Polk County news. [volume] (Benton, Tenn.) 191?-1983, 1920-01-29
CHAPTER XII


Nbuh dli BduoEu " opNdh W ANAN
before leaving the house.
Il owe you my good wishes" he
said. "And give them most frankly
although perhaps with more difficulty
than you suppose"
"You are very good, Mr.. Coward
she acknowledged.
81 could not wish you anything but
happiness" he returned. "And had
been so fortunate as Eden, in making
your acquaintance first, l might have
| hoped to contribute to your happiness
more directly than | can under the
present circumstances" He was
| speaking in his low, SedulOus notes,
and his words sent the girls blood
rushing in a strange mixture of graft
| fication and anger. The tribute he
! implied-that he himself would have
been glad to have been her sutton
was skillfully planned to appeal to
her vanity, and her anger was due to
| its success. She told herself she
should not listen to such words; she
should hate to hear such words. And
yet she listened to them, and was not
sure that she hated them. She could
only say:
"You are very good, Mr.. Coward"
He pressed her hand at the door,
and again that strange mixture OF
emotions surged through her.
Coward proceeded to the business
section of the town, we'll pleased with
the evenings events. He found his
way impeded by crowds in front of the
newspaper offices. He had paid little
attention to the progress of the war
scare, attributing it to the skillful pub
Lefty of interests connected with the
manufacture of ornaments. To the
last he had not believed that war was
possible.
Nobody wants to fight" he had as
sured his business acquaintance
Gwen the armament people don't
want to fight. All they want is to
brighten more money out of the tax
payers Of Europe" To Coward this
explanation seemed very complete. 1t
covered the whole ground and left
nothing to be said.
But tonight he was aware of
keener tension in the crowd atmos-
phere. They were goOd-natured
crowds, to be sure, laughing and
cheering and making sallies of heavy
wit; but they were in some way more
intense than he had ever seen before.
There was no fear of war; there was,
rather, an adventurous spirit which
seemed to fear that the affair would
blow over, as had so many affairs IN
the past, and all the excitement go
for nothing. That war, if it came to
war, could last no one dreamed; 1t
would be a matter of few weeks,
few months, at the most, until thor
oughly whipped Germany would retire
behind the Rhine to plan ways OF rails
ing the indemnity which outraged civil
lization would demand.
Coward elbowed his way through
the crowds, smiling, in his superior
knowledge, over their excitement.
Newspapers must have headlines.
At his office Coward used a tele-
rant, where, after a few minutes, he
was Joined by young woman. They
took a table in box. Supper was dis
posed of, and the young woman began
to grow impatient.
"Well, you brought me here" she
said, at last. you've fed me, and you
don't feed anybody, Coward, without
a purpose. What's the considerations
I'm pulling off little joke, and
want you to help me. You know Eden
Dave Eden"
"Sure. I've known him ever since
that jolt put him out of business up in |
your rooms, ever so many years ago. |
He was too rural for that mixture"
II want you to get him down to |
-our place some night to be agreed |
urrns--Tll fix the date later-and keep |
him ;here until l call for him, with |
his fiancee."
"Some joke" she said, and there was
disgust In her voice. "Who Is 1t on
Eden, me, or the girl?"
Never mind who it's on" Coward
returned. I'm paying for it. Here's
something on account, and if you make
a good Job of it l won't be stingy."
He handed her bill, which she
kissed and put in her purse. IL need
the money, Coward, or wouldn't
take it."
This part of his trap set, Coward
awaited a suitable opportunity to
spring 1t. In the meantime he took
Mrs. Hardy partially into his conf
ience. He allowed her to believe, how
ever, that Elden's habits would stand
correction and he had merely arranged
10 trap him In one of his favorlte
She was very much shocked
Ind thought 1t was very dreadful, but
of course we must save Irene"
But concerning another part of his
program Coward was even less frank
With Mrs. Hardy. He was clever
enough to know that he must observe
certain limitations.
At length all his plans appeared TO
,e complete. The city was in tumult
# excitement over the war, but for
-. NAV