The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-05-06
By Max Brand

curious had not long to wait before rumor
brought back the answer: Molly Burton.
Then it all was clear. In flash of light
everyone saw and understood how that big
wolf of man had locked his teeth on one
purpose and would hold his grip until the
death; how Molly Burton had been the star
by which he steered his ship from the first
to the last All was done save the win
ming of the girl. She was another mans
wife, but only a fool could have looked at
Steve once and then dreamed that such
trifle would stop him. Society was too in
terested to turn up its eyes in horror.
He went about it in the most busnesslike
way imaginable. He turned his office over
to capable assistant and devoted all his
time to this more serious pursuit Of
course, he was such man that the moment
it was known that he was open to social
engagements all doors flew wide before his
coming, so that he had every opportunity
to go wherever Molly Burton went. And
he haunted her like a ghost. He was per-
fectly unashamed; he made no effort to
conceal single movement. The moment
she appeared in a room Keene forgot every
other face and went to bask in her presence
like some great dog of the chase come home
from the hunt to curl up beside the hearth
The most beautiful girl, the most fascinating
conversation could not hold him an instant
after she appeared. So that little Mrs.
Hendrix Anderson, who was the oracle of
the older set, pronounced upon him: "The
man doesn't love Molly at all, but only his
dream of what she used to be, or what she
might become"
Still, he never pressed himself upon her.
1t never seemed necessary to him to speak
with her, but he would linger in the back
ground with his bright, steady eyes fixed
contentedly upon her. She was terribly en-
barrassed at first; then she was afraid;
and afterward she became angry at the
sight of him. 1t was at this time that she
discovered that other girls enved her his
devotion. At this point men declared that
the quest of Keene was more hopeless than
ever, but the women were already sitting
back and Struggling their shoulders and
making prophecies aside.
Where was handsome Hal Burton while
this was going on?
He knew about it, of course. blind
man could have told what was happening
by the buzz and then the silence whenever
Molly and Steve Keen entered a room to-
gether; but apparently Burton had beaten
Steve so many times before, in play and in
earnest, that he could not take the man Sc
riously. Finally his two best friends,
Crashaw and Fitzpatrick, took him aside and
laid down the law to him. They had been
his chums at college, and they talked to
him with frankness which only college
intimacy warrants between men of the
world. Before they finished the subject
Burton was awake.
Unfortunately he chose to make his fight
on Steve's own ground, namely, the world of
finance. He decided to build up his for
tunes to such height that he could smile
down upon Keene. Investments were too
slow for him; he tried the stock market,
but he had been so long out of the fight that
he had lost the hair-trigger sensitiveness
which is necessary to the speculator. He
lost. Then he threw in thousands to force
up his rapidly waning hundreds. In word,
he tried to fight the market, which is always
the great temptation of beginners, and the
result was that he went to the wall His
friends tried to advise him, but he wouldn't
listen until it was too late.
Then rumor went about murmuring that
Burton was about to pass through bank
ruptcy. and even quoted facts and figures
to support the whisper. 1t was at this point
that the first miracle occurred, for Burton
managed to get out of the stock market with
a comfortable balance still in the bank. His
fortunes badly bent, but they were not