Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-09-17
The Gift
Supreme
BY
George Allan England
Author Of
Darkness and Dawn"
1.-THE Alibi." etc.

haling cigaret smoke and stewing In
concentrated Niciousness. The spite
OF baked revenge simmered. bub-
Bling. thru his whole leprous carcass
Damn the luck!" he grunted
stupidity, drumming on the dirty
table cloth with dirtier nails. III
reformer. F1ora's in the hospital
my moll, Punk F'lo--that's another
line cut out. Between the Jardin
des Palmes an the Chateau Square
| she never cleaned up lessn fifty or
sixty n week-most all clear velvet
| for me.
| Then my gent has grabbed the
Vinton game. till it amt producin' q
rcd. Old Vinton has quit. cold, an
the young boob can't be shook down
| no longer. He's copied off Muggs:
the Graun skirt has croaked: all
them prescriptions is down to that
damn missionary old time I'm IL
able to get sloughed in can you
| beat it?"
He took his aching head between
| both hands and groaned again, with
| heartfelt anguish.
Rotten, rotten" he calculated. 81
never thought Mugs would do me
, dirt, an go straight on me, that
grabbed off my old gent, last night,
turned out to be the wrong bunch
they amt worth the powder to blow
| EN-. An just when I'd got Dan
dopin' SO hard he was absolutely de-
pendent on me an would do anythin'
said, this here Bradford guy goes
an tries to cure him! Raw toss,
raw toss! Beside that. Dago Joe has
thrown me. Claims that lame kid,
Joe, was named after him--says the
kids the mascot o Helfs Half Acre
says Bradford's curin him., too
says he won't frisk or croak off n
white guy like that. So it's case
of nothin' doin', all round. An looks
like the whole damn North End
might get cleaned up! All my lines
o. business might go to the bad.
God! If that happens. what about
me-? Why. I might have to go to
work. He'll"
Poisonously enraged. he picked up
his whisky glass. poured himself a
stiff drink and sucked the glass dry.
| Again he bleared out into the heat
and stifleI of the street. An oath
burst from his loose lips. He
crouched half standing; his blood
shot eyes stared at the figure of a
man whose bearing spoke of energy,
hope. eagerness--a man In every
way the strong antithesis of his own
sodden self.
Him" he snarled, sinking back
again into his chair, as this man
turned the corner into Salem street
and vanished. Him, so help me!
The damn silk -stockin' missioner
an pikin' toward ST. Philips, tool"
A dawning thought of dread pos
sessed his muddled brain.
Huh? S'pose Mugs an Dan has
spilled it to him, where the girl lis
An cut me out O. the chance | OF
sellin' him that info, too? If they
have. If they have"
For very rage his notified hands
twitched spasmodically on the table
BY chance they came in contact with
the exceedingly keen and pointed
steel steak knife that had been
brought to carve the porterhouse. In
stinctively Meiny clutched it by the
handle. 1t lay so nicely in his bloat-
ed palm, balanced SO truly, fitted hif
grasp with such perfection that a
kind of barbarous thrill transfixed
his heart
Fascinated by the sight and feel
ing of this blade he stared down al
| it, not yet quite understanding, but
already possessed of a new, strange
and exhilarating sensation that the
knife seemed somehow to be trans
fusing into him.
"God!" he whined. They're al
punk! can't get nobody to rur
straight, with me--theyre all throw.
in me, every damn one. An givin
me the ha-ha, besides, I know
sayin' I amt got CUTS enough to dc
nothin' myself
This way and that he turned tn,
knife, hypnotized by it's perfect poist
and balance. 1t seemed fairly t.
have been created for his hand.
"Like a razor!" he muttered. az
pippin! She sure is a bird!"
Furtively he glanced about saw
that no one was watching him; then
with a quick gesture, slid the knit,
into his inside breast pocket.
| A few minutes later, having ma
terially lowered the liquor in thu
bottle, he slouched out iof the Grape
vine, skunk down the street and
turning the corner, disappeared from
view.
i CHAPTER XVI.