The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1921-02-12
effort 70 speak scornfully; but his SEN

effort TO speak scornfully; but his SEN
si,ive voice almost failed him.
"Cn. nothin'," said Florence Just
4 about what pretty eyes you know you
/ have, and Pattys being anyway as
pretty as yours-and so you're. glad
maybe she thinks yours are pretty the
way you do--and everything!
} Herbert visibIy gulped. So Patty haa
+ betrayed him; had betrayed the sworn
/ confidence Of TRUTH, . r, ="
That's all l was talkin about
Florence added. Just about no" you
| knew you had such pretty eyes. Day
not so, Herbert! Say not so"
Look here" he said -" men you
see Patty again between this afternoon
and when you came over nero! ,.,
What makes you think | saw he''
Did you telephone her?
3 What makes you think 80:
Once more Herbert gulpcd. We'll
i guess you're ready to believe any
thing anybody tells you he said with
\ u: sled br;tvadu. you don't believe
every thing Patty Fairchild says do
YOU"
tell the truth7"
Her" Why half the time" poor
Herbert babbled. YOU can't tell whether
she's just maxim up what she says OF
not. If you've gone and believed every
thing that ole glrl told you. You haven't
got even what little sense l used 10
| think YOU had" So base We arc under
strain, sometimes-so base when our
. good name Is threatened with the truth
OF us! Il wouldn't believe anything she
said" he finished, in sicklsh voice,
IF she told me nifty times and crossed
her heart"
wouldn't you if she said you wrote
were, HERBERT"
What's this about Herbert having
| pretty eyes," Mr.. Joseph AtHater IN
Quired; and Herbert shuddcred. Uncle
Joseph had an unplea SAINT reputation as
a Joker.
Inc nephew desperately fell back
upon the hopeless device or attempting
TO drown out his opponents voice as
she began to reply. He became voct-
ferrous with scornful laughter badly
| cracked in the scorn, "florence got
mau!" he shouted, mingling the pur-
ported information with loud cacklIngs.
she got mad because ! and Henry
| PLAYED games with Patty! She's tryin'
10 make up somep'm to get even. She
made 1t UP! It's all made up. She
No, no." MIR. Atwater interrupted.
Let Florence tell us. Florence; what
was 1t about Herbert knowing he had
pretty eyes?"
Herbert attempted to cen.inue the 's
up! It's somepm she made up herself!
She"
Herbert said Uncle Joseph-'if you
don't keep quiet I'll take back the print
| Ing-press. -
a continuation Of his noise:
| Now, Florence" said Uncle Joseph,
tell us what you were saying about
how Herbert knows he has such
pretty eyes" ,.,u
Then 1t seemed a miracle befell.
Florence looked up, smiling modestly.
"Oh, It wasn't anything, Uncle Joseph,
she said. Il was just trying to tease
Herbert any way I could think up, .,
"Oh, was that all?" A hopeful iigndt
inexpensive face Il thought perhaps
you'd detected him in some inoiscfea-
FL Florence laughed, II was Just. teas
IN him. 1t wasn't anything, Uncle Jo-
seph. , -srred q confus-
ed brea thing. Dazed, he remained un-
easy, profoundly SO; and gratitude was
no part of his emotion. He well under
| stood that Florence was never suscep-
tibIe TO impulses Of compassion IN con-
! flicts such as these; in fact. II there
was warfare between them, experience
had taught him TO be waricst when she
! seemed kindest. He moved away from
her, and went into another room Wnere
his condition was one of increasing
mental discomfort. though. he looked
for a while at the pictures In MS great
| uncle'S copy or faTaulse .hoSt' "a
Illustrations, by ~ Gustave Dore ran,
ed 70 aid in reassuring his troubled
mind. ,or. +. ir,nuls,vely
accompanied her, maintaining nervous
| silence as they encompassed the SNORT
distance between Uncle ,Joseph'sA Jront
gnte and her own. There, however ne
! spoke.
believe everything that ole girl tolo you
no" said Florence heartily. II don't
Wen, look here" he urged. helpless
hut to repeat. You don't haf to believe
whatever 1t was she went and told you
What was it you think she told me-
! All that guff-you know; Well;
whatever It was you said she told you
II didn't" said Florence. 1 didn
saw she told me anything at all.
II ."cmfw pcmfwy ybgkaj wk wk wy
well she did. didn't she?"
why, no." Florence replied, lightly.
she didn't say anything to me. only
I'm glad to have your opinion OF neT'
how she's such story-teller and all
! n I ever want to tell her, and every
!. But Herbert had greater alarms than
this, and the greater obscured the less
! er. Look here" he said, IF she
| didn't tell Sou' Ho" Soo NS 80
How'd I know WHAT"
| "That-that big story about my ever
sayin'~1 knew-1 had"-he gulped again
pretty eyes"
swung the gate shut between them
| Web, guess it's too late to tell you
| tonight, Herbert; but maybe II you and
| that nasty little Henry Rooter do every
single thing tell you TO-, and DO 1t Just
I 1all
on, why maybe only say maybe
we'll, maybe III tell you some day when
| ] feel like It,"
She ran up the path. up the steps, and
crossed the yeranda; but paused before ,e
! opening the door. Then she called PACK
, to the waiting Herbert:
The only person I'd ever think Of
| telling about It before I tell you would
be boy I know" She coughed. and
added as by an afterthought' Hed
| ne would So, when l tell anybody
about it I'll only tell just you and this
! other boy"
And her reply, thrilling through tho
darkness, left him paralytic with hor-
ror: "Wallie Torbin!
The next afternoon about four o'clock
Herbert stood gloomlly at the main en-
trance Of Atwater & Rooter's Newspaper
building, awaiting his partner. the
other entrances were not only nailed
fast but massively barricaded: and this
one consisting OF the ancient carriage.
house doors. opening upon driveway
through the yard) had recently been
made effective as an instrument or eS-
clusion. long and heavy plank leaned
against the wall near by, ready to be
set in shaped iron supports fas-
tened to the inner sides Of the doors:
and when the doors we're closed, with
this great plank in place. person in;
side the building might seem entitled