Omaha daily bee., 1921-07-10

had married Allayne. that she was aboaN
this train. But self-preservation had
been first in his frightened brain. And now,
lightning like. hope. that had been dashed
from him. came back
Suppose II she were dead.
His share Of her estate He crept
along the bank until he could look down upon
the couple. The woman was Allayne, and
he might have guessed that the man would
be Bourke. And she was unhurt. glance
told him that Bourke could not be badly
injured, either or he could not have torn
her from beneath the blazing timberA car
ried her to safety.
And she lay in Bourkes arms. her eyes
opened, staring up at the young man.
Halsey could read the future There would
be divorce. and then-remarriage Bourka
would have the girl whom Halsey coveted.
have her money. and he, Halsey, would rot
in some jail. He tiptoed away from
the couple below. No thought Of assertion
Of his marital rights entered his mind. He
would not, he unused, put it past her to ask
Bourke to drive him away.
Back, score of yards away, beside the
man who had died at his feet Halsey cursed
the fate that had let him live. II only he'd
been killed in the wreck to be forever FREQ
from the fear Of jail. And then he
shuddered; he was a coward, and he feared
DEATH Those blazing timbers just below.
this dead man at his feet p. J.. He looked
down at the dead man. Idly he noted that
the mans pajanas were Of the same silken
pattern as his own.
He sat suddenly down, overwhelmed with
an idea. Fortune was lost, but-liberty not
yet. II he were supposed to be dead. Gel
stein would forget him, pocket his loss, and
let the matter fade from his memory. To
begin all over again, with the inestimable
advantage Of being thought forever gone
from this world. London, Paris; these
were again open to him IL once he were be-
heved to be dead. New York was lost, but
New York was not everything. He was
fascinated by the thought. II the Continen-
tai police thought him dead they would cease
all further search for him.
He looked at the mutilated fscs beside
him. Put a card, letter with the address
Of Bennett Halsey in the mans pajama
pocket. Better STILL take the pocket.
book that was in his own pajama pocket,
remove the money that he needed, put Il
in the pajamas Of this dead mar, remove
the dead mans purse-he too. carried bin
valuables in his breast pocket-and Bennett
Halsey would be written down as killed IN
a railroad accident.
The mans face was unrecognizable There
would never be the slightest suspicion. Gel.
stein would be thrown off the trail. .
He could even write. secretly, to Rosa, beg
her forgiveness for what he had done-Rosa
was easy; he'd square it with her. And he'd
like to have Rosa with him again. He was
fond Of Rosa. He was transferring
identifying articles to the dead mans pa
jamas even while his brain raced ahead to
the future.
Men were coming along with lanterns.
summoned from nearby farm houses. They
put him in a motor car. They took hhn
into warm kitchen gave him hot coffee.
supplied him with clothes. To one Of them
he mentioned the vital business appoint
ment in Montreal with which not even the
wreck could be permitted to interfere. The
mans sympathy was easily aroused; he drove
Halsey to a nearby railroad junction. And
there, shortly thereafter, Halsey caught .
train, not for Montreal. but back to New
York.
To another farm house nearby Allayne waA
carried. There, in the morning, the newf
was broken to her that her husbands body
had been identified. 1t was Bourke who ar
ranged for the funeral; it was Bourke who.
hiding his shock at learning of her wedding
took the widow to New York. attended to
those hundred and one things that must be
done. Tactfully, gently. he filled the p.acs
that brother might have filed. And when.
finally. there was no more to be done for
her, he bade her good-by.
She gave him her hand.
Spence" she told him, you've been good
to me- The kindest man-Spence, I was very
unjust to you while ago"
That was all she said she could hardly
say more. Bourke merely stammered some
thing incoherent and left her. Yet he knew
that he was coming back. She knew that
he was coming back. It was wrong of her
to know It, to permit herself to know it. But
it had not been accident that made Bourke,
on a business trip, board the Inflated train;
1t had been Destiny And she knew it. For
the heart will never listen to the brain.
The brain may insist that thing is wrong,
but the heart does as it wills. And youth
is youth and will not be denied She loved,
had always loved would always love, Bourke.
And for him there was no other woman In
the world. That she had sent him con-
temptuously from her meant nothing: that
she had married another man meant moth
ing. When she would come to him his arms,
until then aching for her, would be wide 20
greet her.
Twelve months later they were married.
The wedding was quiet, but the newspapers
would not be denied She was wealthy; she
had been married quietly once before and
had lost her husband in dreadful tragedy
few hours later. Here were the elements
of a first page story, and the newspapers
gave 1t it's just due
Allayne smiled at the extravagant accounts
in the press; she was amused at the details
given later, of her marriage, in the so-called
society magazines. She was grateful that
nothing of Halsey's past had leaked out.
Only Bourke knew of that scene at the
train gates And the woman who had cre-
ated that scene had apparently faded out
Of existence. The station police had let her
go, Allayne supposed. Bourke, at Allayne's
behest, had tried to locate her, but to do so
was absurdy impossible. Allayne knew only
her first name, had had but one brief glance
at her. She could not be found Therefore
Allayne could offer her no help.
And as months passed the shadow Of scan
dal lifted from Allayne's shoulders. She
thought, with a rare shudder. how narrowly
she had escaped its blackening touch. She
sometimes, at night, awoke to think Of tho
woman at the train gates. Then she would
force her mind to something else. Scandal
would never touch her now.
Yet even as, in the Hillstown home where
she and Bourke we're beginning life together.
she gave herself this assurance, Halsey, In