Omaha daily bee., 1921-07-17

lars available Her stock in the chemical
company was not a security on which. in
these parlous financial days, she could real
ize anything. The bonds which she
quired for three million dollars could be real
ICED upon, perhaps, but not in a moment.
Further, II meant telling Bourke.
But she must tell him. She realized that.
And still she clung to hope that somehow
1t was an evil dream, not reality.
And vet clearly, menacingly, before her sat
Halsey. no igment of disordered imagina-
ton, but an unclean reality.
He rose to his feet. do get it?' he said.
Or do | go down, this minute, to call upon
your-er-husband?"
She gasped. She must be the one to tell
Bourke, not Halsey.
"I1lHIll do-what can-T1l try"
Sure of his victory, he smiled. "AH right.
I'll phone you tomorrow and we1l make a
date. Goodbye, Mrs. Halsey- -Bourke."
She could not believe in his departure.
Even after he had gone she looked for him
to return. She did not know that Halsey
feared any encounter with her husband. She
did not know that Halsey feared that Bourke,
outraged, might kill him with as little com
junction as one kills a rat. She did not real
ize that she had only to have defied the man
to have sent him cringing from her presence.
But il she had realized it her thoughts
would have been no more pleasant For it
was not blackmail it was her own equivocal
position, that Mortified her.
How long she stood there, staring at the
chair on which Hasey had sat, she did not
know How she gained her room and picked
up the desk telephone she never could have
: told. Her legs ached with the strain of
climbing the stairs; her eyes could not focus;
her body felt as though it had been beaten
with heavy clubs. For such is the ascendancy
Of the mind that a mental or spiritual blow
reacts upon the flesh.
But, somehow, the picking up Of the tele-
phone clarified her mind. She put it quickly
down. How could she, brutally, without
warning notify her husband that-that he
was not her husband? She must think plan.
And as she thought and planned, under
standing of Bourke's position came to her.
Up to now she had considered only herself.
There had been a momentary thought of the
mire that would engulf Bourke, but mostly
she had thought Of herself only. Now she
began to understand that Bourke would suf-
fer even more than herself. He would suf-
fer more because he loved her so greatly and
that which affected her would affect him His
own burden would be doubled by his effort to
carry hers.
And then, suddenly, the thing that Halsey
knew but which had not occurred to her as
she listened to the blacknai.er, came fully
into her consciousness. Bourl1e might kill
the man who blackmailed his wife.
She rose from the chair into which she
had sunk and began walking up and down
her bedroom floor. Now that there was
something definite to be done the brain that
she had inherited from Harley B. Guernsey
definite to be done Halsey must be got out
Of the neighborhood before Bourke was told
Of his existence.
How? Beads of sweat formed upon her
forehead. melted together and ran down into
her eyes, counterfeiting tears that her dry
eyes could not shed.
She was going to New York tonight with
Bomke. She shook her head. She could
not go. But what possible excuse, other than
the real reason, could she invent? If she
said she were Ill, Bourke would refuse to
leave her.
The telephone rang. She knew that It was
Bourke; intuition told her, and for half
minute while the instrument changed impera-
lively, she stared at 1t, afraid to pick 1t up.
She did so. finally. Intuition had not lied.
Can you stand little disappointment,
Allayne?" asked Bourke
For a moment her heart stood stin. He
wasn't going to New York! The trip was
postponed
"Tn try" she said, narveling at the light.
ness Of her tone.
Just got wire from Keenan," Keenan,,
AZ she knew, was the western sales manager
for the company He has chance to place
a big order in Chicago Says he needs me to
put it over"
Her heart resumed beating again.
"And you think that you ought to go?"
she asked.
He laughed. with orders as slack as they
are, certainly do think so And as Til only
be there few hours, between trains
thought that you might not want to Co."
well" she said slowly, there are lot
Of things to be done about tho house-we'd
80 10 New York-later?'
"Of course. It's only temporary disap-
pointment dear"
mo disappointment at all, SHY man," she
assured him.
Then you Will meet me at the station In
haif an hour with my bag?"
She told him that she would, and hung up
the telephone. Luck had been with her!
Bourke would be gone for the next two
nights; In that time she would, somehow or
other, have got rid Of Halsey. She would be
able to tell Bourke their dreadful predica.
infinitely worse by the killing OF Halsey.
For now, oddly, she had not the slightest
doubt that anything other than the killing
Of Haisey could possibly happen.
How she was going to manage this rid.
dance she would not bother to think now.
Her brain had stood all that 1t could for
the present. She would endeavor to compose
hozSa~, i, Once moro she marveled at
herself, She knew that her cheek was cool
when Bourke kissed her soodby, that her
voice held not the slightest trenor. II was
queer. afforded one an insight into the COM
plezlties Of life that she could see her BE-
loved husband leave her without regret For
1t WAS necessary that the fret ssirmiah IN
the battle be fought BY her alone Later.
when Halsey had been persuaded TO leaye
Hillstown Bour1e could stand at her side
but not now.
She drove slowly home. for the first time
in her life sunamoning to her mind the ns-
ures In her check book Memory was brutal.
It told her no cheerful little lis 10 ease the
next half hour. IT told her the truth as she
verified 1t when she reached home again.
She had in the Hillstown bank exactly fifteen
hundred dollars, wherewith to peruuade Hal.
- H.