The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1924-02-01

4 bits, John WilliamsOn'S leaVings. BE
might come to Chicago early in the
week, or he might not. but in no case
would he come to her until she sent
for him. She must know her mind by
now
There were sheets and sheets OF
this.
The utter reckIessness of dispatch.
ing a missive of this sort to a woman
who was living upon any sort of terms
with her husband was apparent
enough to him, but it suited his mood.
He gathered the scrawled and blOtted
sheets into an envelope. addressed and
stamped it, tool it out, and dropped il
down the chute by the elevator. Then
he came back into his room, lay down
on the bed. dressed as he was, and al
most at nee fell deeply asleep.
He was awakened several hours
later by a pounding on his door. and
when he opened il and angrily de-
manded what the devil the row was
about, he was told by an obviously re-
lieved bellbOy that Chicago was trying
to get him on the telephone. They
had rung his bell several times with
out ~rousing him. He was still in a
ha~lf-stupeied condition when he went
to the telephone. He made out that
ii was Jennie Macarthur who was
calling him. She was talking about
some stock. Had he been selling any?
stock in what?" he asked.
"StacE in tho Eroar oonananu loo ~
she told him. "Have you been sell
ing any of yours?"
He told her she must be crazy to
ask him a thing like that. OF course
he hadn't. What had put such an idea
into her head?
"Well, there's a lot of it for sale,'
she told him. up in Fargo and other
places. There's a lot of it sold already,
| guess. It's the other crowd that's
selling it, then"
He asked her angrily what other
crowd she meant.
"rll write you all / know about it
tonight" she told him, in a rather odd
sounding voice. "Tll send it special
delivery so you'll get it the first thing
Monday morning" He told her this
would be all right. he guessed, and at
thar she hung up. He undressed and
went back to bed.
His memory of this incident when
he awakened Sunday morning was,
oddly enough, perfectly clear. And of
course now that his mind was work
ing again, the inference from what she
had told him was clear, too. For a
long time he lay contemplating it
it and other matters, too, in a sort
Of crystalline detachment.
Williamson and Corbett and Craw-
ford had sold out-stood from under.
They had sold their stock right up
there in the fax country, too. Under
his own nose. But why had they done
it? They were playing him for a fool.
Well, he was one. He had been quite
unaccountably a fool-for months,
blindly unaware of what was going on
about him. Williamson had started
to Chicago under the satisfied
conviction that he had been a fool.
He didn't waste much time trying to
" nv II VI iiC l. IlICl
would have ready for him Wednesday
afternoon. The broad outline of the
situation was plain enough. In default
Of selling his fax, he would have to
the money to pay for it, and
as the price Of finding the money for
him they would exact their pound of
flesh namely, his share in the enter
prise which his Imagination had con-
and his energy made real
What particular form of hocus-pocus
under the polite name of r~eorganiza-
ton they resorted to didn't matter.
Well, he was broad awake now. Ger
tainly he would need all his wits to
meet this next week. No good vast
.ng time going to Chicago to listen to
he terms of the bargain they'd pro
to him. He'd tell Jennie to go
the meeting.
He wanted a drink. That was the
irst thing. He went over to the bag.
There stood the bottle, but it was
Queerl 1t had been practi-
ally full when he had opened 1t on
in from his lunch with VIII
and he hadn't been out of the
DOM except TO walk down the corri-
Tor to mail that letter to Violet.
The contents of that letter, forgot
until now, began coming back into
lis mind as he stood staring at the dis
desk and the empty whisky
'ottle.
He had been drunk when he wrote
hat letter. No getting way from
hat. He had been drunk, too. when
'ennie telephoned, and she had known
That letter 10 Vio'ct What could
e do about it? It was too late to risk
he comparative publicity of a tele-
ram. Williamson himself would be
ONE before it arrived. Then the fat
you'd be in the fire. He needed a
He would be able to think
fter he had had a drinE.
He was on the way to the bell to
ummon the boy who provided him
nth liquor when he stopped short,
back, and lay down again upon
he bed. He was clammy with sweat. !