The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1924-03-12
CHAPTER xII-contInued.


the preacher with her eyes. "Breah
lasts ready, and our bouquet not hal
finished"
She was the life of the little groul
that assembled few minutes later II
the gloomy old diningroom, with tn
sandles Pickering over Its bare WALL
and waging losing battle with thu
ihad0ws lurking In the corners. Onl,
for her, the scene and setting NIGH
have been somber enough-the starl
walls, stifr old. furniture decoration.
Ind ornamentation severely In keep
ing with the taste Of day long gone
the grim gray figure that presided al
The head of the table.
Banker Colin was a man out OF
whom life had squeezed most OF the
iner senslbilities and coined them into
gold. The dreams Of boyhood, the ro-
nance of youth, the glory of manhood
-gone-bargained away for price.
Sitting there at his gloomy breakfast
table, a disappointed. weary old man,
his soul cried out to rue the bargain (;
to trade back with fate. But none
had learned the lesson better than he
that fate trades not back; that there
he was doomed to sit, a hopeless
mourner over the dead ashes of the
might-have-been.
The forenoon he spent In the small
room, busy with his papers, or in
meeting people who came to pay him
money-or borrow it.
In the afternoon he tried to take q
nap, but so long had his mind been set
10 its daily grind that it now ran on
In spite of him-a sort of mental en-
zine whose clutch could no longer be
released.
Rest; a quiet nap-they were no
longer his. He had sold them-part
Of the price he had paid for-what?-
the privilege to pocket interest money;
to collect rents; to write his check.
Cheated again. The devil never loses
In trade.
1t would be hopeless task to trace
his thoughts as he thrashed about over
the bed and fidgeted the hours away
His business; the farms his squan-
dered years all passed in review. And
what was left? To sit by a musty WIN
dow and pile up wealth-for somebody
else to spend. He couldn't spend it
himself. He didn't know how. He had
toiled so hard to make 1t that he had
never learned how to spend tan in
dnltely finer thing to know.
Sleep-he was never wider awake
N his life. He f1oundered off the bed
1T last, less rested than when he lay
Town, and stormed out to the porch
only to stand drumming restless
attoo upon a post with his long bony
myers.
The voices Of Texie and the preach
n were borne to him from the rustic
'eat under the giant maple at Whis-
,ering spring. He mildly wondered at
t.; reflected that the genial day had
for once lured the young
nan from his studies, and sauntered |
Jack to his easy chair In the sitting |
DOM.
no iiC cat lIClC, Will Tic DulSc anu
'urr of the wonderful May day borne
n through the open door, his mind |
roping back over the distant past, a
nemory held him In far-fung retro
pection. Minutes long it held him;
ntll 1t smoothed the lines on his face
nd softened his hard old eyes.
He rose from the chair at last;
aced back and forth across the
DOR a time or two; went into the
mall west room to his safe. unlocked
+; with noticeable effort swung the
eavy door open; fumbled inside and
rev out large envelope of stout
lanila paper; unsealed; fumbled
eeper and brought out small locket
gold; closed the safe, without lock-
lg 1t, and went back to his easy chair.
A long time he sat, with his elbow
Popped up on the chair-arm, his chin
| his palm; finally with fingers that
he pressed in the catch Of
lie locket. 1t sprang open. There
ere two pictures insde-a woman
nd man. But the face of the wom-
4 was not the face over the mantel
the sitting room; it was the face
the woman beneath the draped
ag in the cabin under the crimson
1t had been in her girl
)od. And the face of the man In the
cket was not the outstanding soldier
,ove the sword and spurs, in the uni
rm of colonel of Mounted Rangers: l
was the face of Simon Colin-wbat
had been in the days of his young
anhood.
The old man gazed at the beautiful,
ghborn face of the woman in the t
cket; again and again laid it to his l
i'm old lips, held it close against his =
east-suddenly, with a gasp,
apped the locket shut I
A mighty spasm of pain had gripped c
s side. He clutched it with his [
lnds; fought for breath. When it r
as over and he vas able to breathe 4
,ain, his lips were blue and clammy d
'eat stood heavy on his craggy brow.
Still clutching his side, he opened t
e locket with its secret. trying not r
see the beautiful face lest it turn [
m from his purpose; took out both
ctureS struck q match, set them