The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1921-09-01

do. that Chadwick Is holding you her.
by main strength that you can nevel
accomplish anything permanent whil'
! Dunton and his cronies are AT the steer
ing-wheel. II might be different II yog
had the local backing OF your con
stitueney-the people served by th'
Short Line But you haven't that; ug
10 date. the people are merely inter
ested spectators"
"Go on" said the boss. frownins
again
They have a stake In the game
the biggess Of the stakes. as q matter
OF fact--but II isn't sufficiently ap
parent 10 make them climb Id and
tght for you. They are saying with
good bit OF reason. that. after all
is said and done. Big Money-Wall
Street-still has the call. and any
twenty-four hours may see the whole
thing slump back into graft and
crooked politics.
III is so true that you might be
reading II out OF a book" was the boss
comment. And then: whats the an
swerr
Mr.. Van Britt shook his head. II
don't know. IL you had money enough
TO buy the voting control In L. 5. L.
you might get somewhere; but as Ii
Is, you're like a cat In Hades without
claws"
Tell me-" said Mr.. Norcross, after
little pause: You're a native New
Yorker: do you know this man Col
lingwood"
"Only by hearsay. He is what our
English friends call blooming
bounder'-fast yachts. fast motor-cars,
the fast set generally. It's a pretty
bad case of money-spoll. fancy. They
say he wasn't always total loss"
''Dld you ever hear that he was
marriedf'
"0h, yes; he married a Kentucky
girl some years ago: | don't resnem-
ber her name. They say sne stood
him for about six months and then
dropped out. I suppose he needs kill
ing for that"
AT this the boss went step farther,
saying: HE does, indeed, Upton.
happen TO know the young woman"
That was when Mr.. Van Britt fired
his own little bomb-shell. $50 do l."
he answered quietly.
"But you said you had forgotten her
namel"
$50 I have-her married name. And
10 n ~ fnF-
getting It,"
There was no mistake about the boss
frown this time.
THAT won't do, Upton" he said.
kind OF warningly.
"It will do well enough for the
present. I'd marry her tomorrow, Gra-
ham, II she we're free, and there were
no other obstacles. Unhappily, there
are two-besides the small legal diff
ficulty; she doesn't care for my money
having little of her own; and
she happens TO be In love with the
other fellow"
| guess the boss was remembering
what Mrs. Sheila had told him In that
confidence before the back-parlor fire, |
about Its being all off between her and !
Collingwood, for he said: II think you |
are mistaken as to that last"
mo, I'm not mistaken. But that's |
neither here nor there. Neither you |
nor can send Collingwood to the
penitentiary-that's a cinch. Where
fore, I'm advising you to quit, walk
out, jump the job"
At that the boss took a fresh brace,
righting his swing chair with a snap.
'You know very little about me,
Upton. II you think I'm going to throw
up my hands now. when the real pinch
has come. I have a scheme-if II
could only be worked. But 1t can't be
worked on a rising market. By some
trick or other, the Dunton people are
the stock again. Il went up
three points yesterday"
Mr.. Van Britt grinned They're
the effect OF this httle po-
IItical deal-which will at least rope
your reform scheme down, II II doesn't
do anything else. What you need is
a good. old-fashioned cataclysm Of
some sort samething that would fair
" knock the tar out of p. S. L. secur-
tiles and send them skittering down
the toboggan slide In spite. Of anything
Uncle Breckenridge could do to stop
them; down. TO where they could be
safely and profitably picked up by the
lear public Unfortunately. those
ihings don't happen outside OF the
story books. II they did. II the earth
quake should happen along our way {
lust now. don't know but I'd be dis I
oval enough 20 get out and help II I
'hake things up Bit
After Mr.. Van Britt had gone. the
BOSS put In the remainder Of the day
Ike workingman, skipping the noon /;
luncheon as he sometimes did when
he work drive was extra heavy. Mean
While, as you'd suppose. rumor was
,lentifuliy busy. on the railroad. and
Ilso in town.
By noon Il was vel understood that
here had been a radical change in B
he mnnagement - g $. A W and + q