Barnwell sentinel. (Barnwell C.H., S.C.) 185?-1925, June 28, 1917, Image 2
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»AQ£ TWO
BARNWELL SENTINEL, BARNWELL, SOUTH CAROLINA
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By CYRUS TOWNSEND
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- * • / 5* Copyright by Fleming H. Revel! Co.
FATHER AND SON
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BERT MEADE’S FRIENDS LOSE TRACK OF tWM WHEN HE
DOES WEST, CHANGES HIS IDENTITY AND GETS A'
. JOB, BUT THEY SET .OUT TO PROVE HIM
v • BLAMELESS OF THE BRIDGE DISASTER
Berjrfun Meade, Sr., -plans un international bridge fur tin* Martlet
(Jpnstruetjnn company. Ills sou.Bertram Meade, Jr., resident engi
neer uf the l>ri<lK«?* site, and Helen lJlingw'orth r -4«ugbter qf Colonel
Illingworth, Bead of the , Mar tie f OoihTTaTiy.HKe eii jfai>e«T tU^lHffFTy'
when the bridge i.s completed.- Youhg Meade had questioned his
father’ff calculations !»ut was laughed at. The bridge collapses with
150 workmen. , Meade, Sr., drops dead after writing a letter for the
* 'put>ti*\‘ • tntrt«g--it*H- iifeiwe •Thlsfetter i.s hidden- by
Shurtiffe, a faithful old secretary. Young Meade takes all blame to
protect Ids father's professional hotior, , breaks the engagement -with
Helen uud disappears. \ *
^ It whs a very,Bawble program^ not“it- would..have ^irnOynji her fairer^>e- ^
at all prccrtateo'b*'‘heroic or. romantic, Tvond expression-, it \vOHtd__nLt-haveA’ 1 "' 111 ' :u "' "'
jilt. .-sinfemi-ria ,„.i KSt ££ >"
and w„lf."-Tti,r y Ly that all tWfcs T ,»;r her la,hit Virk. OJhTr^l ; <>f ,uo ofjla- l.m--I,., were
j Come to him who waits.
! half true. S§mie things
That is only
_ come to him
-who waits-siflnetiyw.s. That is more
! nearly accurate.--Well, he .could think-
’ fit «jbO better plan,’ So lie bad(‘ Win
ters gdod-by, swearing him again to
Secrecy until he slmuld lift the ban
against speech, and rode aivay. When
he got to the little village on the
Picket Wire below . the darn he
stopped a long time gazing at the long
bridge, or viaduct, of steel that was re
placing the old wooden trestle and
currying the rallroad /nun the Iiills
to thgeastward over the river.
. X was not such an undertaking as
-The lost international, still It was In
teresting engineering construction. - It
j was work tby t \youbJ be- |qten.sely. con:
filial, to which he was - - -■-* *
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CHAPTER XI—Continued.
Again the train was delayed rind
held up for half an hour just ns It
reached the Mississippi river. Ho left
his seat In the dining cur;-his dinner
uneaten on the*tfdrie r -to go-out- and In
spect the bridge during the lmlf-hour
that the “limited” lay idle. The next
day some enormous irrigation works
in western Nebraska so engrossed his
attention and rirnnsrerttris Interest that
in spite of himself he stopped over
between trains to see them. And these
actions were typical.
Yef after every one of these excur
sions back Into bis own field, his con-
jfcfefH'w smote biiii. Was be never to
get away from this onglni ortnc?--•• Wus.
there nothing else for'TrrnT~trrTt-frrIek~
and stone, steel and concrete, designs
uud plans and undertaking and accom
plishment III the world? Because It
wus .tip* thing that he must abandon
and put out of bis mind, engineering
seemed the only thing he cared'for.
There would be no engineering on that
ranch on the -slopes of the range; He
-could settle the question there.
Winters was glad to see him. lie and
Itodney and Meape laid Wen the warm
est of friends. Uf course Meade could
not tell Rodney the truth on .account
of his newspaper connections, hut he
decided finaliy that lie could.and would
tell Winters under assurance of abso
lute secrecy. For one tiling the big
Cattleman laid bluntly Kdltsed to credit
his friend’s first statements; and, when,
he ut last heard the truth, he blamed
him roundly while lie appreciated fully
the nobleness of his self-sacrifice. The
clear-headed, practical Winters put it
this way: Meade was capable of do
ing splendid service to liumalift v as an
engineer and’ bade fair tp4»e- even
greater than his father, yet .for. the
sake'of the fame of a dead man, to
Whom after all it would matter little,
he had thrown away that splendid.op
portunity ! -
This was a new thought to Meade
■■ nnMpi"
as 4»v<»Il WwttvS"was forced to nc-
knowledge,' the suggestion came .foaj
.-lute. The course'had been-entered up
on. It would be cowardly to try to
change it nmv. Indeed it would have
been Impossible with the disappear
ance-of the w ritten protests and botes.
Even If ShurtlilT had been willing, no
\One would have believed a delayed re-
traction and explanation, and Sliurtiiff
would opt have* been willing Meade
well knew\\Neither for that matter
■Whs Meade himkelf. lie was glad that
the affair had • heenfcKttled and would
not change it even nowHlmugh Win
ters' rough-and-rcady preseiitYUjon of
the situation disquieted him.
Winters, .who saw how greatly over:
wrought and unstrung! ills friend was',
• contented himself with the assertion.
- — ♦ - . -•
He did not press the pfiint or argue it
with him. He rented quietly confident
that matters would, right themselves
some way in the long rum die treated
Meade exactly, right.' lie left him to
Ids own devices., lie did'h'ot.force his
company upon him. • SniurtiiiiesjUie'env-
gineer would jnouiit a liorsi^— and all
at the ranch were at his disposal—and
would ride away into the wDuds and
mountains with a camping mttfit. Some
times he would be.gone for several
days, coining back white find haggard
and exhausted but "victor in some "hard
battle fotlght out alone. ----r—-
One day there came to the ranch a
^letter to Wlpters from Rodney, full of
friendly chat und pleasant remini
scence.
“Meade has disappeared absolutely,”
wrote Rodney in,closing. “Even Miss
nilngworth, to Whom he wus reported
engaged and upon'whom I have called
occasionally, says she doens not know
his whereabouts. Of course you Saw
In the papers his connection with the
tragedy and failure of the Internation
al? Although his frank statement w;as
corroborated by that of the older
. Meade’s private secretary, I have never
been able to* believe it, neither does
Miss Illingworth. I,know Beet, nnd so
does she. Wo can’t accept even his
own testimony. We-have been work-
tag together to establish the truth, but
with very faint prospects of success so
far. There’s some tremendous mystery
about it I have thought-that maybe
Meade might have come to yotL If he
has show him- this letter and beg him
1
to tell us the exact truth at any rate." I fr r «‘ s Istfbly, yet* be managed to hoiiT
Wiliters passed the letter over to blinSglf aloof.'Ihe hlartiet people Were
Mt'acTiy.. without cbnuiieirt. The en- i Ibis steel bridge and they had
giiieer. rggil It with passionate eager
ness. He was hungry for any news of' ,r,osa - A well-known construction omn-
Ilelen Illjngwiirth- Rijdney wjps cull
ing upon her. A sharp pang of jeailousy
shot through him at That, although he
knew there was no reason. Dear old
Rodney! He could sec his grave face,.
Ids disapproving munnetvhis air of un
belief, as he had taken down Meade’s
words Jn the office that tragic diiy.
Just finished the arch ; up under-the
that she hail Rodney to thank-for this
-lacy; Engineering Is In Meade’s blood.
He is the. fifth of his family to gradu
ate at Harvard and three of his for
bears were engineers, his grandfatlW
noted and his father worid-famous. He
fairly idolized his father,^ The affect
tlon betwepn them was delightful. The
king coub 1 do no Nvrong,' Meade wus
v
lck-teiiifiereil rftuT not very' receptive
to cdticisin, but he would take the se
verest stricture frqm the old.nmn with:
ot^t a murmur.”
- “Here we have,” said the wojjmn,
who had listened with. stjr^Ined atten
tion, “an, early devotion to a f+erson
and an r unbounded- respect for his at-
talnmenfs_. <Io on."
“TheTiext point is. Mobile was In-
ordinutelv pri>mi family rt^i
;,,, i c .,| An ^ r , . ... v . i uisnngui.siied one, but his career.mi
omission and after she had time to col- .. . ^ r. ,
i.,T , , , ~ [little interest-for'Meade,' I have hear
lei t herself she asked him to call tipoirt i - . , ,
t ,... r ,, niut say .that there .hud' been- a. stead;
her. He was very-g ad to come. . . . r
very-
“I'Sent for you, Mr. Rodpev. on ac
count of Mr. Bertram Meade,” she bi*-
gan, after thanking him for his cour
tesy toward her the day the older
Meade died and thereafter. “I want
yOU tO he4p_|»ei’—— —— '-—r—
“P'tB.hall be delighted to do so for -
your own sake. I know how deeply*
.interested you are in Meade’s rehabili
tation.”
“Mr. Rodney,” returned the woman,
flushing a little, “you know of course
that we were engaged. He considers
the engagement broken.”
••• «-*T- 'triippoge so. - Thatwould be* Vke
n»vn nlmost|h.im,” .fmld Rodney gravely.. “Indeed
as a man of honor hp could do no,less.”
“You are all alike.” said the wom
an a little bitterly.' “Your notions are
nol engineers, one wtis a soldier- and a
(listinguished one,_but Ills career lupl
rd
ady
upward movement in bis family, tliat
"bad reached its culmination in his fa-'
ther,- He lipped to be a good, useful
engineer, but he never dreamed of-go
ing any higher or even appryacliing
the altitude of the oilier man,”.... -
* T It. was a sort of fetish with- him
then, wasn’t it-?” asked the wjoinfan us
Rodney stopped again.
the others noticed It, but I Ms my busi
ness to take in even inconsiderable de- y
tails. The pen was still between his
fingers. His hand was constricted and ‘
the pen had not'dropped out—In fact,"
I myself took it odt and laid it oa
the djesk.’
-F.-
“His last conscloqs act was to write
pany was building the great earth d:nn
across the Hekct Wire in the valley.
Meade’s engineering' life had been
spent mainly out of the United’ States.
He had never been connected-with the
Martlet and its emptw^eos until he had
been associated with hiS-father on the
International,’ He could fitjve gone'
something,, therefore?"
“Yes; for confirmation I ascertained t.
that there were ink-stains on his dn- ;
ger»*! . *[; ■; .1, ■
“What did he write and to vt'mm?’* ♦
“I don’t know. I can only guess.”
“What do you guess?”
“Tlie assumption of entire rcsponsl- -
billty and,.the exculpixtion of his. son,
probabtv' to' some naper.”
‘-Prom 3 the —smfie motives that^;
liroiapte^h-Bet-t?” ’> ’’ :•
V^Co, beciBisc it was true.* TSut that*
is only an assumption, although not al-
tog*»tbcr without further evidence.” .
“And what is that?” asked the-worn- ,
an eagerly. . ' . . ;
She had sat down -opposite- Rixln^y ~
at the table and was leaning toward
him. Her coloi - came and went, her
breathing was rapid and strained .un- '
der five -wild beating of her hpart.
“The blotter mn the desk. I exam
ined it at my leisure. It had been
used some time. I went over it with a
magnifying,glass. Meade, Sr., had evi-
. <•
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“You have hit it exactly. Ills love 1 dentty written a letter. I found the
for the man. his admiration for the words‘fault is mine.’ 1 have.the hlot-
engineer, which sometimes blinded ter In my desk. - The word ‘fault’,1s
Of course, Helen Illingworth was not nmnn *- thorn with little.danger of irn-
a recluse as he was. Slie mingled in ,n ediate discovery; since mostjpf the
society. STie took up life with its <de- !n '' n be had known had'gone^b*wn with
mauds. She entered into Its pleasures hri-'lg:**, but he decided not to do
and fulfilled its duties. IP* was Jea
lous of everyone Who might come in
contact - with.Herr'Pul .he . the
names of none except Rodney.
jAnd they were 1 suspicious of his
avowal! That was balm to his soul,
of course Helen Illingworth was sus
picious, hut why should Rodncjr doubt
bis assumption of the blame? .And
they were working to establish his in
nocence. The thought disquieted hiiq
lest they should discover the truth In
some way. And It gave him Joy also.
They would work despite any remons
trance from him. He thought of that
protest to his father ahyiivs with un
easiness. If lie could only have found
it and destroyed it himself he would
have been'happier. Could It be In ex
istence somewhere? Would It thru up?
Would they unearth it? .WelU-he had
done his best for his father, yet he was
glad those- two disbelieved und were
working for him.
Meade had been the most brilliant.
Winters tin* most'indifferent, Budm-y
the most persevering, of the trio at col
lege. He remembered that well. His
first thought was to forbid .Rodney to
do anything furthejG f ...although how far
so. The work on the dam would be.
simpler and he would have less oppor
tunity- to betray himself and it-would
give him more chance to wojrk up in a
plausible and reasonable, way. Bhsliles, f
if Colonel Illingworth came-on to in
spect the bridge, as he would probably
do, Meade_would ha vt* to leave before
his arrival. The dam would lie safer.
No one would ever think of looking for
blui there. 'And-ntr oxiv-woul i ever
recognize in the rough-L'earded work
man the clCar-cut, smoothfaced young
engineer of other days. V
The darn was twenty miles up the
valley, yes, he would he less apt to be
observed ^working tlipre. than oiVthe
bridge. Yet as he reculled that pri
vate car and that it might come there,
he realized that she might lie on it.
him, and his pride in his father’s career
as typifying his family, was Un
bounded.”
„ “You have established a motive for
aiiy strcriflce plover respertrpride “ '
. ‘‘ThaTsTfie way It presents itself to
me. Miss Illingworth. I know thor
oughly the quixotic, impulsive, -self-
sacrificing nature of the man. I-kmnv
that he would have done anything on,
purely decipherable, ‘fs’ can be made
out ^ith- di file pity, but ‘mine’ is quite
plain. T am familiar with the older
Meade’s handwriting, and though this
ts tvejTkrr'rinti' feetiter find TiTrrrp"itrr*gn- '
lari than /was FiiS "custom--ordinarily
he wrote a bold, free hand—this is-un
mistakably his. Of course no one ran
say that he -wrote uuv letter^ This Is
piling assumption upon assuniption.
earth to save his father, even ut the ! an< ^* furthermore, there Is no evidence
sacrifice of his own career, and since 1 of :in - v signature having been written
have seen* ; you i can realize how po\v*:tT ) eneath it."
seen
tnes
erfiii these motives must have been.”
Rodney said this quite simply, as if
It were a matter of course, ratlver than
tf-'compliment, ami bluntly ns he might
“There one more bit of evidence. *
The^slnjdf of paper oq which the de-
• sign orniipu t aOons for the Coj u.pres Si on
have said'it. to a friend and comrade. members a| > pear wait-- net with
and Helen l n| pg iv '' rth hn H ^rst‘“id e«d“^h^--otlirT~~pIunsTind tragings of the
t was grateful* *" -s. * ~ I br.ldge. 7T~ *
“It has been a grief to nioThat I‘ do you know?, ^ c~.
weighed so little in comparijHfn/Vshe ; ‘ Fbese plans were taken oyep by
said Simply.
I shouldn’y put It
[the Mhrtlet company after Meades
ft wav exact- j 'ly^th. and Mr. Curtiss and I examined
“The King Could Do No Wrong.’ 1
ly,’" observed Rodney^ carefully. “You
see eve’u if.it coulq be-shown that it
was the old myh’s fault entirely the
young one wpfild still have tu share
some of theTilame.”
“You Yfmun lie should* have foreseen
it atpf'poiMted it out?”- • ~ ■ ■■
/“I think he did. but if he (lid fore
see it and point it out, he should not
have allowed the older man to overawe
him or force him to uccept what he be- [
lievial to be structurally unsound. I
don’t know whether he reasoned it out. ! ,
'i ddh’t think he had time to argue the ShurtlilT,
tlimp. We found that sheet^ missing.”
“U’k\womlerful!’’ cried the girl, tier
eyes shilling. “I was convinced be
fore. - but. i fY Jmd not been,* you would
have persuadedNme beyond a doubt.’
“I have p(*rsua(u*d mj seif, too,"
Rodney. “But thereTs not a sUdt+e
thing"here that wimTJvfuStlfvjirfis pub
licity. even if we were pivpifrcd to go
against Meaile’s obvious dt*sireN As 1
say, it is all assumption. No one cbqld
prove it.” ~ > ^
“You are \ w rong,” said the girh
^Us heart leaped even as it had leaped
a{ tlie sight of the viaduct then build
ing, as it had, quivered to the familiar
rat-tat-tat of tin* pneumatic riveters
and the clang and the -clash of the
structural steel. Bui fvhat \vas. tine
use? He wotild not dare trust •hirmWMf
to look at her even from a diiffinee.
supreme. You nmy^sacrifice love und
your best friend so long as you pre^
serve tho«» motions of honorinnirt.”
“And yet if w.e weri*n’t honorable
men ypu wouldn’t care for us at all.”
“Yes, I suppose that’s It. Well, I do
cftre sexy much, as you underst a ml. I
may as well lie frank with you. My
falher, of course^ is bitterly antagonis
tic to Mr, Meade, He won’t even al-
ense, the shock was sd swift and sud
den, but as soon as he did see the situ- ,'" u -
a tlon he discovered that you were lost
arywny, except of the charity -of your
affect-k>n,. which—he could'md accept,
and that he could save his father. This
rnay all he the wildest Speculation, but
“I wondered if that would occur to
. .. M • *
‘>)f course. You think that Meade,
,Sr.. wrote ri letter assuming the blame
because It was his. I have no doubt
in the world nmv that Bertram Meade
had made his protest- in writing. Per*
this 1s the way It presents itself to j ^P 8 Jj® indorsed it on the missing
' shODt. continued the woman, making
bold and brilliant, guesses “Or maybe
he wrote a defter 'that w as attached
nn
Nd, It was the dam that best spfted his -low his name to’be mentioned,
purpose, Vo he turned away "from the “One can hardly blame him for that,-
Ids friend would respect his wishes he [bridge and rode up the .valley. There' Miss Illingworth. The failure of the 1
“And to me,” said Helen, “but before
we go any further, bet me say I should _
rather be his wife than enjoy utiv otherhe__din» t Jhat we. lack,, and Mr.
, -—-— j Meade got it out of the safe and
fortune.” ,, _
“That is the kind of affection
liis ! " Trttr llis IctTPf and attached it with
could not tell. Anyway, he did not he,was fortunate in falling Into a po-
have to decide'that matter, because he
could not say a word to lijm. To
have allowed Winters to write would
.4w>WIHin<*>|il»OITTTirfP~TSi
sltinn, as has been set forth.
CHAPTER XII.
'h»r»iihnttfa
3EZ
was living with Winters under an as
sumed name of course. • He had had
his hair cut differently and had'grown
a beard and mustache. He thought It
would,have taken a keen eye Indeed to'
have recognized him with Uti&e
changes. - ' ,,
In tin* end*In* handed the letter back
to Winters, only charging him that if*
lie wrote to Rodney l^e most not'betray
tin* fact that Meade waswjijlli him. Jie
bail plenty of St into to-tlii.ilk ovt*r the
sit tintion„....lie...decided ..lixia-lPy^lrrttt. s<f
Marshaling thrf Evidence.
For all her sweetness and
tlfft' M
discuss the affairs
Bridge coinpany,” said Helen, ,
Helen-.Illingworth was dowered w'KJi e sRng though they may be., but to set
intense, energy and., u pow erful will. ! ^ by working together* there was not
What she begr^p sin* fthlshed, and i some wuv bv which we could prove
was not-deterred from beginning things j that Bertram Meade has; assumed The
by fears of consequences. ,She was con- blame to sa've the honor and fame of
vincod that Meade bad not told the
iiridge seriously embarrassed the Mart- nullities merit and would evoke in
Jet Bridge company, and it is u great t * u> '"hoi of a discerning woman,
handicap for them to overcome in seek*'- 1 hank jou. W ill jou go on. now?
log any further contracts.” -• course you Know,that wlmt wt*
' lAMiiiiiid itijutti .iiMiji mo. ir»tw
WrFtiTTT
tmThirfi ^'nfTlTTPTfy
of the Martlet
inter-
=ttt=
i Bertrands .protest*.to the. mining draw
ing and gave them to ShurtTitT and told
him to take them to the papers. You
know Sliurtiiff said that
aid iMnumni4t'
sumption: perhaps, presumption.”
truth in that famous declaration in his
yfaThyr's office. She respected him for
'his desire to shield his father’s name
gind -fame even autfte expense of his
veracitjvMiibcit sin* would not, have
An'-c'mCwoman if sill* had not resented
Hie Tact that in sri doing he* had sacri
ficed her happiness asrwell as Ills own.
The quts.iibn;.• MeaiU*. Jr.,
Was-the more, resporfsit^le or seven re-
*^ ’ * ■ J * jv-Y '
his father.” . ‘ . |
“You believe that’, Miss Illingworth?" j
“IamsureOif.it." * |
earnestly.
“To you and to me, yes. Welt.” lie
continued. “I remember that M<-a<Tf*
anikl wore talking just before he wont
to Burmu three years.ago.about a new
Ixtmk by u Herman n.\mCd Kcbmidt-
CTieinnitz, in which certain methods of
calculations wore proposed for the de
sign of lacings. You know it \Vifs the
Meade de*
he told the reporters so. ShurtlltT has,
“It’s os true as gosp*el,” saiiTTlie glrl^/.lT h^knows who has, tin* missing pa
per.:
“But what-motive would the secre
tary have-for such concealment ?” ...
“He idoliz'd tin*. Older -Meade. Mr„
Otirtiss told me about him. A- failure
“So am I.” spid Rodney quickly. • 1 , ...
“Thuulc •iinl," crivd vU v Kiri a llt.le.-C*""** ut ,‘T ^
members of the cantibwer tlfat gave ’
hysterically, surprised and almost
swept off ' iiiit ‘ feet • by this, prompt
avowal by one who, though young, was
already an authority in tin* literature
of engineering. “Why do you say thrit?
What eNddencrrhave you?”
1 s'ntihvitde* ’ :iY all ' Wn's'-’rhiiVC ' ’oK ’ II.1' ’W.V* T r’ ’ V■ ’ ” *.' * / * »,*,> * ' * ’ * ’ * > * i > > v ' * > * >
spoiiMoo in .in was irqirt. or_n ss “t nfortunately,” answered Rodney*
'i, ; a cm
<-v won
academic- to - -Colonel Illiiig^yonli. lie
■"^4,
+r
XI
U
f
H
'X
x
Winters Passed the Letter Over to
Meade Without Comment.
-tl \ -* " •' • * \ . -.*
long hri he had been born an engineer
and trained and' educated Its an en
gineer he would havie to be until the
end of the chapten He wauld go out
tftd-.hnve had nothing further to do
with either of'them if. both -wCreHiving
and certaitily not with the youngerxiir
vivor. He tried to believe that ifHt
bad come to.a final choice tlie daugh
ter,.in spite of the fact that such Is
e Habit of women in tin* experience
(»f nft*. would not.have given up age
amVhec fMjh j r for'youth, and her, lover.
Indeed she wthMao genuinely devoted
to her father to 004that except as a
last resort. . ;
-She cherished-the hope^^&cst, that
Meath* could re-establish liimseTf^-she
, - * ■ ' ^- J* * "
had too sweeping, a confidence in h
l-charactep and capntdty to doubt that—
rand second, that it cmiltl lie - shown
that hh had not been responsible for
the <nllur,e of the hrbbtr»*. Slie was
more aq\l more convinced thot his as
sumption of the blame had been die-
“I haven’t any tiuiglb'le evidence what
ever. but I knmvJBert Meade as few 1
people know him, Miss Illingworth. |
pOrhnpsr not even you,” he went bn, in
spite "of. her unspoken, Hut vigorous
protest nt that last-stafement, as she
slbaik 1i»*p head and smiled at him.
“Aim, thrirp a re--several little clrcum-
staneek that make me ..’.feel that lie
could not haye been to blame. Have
you any ground for your conviction?”
“Probably
abiHty aid experience^ but- under some
assumed name he would begin at the
very beginning, at (he foot of the lad
der as a rodman, if he could; and gagemenLor of its b
then he would work on quietly/“Taitli-
fnity, obscurely, praying fm big cIihuw.
If Jt eame be \tould strive to be fqual
tp the opportunity; if It did not at ieast
be would be engaged in honest work in
an honest way. 31
tated by the highest of motives athF^Lunething.
■or Ten- i^Thp' suggestion is admirable,
instead of being fit subject for;
sure and condemnation,Tie nthrited ad
miration and applause. She hoped with
her woman’s wit to prove this event
ually, perhaps in spite of her lover,
and to this end she applied, herself as-
siduousiy to solve the problem.
*P r fc, not such work qs his I To her^, alJieT, request,, camjLJtod:
ney. Nou^the reporters hud dealt very
gently with "Helen Illingworth. 'They
had mad^no announcement of the co
oking at her fa
ther’s earnest request. There jvas no
necessity of brfifgtng her Into the
bridge story, although it would have
added a dramatic touch to their nar-
ratitea. Her Inclination Tiad been to
avow* it But upoo reflection aha aaw
red less than you have
ithtT yet'I. tooNmow him.” Helen II-
lingwArth looked b\to the plain, h<|f»e-'
ly, but strong; rd fable face of the
naq nnd dismissed any. thought of re-
sefvefrom her mind. - \ -
“I.et^U^niace,” she began, “tie little
circumstances^ upon which our intui-
tirins are baSod/HMt^iuitions are ever
based on anything tivndble, together.
Perhaps the-sue of thehs^may yields
sorted Rodney, “and as^ I knew him
first and longest I will begin. Perhaps
it would be well, too, to take notes so
that we may consider them mt leisure,
getting r Umeye .Yletv.asrwell as an ear
View ol them.”
.“Kaw. .la ttpr first, placft” .La
writing and speaking, at the same tttne,
“point one is Meade’s absolutefy un-'
bounded devotion to hjs father. The
old man was not always/Hght. The
boy was as clear as ty'oeW on most
thtTTgs,"bi»t FroeaH thoVhe-wouW itoeHr
way. .
“iVdl/Mcadc and I got into a lfot dis
cussion . over, some of Schmidt-Chcm-
tfi Iz'B fctrutuhtHlI minnfaincu that they
were' wrong.' r ~l le took t lie ' opposite
view.,..He- Aa.* right. He was so iu-
‘terestfHFr-in the nfflfter that, after we
separated he wrote-iue'a letter abou.t
it. adding-somo new arguments to 're
enforce bis contention. Thy other day
I made a careful search among iny pa
pers and by Jiappy chauce I found the
letter. I was half-convinced by his
reasoning then, although the matter
was dropped. ^ I ain. .altogether con
vinced tmw. His argument i.s very j
clear. I have examined since then the
plan and sketches for that bridge. The
calculations did no't agree with those
,of Scliniidt-Chemuitz. Ills methods
<yere not used. Meade could not haVe
forgotten the matter. I am moral!
certain that he made a protest to Jfls
father, pfobahiy“Tn writing, then al
lowed himself to be persuadyd^by his
father’s reasoning. As ti^ruatter of
fact, I suppose that Bejrfrum Meade,
Sr., waa-a-greater authority on steel
sbridge diWtlgnipg tpiu1 even ScJjmldt-
Chemnitz.. AVeUy^ometimes, the small
er man is righh We know now*, and
B^rt^am ^Ie^^de,.Sr., would admit it if
he werK^jfive. that Sch'mldt-Chemnitz
w as rl^htr^tstF we can make a good
gu^as that youn^-Afeade did not let it
^>tfss without a proteSL^:,
“Mr. Rodney. iL’« wnntterfuL’’
tain his father’a/'proposltlona tena-
ly, determbiedly. long after every
body, jjerhap* eyen the old man him
self, had Keen convinced of thdr fal-
‘Well, that’s not all. There not
a Tittle bit of hesitation in Mea
assumption of the blame, not n person
who beard it doubted itr- apparently
But I was the first man to gee the older
Meade except bis son and Shurtlltf.”
4 0h, Shqrtllff!
“We’ll come to him presently. It
obvious that the older Meade bad
been writing. I don’t know-whether
The Woman Rose to Her Feet.
himself when he was a young man,
Mr. Myade had faith in him and of
fered to promote his engjneerlng^ ef
forts, but the man preferred to attach
himself, personally, to Mr. Meade and
.so. be became his private secretary.
By his own showing he had been with *
tbs' dead man on that afternoon. He
has the papers.”
The woman rose to her feet as she
spoke with fine conviction.
Fate, it seems, nas maraed a
strange pathway for young
|eade to follow. Thing#, begin
to happen around him at his
new jobXThere are interesting
dewlopmcntfry^n the next la
stalimcnt
(TO BE CONTINUED^