation to party
which ali It's friends will attend. He
was an oatsider--lorgotten, unconsid.
cred.
s. Ccrvin's face was grave and slightly
pale wien he walked away from the
wiadow and resumed his chair at the
desk.
Il was not long after Corwin dropped
into the char until the screech Of a
whsle loated into the office. The
soand was loud. insistent, continuing
II seemed to shrek exultantly-seemed
to bear a mc-sage--the message. 1t
rose, clear and penetrating, rocking
the air with its resonance. Then II
was Joined by others-hundreds, II
seemed--of varying degrees OF power
and volume. Huge and deep, they
came, and shrill and piping --trebles,
basses, baritones-harsh, soft. trilllDg.
biatart--a chorus, a bedlam Of sound.
At the first long, continuing blast.
Molly King bounded out Of her chair
and ran to an open window. Her eyes
flashing with delight. her cheeks
flushed, her voice high-pitched and
eager, she called to someone in the
street. Corwin heard the reply:
"The Armistice has been signed! I"
Falltown was already celebrating.
A multitude of varying sounds arose
and eddied through the Office windows,
assailing Corwin's ears. 1t seemed to
him that every citizen of the town
must be in the street in front of the
Office, and that each citizen was try
ing to make more noise than his neigh
Dor.
Molly was putting on her hat when
Corwin again looked at her. Her eyes
were very bright-they glowed with a
light that made Corwin's widen with
admiration.
81 can't work any more today, Mr..
Corwin!" she said; i've simply got
to go out and celebrate! l shall be
back tomorrow morning-if | sur
vive!"
Corwin sat alone in his office. He,
too, was glad the war was over. But
his gladness was tinged with bitter
ness. If he had been a hypocrite he
would have joined the crowds on the
streets. But not being a hypocrite he
did not go. He sat there, his chin on
his chest-thinking And quite prom
inent in this thoughts was that theory
of individualism which had bothered
him for many days.
CHAPTER VII
1T was pure perverseness on Corwin's
i part that made him antagonistic
toward the fifth loan-the Victory
Liberty Loan. To be consistent he
must oppose it. He had not sub
scribed for the others-except to the
extent of the thousand dollars Molly
King had forced from him-and he did
not intend to subscribe to the Victory
Loan. TO Molly. one morning in late
April, he said, derisively:
"It's time for people to wake up and
realize that the war is over. Do they
think the country will stand for these
loans forever? Don't those grafters
ever get enough?"
"Grafters?" Molly's voice was cold.
Her gaze was .scornfully defiant "Mr.
Corwin," she went on, evenly; "you
don't mean to say that you think all
of the money obtained from the bond
issues has been stolen%
Corwin's smile was almost a sneer
"Plenty of it has gone into the pockets
of grafters," he replied.
"All public money is subject to that
risk" Molly declared; "it is quite i'm
possible to prevent some OF the money
going where 1t should not go. 1t ID
impossible to prevent much OF II, fol
the nature of the public work-and
particularly war work-makes II easy
for certain INSCRIPTIONS men to take
things that do not belong to them. In
war work, especially. is there great
opportunity for diverting funds. II
is emergency work and there is nc
time 20 take even ordinary measures
to safeguard the public funds. Mer
must be trusted and some of them vic
late their trust. That isn't the fauli
Of the Governmental is the mel
themselves who are to blame. II the,
were Americans they would not de-
IT," -
."Well, / know some Of Il cannot bt
prevented" admitted corwin. "Bu
how about extravagancer
THAT can't be helped. either" de
olared the girl. when a war comes
the Government npds itsslf In need q