Polk County news. [volume] (Benton, Tenn.) 191?-1983, 1920-04-01
CHAPTER IV.-Continued.

s.
"And g. and l want to thank yor
now" she said in a tone which would
have fallen as a blessing upon the ears
of any other man alive, for speaking
as though you loved him. And for
all you did for him. Perhaps you
know already =. perhaps you can't
know but I'm trying to tell you,
because he was . he was one of
my very dearest friends"
His brain snapped; he bent down
to her.
you loved him-too?" ne said un-
comfortably.
"Yes," she said. "Once-I loved him,
too!'
Alone in the appointed guest room
of the Cullen home-for Mr.. Cullen
had been as good as his word, and
sent car to fetch his visitors be-
longings-Hilliard lighted a cigarette
Tan acquired taste but advisable as a
minor deception, since he had been
notorious for his taste in cigars) and
grinned expansively. Lefsurely he be-
gan to undress, but before his shoes
were quite unlaced, he sat back COM
fortably in his chair and meditated.
"All serene so far" he said. But
when Carol came in -" He shook
his head vigorously. "Well, it's over
anyway. The doctor Y Hill
k'Ea ~ eea - tA4afs ,.,Ehs,n,s the
man want TO get at Pious old hypo-
critic! And he didn't think | deserved
to be in the family! Sort of hate to
let him make money out of this deal,
but it's all in the game. Goals of fire!
But ten thousands lot from the doe
tor We'll say ten thousand"
He closed his eyes dreamily; and |
his thoughts reverted from Doctor
Durant to the doctors daughter.
"Carol-Carol" he murmured. zone
minute there, / thought I'd crack And |
was one of her dearest friends l
was, was II And she loved me-once.
Once Pity 1t wasn't twice! Pity she
and the doctor didn't say so the night |
they kicked me out so neatly. Well,
business is business After
they've made their money out of it,
and found out this man billiards.
some little gold-plated whirlwind all
by himself =. Cad! can't 1 see their
faces when they get the truth of it,"
With the cigarette dropping from his
lips, he stood up and swept clear
space in the table. From his suitcase
he exhumed a tablet of thin transpar-
ent writing paper of a kind not sold in
America; it was the paper on which
the letter to Cullen from Richard Nor
gan had been written, and it was sheer
luck that billiard had brought the re-
mander of the tablet from New York
with him. He tossed blob of ink
from his fountain pen and inspected it
critically.
"Too black" he decided, and went to
the bathroom, where he half-emptied
the reservoir of the pen and refilled it
with water
''That ought to be just about right
sort of pale and mysterious and
He seated himself at the table, took
the pen in his left hand and inscribed
circles on the paper; scrubbed a
sentence and laughed
gently.
Funny how some people can be
and take so long to
realize it. If / hadn't caught bullet
in my arm, and tried to write left
handed in the hospital, I'd give myself
away up here in no time. Writings
too blamed distinctive. But, as 1t is,
| eft Hand, very large and plain, is
Henry Hilliard-" Here he shifted
the pen to the other hand--"And
small and curlicue, is
poor. dead Dicky Morgan-'one of her
dearest friends Tn glad l killed that
chap olf-he never amounted to hill
Of beans anyway. But this billiard
persona live wire, boy, live wirel" {
And with a grin of sardonic humor,
he wrote on the flimsy paper, slowly
md little irregularly, as though in ,
physical discomfort:
"Neuilly, 7-19-15. s
"No matter what you ever think, no {
matter what you have ever thought, l '
nave loyed YOU" {
He grlmaced, pondered diligently, {
md made correction. Q
II have always loved you more than
NY own llfe You said my ideals had |
'nllen--do you think so now? | don't, I
learest; l thins they're almost what O