Cleveland County herald., 1920-04-29

1 not even Hunt knew of his where abouts-and for nearly week was un- seen in Chicago. The day he returned he went to his safety deposit vault and | locked therein packet of papers | These papers, obtained at great price and with commensurate difficulty, were l the deeds to the FitZrandolph home stead in Maryland And still he was not happy. Still there remained the void the dull gap he could not fill.
 Time and again during his first year of grief FitZhugh had endeavored, with characteristic audacity, to see Kathleen, but always substantially in vain. He had followed her to New port, whence she flew with her moth CT after the rupture, found she had sailed the day before for Switzerland, had taken the next steamer, only to lsiss her again, and for three months had played attledore-and-shuttl with two defenseless women over the major part of the continent, often stay | ing in the same hotel, yet never catch | ing more than a f1eeting glimpse of the | oTfe he loved
 | All efforts at communication were | likewise fruitless. His letters were re- | turned unopened. His gifts, too. When they returned home in the autumn he | had ordered box of viOlets delivered to Kathleen every morning. The | florist was an honest man, and at the | months end he had rendered a bill | only for carriage.
 But Fitzhugh died hard For three years he never gave up trying. Then ehe last gleam of hope hickered out
 She was abroad most of the time now, returning to Chicago only at rare | intervals, and then but for brief stay. He heard that Artie Sparkle was often with her, and sometimes at the club there were rumors of
 But he laughed loudly at these. He refused to listen. The idea was pre- posterous-absurd. Yet it was never- thelesS true that this gossip of Kath- leen's engagement to Artie immediate ly preceded some extraordinary per formance that kept the name of F'itz- hugh on the lips of thousands for weeks afterward. As another man would have turned to drink, so he turned to stagey extravagance. Un- conventionality was his dissipation, and in his own way he became intoxi- cated
 Some four years after that day in l June-four years in which he had seen Kathleen less than a score of times and had spoken to her less than thrice | -Fitzhugh laid the foundation of the | throne upon which he was to reign for brief but blazing period as King of Wheat These four years had bred an 1 unwholesome change in the man. The l amassing of gold had become his re- ligion. Its virus had entered his soul He allowed nothing to stand between, crushing all opposition with an iron hand Everything was subservient to | but one end, and that end was Money All his faculties, all his tireIess energy | and zeal and ambition were concen- | trated upon it. Waking or asleep, the | thought of it was always uppermost Hunt. in the cratic meanwhile, had courageously piloted the deserted ship, | Knowing it's rightful captain would | again take the helm when The came to | himself" More than any other, Henry Hunt enjoyed the full confidence of his chief. He was one of the very few who knew Fitzhugh's real name and family history.
 At irregularly recurring periods fltzhugh entered the wheat pit, and while these instances were generally emblazoned with burst of histrion- 1cs, ae was never for a second blinded by the glare. When he seemed most ebullient he was really most cool-head- ed. He fooled the pit traders. They could never quite penetrate his bluff ing. They perceived hhs propensity TOT posing, and made the mistake of thinking him too self-centered to be alive to his surroundings. While they were plying him for his rawness, his cruditles, and confidently expecting his downfall, he would astonish them by executing some brilliant coup that sug- gested deep-laid plans as splendid as
 his daring.
 When i'll the conflict of the pit every
 fiber of his being was quiveringly
 alert. Seemingly absorbed in thinking
 of himself and the effect of his pos
 tures he was searching his opponents faces for the slightest trace of mean
 ing. Not tremor of that higgledy-
 piggledy turmoil escaped him. Ear
 and eye were quick to grasp every
 variation. He was instantly alive to
 every trick, every subterfuge. He was
 swift to seize upon the merest open
 ing, swift to attack the first unproteet-
 ed spot. He was the shrewdest of
 them all, and he played a game none
 could understand. Outwardly, the
 greenest of bunglers at 1t, secretively
 he maneuvered with master hand.
 It was in the winter of this year
 that Fitzhugh went deepest into the
 wheat pit. He plunged in farther and
 farther. and with such apparent reck-
 lessness that many times Hunt held