The times-herald. [volume] (Burns, Harney County, Or.) 1896-1929, 1919-01-11
CHAPTER VI.

But Mark refused Colonel Howard's
Invitation To become his guest and
avoided the house In Massachusetts
circle as much as he could with de.
cency. He was courageous enough TO
anulyze his reasons and he did not
conceal the result from himself.
He wanted Eleanor with all the peni.
up longing OF the denied years la the
| desert. Ills love was the strongest
! passion that he had ever felt. and yet.
4 strangely FOR man OF his years. II hnd
In II much more OF the paternnl cIe-
ment than of the lover. All his life
he had been almost kinless. his only
sister was dead, he wanted Eleanor's
/ presence. Eleanor with him. 10 see
her every day. whether ns wife ar
daughter. Yet he wns brave enough
10 acknowledge that this love. seliless
In measure. threatened to became II
consuming passion II he did not hold
himself rigidly Ia check.
He. the middle-aged captain. and
Eleanor. with her station. her pros
poets and her bcauty--it was an I'M
possible dream. or one that would ruin
the girls life II. In some Wild moment.
she made IL truth.
lie had his reward I'm Elennor's In.
creaslng restraint, her quite visible In
dignntIon. They had fallen apart again.
after that single meeting. II was
poor reward. but the sort that Mark
had received all his life from fortune
But there were lonely nights when
life seemed unbearable. and he had To
exert all his will power TO keep him
self I'm check. Mark had rented lit
tie furnished apartment In the North
west section. or Pennsylvania avenue.
and he had found the desert more COM
panlonnble.
One night he felt at the end of his
powers. That was after "a grllling day
Ia the war Office, one of those days
that sometimes come In Washington
toward the middle OF September. when
everything Is as sticky as the asphalt
sidewalks.
II had been day Of evil portent be-
sides. Colonel Howard. who had
seemed OF late to reflect Eleanor's
co0lness In some measure. had greeted
him with a wry face when he came In.
''The devils to pay, Mark" he said.
'Draw up your chair. There's leak
age In the department"
"WhatT" cried Mark.
'Things are getting known--for In
stance, our dealings with the shipping
people. They've found the exact num-
ber OF ships we've requIsltIoned. You
know whom I mean by they"
Mark nodded. The cosmopolitan In
fiuences In Washington. whose ramIii-
cations extended TO the ends Of the
earth, or, ut least, across the Atlantic,
were busy In every drawing room ex'
tracing news, the tiniest and least re-
liable Of which was not despised. since
many such single items make up co.
herent story.
"The Brigadler's Wild about IT," con-
tlnued the Colonel. pulling at his mus.
tnche. "And II seems impossible 10
detect how the leakage occurred. II
must have been through the shipping
companies, Of course yet they couldn't
have pleced the thing together without
concerted action, which Is out of the
question, Let's so through the pa-
pers,"
They opened the safe and went
through them one by one, but nothing |
was missing.
"Damn II |" growled Colonel Howard |
"pye been through this before, Mark
you know that. In that case there
was a traitor at work. We found him,
In this case there can be none, at least,
In the war department. And I've told
the Brigadier I'll answer with my place
for discovering where the leak lies"
lie closed the safe and strode on In
TO Kellerman's room. to return with
Kellerman, looking angrier than be-
fsrs. |