Evening star., 1921-10-26
CONTINUED from Yesterdays Starr
The Room on the Third Floor.

Y.
The Room on the Third Floor.
1t was pitch black. Dave Hender-
son opened his eyes drowsily. He lay
for a moment puzzled and bewildered
as to where he was. And then con-
sciousness returned in fuller mea-
sure. and he remembered that he had
thrown himself down on the bed fully
dressed-and must have fallen asleep
He stirred now uneasi1y. He was
most uncomfortable Something bru-
tally hard and unyie1ding seemed to
be prodding and boring into his side.
He felt down under him with his
hand-and smiled quizzically. 1t was
his revolver He would probably,
otherwise, have slept straight through
turned over in his sleep undoubtedly.
had twisted in his pocket and had
resolved itself into a sort of skeWer,
muzzle end up, that dug ungraciously
and painfully into his ribs.
He Strengthened the revolver In his
pocket-and the touch ~of the wea-
pom seemed to clear his faculties and
fling him with q sudden jolt from
the borderland of sleepy mental indo-
lence into a whirl of mental activity.
He remembered Millman. Millman and
sociated. Only Millman had returned
the money. That was the strangest
part of it. Millman had returned the
money. 1t was over there now on the
floor in the dress suit case. He re
membered his scene with Millman. He
NO. 11tt t.al
famed his passion into a white heat
He should therefore be in an un-
bridled rage with Millman now-only
he wasn't. Nor would that anger
seemingly return-even at his bid
ding. Instead. there seemed to be 4
cold, deliberate, reasoned Self-cOn-
demnation creeping upon him. 1t wa:
not pleasant. He tried to fight 1t off
| 1t persisted. He was conscious of I
slight headache. He stirred uneaSil!
again upon the bed. Facts. however
| he might wish to avoid them, were
cold -blooded. stubborn things. The,
began to assert themselves here IL
| the quiet and the darkness.
Where was that sporting instinc
of fair play of his of which he wa:
so proud Millman had not gone tt
| that pigeon-cote with any treacher'
Gus motive. either for his own end:
| the traitor, either for his own end:
or at the instigation of the police
Millman, in blunt language. know
| ingly accepting the risk of beins
caught. when. already known as ;
prison bird. no possible explanation
could avail him if he were fount
with the money in his possession. haC
gone in order to save friend-ant
that friend was Dave Henderson.
Dave Henderson shook his head. NJ
he would not accept that-not 81
| meekly as all that, Millman hadn
saved him from anything. He coult
have got the money himself all righ
when he got out, and the police would
have been none the wiser.
He clenched his hands. A voice
within him suddenly called him
! coward. In that day in the prison
library when he had felt himself cor.
nercd. he had been desperately eager
enough for help. 1t was true that. a:
things had turned out. he could have
gone safely to the pigeon-c cote him
self. as he actually had done. bu
he had not foreseen the craft oi
Nicolo Capriano then, and his bach
had been to the wall then. and the
odds had seemingly piled to ar
insurmountable height against hin
and Millman. shifting the danger ant
the risk to his own shoulders, haG
stepped into the breach.
Millman had done that. There was
no gainsaying it. Well. he admitte
Mllman on that score now. had he:
He scowled savage1y in the dark
ness. 1t was Millman with his infer
raj, quiXotic and oyerweening hon.
esty that was the matter. That was
what it was! His quarrel with Mill
man lay in the fact that Millman was
an honest man.
He sat bolt upright on the bed. his
hands clenched suddenly again. Why
hadn't Millman kept his honesty
where it belonged. If Millman fel,
the way he did after going to the
why hadn't Millman stuck to his
guns the way any ordinary man
would. instead of laying down like
lamb-why hadn't he fought it out
man to man. until the better man
won--and that money went back. or
it didn't, Fight! That was it-f1ght,
IL ATillman had only fought it out
like an ordinary man-and-
BE honest-at least with yourself"'
whispered that inner voice quietly
''Millman was just as honest with
you as he was with his own soul. He
he could-and still keep faith with
himself. Did he throw you down
Dave?"
For a moment Dave Henderson did
not stir: he seemed mentally and
physically in strange and singular
lc ol SuSpcHutu diliIidtloi Anu
then a queer and twisted smile flick
cred across his lips.
Yes. he's white" he muttered. "By
God, the whitest man on earth-that's S
Millman. Only-damn him! Damn
him, for the hole he's put me in"
Yes. that was it! He had it at last,
and exactly now! Over there on the
floor in the dress suit case was the
money; but it wasn't the money that
ne, Dave Henderson, had taken a
gamblers risk and a sporting chance
to get. it wasn't the money he had
fought like a wildcat fort was
Millman's money. 1t wasn't the money
he had staked his all to winnie
staked nothing here. 1t was another
mans stake Over there was the
money, and he was free to use tiff
he chose to take it as the price of
another mans loyalty. the price that
another man paid for having taken
upon himself the risk of prison bars
and stone walls again because that
other man believed his risk was sub
stituted for the certainty that Dave