Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-03-06
<<x M AFRAID you're mistaking me for
someone else, aren't your"
= She looked at him carefully.

- She looked at him carefully.
"I'd> have sworn" she muttered, and
turning to the button inside the door, she
switched on the light. Then she surveyed
him again.
Livingstone. Doctor Livingstone. I
called"
els that for me, or for the police?"
"Now see here" he said pleasantly. |
don't know who you are mistaking me 1or'
and I'm not hiding from the police. Here's
my card, and have come from the famlly
of a young man named Wheeler, who was
killed recently in an automobile accident.
She took the card and read it, and then
resumed her intent scrutiny OF him
"Well, you fooled me all right" she salo
at last. II thought you were--Well, never
mind who. What about this Wheeler fam
liz? Are they going to settle with the IN
sdertaker? Because I tell you fiat, I can't
and won't. She owed me months rent,
and her clothes won't bring over seventy
FIVE or a hundred dollars"
AS he left, he was aware that she stood
in the doorway looking after him. He drove
home slowly in the car, and on the way he
made up kindly story to tell the family.
He could not let them know that Jim had
been seeking love in the by-ways of life. And
that night he mailed check in payment of
the undertaker's bill, carefully leaving the
stub empty.
On the Ln1rQ Gay aLtSE jim AuuSIdlS AO
started for Norado. An inferno from local
hospital, having newly finished his service
there had agreed to take over his work for
time. But Dick was family jealous when
he installed Doctor Reynolds in his office
and turned him over to the mystifed Minnie
to look after.
Unused to duplicity as he was Dick found
himself foundering along an extremely
crooked path He wrote half a dozen pleas
ant, non-committal letters to David and Lucy,
spending an inordinate time upon them, and
gave them to Walter Wheeler to mail at stat
ed intervals. But his chief difficulty was
with Elizabeth. Perhaps he would have told
her. There were times when he had to fight
his desire to have her share his anxiety as
we'll as know the truth about him. But she
was already carrying the burden of Jim's
tragedy, and her father, too, was insistent
that she be kept in ignorance.
Until she can have the whole thing" he
said rather drearily.
Beside his own trouble, Dicks looked dim
and nebulous. Other things could be set
right; there was always a fighting chance
It was only death that was final.
Elizabeth went to the station to see him
OFF, with eyes that persistently sought his
face and a determined smile. He pulled
her arm through his, so he might hold her
hand, and when he found that she was wear
ing her ring he drew her even closer, with
a wave Of passionate possession.
"You are mine. My little girl"
II am yours For ever and ever
He stood on the lowest step of the train
until her figure was lost in the darkness,
and the porter expostulated. He was, that
night, little drunk with love- and he did
not read the note she had thrust into his
hand at the last moment until he was safely
in his berth, his long figure streached diagon-
ally to find the length it needed.
Darling, darling Dick" she had written
II wonder often how you can care for me
And I cannot write how I feel, just
cannot say it. But, Dick, dear, have such
a terrible fear Of losing you, and you are
my life now. You will be careful and not
run any risks, won't you? And just remem
Der this always. Wherever you are and
wherever I am, am thinking of you and
waiting for you
He read it three times, until he knew it
by heart, and he slept with it in the pocket
Of his pajama coat.
Three days later he reached Norada, and
registered at the Commercial Hotel. The
town itself conveyed nothing to him. He
found 1t totally unfamiliar, and for its part
the town passed him by without glance
A new field had come in twenty miles back
in the mountains and had brought with ii
fresh influx Of prospectors, ringers and
lease buyers The hotel was crowded.
The almost morbid shrinking he felt from
exposing his condition was increased, rather
than diminished, I'M the new surroundings
He would, of courseS go to the ranch at Dry
River, and begin his inquiries from there