The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1921-01-12

a child or ten or eleven summers and
no winters. merry as a sunny day,
dark-haired. dark-eyed. pink-cheeked
pampered hut unspoiled. She had
risen and taken his hand. told him
her name, thanked him, ordered a
furried nurse to thank him, shaken
her finger at the terrier. and said,
"Good-by" and "Come on. Maggie" all
while he was still rubbing the seat Of
his first long trousers.
On that day she had been Miss Imo-
gene Pamela Thornton, petted darling
Of the gods and Mr.. Brewster Thorn
ton. banker and widower; two months
later had come Thornton's financial
smash and. Immediately afterward, his
spiritual. moral and bodily collapse.
Everything that had made for life in
him having been swept away. he died
as matter Of course, and was buried.
For sole inheritance, little Genie
Thornton found herself possessor and
possessed Of one Maggie O'Rourke. a
nurse Of long standing. Of earnest and
faithful face. and monster heart inn
prisoned In a ptifully thin chest
II had taken Genies great-uncle,
Asa Thornton. six more months to for
get quarrel Of sixteen years stand
Ing with his nephew. and by that time
child and nurse had been seeped into
that lower world which can't afford
morning and afternoon editions and Is
too busy praying for daily bread to
look for rain Of mamma In the daily
press
In short. Maggie and her charge,
traced down the ladder of reputable,
disreputable and impossible lodgings.
had slipped ultimately from sight and
the ken of people with addresses. and,
as result, Mr.. Robert Hervey RAN
dolph, whose relationship to Mr. Asa
Thornton is of no import whatever to
this tale of cause and effect. came into
ten thousand year and string-the
string being the possible temperance
Of Miss Imogene Pamela.
Bob" had said old Asa, on the
verge of a tardy demise. "rm not in
Producing you to war between con-
science and self-interest. There's no
silly story-bOok test about my money !;
you are under no obligation to look
for ImOgene or to shout If You step on
her by any twist of chance MY law
yers have all the Instructions neces-
sary along those lines: they are to
make every reasonable effort. and II
they succeed. whv. you're man enough
to look out for yourself lit isn't
going to make devil of a lot Of differ
ence to me where the cash goes so
long as l die with--die with the
credit"
With that last sentence. his mind
had stumbled and wandered off to
memories of his nephew Brewster.
Looking back from the vantage of
twenty-six years. Randolph caught.
for the first time. the full import Of
Asa ThOrntOn's farewell words to him
and to life: die with the credit"
They held the kernel of the old mans
carefully measured amend.
"Great Old tOpw murmured Mr..
Randolph aloud and half unconscious
ly turned to the left at FOrty-secOnd
street Five minutes later he was
caught i'm the maelstrOm Of the
Thanksgiving crowd milling around
Times square.
Presently he found himself on the
edge of human sea, banked up to
give passage to hOnking empty taxi
cab. Here was another question for a
suddenly inquiring mind. Where did
taxi-cabs. empty ones. go to in such a
hurry? The door of this one was
swinging open, and the proof of how
intent the crowd was on its myriad
individual goals is evidenced by the
fact that dozen voices did not in
form the driver that the season was
Off for fans on wheels.
The cab was moving more slowly
than Mr.. RandOlph's subcOnsci6us
mind, which led him TO step into it and
quietly close the inviting door. Upon
seating himself, he tried to analyze
the impulse that had lifted him from
the curb. He decided that 1t was not
so much the curiosity as to the desti-
nation Of empty cabs as a natural and
ancient dislike for being pushed and
elhowed by people.
CONTINUED Next Week.