The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1921-05-07

sometimes there Is the chance
Samaritan"
Van Bibber picked up his high hat
from the table and settled it on his
head. Good night" he said. and
walked slowly towards the door. He
had his hand on the knob. when Mr..
Caruthers raised his head.
wait just one minute, please, Mr..
Van Bibber?" asked Mr.. Caruthers.
Van Bibber stopped with prompt
obedience which would have led one
to conclude that he might have put
on his hat only to precipitate matters.
Before YOU co." said Mr.. Ca
ruthers, grudgingly, Il want to say
I want you to understand my posi-
! ton"
"Oh, that's all right" said Van
Bibber, lightly. opening the door.
mo, il is not all right. One mo-
ment, please. I do not intend that
you shall go away from here with the
idea that you have tried to do me a
service, and that l have been unable
| TO appreciate 1t. Since you nave
done me the honor to make my az
fairs your business, would prefer
that you should understand them
fully. l do not care to have you dis
cuss my conduct at clubs and with
young women until you"
Van Bibber drew in his breath
sharply, with a peculiar whistling
sound, and opened and shut his
hands. "Oh, I wouldn't say that IL
| were you" he said, simply.
81 beg your pardon" the older man
said, quickly. That was a mistake.
u was wrong. beg your pardon.
: But you have tried me very sorely.
You have intruded upon a private
trouble that you ought to know must
be very painful to me. I know you to
be a gentleman, and I am willing to
think you acted on impulse, and that
you will see tomorrow what mistake
you have made. 1t is not thing I
talk about; l do not speak OF 1t to
my friends, and they are far too con-
siderate to speak OF 1t TO me. But
you have put me on the defensive.
You have made me out more or less
Of a brute, and l don't intend to be
misunderstood. There are two sides
to every story; there is something to
be said about this, even for me-"
! He walked back to his place beside
the mantel and faced Van Bibber,
with his fingers twisted in the cord
around his waist.
when married" said Mr..
Caruthers, II did so against the
wishes of my people and the advice
Of all my friends. You know all
about that. God help us! Who
doesn't?" he added, bitterly. ut was
very rich, rare reading for you and
for every one else who saw the daily
papers, and we gave them all they
wanted Of 1t. took her out OF that
! life and married her because I be-
! lieved she was as good woman as
any of those who had never had to
work for their living, and I was
bound that my friends and your
friends should recognize her and re-
spect her as my wife had a right to
! be respected; and I took her abroad
that I might give all you sensitive.
! fine people a chance to get used to
the idea of being polite 10 a woman
who had once been burlesque
actress. 1t began over there in Paris.
! What I went through then no one
knows; but when I came back-it
was my friend had 10 consider, and
not her. It was in the blood; it was
in the life she had led. and in the
life men like you and me had taught
her to live. And it had to come out. "
. The muscles OF Mr.. Caruthers' S
face were moving, and beyond his
control.
"She had every chance when she
married me that woman ever had"
continued the older man. 1T only
depended on herself. l didn't try to
make housewife Of her or drudge.
She had all the healthy excitement
and all the money she wanted. and
she had home here ready for her
whenever she was tired Of travelling
about and wished to settle down.
And Was-and husband that loved
her as-she had everything. Every
thing that mans whole thought and
love and money could bring to her.
And you know what she did"
And after the divorce-and she
was free to go where she pleased. and
to live as she pleased, without bring
ing disgrace on a husband who hon.
estly loved her-I swore to my God
,, that l would never see her nor her
child again. And l never saw her
again, not even when she died. l
loved the mother. and she deceived
me and disgraced me and broke my
heart. and I only wish she had killed
me; and I was beginning to love her
child, and 1 vowed she should not
live to trick me too. had suffered
as no man I know had suffered; In a
way a boy like you cannot under
stand, and that no one can under
stand who has not gone to hell and
been forced to live after it. And was
I to go through that again? Was I
to love and care for and wor-
ship this child. and have her
grow up with all her mother's
vanity and animal nature, and have
her turn on me some day and
show me that what Is bred In the
bone must tell. and that was a fool
again-a pitiful. fund fool? I could
not trust her. I can never trust
any woman or child again. and
least Of all that woman's child.
She Is as dead to me as though
she were buried with her mother,
and it Is nothing to me what she
is or what her life Is. know in time
what II will be. She has begun
earlier than I had supposed, that is
all; but she Is nothing to me-" The
man stopped and turned his back to
Van Dibber. and hid his head in his
hands, with his elbows on the mantel-
piece. II care too much" he said
II cannot let 1t mean anything to