Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-08
CHAPTER XVII.
~ HERE Is a certain interest in
comparisons, and sometimes
mt q little hunnr make.


comparisons, and sometimes
not a little humor. Take,
Il for example, that morning,
with Warrington half-crazed
in shabby room at the Hotel Stock
ton, and then consider Mr.. Furness
Brooks, emerging from his shower
to find the buttons in his shirt and
his clothing pressed and ready to his
hand. No frenzied search for his gar
ments; a calm shave, and an equally
calm and fastidious dressing: the
studio freshly in order, the ashtrays
emptied, the fire going and before it
a small table with coffee bubbling in
an electric arrangement, and Miguel
at hand with bacon and eggs and the
morning paper.
Rather a painful comparison, too,
when one thinks about it. with neat
stacks of wedding invitations Mrs.
Thomas Bayne requests the honor or
your presence at the marriage Of her
{ lighter. Anne HOLSTER. TO Mr.. Fur
ness Schuyler Brooks" and so forth.
The names on them had been care
fully selected from the social register.
And not only the environments but
the states Of mind Of the two men con-
cerned present ample ground for con-
trast. Humorous, too, with Warning
tons head outside his door, watching
the passage with haggard eyes, and
Brooks calmly surveying his domain
and fitting a new mistress into 1t.
"Soon to have two places, Miguel,
he said to the servant.
Brooks got a notebook and made
one or two additions to his list of
names-carefuI additions: new people,
but coming on and willing to pay
their ways as they came.
The entire responsibility of the list
was his. Mrs. Baynes list had been
OF little use. Times had changed,
even in 10 years, and people who used
to be important had died, or ceased
to count.
So it happened that he did not glance
at the morning paper for some time.
Then, true to his type, he read tho
headlines and turned to the society
news, and thus it was not until later
that he saw halfway down the first
page, a headline which caught his
eye and. having done SO, held it.
BANK LOOT FOUND
Securities From Harrison Bank
Recovered"
was what he read.
The article itself was not long. Evil
IDENTIFY, only the barest statement had
been given out by the district attor-
ney's office.
He read it again. With the first
reading he had felt only anger and
furious annoyance. Wouldn't the
story ever die? And to have it come
up again just now-was there ever
such rotton luck? Already he knew
that the breakfast-tables and boudoirs
OF his world were buZzing with it.
1t was only with the second read |
ing that the true inwardness of the
situation occurred to him. The bonds
had been found in the Cox apart |
ment.
E ''Coxw he thought. "Cox! That's
the counter-jumper. The new uncle.
He couldn't have known Bayne. Then
how did he get the stuff"
: There was only one conclusions:
They had had the securities all this
time, had them and hidden them.
They were as criminal as Bayne him.
self; Cox had been no more than a
cats paw in their INSCRIPTIONS hands.
1T was Margaret and Mrs. Bayne who
were guilty.
: He remembered Margaret. He |
the front door.
: "Oh, did you ring? I thought l
heard the BELL" and, with a sort of
1imid archness, taking him into the
drawing room.
I'm afraid it's cold in here. The
furnace-man is careless
He knew by this time that there
was no furnace-man and that the
drawing-room was always cold. He
knew there was no Hilda. All their |
small hypocrisies and snobberies had |
long before been uncovered before |
his discerning eyes.
But why the poverty, II they had |
had this hoard to draw upon? He
considered that shrewdly, in view of
his knowledge of them.
Afraid he concluded. Holding
on until the old boy got out and told
them how to dispose Of it."
To be fair with him, he did not In
Clude Holly in all this. Selfish as
were his preoccupations, his mind
finally drifted to her with a new and
unexpected compassion. 1.-The poor
kid" he thought. And, with that
wave of sympathy, he felt stronger,
every inch a man. If he dramatized
himself bit it was one fine gesture
to be laid to his credit.
Z "I'll stand by her" he thought, and
drew himself up trifle. I'm all she
has, and I'm not letting go. The
poor kid"
He had no illusions; he knew what
standing by would mean. The men
would approve him for it, but the
women would not. And his world was
largely women. 1t was women who
made out lists, paid calls, gave parties.
IL was at tea-tables he was popular,
not in smoking rooms after dinners.
With much the same gesture he had
disposed Of the invitations. he brush.