, 1922-01-14

~
svt Whist Eventually Enarosssd Her
Mind Wa the Thought Of walIIs
Torbln.
many Of both sexes VINO knew him
only BY sight-and hearing. He had
no physical endowment or attainment
worth mention; but boys, who could
whip him with one <nnd.- became
Ucophnnts In his presence; the terror
he inspired was moral He had a spe-
cial overdevelopment OF q faculty ez-
ercired cIumsily enough by most hui
man beings. especially In their youth;
in other words, he had Eenius--not.
however, genius having to do with
anything generally recognized as art
or science. True, II he had been a
vtoiluist prodigy or mathematical prod
icy, no would have had some respect.
from bis feuows-about equei to that
he might have received II he were
gifted with some pleasant deformity.
such rs SIX toes on a foot-but he
would never have enjoyed such deadly
prestige az had actually come TO he
his. In brief, then. Wnllie Torbin had
a genius for mockery.
Almost from his bahyhood he had
been a child OF one purpose, to In
crease by ghnstly burlesque the suf-
ferinEr Of unfortunate friends. II q
Of them wept, wallie necessarily put.
sued him, yelping 10 horrid mimicry;
II q we're chastised, he could not
appear out-of-doors for days except to
. wallie and 4 complete re
hearsai Of the recent agony. -Quit.
papa; pah-puh. quee-ysti tn never
do It again. pah-puhi Oh. femme
alone. pah-puhi"
As he grew older. his in~sntiate Gu
rtosity enabled him TO expope unnum-
bered weaknesses. indiscretfons and
sccfnf misfortunes on the part Of ac-
quaintnnces and schoolmntes; and to
every exposure bis noise and energy
gave e n.deous publicity; the more
his victim sought privacy the more
psrsistentiy he was sought put by
Waffle, vocifcrous and attended by
hilarious spectators But above all
other things. what rost stimulated
the deuoniac boy TO prcdIgies OF sat
IRE was any tender episode or symp-
tom connected with the dawn Of love
Florence herself had suffered excru-
ciatirgiy a. intervals throughout her
eleventh spring. because wallie dis
covered that George Beck sent her a
valentine. and the numorist's many.
many squcniings OF that valentines
nffect1onate quatrain finally left her
.:nable to decide which she hated the
more. wnIlie or George. That was
the worst OF Waffle: he never "lets
up; and in F1orence's circle there
was no more SOLDERING threat than
.TTl tell wallie tTorbini" As for
Henry Rooter and Herbert nlipgs
worth At,vater. Jr.. they would as soon
have had a head-hunter on their trail
as WaIlie Torbin with anything In his
hands that could lncrip;nate them
in an Implication Of loye-or an &c.
acknowledgement Of their own beauty
The fabric of civilized life Is inter.
woven with blackmail; even some OF.
the noblest people do fnyors for other
people who are depended upon not 20
tell somebody something that the no
blest people have done. Blackman is
born into US all, and u nurses teach
us more blackmaii by threatening to
tell cur parents, II we won't do this
and that-and our parents threaten
to tell the doctor-and so we learn
BlackmAil is part Of the daily life Of
a child; ~displeased. his first resort TO
get his way with other children is a
threat to "tell"; but by-and-by his
experience discovers the mutual bene-
ct of honor among blnckmailers.
Therefore. at eight 1t is no longer the
ticker to threaten to tell the teacher;
and, a little later. threatening to tell
any adult at all is considered m
thing Of a breakdown In morals. No
toriously, the code Is more liable to
infraction by people Of tho physically
weaker sex, for tho very reason, OF
course. that their inferiority OF mus
Gle SO frequently compels such a sin.
II they are to have their way. But
for Florence there was now no such
temptation. Looking toward the de
molition Of Atwater s Rooter, an ex-
posuro before adults Of the results
OF Truth" would have been an effect
Of the sickliest paIlor compared to
what might be accomplished by q
careful use OF the catastrophe wallie
Torbin.
All In all, n was a great Sunday
for Florence. On Sunday evening It
n her privileged custom to go to
the house of her fat, old great-uncle.
Joseph Atwater, and remain until nine
O'Clock. in chatty companionship with
Uncle Joseph and Aunt Carrie. his
wife. and q few other relatives who
were IN the habit of dropping in there
On Sunday evenings In summer,