The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-08-24
CHAPTER TX. CHaSh;no wills

Lorah saw now, if she nao no. seen before. that here was different man than she had had to deal with | in Nevada. He was no unsophisu- cated boy. this John Bolt. He was no youth whose eyes had not been open ed to the joys of the earth; whose thoughts had not traveied beyond the | little hamlet in which he lived lie was a man. a strong man. who had | to be dealt with.
 She stared up at him coolly.
 You are testing." she said. "or else you are mad"
 l T am mad." he answered just as quietly.
 | But she was not deceived into | thinking his fary Was spent. she | realized that he v70s covering IL Wlth a cloak of calmness; that was all. t'I am nlad.' he went on, ''because l you made me mad. You came to me l in Nevada and infected me with the l madness of the East and with mad l craving for you that has wrecked my | life. You know what you did to me. I wrote it to you plainly in letter. You fascinated me so that l, who had | always summed women, came 10 l find myself incapable of thinking or caring about anything else.
 You filled my head with pictures | of you. You taught my eyes to see l the hlOeOuS OeSOiatlOA OI AIiJ O"AA country. I had been content with my lot, and you came toIdisturD my peace and fill me with unrest You taught | me to prize you-more dearly than my l anything else on earth. You taught 1 meto prize you-more dearly than my | honor and righteousness. You taught | me to drink and gamble and steaI | And when I have sold my soul for you, you deny me!' 1 She was beginning to be frightened, l but she gave no hint of that. l 'sHow dare you say such things to me?" she asked angrily. 1 1T say them because they are trueW l '"True-that I taught you to drink and gamble and steal? You don't know what you are saytng"
 '+The fault is yours. If you did not actually teach me these things you aroused in me the madness that drove me down to them. Did you expect me to forget you when you left Ne vada? Did you expect me to go on | living as I had always lived before you came?'
 s'Frankly," she answered, q did not stop to think about you at all. l The episode when I wrote to you and left.''
 "oh, no, it did not end then" said he.
 | I Received you tonight merely to tell you this.''
 | "Oh, no, it did not end then - for either of us." he repeated. "You | can't come into mans life and wreck it and then dismiss the whole | thing with f1Eppant apology. You can't evade responsibility that way" "I did not wreck your life. That is | nonsense!" she protested. l hat tnow,'' he cried grimly. t'Do you know how I come to De here? Do you know how I got here:'' l She did not answer, but her eyes | widened in a momentary flash of horror and incredulity as she guess | ed.
 TT stole the money that paid my way" he told her. "I stole a hum | dred thousand dollars of the com She shrank back from him in ter
 And I did it to see you again, to be near you, to get you,'' he went on, seating himself upon the side of the .chaise-1ongue.
 She drew her feet up. away from him.
 | "Go, for pity's sake!" she cried shuddering.
 
 that all you have to say to me now ?"
 'I wrote you that I cared nothing for you!' she answered. "I wrote | you plainly. You could not have | misunderstood!'
 1T didn't misunderstood. But it was too late then for me to go back. | The insidiousp olson that you had administered to me was working! I couldn't shut my eyes and forget you al n me. I couldn't become again the man I was before you came.
 "I had seen you. I had imagined what life might be-with you. I had held you in my arms and had kissed your lips. And I was done TOT. was doomed to crave you-to desire you with every fibre of my being ana drop of my blood! And I was doom- ed to this as long as life might last.
 ''The sight of you. and the frag- rance of you, and the sound of your voice, made a new man of me-urans- formed me from an unimaginative, plodding miner, content where he was, to a restless eager, burning, i'm aginative lover-caring nothing for toil or honor or reputation; caring
 only for the woman who could ap-
 pease the fires within him. And so
 I took what was not mine, and I came for you"
 He reached out suddenly and | caught her hands in his. She grew
 white and shrank back from him, , trying to tear herself away. But he
 held her fast, his hands enveloped
 hers and the violence of his grasp hurt her.
 Let me go." she said through dry
 lips, before I call for help!'' eff you attempt to call for he1p,'' I he answered, "I'M choke you If am to lose you, might as well die a s murderer as a thief!'
 Their eyes met. In his she found grim resolution, a flxedness of pur- | pose, a cool reck1essness that terrified But she realized that to conquer sne must show no fear. To cringe would
 be to invite disaster. He might even live up to his i'm. I.raca+ tnrr f,14