The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1921-06-24
he,d burn md aIIve 4 dldn,t t0s be

W nut AVNn Nv want 1Nu W H0t
HE wants me to stick around here
80 that he can use me against you.
He knows how you're mixed up with
Shella and that you can't turn a wheel
without making II look as II you were
going after me on your own personal
account"
There was silence for little time.
Il was AN awful muddle, with bloody
murder sticking out OF II on every side.
IF you have come here with the
Idea that can force Hatch's hand, you
are very much misled,v said the boss
at the close OF the electric pause. And
then; HAS he made II appear 70 you
that he was merely trying 10 help you
aycnge your own fancied wrongsT
"Ile said ! ought 10 get you; that
any man WHO would make love to q
married woman 6ught to be got"
My chief was locking past the der
elict and ont through the darkened
window.
You don't know me, Mr. Colling-
wood, but you do know your wife;
and You know that she Is as far
above suspicion as the angels ia
heaven. Ler that part Of It go. Hatch
was merely using you FOR his own
ends. If he could persuade you 10
1 kin me Of ont of the way, It would
be merely Tint much gained in the
1 business fight You haven't done it
! thus far. aad now lie Is using your
/ check-casbing excursion as club with
which he proposes 20 brain tie entire
railroad management your uncle In
cuded, II We interfere with his plans
COllingwoOd scOwled up at the cell
ing, shifting the dead cigar from one
corner OF bis mouth to the other
$50 that's tile way of it, is it," he
commented. lie was working for his
own pocket all the time, and Uncle
Breck stands pat and slips him the
ace he was needing to make his hand
winner. Between you and me, Nor
cross, believe this Id piker needs
Killing few times, himself"
The boss sat back in his swing chair
and could just imagine that he was
trying to get some sort of proper angle
on this young fellow who, in addition
to his other scoundrelisms, big and
little had wrecked the life of Sheila
Macrae. / knew what he was think
ing. He had a theory that no man
/ that was ever born was either all
angel or all devil, and he was hunting
for the reGeeming streak in this one.
When you looked right hard at the
haggard face you could see something
sort of appealing in il; something
| TO make YOU think that perhaps, away
back yonder before the spelling he
gan, there used TO be a man; never a
strong man, guess, but one that might
have been generous and free-hearted,
maybe. | got a fieeting little glimpse
of that hack-number man when he
turned sGdGenly and said
zone night a few weeks ago when
l was full up, Hatch got hold Of me
| and told me yen were out at the Ken
! drick place with Sheila. He made lne
believe that | ought to go out there
and kill YOU and | started to do 1t.
| DO you know why l didn't do it?"
| mo" said the chief, mighty quietly.
''Wel, I'll tell you. One night last
! spring up at the Billiard you slammed
! me one in the face and dragged me off
to my room TO keep me from making
| bigger ass Of myself than I'd al
ready made. l haven't forgotten that,
In all these crooked years nobody else
has even taken the trouble to chuck
-ine decently out of sight and give me
chance to brace. Drunk as / was,
I remembered it that night when |
was climbing mp to window in the
majors house and trying to get a shot
at you
Mr.. Noreross shook his head, more
than half sympathetically, l thought.
'Let that part Of it go and tell me
about this other trouble" he snid
elbow badly are you tangled up in
this political buslness|
1--WE given it TO you straight on the
bribIng proposition. Uncle Breck used
me as a money carrier because-well
maybe It was because he couldn't
trust Bullock, didn't know definitely
what Bullock was doing with the
checks ! caNhed for him. though I sup
posed, OF course, it was something that
wouldn't stand daylight 1t was only
a side Issue with me. I was coming
out here anyway. 1 knew Shella had
made up her mmG-God knows she's
had cause enough; but | had crazy
notion that I'd like to be on the same
side of TIE earth with her again for
Just q little while Then this" he
lrailcd of In babble of maledictions
poured out upon the man who had
trapped him and used him.
The boss Strengthened himself in his
chair, but he still was speaking gently
when he sold:
you ere not asking my advice, and
| don't owe you anything, personally
Mr. Collingwood But I'll say to You
what l might say to a better man in
like circumstances. You have done all
the harm you can, but, as see 1t,
there doesn't seem to be any need of
your staying here to suffer the con-
sequences, Why don't you go back to
New York, taking your wife with you,
If che will COZ"