The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1924-04-11
BY Henry Kitchell Webster
Copyright by The Bobbs-Merrin Co.

u.s. OF course" she added, 1--WE aren't
all like ourselves. Not all the time But
you still want to be rich? What will
you do with it, If you don't settle
DOWN."
mo trouble about thatW he told
her, with laugh. "The more have
the bigger life l can swing. But
I've got to hatch some chickens before
l can begin counting 'em. They're
already counted, for that matter. For
ty-two little fiax-mills, spotted all over
the Northwest. I've got to see to Ii
that they're all built and equipped
right and ready for business between
now and August. Good fun, that'li be-
getting out of a white-collar job for
while"
1t was then that Henry Craven came
in with the tea.
Joe did not see her again, save for
a formal dinner to which she surpris-
ingly had her secretary telephone
and invite him just before he went
North, until he came home for few
days early in June. He telephoned to
her Lake Forest house from the sta
ton the moment he left the train.
She asked him out directly for over
the weekend, and laughed at his
hesitation about accepting. Its John
you've come to see, isn't it-and
Greg? Well, they'll be here"
They managed to be together good
deal during the next two days. 1t
was not, however, a satisfactory visit
for Joe. Violet's tactics worried him.
They were no longer audaciOus. She
never openly carried him off as she
had done at the traps that Sunday
morning, the first time she had ever
seen him. She never sought, nor for
long allowed, any secure solitude for
them. Yet in the fringes of the crowd
or at table, with no more privacy than
derived from the fact that both their
neighbors were turned away from
them, she would talk to him in a way
that brought his heart into his throat.
He had always supposed he had a tai
ent for keeping his face, but these
talks with her kept him in perpetual
terror of betrayal
He hated, too, being under John
Williamson's roof. The husbands in
credible complacency irritated him.
He seemed impervious to the warnings
Of jealousy. 1t wasn't possible TO as
sumo that he had ceased to care for
her. His steady-going, considerate at
lection for her was obvious. What
sort of terms were they on, anyhow?
How had she explained, and he ac-
copied, her change of attitude toward
himself?
Violet was not informative on these
points, even when he resorted at last
to direct questions. She earnestly
protested herself fond of John-im-
mensely. He was an absolute dear in
lot of ways.
She looked at Joe thoughtfully.
you know" she said, "in a business
way, it's you worry about. not him."
"Well, you needn't" he told her,
shortly. "He might have got me if
hadn't played bunch earlier in the
game. But l did. I've got my share
in the Greer company nailed down,
where he can never get it away from
me-"
"In the long rum" she persisted,
hell get the better of you. / be.
lieve he's already sure of it. That's
just a-hunch, as you say. He doesn't
talk to me about it any more"
He took this soberly, apparently to
her surprise. Evidently she had ex-
pected him to laugh at her.
"Joe, has anything begun to go
wrong now? Anything you can see,
here or up North?' she asked in con-
Germ.
mo, 1 guess not" he said, absently.
"Why?"
you seem different, somehow" she
said. ooh, know it's hot, and you've
been working horribly hard, but you
always seemed like a person who
couldn't be tired. And now You
don't look quite natural, either"
I'm not sleeping much" he con-
fessed. Haven't since l got that
crack on the head last winter"
Undeed, the amount of whisky 1t
now took to insure him even the be-