The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1919-04-29
THE THOROUGHBRED"
Bv Henry KHchell Webster
Author of
'sThe Real Adventure" "The Painted Scene," Etc
the ril CO..
Author of

them! They always lose, don't they?"
The movies AS say, had made this
perfectly clear to her.
She was quite honest about this.
The word speculation mad definite
meaning to her. 1t consisted in taking
your money to room with d ticker
in it, giving it to a man, who imme-
diateIy rushed out to the floor OF the
stock exchange with it, and made wild
gestures, while his victim stayed by
the ticker and watched the tape: at
first with Observation-Disclosures you al
ways won at tirst-and later with de-
spair. Because, inevitably, you lost
in the end. That the word specula-
ton could be applied to the act she
contemplated; namely, giving her
money--all her money practically
to an inventor, for the purpose OF fin
ancing the tests Of his invention, didn't
occur to her. s..,r. -..- ..-. ~ 4
His doubts removed by the uHques-
tionable candor of Celia's attitude
Colonel Forsythe promptly thought Of
a way to avoid keeping her waiting.
81 can give you two thousand dol
lars now" he said, land then, when
these things are precisely, valued,
which involves examining and weigh
ing them very closely, you can come
in and select, to keep, whatever will
leave us the two thousand dollars
worth we have bought He also per-
suaded her to take check instead OF
the twenty 1OO-dollar bills she wanted.
She hadn't thought of. pickpockets.
Major March's address-ascertaine
from the telephone book, down in the
lower twenties somewhere, just off
Wabash avenue, involving a ride in q
crowded street car---made the cOlOnepS
suggestion seem worth taking.
A mOmentary fright she had on the
way down would have been a good
deal more serious If she had had those
twenty 1OO-dollar bills in her wrist
bag. The adventure began just block
after she had taken, the street car,
when a man got on and sat down be-
side her. The car wasn't empty enough
to make this action OF his really mark
ed. He'd have had to sit down beside
somebody. Still there were plenty of
other places where he might have sat,
and he had chosen her seat rather
abruptly-plumped down in it without
that customary moment of hesitation
to give her chance to move over a
little, and quite inyoluntarily she
glanced around at him.
The glance treasured her. He
seemed completely preoccupied-un-
aware Of her as anything but a lump
that took up so much space in the seat.
He had a big manila envelope in. his
hands,H which were pale and nervously
precise in their movements. 1.-THE mo-
llent he was settled i'm hist seat, he
put on a pair of tortOise-shell spe tia
cles, undid the patent fastener Of the
envelope, and drew. out a quantity Of
typewriter sheets, whose pristine
freshness proclaimed that they were
just out of the machine-a manuscript,
evidently, that he was just fetching
away from the typist who'd copied it
for HIM An author, probably. That
would account for the vague oddly
there was about everything he did.
His sheets; were spread out so cantlidly
under her eye, that she had definitely
ito turn away and look out the window
III order to avoid reading them. : g.
Just before they reached the street
where she was to get off, she pressed
the motormans signal and stood up.
The action seemed to startle her COM
Ipanion rather unnecessarily, for he
Isnatched off his spectacles, crammed
his pages together anyhow, and him
self rose to let her 60 by. IA. :.
She said : "Oh, I'm sorry!y land
Thank you," in a tone which her
faint amusement over him made lit
tile less mechanically impersonal than
the one she'd ordinarily have used.
Even so, one would hardly have
thought he heard anything more than
common civility in it, and she was a
good deal surprised when, obviously
without ,premeditatian, he followed her
down the aisle and got OFF the car just
behind her. 1t was still more discon-
certing when she'd crossed the street
and turned east, to ,observe that he
was coming along that way, too.
She was not really alarmed about
him, of course, and but for the for
lornness of the neighborhOOd, with its
negro tenements, bOarded-up resi-
dences, and rusty little stores with
windows long unwashed, she'd hardly
have given him two thoughts. AS it
was, when she saw the number she
wanted painted dimly onta transom,
she had an impulse to keep right on
going as briskly as possible to the
nearest car line. She conquered it,
|of course, and went up the three rick
ETY. steps to the door above which the
number was painted. 1t was an un-
kempt little wooden building one story
hight, that had once been retail
shop But its show window-not plate
glass but common panes-had been
painted white, as also the light in the
door had been, to battle the curiosity
af tho no hv