Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-08-21
CHAPTER VIII.

n protracted meeting of the Society
for the Amelioration of Poverty, to
find her husband in a white rage,
and Bradford gone. There had been
a harsh scene, in which Vinton had
refused to concede single point.
Neither one had slept much that
night.
Morning brought gloom to the ST.
lent old mansion, thru which the
slow measured ticking Of the clock
on the polished stairs told off the
beads OF their lives shortening ros-
aries. Eliot Vinton showed the strain
in his sunken eyes and flaccid, sal
low cheeks; but his face had become
a carved mask of applicability. His
wife realized TING futility Of further
argument and Held her peace.
Moreover, Martha Vinton under
stood that her son had disgraced one
of the oldest and most eminent
names in the commonwealth. Not
even her mother love could snbmerge
that damning fact. Noblesse oblige
had always been the motto of her
family-.the Tillotsons, of Newbury
street.
Nevertheless. as the shipping mas
ter made ready to depart for his Of
flee, there came some little discus
sion of possible remedy for the evil
that had befallen.
"You understand, of course" said
Eliot Ninton, as be took his silk hat
from the rack in the gloomy hall,
"that yo,f and l must stand together
as unit in this crisis. You must
continue to support me in the deci-
sion that no proletarian scum shall
ever contaminate our blood"
81 WILL" the wife answered wear
ily 'Yonr judgment is quite right.
But, Eliot. may there not be some
way to bring him to his senses and
restore him to us before that woman
shall have absolutely ruined him and
disgraced our name ?"
Possibly. In fact. Martha, al
ready have a plan"
what is it?" she interrupted with
an eagerness that belied her outward
assumption of firmness.
II can not tell you just yet" he
denied her, shaking his head. New
ertheless, I am beginning to see a
way,
s'You mean to try to force him?"
..No II Bradford returns. 1t will
be because he will be willing to
abandon the creature and redeem his
manhood. There shall be no coercion.
So now" he added, moving toward
the door, do not question me any
further. You need only trust In me-"
Then he left her alone with the
silent, impassive servants-removed
from any possibility of human sym
pathy or comfort from them by vast
reaches of social separation: alone in
the big, empty house: alone with the
heart chilling comfort that she bore
the name of yinton.
The shipmaster, his plan now as
suming definite outlines, ordered his
chauffeur to drive him to Pemberton
Square. that quiet backwater near
the city's streaming tides Of life.
where the massive court house DOM
mates the nests Of lawyers offices
that cluster in the buildings all
about.
IRWIN NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
announced an inconspicuous sign
painted on a marble slab at the door,
way of one Of the older and meane-.
Of these buildings. Here Eliot Vim
ton entered. With the decision OF
man whose mind Is fully made up
and who knows precisely what he
intends tojdo. he climbed three curv-
ing flights of. stairs, reached Stages
office. and walked in.
Stage looked up from desk lit
tered with papers In sodden disor-
der which harmonized with the UNI
tidy clutter Of the legal den where
for many years he had spun webs of
iniQuity. A gross, red faced man,
this Stagg, with protuberant brown
eyes and a double china man Of
large girth and small morals, a man
known In the underworld as fright
guy" but viewed with suspicion in
the world Of legitimate affairs.
He was not now a. practising law
yer, but was what is known in can't
speech as q law ghost" Some years
before he had been expelled from the
Massachusetts bar; the record
against his name, in the nearby
courthouse, read: bad moral char
acter." Nevertheless, he still did
business in more or less devious
ways.
"Mr. Vinton, believer said he,
nodding at his visitor with an OLE
aginous smile. What gives me the
pleasure OF such AN iearly call? I
haven't had the privilege of seeing
you since that little matter of the
ship owners liability bill"
He put his ciga- down on the desk,
arose. and shook hands with Vinton,
who submitted to the formality with
very bad grace. Then he motioned
the visitor to chair.
Well. Mr.. Vinton, what can we do
for you this morning?" he queried
Vinton put his top hat on the
cleanest part of the desk, drew up
the proffered chair and sat down.
For a moment he eyed Stage with a
kind of chill superiority that seemed
to shrink from contact with the pres
ence of the man he perforce must
use; then, forcing himself to speak,
he answered the shysters question.
II have a matter of some import
ance for you to handle"
"Ah, yes? Matters Of Importance
are what I'm looking for, Mr.. Vim
ton. Now just what might be the
nature of this work 90
Before we discuss it, said the
ocfn ,cfs a
the necessity TO- absolute discre-
tion.''
Stage nodded, leaned back in his
chair and scratched his double chin,
which for two or three days had not