The Washington herald., 1921-08-29
THE
FORTUNE
HUNTER
ANew,Gripping
Romance Serial
By RUBY AYRES

I'm just as happy in the byways,
my ways
Wherever / may be
For there's no friend waiting along
the highways
For a vagabond like me.
He laughed, shrugged his shoul-
ders, and laid the music down again
on the piano. 1T might have been
written about me-" he said unthink-
ingly, and went back to the window
and stood looking into the garden
with moody eyes.
What was he doing here when the
road was his place-the road where,
in spite of many hardships, he had
known much simple happiness dur
ing his wanderings?
What are you thinking about.
John Anne asked. She was watch
ing him across the room with
soubled eyes. He turned abruptly.
not daring to trust himself to look
at her. Y was thinking that must
get Tommy's bearskin," he said.
He went upstairs to the attic.
where the moonlight was poking in
quisitive fingers among John Smiths
boxes, the words of the song ring
ing in his ears:
For there's no friends waiting
alongi the highway
For a vasabond like me-"
Would tha 1t be true of him again
some day? e wondered. 1t almost
seemed as ii it lay with him at this
moment to choose, as he stood there,
hesitating II open the closed lid OF
the box befbre him; then, suddenly
he moved, Stopped and flung back
the lid. an b. going down on his
knees on fhe wooden floor. began
slowly to AXE out the contents.
Clothes: most of them new. and
apparently unworn; a few books; a
few photographs of towns and wide
stretches Of prairie, a number of
letters and a diary on loose sheets
Of paper.
The Fortune Hunter took 1t up
reluctantly: perhaps this held all
that he wanted to know of the
dead mans life.
Why hesitate to read it when so
much was at stake? Why jib at the
last hurdle when the prize was so
great?
Almost unCOnSClOuSly ne
himself turning the pages, reading
extracts Of the scribbled writing
To-day a letter from Anne.
II only women would not be 50 fond
Of hero-worship; il only they would
take a man. at the worlds estimate
of him - ."
The Fortune Hunter read OF. page
after page. forgetting that iC must
be getting late, and that down stairs
Anne waited for him; his face was
stern and set in the moonlight when
he reached the end Of that eloquent
story, then he flung it down with a
sort of contempt.
Lord 1 thought I was a wrong
'un, but now. ."
For the diary had told many
things, and but little to tho credit
of the man who had died so tragic
ally that September afternoon, and
the Fortune Hunter knew now that
ii had not been love or loyalty that
had brought him back to England
after so many years, but because
there had seemed to John Smith to
be no way of ridding himself of
a woman of whom he had wearied |
long enough ago.
Reading on and on, the Fortune
Hunter completely forgot the err
IdHu WHICH ndu up
stairs, until the mention of Tommy's |
name IN the diary recalled the boy |
and the promised bearskin.
II lay in the top of the box. |
not the one which Tommy had /.
opened. a great furry robe, into !
whose folds more than one book |
and packet of papers had worked
its way
The Fortune Hunter paused only |
to give il a hasty shaking; then. !
with il bundled up under one arm /
he rushed away to the stairs, eager /
10 give il to the boy and get back ,
to the diary once more. In fact, so !
eager was he that he failed to no.
tice Anne. where she stood just with |
in the door Of his room. her arms
filed with flowers from the garden. |
She had come on an errand of
love. to place fresh blossoms in the /
oId-fashioned vases in his room, and /
at the sound of his step an the |
stairs. had turned to watch him
as he hastily descended them. Her
eyes glowed with pride and love, !
as they dwelt on the man to whom
she had given her heart. Instructive
" she ran forward and peeped over
the bannister for a glimpse of him /
as he crossed the lower hall.
And then she saw the photo
graph which lay. face upward. on
the TOP step. She remembered |
having almost unconsciously noted
the Hutter of something white fall
ing from the folded bearskin that
was punched up under her lovers
arm. The flowers fell softly from
her arms as. she stopped to pick
II UP.
1t was the photograph of wo-
mana very beautiful woman. OBJ
viously. And across the bottom OF
II. in clear. bold writing, were the
words
pear John; with love from
Irenie."
Dear John. with love from Irenie.
In spite of the vague misgivings
and doubt she might have felt now
and then since the Fortune Hunter
came to Somerton, Anne had never
really distrusted him until now,
when she stood at the top of the
saircase with the Photograph in her
hand.
He had said that there HIS been
no other woman in his life: and IL
was a lie The thought escaped her
before she was aware of it. and in a
panic she tried to smother 1t.
John would never have lied to her:
there was some simple explanation:
- - y -