The Ely miner., 1920-05-07

hall table it was generally creased
down the financial page; but tonight
he brought two, and each of them had
wrinkles across the market reports
and were folded so as to feature the
departments devoted to local news.
The Journal had beaten the Herald by
two sticks and subhead, but the Her.
aid had honored Dicky Morgan with a
kindly editorial and both papers had
stated explicitly where Hilliard was
making his headquarters. Mr.. Cullen
would have been seriously offended if
he hadn't been mentioned at least once
in each paper; and this is no more a
reflection upon his vanity than the fact
that he cherished lively anticipation
for what the Standard was going
10 say about the case tomorrow morn
ing.
Nevertheless, there was fly in the
oinryaens--not very much of fly, to
be rare, but still appreciate; and aft
er ak it Isn't the size of the invader
that cssSnts. Mr.. Cullen was generous;
Mr.. Culsn was hospitable; but Mr..
Cullen wEs also the tiniest bit of a
snobAnot g carping, contemptuous,
supercilious saob, but a healthy.
hearty, ope1-sp5-i.ed snob, frank in
his liking for the things he liked-and
one of them was c, be somebody, and
have the neighbcrs snow it. He liked
to fraternize with ih@ortant men; he
fn 60 IN
now and then; he liked tS feel superior
Just one harmless little Sssgree more
consequential-than his 1eext-door
neighbor. And the neighbor, OF course.
had to share this conviction, or there
wasn't any purpose in it.
And Mr.. Cullen, with all his ingenu
GUS weakness for prominence, hadn't
known until the evening papers told
him so, hadn't even suspected (al
though now he was trying busily tS
persuade himself that he had suspect,
ed it all along, from one thing and an
other) that his guest was mining en-.
gineer of international reputation, ana
independently wealthy to boot. 1t was
enough to discomfit any host! 1t wan
enough to annoy any man, whether
average or not. who prided himself
(and most of us do) that he had up.
usual discernment. and was a Good
Judge of Human Nature. And so, whea
he met, Hilliard and Angela at the
head of the garden he began to fire
away pointblank at Hilliard; and this
was barely after the greetings, and a
question as to the state of Hilliardb
health, and before Angela had found
an opportunity to get word in edge
wise.
Understand you're mining mar
Mr.. Hilliard," he said, pleasantly.
81 used to be-" said Hilliard. "T'ys
retired. I thought told you so the
first night l was here"
"Oh, yes-yOu did say something
about it, but" Mr.. Cullen laughed
with the fullness ';f one who has un.
earthed secrets. 1T took some of our
bright young newspaper crowd to fer.
ret out the facts. Scu're too modest
that's what's the bsatter with youf"
AS billiard smiled in denseca-
tion Angela, growing triumphAntly.
snatched for the papers.
where is it?' she cried. "Where
(. ohr And relapsed into beatific
calm, devouring the none too conserva-
tive paragraphs with all her might.
The cold-typed repetition Of the we'll
known story sobered her considerably
still, it was for billiards and her fa-
theirs names that she gloated; and as
for the panegyric of Morgan, that was
only an added garland to the wreath
which was already his.
Russian and English syndicate
wasn't it?" asked Mr.. Cullen.
EYES," said Hilliard. English and
Russian"
Mechanically, he began to rehearse
the technical subtleties which he
hadn't expected to find use for within
a brace of fortnights. 1t was well,
however, to be prepared; and the time
to plant the seed of desire is when the
prospect is willing.
mighty interesting game-mining,"
said Cullen. Lets wander down by
the fountain; shall we? don't
know why it is, but it sort of fas-
cinates me-guess it does everybody.
More romance in it than most lines"
Here Angela looked up sharply, and
gurgled with wicked satisfaction, and |
sent lifted eyebrow signal across to |
Hilliard.
"Yes," said Hilliard, "but there's |
more tragedy, too. I suppose that's |
the law of compensation getting to
work. Big profits call for big risks"
This was for sand in Cullen's eyes;
and it had its effect.
"Oh, but the ratios the same in al |
most any business, Mr.. Hilliard, isn't |
it? It's about the same theory. Saw. |
ings banks pay three to four per cent
but they never made man rich yet. |
But copper has!"