New-York tribune., 1921-02-20

tnaC could be Red Weldon's older
brother. He walked by; there wer.
two or three customers in the gto,.
who hid the proprietor from vieu
Bill turned and entered the store A
heavy man, young but almost bald
was taking orders. He looked famil.
lar enough; he had the Weldon nosa
Or had he? Bill waited until tina
man was free before he stepped uu.
care you Mr.. Weldon"
''T'hat's me-" said the grocer. "But
I'm stocked up, overstocked you
might say. I'm not buying"
and I'm not selling" said Bill
"But used to know your kid broth.
er years ago and 1 called TO say How
do you do?"
The grocer looked hard at Bill.
Il never had a kid brother" h.
said. "What's your game, anyhow
"You aren't Red Weldon himselfrs
81 guess l am"
"I'm Bill Torrance.
"I'm sorry to say I don't renem.
Der you," the other added incur.
ously
Don't you remember the River
Gang and Butch Harris and"-
The grocer grinned and held out
his hand.
"Now I've got you," he said cor.
daily. "You ran away the night
they arrested Us, didn't you?"
~ did"
you hadn't ought to have done
that. You haven't been back since
have your"
"No," Bill admitted. "But I've al.
ways wanted to know what hap
pened to you"
What happened? Why, nothing
happened. Boys will be boys, you
know"
Well" said Bill, 'T've always
supposed escaped the reform school
by hopping the first freight"
Reform school, he'll! Oh, I guess
they did parole US for six months.
That's how l happened to get into
the grocery business. They paroIed
me to old man Conners; it was his
till / tapped for a dollar or two. and
he was sort of naturally interested,
l reckon. He taught me the busi-
ness, and when he got ready to re-
tire l bought him out"
Bill looked at Red Weldon. Red
didn't understand; Red was callous.
Bill knew that whatever changes
the years had brought in Mary
Parker, she did not think of looting
a summer cottage and robbing tills
as a boys peccadillo.
What became of Butch Harris?"
he asked, abruptly.
Butch? Why, he's president Of
the bank down the street. Butch'd
be glad to see you. His people had
money, and he's a clever man
Butch Harris. But he's never too
proud to shake hands with an old
friend. How long you going to be
IN town, anyway"
"Oh, an hour or two" said Bill.
Come and see US again and have
a talk about old times. I guess we
were the real boys in those days, eh?"
What about Snick Tiedeman?"
"Oh, he's got a big farm up near
Peru. Bought it when he sold out
the old mans business. Snick al
ways hated the store
Bill hurried on toward the bank
and asked for the president.
The cashier shook his head.
"l'm sorry. He's up in Chicago
Wont be back till day after to-
morrow"
I'm sorry, too" Bill said. Il
used to know him. But maybe you
can tell me what became of Mr..
Sheldon, who kept a hardware store
here years ago."
Hes dead-died ten years back.
Bill walked slowly down the
street. He wondered what had be-
come of Mary Parker. She was mar
ried by now, of course. He had no
longer any curiosity about the rest.
He would like TO see Mary just once.
He didn't know but that in some
curious psychological way his mem
ory of Mary had stood between him
and Clare, as if the one reminded
him of the other, so that he could
not propose to Clare when Mary had
prior claim. It was an absurd
notion; there was nothing in it. But
just the same he would like to see
Mary.
Bill walked on toward the rail
way station. There was train out
at $50; it was now 2:45. He
reached the station platform. bough'
his ticket. But he could not bear
to leave without asking about Mary