The Holly chieftain., 1924-05-01

""u'N "S N"hIe ~ HeT until she sent
for him. She must know her mind by
now
There We're sheets and sheets OF
this.
The utter recklessness of Dispatch
ing n!ssiye of this sort TO 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 scrawied and blotted
sheets into an envelope, addressed and
stamped it. took 1t out, and dropped it
4 down the chute by tile elevator. Then
he came back into his room, lay down
| on the bed, dressed ns he WAS, and al
most at once fell deeply asleep.
He was awakened several hours
later by a pounding ON his door, ana
when he opened ii and angrily de
manded what the devil tie row was
about, he was told by an obviously re.
lieyed belIboy that Chicago Was trying
to get him on the telephone. They
had rung his bell several times with
out rousing him. lie was still in
haif-stupefied condition when he went
1 ~ '''N 'NiNllA'tilN'. ne iluut out lI!Hl
1 it was Jennie Macarthur who was
calling him. She was talking about
some stock. Had he been selling any?
Stock in what?" he asked.
Stock in the Greer company, joe"
| she told him. Have you been sell
ing any of yours3"
He told her she must be crazy to
ask him Il thing like that. OF course
he hadn't. What had put such an idea
into her head?
We'll, there's lot Of 1t for sale"
she told him. up in Fargo and other
4 places. There's lot Of it sold already,
/ ! guess. It's the other crowd that's
selling it, then"
lie asked her angrily what other
crowd she meant
"Ill write YOU all know about it
tonight" she told him, in rather odd
sounding voice. I'm send ii special
delivery SO youll get it the first thing
Monday morning. lie told her this
would be all right, he guessed, and ut
that she hung up, He ndressed 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
long time he lay contemplating it
it and other matters, too, in 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 n,e. But why had they done
it? They Were playing him for fool.
Well he was one. He had been quite
unaccountably fool--for months,
blindly unaware OF what was going on
about him Williamson had started
back to Chicago under the satisfied
conviction that he had been a fool.
He didn't waste much time trying to
forecast the terms of the offer they
would have ready for him Wednesday
afternoon. The broad outline of the
situation was plain enough. In default
of selling his flax, he would have to
borrow 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-
ceived and his energy made real.
What particular form of hocus-pocus
under the polite name of reorganiaa-
tion they resorted to didn't matter
Well he was broad awake now. Ger
tuiplu "a ,n IA te
meet this next week. No good vast
ing time going to Chicago to listen to
the terms of the bargain they'd pro
pose to him, He'd tell Jennie to 20
to the meeting.
He wanted drink. That was the
first thing. He went over to the bag.
There stood the bottle, but 1t was
empty Queer! II had been practi-
cally full when he had opened it on
coming in from his lunch with VIII
Hanson. and he hadn't been ou, of the
room except to walk down the corrl-
dor to mail that letter to Violet.
The contents OF that letter, forgot
ten until now, began coming back into
his mind as he stood staring at the dis
"iueIeu ueSh anu the empty whisky
bottle.
He had been drunk when he wrote
that letter, No getting away from
that. He had been drunk too when
Jennie telephoned. and she had known
it.. That letter to Violet, What could
he do about it2 II was too late to risk
the comparative publicity OF tele-
gram. Williamson himself would be
home before II arrived Then the fat
would be in the fire lie needed
drink. He would be able to think
after he bad had a drnk
He was on tic wuy to the bell to
summon the boy who provided him
with liquor when he stopped short,
turned back, and lay down again upon