The Ely miner., 1920-04-30
CHAPTER lv.-continued.


now" she said in 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 81. he was one of
my very dearest friends"
His brain snapped; he bent down
to her.
"You loved him-too?" ne said, un-
controllably.
"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 q cigarette
ian acquired taste, but advisable as a
minor deception, since he had been
notorious for his taste in cigars) and
grinned eXpansively. Leisurely 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. "WeIl, It's over
..r. anyway. The doctor Z. = Hill
liard's face darkened. There's the
man want to get at Pious old hypo-
arifaf pI ba di1n,f +b;nl- ,loooux,o1
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 doc
tor >. we'll say ten thousand"
He closed his eyes dreamily; and
his thoughts reverted from Doctor
Durant to the doctors daughter.
"Carol-Carol 7" he murmured. "One
minute there, 1 thought I'd crack. And
/ was 'one of her dearest friends 1
was, was I? And she loved me--once
Once! Pity it 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 I see their
faces when they get the truth of it,"
With the cigarette dropping from his
lips, he stood up and swept a clear
space in the table. From his suitcase
he exhumed tablet Of thin transpar-
ent writing paper of 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 Hilliard had brought the re
mainder of the tablet from New YOrf
with him. He tossed a blob of inn
from his fountain pen and inspected i.
critically.
'"Too black" he decided, and went tc
the bathroom, where he half-emptied
the reservoir Of the pen and refilled il
with water.
'"That ought to be just about right
-. sort of pale and mysterious and
war-strength."
He seated himself at the table, took
the pen in his left hand and inscribed
circles on the paper; scribbled
meaningless sentence and laughed
gently. -
Funny how some people can be
ambidextrous and take so long TO
realize it. If hadn't caught a 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 it is.
Left Hand, very large and plain, is
Henry Hilliard-" Here he shifted
the pen to the other hand-"And
Right-and, small and curlicue, is
poor, dead Dicky Morgan-'one of her
dearest friends I'm glad killed that
chap off-he never amounted to q hill
of beans anyway. But this Hilliard
persona live wire, boy, live wire !"
And With a. grin of sardonicshumor.
he wrote on the flimsy paper, slowly
and a little irregularly, as though in
physical discomfort:
"Neuilly. 7-19-15.
mo matter what you ever think, no
matter what you have ever thought, 1
have loved YOU"
He grimaced, pondered diligently
and made correction.
81 have always loved you more than
my own life. You said my ideals had
fallen-do you think so now? don't.
dearest; 1 think they're almost That
you would have them. And it may be
that simply because of that, I've loved |
you more every day, and"
Hilliard sat back, and his eyes were
softly luminous.
Suppose, by the luck of the very
devil. should fall in love with her
againr' he said aloud. Suppose I !.
.'tould!" He tossed away his cigarette !
and rested his head in his hands. "Oh, |
Carol did care ~ His shoul- |
ders shook spasmodically then all 1T |
once he flung himself out of the chair |
aud took to tramping the floor in a |