Rockingham post-dispatch. [volume] (Rockingham, N.C.) 1917-1965, 1920-04-01
THE TEST
By GEORGE ELMER COBB

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Copyright. 1920. Western Newspaper Unionl
Sweet was poverty, blessed was the
c0ntentment that came from patience
and sacrificed! When Arnold Gresham
looked back at the fevered career OF
speculation and risk which had aged
him ten years and realized the burden
that had well nigh crushed him, he
shuddered. He had barely escaped
from bankruptcy. At the very verge
of losing money entrusted to him by
confding clients, sudden rise in
wheat had enabled him to just clear
his trades. In the frenzy Of dread and
horror preceding that criminal moment
he had registered solemn VOW never
to tempt the grain market again.
It was Marjorie, his motherless
daughter, who had stood nobly, SYM
pathetically BY him during the col
lapse following his narrow Craze of
disaster. A second mother to the two
little ones Of the family, a model
housekeeper, she had proven her worth
mess and practicability in a signal
manner.
II feel like a man VITO has barely
escaped the jaws OF dcvouring mon
ster." said Mr.. Gresham. IF l had
lost ali that money for my friends !
would never have lifted my head
again."
"Oh, papa then never tempt fortune
again. AS it is, everything is gone
for us except the few thousands you
have In the bank. Let us be wise and
go away from the expensive, unnatural
life we have led to some quiet, pretty
town, where you could buy out little
business and where we could get
modest, comfortable home where the
children could roam at will amid fresh
air and sweet flowers. How happy we
would be"
1t was a little Eden Of a place that
they finally secured.
"Oh, sister look look !" little Edna
startled her sister by crying out one
morning as Marjorie was trimming
some bushes in the garden, and Mar
jorie hurried to the gate at the call of
one of two men bearing between them
a limp figure. She recognized the two
men as workers in a quarry just be-
yond the town, and with startled con-
Germ her glance swept the colorless
face of their human burden.
SIS your father at home, Miss Gresh-
am" questioned one Of the men.
"No, he has gone for STROLL" re-
piled Marjorie. "What is it? VIII I
do?
"Why, we found this young man
lying in the road near one Of the pits"
explained the quarryman. "See, his
pockets are turned inside out and one
button hole of his vest torn out. A lot
of thieving tramps have been camping
near the pits and have attacked and
robbed him. His purse and watch are
gone and the side of his head is bat
tered and bleeding. We can't carry
him all the way to town. There is no
hospital nearer than Durham, and he
may die II he isn't taken care Of"
Bring him right in" directed the
warm-hearted Marjorie. II will phone
for DR.. May and papa will be home
soon."
Mr.. Gresham and the physician took
charge Of the sufferer and DR.. May ad-
vised that he be attended to in his
present refuge.
The victim Of footpads lay in
lethargy all the rest of that day. All
that Mr.. Gresham found about his per-
son was bulky envelope, which he
proceeded to examine. Immediately
after inspecting 1t he left the house in
an excited, distracted manner. Mar
jorie's curiosity was aroused. She
looked over the papers in the envelope.
Their contents enlightened and then
disturbed her considerably
They represented report of an In
vestigation for a leading city grain
house which Arthur Blake had made
in detail, and was bound for the city
when assailed. Marjorie comprehend
ed that the information vas of the
greatest value as giving crop pros
poets and probable rises and falls in
prices. Who like her experienced old
father could appreciate and utilize this
knowledge? His emotion was ex-
planned.
The patient grew better that evening,
but Mr.. Gresham did not return until
late. Marjorie's spirits fell as she
awoke the next morning to find him
gone and the envelope with him. Her
worst fears were confirmed. Equipped
with precious exclusive information,
he could turn hundreds into thousands
on the exchange In single hour.
The patients mind in his delirium
seemed always on those papers. The
fact that her father had practically
stolen them added to Marjorie's trou.
bles. Just at dusk, however, CHEEKY