The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1920-05-28
CHAPTER viii.

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For thirty days billiard had listened
to the eulOgies of his secret self. He
had heard from a hundred sources the
same belief repeated, that Dicky Nor
gan, given time and counsel, would
have made the city as proud of him for
his intrinsic worth as it now was
proud of him for his military valOr.
This praise of Dicky Morgan had at
first stunned billiard; after that, 1t
had exalted him; still later, 1t had
Rbased his soul. He had longed,
ceaSeIeSsly, during that third period
of his fntrOSpection, to take the city
to his heart, to reveal himself, to an
Bwer for Dicky Morgan's failures and
to pledge himself anew to the achieve
ment which Dicky MOrgans friends
had prOphesled; and then he had been
overwhelmed by the recollection that
he had made this course impossible.
If he had only known that all his de-
ceptiOnS were needless. If he had
only known that Dicky Morgan could
have come home, and been forgiven
What anguish he could have saved
and what repentance! And the prob
lem was still the same-shOuld he
continue, safe in his masquerade, to
the goal he had set for himself, or
should he risk the worst, and salve
his conscience by remuneration?
BY far the most distressing factor in
this puzzle was his relationship to Car
oil Durant. He had seen her only half
q dozen times during the month, and
never alOne-the fates or Armstrong
had circumvented him-but he was
head over heels in love with her again,
and he sensed, from fugitive glances
and stray word or two on her part,
that she wasn't entirely averse to him.
But what would Carol think if she
knew that this grave and tender
stranger was hiding behind the wrath
of Dicky Morgan-it was thousand
times the worse! If she were ever
truly in love with Henry billiard, it
was impossible 81
And then there was little Angela
Cullen --r......s. -... ,a---rt,y-.r-, r,..
And in addition, there was the seri-
Gus business of making good; he was
no longer impelled to it by resentment,
but rather by unauthorized ambition;
this, too, he would see destroyed by
any admission of his deceit. To con-
tinue in the game was to lose his prob
fly; to relinquish it was to lose all
else; and even now, his Joy and pride
was contained in precisely those things
which he must give up, If he decided
to tear off the mask of hypocrisy; and
his self-respect was rising out of the
mud of what he never should have
done at all. ----. a.
When he thought of his worldly am
billions, he was profoundly .regretful
that he had talked professionally with
Mr.. Cullen. To be sure, the matter
had come up casually and naturally,
and the opening had seemed too good
to be missed; Mt the same time, Hill
lizard couldn't help rejecting that it
had been premature. 1t might prove,
eventually, to have been just the prop
er course to produce results; it might
be that Cullen would become so impa-
tient that he couldn't be restrained,
and would leap without looking, and
leap further than he intended, and yet,
ever since that preliminary interview,
billiard had known that he had made
n breach in his own fortresses; that
he had rendered it possible for an in
formal (and logical enough) investi-
cation TO begin, or for mild suspicion
to arise and gain momentum before
he had devised the means of combating
It. And although Hilliard believed
implicitly in the goods he had TO sell,
he knew the difficulty of the market
he knew how timorOuS is the average
investor: and he knew that there
might very easily come time at which
his harangue would be remembered,
and remembered adversely.
In this connection he was irritat-
ed by the tone of Harmon's letters to
him from New York. Harmon was en-
thusiastic, and confident; he was re-
lying sturdily on billiard to break
through the acumen of the upstate
capitalists; but he thought that Hill
lizard was making haste too slowly he
opined that all billiard needed to do
was to devote himself to hard on
slaught against Mr.. Cullen, and, after
that, to gather subscribers where he
chose He said that billiard was
wasting time, and ought to begin to
collect signatures. Hilliard had men
toned, in a moment of indiscretion,
the assistance which Angela had I'M
consciously given him, and Harmon
had appraised it highly; but it angered
him. when he saw this reference writ
ten down in Harmon's letter, to have
her name brought into the instructions,
even by implication. Still :. ;. had he
not invited this upon himself?
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