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1111, ; > ] Vie j I River j J When the Colorado J Burst Its Banks and Flooded the Imperial p J Valley California J ??BP?rffiTTIT"? ??????? i : i I * : 5 ; S EDNAH AIKEN ! a (Copyright. Bobb?-Merrill Company, ) SYNOPSIS. CHAPTER I?K. C. RIckard. an eng neer of the Overland Pacific, 1b called 1 the office of President Marshall lr. Tu< on, Ariz. "Casey" is an enigma to tl office force; he wears "dude" clothe tout he had resigned a chair of enpinee: fag In the East to go on the road as tian and his promotion had been spei lar. While waiting for Marshall Ricl reads a report on the ravages of tt rado, despite the efTorts of Thorns Hardin of the Desert Reclamation con pany. This Hardin had been a studei under RIckard and had married Gert Holmes, with whom Rickard had fancie he was In love. CHAPTER II?Marshall tells Rickai Gv^VVerland Pacific has got to siep 1 to '.have the Imperial Valley and senc hhh to the break. RIckard declines b< catae he does not want to supplant Ha! <Mp, but Is won over. "Stop the rlvei A&fnn the exnenae." says Marshall. *Yes?" returned Riekard, whose 111 Ing had been captured by the spoake The Impression of distinction sharj ened. The stranger wore a laundere pdngee silk shirt, open at the neck bu - i -111- \ rescricxec uj a uruwu sua. uc , uuu i was trimly belted. There were bt two neckties In the entire car. an they occupied, Rickard observed, tb name seat "The beginning of the canal sys tern." Rickard looked out upon a flat, oni toned country, marked off In rei tangles by plows and scrapers. Fa) ther south these rectangles were edge by young willows. He fancied h could see, even at that distance, th gleam of water. It was the passing of the desert. . few miles back he hud seeu the desei in Its primitive nakedness, which m even cactus relieved. He was passin over the land which man and horse were preparing for water. Aud h could see the land where water was. "That was the way Riverside looke when I first saw it," commented th other man who wore a tie. "Coiae 01 on the rear platform. We can see be ter." Rickard followed to the back of th dust-swept, stifling car. The glare o the platform was Intense. He stoc watching the newly made checkerboai of a country slip past him. Resedic ^fepre the two lines of gleaming ste< rafls which connected and separate him from the world outside. He wt "going in." Not in Mexico even ha he suA a feeling of ultimate remot ateas. The mountains, converging pe effectively toward the throat of th vdHey, locked elusive and unieal 1 tttrir gauze draperies of rose and vh I3t The tender hour of day was clot] log them with mystery, softening the ?harp outlines. They curtained tl whirid hevnnd. Rickard felt the su f>e?fie of the sect act. It wu a torpid imagination, 1 thpogfat. which would not quicken ov< tffi.s cttaquest of the desert. East i tip tract men and teams vere orepa ti|K the newt/ furrowed grouud for tl The curved land knives we fefceaktag up the rich mold into ridg cf soft sa? as uncohesive and feathe: a$ putvertwfl chocolate. It v as t! <Urlc cOUtr of the chocolate of coi therce, this silt which had been p for?wi frnaa the states through whil the vagrawt rirer wandered. The sm< of the upturned earth, sweetly dare fifcnMc a^wnHt his nostrils. Iticka liHftHged a minute of whimsical fane t&s was California territory ov 'Which his train was passir.g, but t eWl. that dark earth those blades we crumbling, was it not the tribute ofeer states, of despoiling Wyonilr of rarlsning <joioruuo unu Arizona ; To the west new squares were bei leveled and outlined. Shrubby r? tangles were being cleared of their ci osote bush and tough mesquite. Co pared with other countries, the prej ration for planting was the simple Horses were draaging over the gr??u e railroad rail bent into a V ang which pulled the bushes by the ro< and dragged them out of the way. J yond, farther west, could be seen t untouched desert. The surface 1 wns crocked l.y wai I 1^/iG : SVERj J Q^P f> rnMAU ; ? t^LJi j_ |g ? AIKEN I; <S> THJT3V383 Af?MflJ- COMPANY o b f lints, oroKen ana nnKeu iuiu mrguim ! sand cakes; the mark of sand which t has been imprisoned by water and h branded by swift heat. Close by men were putting in with v 1 care the seed that wus to quicken the t river silt. They were passing a square a where the green tips of the grain! were piercing the ground. Now they s were abreast of a Held of matured al- c falfa over which the wind raced grate- d fully. Desert and grain field; death e and life! The panorama embraced the t ! whole cycle. They went back to their seats. Aftei n a few minutes the other leaned ovei c his shoulder, his hand waving toward , ii the passing mountains. "Those are the I Superstition mountains you can see e over yonder. An unusually apt name.*' j o "Yes?" j o "Why is it good, you mean? Thai: pile of dark rode stands as a mouu- j i< J inent to nn effete superstition. It is] J the gravestone for a gigantic mistake . r t. Why, it was only the grossest igno- o ranee that gave to the desert the label s of 'bad lands.' Tlie desert is a con n dition, not a fact. Here you see the j o o passing of the condition, the burial ol lj * the superstition. Are you interested In c * irrigation?" s ^ Rickard was not given to explain h > the degree of interest his profession o - involved, for the stranger drew a pain- a 8 ful Ireath, and went on. r - "Of course you are, if you are a / y western man. You are, I think?" g a The engineer said he was, by choice p "Irrigation is the creed of the West II a Gob brought people to this country; c g water, scientifically applied, will keep t - them here. Look at Riverside. And t we are at the primer stage only. We o are way behind the ancients in Infor-j s raatlon on that subject. I learned at: a * school, so did you, that some of the s ' most glorious civilizations flourished d in spite of the desert which surround* ed them. That was only half a truth d * ?They were great because of it! Whj fl * did the Incas choose the desert when b * their strength gave them the choice ol * the continent of South America? Whj B did the Aztecs settle in the doserl i< when they might easily have pre- ?< empted the watered regions? Ther e there are the Curthaginians, the Tol- p w tecs, the Moors. And one never for- g * erets Eevnt!" I h "For protection," Rickard pave th(' i< J slighted question an interested recog ' f e nition. "Was that not what we were' e taught at school? The forest helc!t I foes, animal and human. Those na- t ^ tions grrw to their strength ant; t power in the desert by virtue of its j t 4 isolation." | v 5 "Superstition!" retorted the mar ! v g e with the tie. "We are babes at the j (areast measured by the wisdom of the t j aten who settled Damascus, or com- (j pared with the Toltecs, or those an- ^ t ;ient tribes who settled in northern j, . India. They recognized the value of v aridity. They knew its threefold 0 worth." ' s "An inherent value?" demanded the p ^ rollege-bred man, turning from the 0 j window. "An Inherent value," declared the j, K ii [J exponent of aridity. ' r ' "Will you tell me Just what you R mean?" j "Not in one session I Look yonder, p That's Brawley. When I came through p 'm here ten years ago I could have had f my pick of thi3 land at 25 cents an s acre. They were working at this j scheme then?on paper. I was not p alive to the possibilities then; I had ^ 1 not yet lived in Utah!" t e The train was slowing up by a brand p . new yellow-painted station. There f were several dusty automobiles wait- v lng by the track, a few faded surreys t r and the inevitable country hotel bus. 0 The platform was swarming with n alert, vigorous faces, distinctly of the r ^ American type. 1: ,e The man In the seat beside him >s asked Rickard If he observed the gen- s 7 eral average of Intelligence In the e faces of the crowd below. Rickard ac- c a_ knowledged that he had been struck B 1_ by thut, not only here but at Imperial c >h Junction, where he had waited for the s train. t j "There is a cfcib In the vnlley, lately c started, a university club which admits .. as members those who have had at ( gj least two years of college training, t ie The list numbers three hundred al- * r0 ready. The llrst meeting was held last J week in an empty new store in Impe- 1 rial. If it had not been for the set- 1 ' ting we might have b?en at Ann Arbor or I'alo Alto. Tne costumes were a * ls little motley, but the tulk sounded like 1 home. ( The dust Mowing In through the car n doors brought on another fit of strangling. Rlckard turned again to Ihe window, to the active scene which denied the presence of desert beyond. tH' "The doctors say it will have to be t>_ the desert always for me." The stimuli ger tapped his chest significantly. ur "But it Is exile no longer?not in an ( r 3criaated eniintrv. For the T.'-on ?if rrigationi it is tne progressive iuuh, tie man with ideas, or the man who is ,'llling to take them, who comes into his desert country. If he has not had ducation it Is forced upon him. I saw t worked out in Utah. I was there everal years. Irrigation means cooperation. That is, to me, the chief alue of aridity." The wind, though still blowing t}w, enr nnd rnffllnf the train ust, was carrying less of grit and and. To the nostrils of Iiickard and is new acquaintance It brought the leasing suggestion of grassy mead\vs. of willow-lined streams and frarant fields. "It Is the accepted idea that this alley is attracting a superior class f men because of Its temperance tand. It is the other way round. The alley stood for temperance because f the sort of men who had settled ere, the men of the irrigation, type." | The engineer's ear criticized "irrigaion type." He began to suspect that ie had picked up a crank. "The desert offers a man special aduntages, social, Industrial and agriculural. It Is no accident that you find . certain sort of man here." "I suppose you mean that the truggle necessary to develop such a ountry, under such stern conditions, levelops of necessity strong men?" volved Rickard. "Oh, yes, I believe hat, too." "Oh, more than that. It is not so uueh the struggle as the necessity for o-operation. The mutual dependence s one of the blessings of aridity." "One of the blessings of aridity!"; choed his listener. "You are a philos-; pher." He had not yet touched the ther's thought at the spring. "You might as well call me a socialst because I praise Irrigation In that t stands for the small farm unit," etorted the valley man. "That is one f Its flats; the small unit. It Is the mail farm that pays. That fact brings nany advantages. What is the charm f Riverside? It comes to me always Ike the unreal dream of the socialist orae true. It Is a city of farms, of mall farms, where a man may make Is living off his ten acres of oranges r lemons; and with all the comforts i nd conveniences of a city within each, his neighbors not ten miles off I i farmer in Riverside or in any irrlated community does not have to ostpone living for himself or his faraly until he can sell the farm! He an go to church, can walk there; the rolley car which passes his door akes him to a public library or the pera house. His children ride to chool. His wife does not need to be drudge. Tlje bread wagon and the team laundry wagon stop at her loor." Iilckard observed that perhaps he lid not know anything about irrigation fter all! He had not thought of it icfore In its sociological relation but! lerely as It touched his profession. I "Not going into soil values, for that s a long story," began the older man,; irrigation is the answer which scinee gives to the agriculturist who is inpatient of haphazard methods. Irriation Is not a compromise, as so many elieve who know nothing about it. It s a distinct dvantage over the oldashioned methods. "I am one of those who always houpht it a compromise," admitted he engineer. "Better call rain a compromise," re orte.I .lie irrigalionist. "The man i'h "> irripates gives water to tlio tree rhich needs it: rain nourishes one re2 and drowns out another. Trrlpaion is an insurance policy apainst j rought, a puarantee against lloods. "he farmer who lias once operated an rrigated farm would he as impatient rere he again subjected to the caprice f rain as a housewife would be were he compelled to wait for rain to fill er wash tub. There is no irregularity r caprice about irrigation." "Wonder how the old fellow picked t all up?" mused Klckard with disespect. Aloud he said, "You were peaking of the value of the soil?" "Look at the earth those plows are urning over. See how rich and friable t is, how it crumbles? You can dig or hundreds of feet and still find that ort of soil, eight hundred feet down! t is disintegrated rock and leaf mold rought in here in the making of a elta. Heavy rainfalls are rare here, hough we have had thein, in spite of iopular opinion. Were we to have requent rains the chemical properties ihich rain farmers must buy to enrich heir worn-out soils would be leached ut, drained from the soil. I can't aake this comprehensive, but I've a Qonograph on desert soil. If you are nterested I'll send It to you." "I should like it?Immensely," asonm'nodp still nmilSPft. uuiru iiiv vii^'uwi i wv??. "It explains the choice of the Aztecs, if the Incas, of Carthaginians, the loors," observed the stranger. "They hose the desert, not in spite of the oil but because of it. I doubt if they rere awake to the social advantages if the svstem. but It wn? their ?* iperatlve brotherhood that helpet. hem to their glory. We are centuries >ehind them. I'm getting out here? imperial. If you come up to Imperial ook me up. Brandon's my name. I've 10 card these dnys!" "There are several things I want to ienr from you," answered Rlckard, following brown necktie and pointed jcnra to tne pintrorm. "i n ne sure ;o look you up. Mine's Riekard." The breeze which wns now entering he cnr windows had blown over the lover-leafed fields. Its message was iweet and fresh. Riekard could see lie canals leading off like silver breads to the homes and farms oT the 'uture; "the socialists' dream come rue!" Willows of two or three years' crowth outlined the hanks. J lore and J rniiRKm art up a nrp\v 'nst the hiird conditions of the land It was Invading. Rlcknrd leaned out of the window and ' looked back up the valley which was dominated by the range now wrapping ( around itself gauzy, iridescent drap-:' erles. "The monument to an effete super- " Btitlon!" he repeated. "That wasn't ' a bad idea." i CHAPTER IV. i The Desert Hotel. He left the dusty car with relief when the twin towns were called. He had expected to see a Mexican town, or at least a Mexican influence, as the towns hugged the border, but It was as vividly American as was Im- ' perial or Brawley. There was the yel-; low-painted station of the Overland 1 raeiue lines, nit* wain uhia, mc cusm i American crowd. Railroad sheds an-! nounced the terminal of the road, j Backed toward, the station was the In-1 evitahle hotel hus of the country town,1 a painted sign hanging over its side advertising the Desert hotel. Before he reached tile step the vehicle was crowded. "Walt, gen'lemen, I'm coming back for a second load," called the darky who was holding the reins. "If you wait for the second trip you won't get a room," suggested a friendly voice from the seat above. Rickard threw his bag to the grin-1 ning negro and swung onto the crowd-' ed steps. Leaving the railroad sheds he observed a building which he assumed was the hotel. It looked promising, attractive with its wide encircling veranda and the patch of green which distance gave the dignity of a lawn. But the darky whipped up his stolid horses. Richard's eyes followed the patch of green. The friendly voice from above told him that that was the office of the Desert Reclamation company. His: next survey was more personal. He | saw himself entering the play as the representative of a company that was distrusted if not indeed actively hated by the valley folk. It aroused him thai his entrance was so quiet as to be surreptitious. It would have been quietei had M?;shall had his way. But h? himself had stipulated that Hardin j should be told of his coming. He had seen the telegram before It left the Tucson office. He might be assuming an unfamiliar role in this complicated drama of river and desert, but It was not to be as an eavesdropper. The heavy bus was plowing slowly through the dust of the street. Richard was given ample time to note the limitations of the new town. They passed two brick stores of general merchandise, lemons and woolen goods, stockings and crackers disporting fraternally in their windows. A ' board sign swinging from the over- 1 hanging porch of the most pretentious building announced the post office. From a small adobe hung a brass J plate advising the stranger of the j Bank of Calexico. The 'dobe pressed ' close to another two-storied structure j of the desert type. The upper floor, supported by posts, extended over the sidewalk. Netted wire screened away the desert mosquito and gave the over- J hanging gallery the grotesque appear-1 ance of a huge fencing mask. From the street could be seen rows of beds, as in hospital wards. Calexico, it was seen, slept out of doors. "Desert hotel," bawled the darky, I reining in his placid team. "Yes, sah, I'll look out for your bag. Got your room: xne nuiet-s uugiuj sure to be full. Not many women yit down this a-way. ... All the men ; mostly lives right heah at the hotel." Rickard made a dive from a swirl of ; dust Into the hotel. The long line he j anticipated at the desk was not there. He stopped to take in a valley innova-; tlon. One end of the long counter had ; been converted into a soda-wnter bar. The high swivel stools In front of the white marbled stand, with Its towering j silver fixtures, were crowded with dust-' parched occupants d* the bus. A white-; coated youth was pouring colored sirups into tall glasses; there was a j clinking of Ice; a sizzling of siphons. "Thut's a new one on me," grinned ; Rickard, turning toward the desk, where a complacent proprietor stood j waiting to announce that there was but one room left. "With bath?" "Bath right across the hall. Only room left in th<-> hnecp." The proprietor j awardeu ium u.e stare. "Going > to be here long?" He passed the last key on the rack to the darky stagger-1 ing under a motley of bags and suit- \ cases. Rickard recognized his, and fol-1 lowed. "I may get you another room tomor-j - ? ? -X i row," called tne proprietor unci uwj i as he climbed the dusty stairs. The signals of a new town were waving In the dining room. The majority of the citizens displayed their shirt sleeves and unblushing suspenders. One large table was surrounded by men In khaki; the desert soldiers, engineers. The full blown waitresses, elaborately pompadoured, were pushing through the swing-doors, carrying heavy trays. Coquetry appeared to be their occupation, rather than meal serving, theuinors accepting uom vunc11os <?f attention with appreciation. The supremacy of those superior maidens was menaced only by two other women who sat at a table near the door. Itickard did not see them at first. The room was as masculine as a restaurant in a new mining town. Itickard left his indoor view to look through the French windows opening on a side street. He noticed a slender hut regular procession. All the men passing fell in the same direction. "ftnoktnll route." explained one of His neignDors, nis uiuuia ruii ? l beef. "Oyster cocktail?" smiled the new:omer. "The real thing! Calexlco's dry, like the whole valley, that is, the county. See that ditch? That is Mexico, on the other side. Those sheds you can see are in Mexicali, Calexico's twin sister. That painted adobe is the custom house. Mexican's not dry, even in summer! You can bet your life on that. You can get all the bad whisky and stale beer you've the money to buy. We work in Calexico, and drink In Mexicali. The temperance pledge is kept better in this town than any other town in the valley. But you can see this procession every night." The Amazon with a handkerchief apron brought Rickard his soup. He was raising his first spoonful to his mouth when he saw the face, carefully ,t53 He Saw the Face, Carefully Averted. averted, of the girl he had met at th< Marshalls' table, Innes Hardin. Hii eyes jumped to her companions, th< man a stranger, and then, Gertj Holmes. .At least, Mrs. Hardin! Some how, it surprised him to find her pretty - " ? - ?JU sne nau acnievea a variety uj. ui? Unction, preserving, moreover, tin clear-cut babyish chin which had made Its early appeal to him. There was the same fluffy hair, its ringlets a bit artificial to his more sophisticated eyes, the same well-turned nose. He had been wondering about this meeting; he found that he had been expecting some sort of shock?who said that the love of today is the jest of tomorrow? The discovery that Gerty was not a Jest brought the surprised gratification which we award a letter or composition written in our youth. Were we as clever as that, so complete at eighteen or twenty-one? Could we, now, with all our experience, do any better, or indeed as well? That particular sentence with wings! Could we make it fly today as it soared yesterday? Rickard was finding that Gerty's more mature charms did not accelerate his heart-beats, hut they were certainly flattering to his early judgment. And he had expected her to be a shock! He was staring into his plate of chilled soup. Calf-love! For ho had loved her, or at least he had loved her ohm Imp nrettv ohildifcll WAV Of liftillC it. She was prettier than he had pictured her. Queer that a man liko Hardin could draw such women for sister and wife?the blood tie was the most amazing. For when women come to marry, they make often a queer choice. It occurred to him that that might have been Hardin?he had not wanted to stare at them. That was not Hardin's face. It held strength and power. The outline was sharp and distinct, showing the strong lines, the determined mouth of the pioneer. There was something else, something which stood for distinction?no, it couldn't be Hardin. And then, because an outthrust lip changed the entire look of the man, Rickard asked his table companions, who was the man with the two ladies, near the door. "That, suh," his neighbor from Alabama became immediately oratorical, "that is a big man, suh. If the Imperial valley ever becomes a reality, a flxtuah, it will be because of that one man, suh. Reclamation is like a seed thrown on a rock. Will it stick? Will It take root? Will it grow? That is i- a _ 1 99 wnat we an warn 10 anuw. Rickard thought that he had wanted to know something quite different, and reminded the gentleman from Alabama that he had not told him the name. "The father of this valley, of the reclamation of this desert, Thomas Hardin, suh." Rickard tried to reset, without attracting their attention, the group ol nis impressions of the man whose per sonality had been so obnoxious to him in the old Lawrence days. The Hardin he had known had also large features, but of the flaccid Irritating order. He summoned a picture of Hardin as he had shuffled into his own classroom, or up to the long table where Gerty had always queened it among her mother's boarders. He could see the rough unpolished boots that had always offend ed hira as a betrayal of the man's Inner coarseness; the badly fitting coat, the long awkward arms, and the satisfied. loud-speaking mouth. These features were more definite. Could time bring these changes? Had be changed, like that? Had they seen him? Would Gerty, would Ilardin remember him! Wasn't it his place to make himself known; wave the flag of old friendship over an awkward situation? lie found himself standing In front of their table, encountering first, the eves of Iiardin's sister. There was no eurprise, no weicorne uiere i?/r mm. felt at once the hostility of the camp. His face was uncomfortably warm. Then the childish profile turned on him. A look of bewilderment, flushing into greeting?the years had been kind to Gerty Holmes! "Do you remember me, Rlckard?" If Ila.din recognized a difficult situation, he did not betray it. It was a man Rickard did not know who shook him warmly by the hand, and said that indeed he had not forgotten him. I ri "I've been expecting you. My wife, Mr. Rickard, and my sister." Itliy, \> Ilcl L U1C J ww v*.f Tom? To introduce Mr. Rickard! I S i introduced you to each other, years ago!" Gerty's cheeks were red. Her 1 bright eyes were darting from one to i the other. "You knew he was coming,' i and did not tell me?" "You were at the Improvement club when the telegram came," put in Innes Hardin, without looking at Rickard. No trace of the Tucson cordiality in that proud little face! No acknowledgment that they had met at the Marshall's! i "Oh, you telegraphed to us?" The blond arch smile had not aged. "That was friendly and nice." Rickard had not been self-conscious ! for many a year. He did not know what to say. He turned from her up turned face to the others. Innes Hardin was staring out of the window, over the heads of several crowded I tables; Hardin was gazing at his plate. Rickard decided that he would get out I of this before Gerty discovered that It was neither "friendly nor nice." "If I had known that you were here, I would have insisted on your dining with us, in our tent. For it's terrible, here, isn't it?" She flashed at him the look he remembered so vividly, the n/\nnAffloh onnoo 1 "IVo rltnA uuiuimi v-uijuciiiou 14'i'vu.. ?? v ? - 9 at home, till it becomes tiresome, and then we come foraging for variety. But you must come to us, say Thursday. Is that right for you? We should love it." Still those two averted faces. Rickard said Thursday, as he was bidden, and got back to his table, wondering , why in thunder he had let Marshall perI suade him to take this job. Hardin waited a scant minute to pro f test: "What possessed you to ask him .i to dinner?" ,j "Why shouldn't I? He is an old , j friend." Gerty caught a glance of ap, I peal, from sister to brother. "Jealous?" she pouted charmingly at her lord. ! "Jealous, no!" bluffed Hardin. He thought then that she knew, that '! Innes had told her. The Lawrence epi1! sode held no sting to him. Once, it 1 had enchanted him that he had carMed ! off the boarding-house belle, whom even ! j that bookman had found desirable? !, bookman! A superior dude! He had 1 always had those grard airs. As if it : were not more to a man's credit to 1 j struggle for his education, even if he 1 were older than his class, or his teach1 er, than to accept it off silver plates, 1 handed by lackeys? RIckard had al1 ways acted as if it had been somethlng^^^^H ' to be ashamed of. It made him sick. j "They've done It this time. Ifs j fool choice." JHpNH Again, that look of pleading from In-^ nes. Gerty had a shiver of intuition. """ V 1 "Fool choice?" Her voice was oml| nousl.v calm. j Hardin shook off Innes' eyes. Better be done with it! "He's the new gen, eral manager." 'j "lie's the general manager!" ' > "I'm to take orders from him." Gorty's silence was of the stunned ' variety. The Hardlns watched her ' | crumbling broad on the tablecloth, 1 thinking, fearfully, that she was going : to cry. 1 "Dhln't I tell you?" Her voice, re pros- d, carried the threat of tears. :; "Didn't I tell you how it would be? 1; Didn't I say that you'd be sorry if you I called the railroad in?" 1 "Must we go over this again?" asked 1 her husband. 1 j "Why didn't you tell me? Why did you let me make a goose of myself?" She was remembering that there had . been no protest, no surprise from In! nes. She knew! A family secret! ? She shrugged. "I'm glad, on the whole, 1 that you planned it us a surprise. For 1 I carried it off as If we'd not been ln1 suited, disgraced." | "Gerty!" expostulated Hardin. "Gerty!" Implored Innes. , "And we are in for a nice friendly . dinner!" 1 "Are you quite finished?" Hardin 1 got up. I As the three passed out of the dining 1 room, Rlckard caught their several exi presslons: Hardin's stiff, Indifferent; Gerty's brilliant but hard, as she [ flashed a finished, brave little smile in I his direction. The sister's bow was L distinctly haughty. | In the hall, Gerty's laugh rippled out. It was the laugh Rlckard remembered, the light frivolous cadence which recalled the flamboyant pattern of the Holmes' parlor carpet, the long, crowded dining table where Gerty had reigned. It told him that she was Indifferent to his coming, as she meant It should. And It turned him back to a dark corner In the honeysuckledraped porch where he had spent so many evenings with her, where once he had held her hand, where he told her that he loved her. For he had loved her, or at least he thought-he had I And had run away from her ex*. g pectant eyes. A cad, was he, because | lie had brought that waiting look Into her eyes, and had run from It? ' Should a man ask a woman to give | her life into his keeping until he la f ( quite sure that lie wants It? He wan ' *?* > tnnlnrr liivj ivnrn (Ipfpnsp KlimiM j ho live up to a minute of surrender, of ? , tenderness, if the next instant brings , sanity, and disillusionment? He could hury now forever self-reproach. lie 1 could laugh at his own vanity. Oerty Hardin, it was easy to see, had forgotten what he had .whispered to Gerty Holmes. They met as sober Old friends. That ghost vss laid. (To be continued.) '4 < 4 ' aAo M