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A BALEFL PLOT
By Genevieve Ulmar
(Copyright by "W- G. Chapman.)
"You shan't have her if the cost
is my fortune, my life, yours, I swear
you shall never call Leonie Marsh
your -wife!"
Martin Rood faced his successful
rival in love, a breathing volcano of
rage and other emotions. His face
was distorted, his eyes blazed with
a lurking insanity, his fingers writhed
as though they would clutch the
throat of Vincent Barrows and choke
the life out of him.
The latter placed a friendly, kind
ly hand upon the arm of the other.
Rood shook it off wrathfully. " The
last glance he bestowed on Vincent
as he turned away made him shud
der. "Too bad!" reflected Vincent. "1
don't doubt that he loved Leonie, and
I am sorry for him. It was a fair
contest, though more than fair. I
went away to give him his chance.
He never had any, it seems, for
Leonie loved me all along. She would
not marry him if he was the last man
in the world. He knows that, yet
how the poor fellow hates me!"
--So it seemed, and so it was.' Both
men were rich as wealth wentJLn the
cattle belt. Rood was the elder of
the two and was a widower. He was
cynical and imperious, and set on an
object, usually gained it His lack
of encouragement from Leonie had
soured him. Then to disappointment
succeeded the dark resolve that if
the pretty belle of the town did not
marry him she should not wed his
rival.
Vincent went home, thoughtful,
disturbed' and distressed as to his for
mer friend, Rood. The latter, he had
noticed, acted strangely of late. At
times there was an expression in his
eye Vincent did not like! He often
wondered if his mind was just right.
In a bitter, open way, publicly, Rood
had shown his enmity for the man 1
who had once been his friendly com
panion. "Hello!" ejaculated Vincent as he
passed along the garden walk be
side his home.
A window was open. It had not
been when he had recently left the
house. His housekeeper was absent
for a week and he had been keeping
bachlor's hall. The disturbed vines
beneath the window warned of an
intruder. Vincent decided that there
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"You Are Doomed."
had been a burglarious visit during
his absence.
He went around to the front door
and noiselessly let himself into the
house. On tiptoe he proceeded
through the various rooms. The one
where the window was open was his
study. As he glanced in he observed
that some money on his desk had
not been disturbed. In the cabinet
in the dining room the .silverware
was undisturbed. There was a rus
tling sound in the kitchen. He pro
ceeded thithers
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