The Elbert County tribune. [volume], June 08, 1917, Image 2

About The Elbert County tribune. [volume] (Elbert, Elbert County, Colo.) 18??-1920

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"We'll Charge a Fortune for a Tea Biscuit and Bankrupt Everybody That
Comes," Said Gloria.
GLORIA'S
ROMANCE
by Mr. and Mrs. Rupert Hughes
Novelized from the Motion
Picture Play of the same
name by George Kleine.
Iflß. *r A4il»« M
6YNOPS1S.
Plerpont Stafford, With t»l« daughter
Gloria, in wintering at Po.’m Beach. Glo
ria it a vivacious but willful young lady
who chufes under the retraining hand of
n governess from whom she repeatedly
escapes. Her childish capers cause young
Doctor Royce to fall In love with her.
Becoming lost In the everglades she falls
Into the hands of the Seminole Indians.
Gloria foils In lovo with her rescuer, Fre
neau. Five yeurs later she leaves school
and meets Freneau at the theater; he has
forgotten Gloria. Loiter Freneau per
suades her to forgive him. Gloria’s sis
ter-in-law, Lola, becomes Intensely Jeal
ous and Doctor Koyce discovers In her
an ally Freneau takes leave of Gloria.
She sees from her window an attack made
upon him. Doctor Royce convinces her It
is dollrluin. She accidently sees the sup
posed suicide of Freneau reported In the
paper. Gloria swears to llnd the mur
derer. Royi e tells what he knows of
Freneau to Mr. Stafford. Gloria Insists
on going to Palm Beach. She Is recog
nised by her on.e*tlme captor, the young
Indian chief. He tells her that Royce
and not Freneau was her rescuer nt that
time. Gloria attends night court; she sees
Mulry there, also the tramp who attacked
Freneau. But Judge Freeman releases
him. She follows the tramp when he
leaves the court. She finds herself In a
low saloon dance hall, and Is selected by
one of the patrons as his partner. Doc
tor Royce. however, follows her and
when he attempts a rescue, calls down a
riot on their heads. The hall Is raided
and the crowd. Including Gloria und
Royce, Is arrested and taken before Judge
Freeman. Caslmlr arrives with the child
Gloria promised to adopt. She orders
Royce to take Gaslmlr’s wife to the Staf
ford home. She follows Trask and lands
on a houseboat to hear him accused of
Freneau’s murder. She confronts him;
he Imprisons her, but she ties him up and
escapes. By many stages she arrives a?
home. In the yacht Gloria and the men
pursue the barge. Trask Ilres on thorn
as they near him. In the light that fol
lows Trask Is badly wounded. He Is
taken to the Stafford home. Royce en
deavors to return to Lola hor letters to
Freneau. During a playful scuffle Gloria
sees and recognizes the envelop. She
suspects Royce of complicity in the mur
der. Royce tells her all. She sees one of
Idols’ letters to Freneau. Judge Free
man confesses his part. When Lois Is
confronted she ilees from Gloria intent
•n suicide.
NINETEENTH EPISODE
Her Vow Fulfilled
As Lola Stafford fled down the ter
races of her father-in-law's majestic
estate, her own life seemed to he sym
bolized in her desperate ambition to
destroy herself. The flowers and the
aromatic shrubs threw out their frag
rance ubout her, but she would not
pause. She was bent upon the tragedy
waiting for her In the deep ravine
toward which tho express train was
plunging as if In obedience to her sum
mons.
The cries of Gloria, who pursued
her frantically, came to her like the
voice of conscience. She had never
heeded that voice and she would not
hearken to It now. She hud trodden
the primrose puth of dalliance and It
had led her forth into the glare of ex
posure. She would not endure the
shame. It seemed better to her Irre
sponsible soul to run away from self
denial. She had not cured what laws
of fldelity she broke nnd she did not
care now whnt hearts she might
break. Her husband's tarnished honor,
her father’s blighted career, did not
win a thought from her.
It was Gloria who thought of these
things even as she followed. Glorlu
felt more guilt than Lois, for Gloria
had confronted Lois with the proofs
of her perfidy, never fancying that
Lois would answer the charge by pun
ishing herself with the suine reckless
ness that had marked her sin. As she
saw Lois running toward death with
eagerness, she understood for tho first
time that it was In Lots' character
to do everything passionately. She
realized that Lois had always been
Lois, and that her fault was, perhaps,
Wood ht*r «wq control. Lois was
born without Imagination of conse
quences und without an Instinct of
Justice for others. Was Lois to blame
for her failure to inherit such qual
ities? At the time, at leust, Gloria
was convinced that Lois wus like one
born blind, more to be forgiven than
hated. Gloria felt only pity for her
sister-ln-luw und she uccused herself j
of cruelty In demanding payment of
her.
Gloria ran £S fast as she could, her
heurt beating till she was ready to
fall down with the pain of It. She
was about to give up when Lois, glanc- j
ing back for a last look at the beauti
ful earth she was about to leave,
stumbled and went to her knees.
She rose at once and sped on. but
Gloria had been enabled to gain on
her, und to overtake her at tlie very
edge of the ravine. With loving ruth
lessness Glorlu flung herself on Lois
and dragged her back.
Lois fought with insane ferocity,
tearing Gloria’s hands loose und writh
ing out of her clasp. But Gloria seized \
hold again and again. Lois carried i
her hack to the brink and the turf at
the edge gave wav under their fe*>t as
they wrestled. Gloria had now her
own life to fight' for us well as Lois',
for at uuy moment both women might
She Was Still Surrounded by Hostile
Friends.
go hurtling down the steep bank to
the railroad tracks.
They were still battling wh-m the
engine roared past. The trainman,
leaning out of his window, stared up
nt them in amazement. They were
still struggling when the last ooach
flushed past.
It wns only then, when her weapon
of suicide wus gone from her reach,
that Lois gave up the fight. She fell
to the ground weeping. She wus more
afruid of facing life than death, and
she sobbed with terror if not with re
morse.
ELBERT COUNTY TRIBUNE.
CHorllT knelt ny her, begging her not
to cry. At Inst she offered the final
bribe In her power. She drew the en
velope of letters from the bosom of
her gown and held It out to Lois, say
ing:
"I forgive you. dear. I have no
right to Judge you. I can’t take that
responsibility. Keep your life and your
post und make what you will of them.”
Lois rather suw the prize than heard
the counsel and she snatched at the
i letters with the instinct of a child.
• ••••••
Gloria felt her heart harden again.
She could not keep hack a feeling of
contempt for the selfish pettiness of
Lois.
Gloria was afraid to speak lest she I
waste further rebukes on n soul that
could not profit by any other chastise-!
ment than sacrifice So Gloria
left her uiul climbed the terraces. She
noted with relief that no one had seen
the brief drama that might have star
tled the whole nation. She was afraid
that she had done everything she
ought not to Imve done.
As she was entering the house to go
to her room the boy Stus called her.
Me wus lugging a picture hook of for
eign paintings. He knew nothiug of
any of them and he asked Glorlu muny
questions she could not answer. One
of the pictures represented Christ
kneeling and writing on the ground.
Near him lay a contrite woman In
I shame und tears. In the background
; a number of men were turning away
shamefaced. The picture was labeled,
"Neither Do I Condemn Thee, Go and
Sin No More.”
Now, Gloria felt that she was Justi
fied in laying aside her Impulse to ex
act a penalty from Lois. She told Stas
that the picture was beyond the un
derstanding of * child, and that he
was lucky to be a child. She wished
that she hud never grown up. Then
she went to her room. Looklug from
her window, she could see the emhunk
ment where she had won a double vic
tory over Lois and herself. Lois wus
teariug the bundle of letters to bits j
! und scattering the pieces upon the '
railroad track, where she had nearly j
been torn to pieces herself.
Gloria felt that one riddle at least
wus solved. She felt sorry for Duvid
and his choice among women. Then
she remembered the judge’s accusa
tion against Duvid. According to that
her brother was guilty of a more hein
ous crime than Lois. He had taken a
life or, with even greater wickedness,
hud persuaded another man to com
mit murder for him. She could not
rest till she hud either cleared David
of that suspicion or warned him that
his secret wns known.
**•**••
The reason that the duel between
Gloria and Lois hud not been observed
by anyone but the fleeting eyes of the
fireman on the express engine was
that the Stafford estate was a little
j world lu Itself.
David hud been conferring with his
business associates by telephone. Pler
! pout had been inspecting the prize cat
ile with which he Jealously expected
to confound his rival neighbors at the
next county fair. Stas had been look
ing at the big picture books on the
huge table in the great living room.
Ills father, Caslmlr, had been working
among the rose hushes with the heud
gardener. Judge Freeman had been
involved In one more conspiracy, which
i he firmly hoped would be the last.
It was Caslmlr who first Interrupt
ed Gloria in her search for David.
Caslmlr had hardly believed that there
were as many roses in ail the world
as there In the Stafford close. He
could see ids wife lying in u reclin
. ing chuir in u sunny nook and It oc
curred to him that one of those roses
would cheer her and serve us u bit of
gallantry. So he plucked one. Tho
gardener suw the deed, charged on
him with a rour, und snatched the
flower from him. The deep thorn bite
he received In his thumb did not pacify
him. He stood sucking his thumb aud
swearing when Pierpont strolled by.
I Pierpont had lost his temper at The
: dairy because the head valet to the
cows had not brushed their teeth to Ids
satisfaction nor manicured their hoofs
to perfection. When the gardener ex
plained' that Caslmlr had dured to
pluck one of the famous and priceless
Pierpont roses which had never failed
{ of honorable mention ut the annual ex
| ldbltiou of the Garden club, Pierpont
wus more wroth than the head gur
deuer.
Casimir quailed before the on
slaught, and Gloria, drawn to the spot
by the noisy voices, found him craven
with confusion. She took his part at
once, and when the gardener und her
father explained the atrocity he had
committed Glorlu also turned on him:
“In heaven’s name, Casimir, what
did you mean by tuking the only rose
my poor father has?”
“I did tuke it,” Mees Gloria, for to
, geeve my poor vife. Better I should
go away now, yes?”
‘‘You took a rose to give to your
wife, did you?” Gloria cried. "You
ought to be uslmmed of yourself."
”1 am It! Oh, I am it,” Casimir
protested.
“I should think you would be,”
Glorlu stormed. "Taking onefose for
your poor wife. The next time you
want flowers for her you take as many
us you cun carry.”
While her father and the gardener
and Casimir gaped like dolts, she
snipped off u dozen of the Pierpont
i roses with the gardener’s own shears.
! She luid them in Casimir’s arms and
said: "Maybe she won't care for the
' Pierpont roses. I don’t thiuk much of
‘ them, myself. So take her some of
each of these varieties, and find which
she likes best. Then if the gurdoner
bothers you again, tell me and I'll snip
| his head off the same way and you
1 cun have his pluce.”
Sne gave the gardener Ms sneers,
pushed Casimir out of the iqclosure,
and followed, turning to suy: "Thank
you. father."
Pierpont and the gardener looked at
each other and both said, “Whew!”
Glorlu went along to make sure that
Casimir’s wife received the flowers
with no hint of their hazardous gather
ing. Then she went to the hernse to
find David.
She was encountered by her aunt,
the greut Hortensia, with a bevy of
other great ladies from the country
side.
“Give us tea. Gloria, for heaven’s
sake,” said Hortensia, "and come lis
ten to our scheme.”
They dragged Gloria to the Japanese
tea garden, whither the servants
brought tea and all Its accompani
ments ucross the lawn. Aunt Hor
tensia gathered in Doctor Royce as
well.
Aunt Hortensia explained that it
was about time to "get up something.”
Each of the ludics had her pet charity
which needed funds and everyone
talked at the same time. Gloria’s mind
■was too full of her own problems to
feel much Interest. She beckoned to
Casimir and sent him with teu and
cakes for his wife. When he came
back with the china she piled up a
lit tie midafternoou banquet for him
self.
He took It shyly, then stared at it.
and shook his head und offered It
buck. Glorlu asked why. He hesl- j
tnted, then exclaimed: "In my Po- ■
land millions of my peoples are (ly- ;
Ing because they have not of bread. '
And should I to eat of cake? No, I
could not, please!”
Gloria respected hls feelings too
much to force him to eat, hut she
turned to the committee and, claiming
the floor, asked the house to listen to
a delegate from Europe. She made
Casimir speak. He wus tongufsiied
at first with embarrassment, hut he
warmed to hls theme and told of the
miseries of Ids beloved land, over
Gloria Flung Herself on Lois.
which vast armies had fought back
and forth again und again till the
wealthy and noble were living in cel
lars and eating husks aud the poor
were dying in herds.
When he hud finished every eye wns
wet and every henrt afire for Poland.
When Gloria proposed a mammoth
lawn festival for Polish relief there
was unanimous assent.
"We’ll charge n fortune for a tea
biscuit and bankrupt everybody that
comes, 1 "• said Gloria. "Then I’ll take
the money over to Poland myself to
make sure that it falls into the right
hands.”
“And I’ll go along with you,” Doc
tor Royce spoke up, "to make sure
that you dou’t fall into the wrong
hands."
Everyone applauded the Impudence,
but Gloria answered It with, one of
her blackest looks. Doctor Royce was
still under the bun. He had confessed
too much and duped her too well to
be forgiven ia haste. But her rebuke
was ignored in the excitement of the
convention. A mammoth lawn festival
for Polish relief; there was no dis
sent.
Now once more Gloria felt free to
seek Dnvid. She found him, hiding,
he said, till the women got away. She
asked him to follow her. She had
perfected her scheme for testing his
Innocence or his guilt. /•ii
David had not been present when
the yachting expedition set forth to
run down Trask, nor had he been pres
ent when Trask was brought in. Duvid
was thoroughbred enough to rule his
own expressions and to pretend ignor
ance of Trask’s existence. But Gloria
felt sure that If she could bring the
two men suddenly face to fnce one or
the other would betray a guilty knowl-'
edge.
So she snid to David: “Come with
me. I’ve got a surprise for you.”
David followed her up to the guest
room where Trask had been installed.
She led him’to the door, knocked,
opened the door, and bade David enter.
A screen stood before the bed ana she
drew it aside quickly, ‘keeping her
eyes on David. She saw surprise In
ids face, but not of the sort she ex
pected. His surprise wus blank won
der. She turned to see how Trusk
took the confrontation. Trask wu#
not there. The bed was empty.
Gloria ran to find the nurse. She
met her just coming in from a motor
ride. She had takeu her two Hours
of liberty, she said, leaving Nell to
care for her father. She was stunned
by the news of Trask’s departure. He
was too weak to rise and walk. It
seemed impossible that he could have
been carried out without attracting the
attention of a dozen servants.
“And I'll Go Along With You,” Said Doctor Royce.
Gloria felt bewitched. She ran to
seek Doctor Royce. David ran after
her, asking: “What's it all about?
What’s the little surprise you had for
me? It seems to have cuught you first.”
“Don’t bother me,” was all Glorlu
would say.
David seemed so amused by ner dis
may that she begun to suspect him of
kidnaping his confederate. But she
dared not accuse him lest, if he were
Innoceut, she would reveal to him
more of Lois’ guilt than she felt It her
right to divulge.
She stood off Dnvid and hurried on
to find Doctor Royce. She met Judge
Freeman ou the huts, and told him
what had happened. He expressed
surprise, but when she had lert Min
she began to feel dissatisfied with the
sincerity of his amazement. But she
could not puuse to investigate further.
When at last she found Royce, she
forgot that he was in her black book
still. It had been her habit for so
many years to run to him with her
problems that she ran to him now,
and, laying her hands on his arm,
cried:
“Oh, Stephen, Stephen, they’ve stol
on Trask! I’ve lost him again aud I
don’t know what to do.”
"Stolen Trask 1” Royce exclaimed.
“It’s Impossible.”
"Of course. It’s impossible,” said
Gloria, "but it’s true, too.”
Royce set out to pick up what trace
there might be of him. Glorlu tagged
ulong. Royce asked every servant he
met where he had been. Several of
them hud been on the lawn serving tea.
Judge Freeman had sent others on vari
ous errands. The cook and her crew
had been busy providing for Aunt Hor
tensia’s mob. Royce called for his
own chauffeur. He had been in the
kitchen, he confessed, as a guest at u
tea party below stuirs.
Judge Freeman was not to be found.
As a matter of fact he was the prin
cipal offender. After he left Gloria
he hud wandered about in a deep and
gloomy meditation. He was convinced
thut Gloria, with her Impulsive und
unmanageable temper, was set upon
unraveling every knot in the tangle.
He was sure that her inexperience
with the world would keep her from
foreseeing the consequences and thut
she would compel a complete revela
tion. Tl.-S would end only in a public
scandal, uu enormous and irretrievable
disaster.
David would be put on trial for his
life and Trask would turn state's evi
dence against him to save hls own
life. David would perhaps be sen
tenced to death, or, if he escaped that,
he would escape it In some pretense
of insanity, with all the aftermath
of endless serial scandals. In any
case, Lois would he disgraced before
the world, aud if David’s wealth could
bribe an acquittal, it would purchuse
a divorce.
Another consequence would be that
the judge himself would be impeached
or forced to a resignation under fire,
with hls ermine dishonored. It is only
fair to say thut the Judge’s fears for
his own suffering had less weight with
him than his fears for the wreck of
hls daughter’s life and of David’s. He
loved David as if he were his own
son. He had a deep affection for
Pierpont, and he cherished u greut
fondness for Glorlu. He respected
even the motives that were so perilous
to herself as well as all the others.
He wandered disconsolately about ;
the lonelier portions of the Stafford !
demesne and found himself at the j
outer gate. There he chanced to see !
tho bargeman, Jed, come up the road.
Jed asked If he knew where the Staf
ford place was. Judge Freeman told
him that It was before him. Jed asked \
If u badly hurt man hud been taken in !
there with his daughter. The judge 1
nodded aud asked what lie Knew of
tho pair.
Jed said he didn’t know much ex
cept that the old man’s daughter was
his girl and going to marry him some
day and he was afraid she was in
trouble. So he had left the barge to
hurry back and see if he could be of
some use.
The judge questioned him cautiously
and finally jiroposed that the best thing
to do would be to get the old man out
of the hands of the Staffords, who
meant him no good. Jed seized on the
| suggestion hungrily and the judge of
i fered hls co-operation. He led Jed by
I a little frequented path to the rear of
the house and bade him wait. He
went In and sent Nell out to speak to
Jed and muke sure that she wanted to
escape with him. Nell assured him
that she did. The beauty of the home
oppressed her.
While Nell wns talking with Jed
Judge Freeman was ordering hls own
chuuffeur to bring the ear up to a cor
ner of the driveway shielded from the
house by u clump of ancient rhododo
dendrons us large as trees. Then the
Judge, surprised at his own crafti
ness nnd bringing into play nil the
lore he had acquired from hearing
thieves’ confessions, set about the bur
glarious art of clearing the house.
Most of the servants had been Im
pressed into the serving of wholesale
tea nt Aunt Hortensln’s convention.
The rest Judge Freeman sent on '•ari
ous errands with messages to distunt
laborers on the grounds.
When the coast, or at least the stair
way, was clear, he called in his chauf
feur and Jed. They hurried up to
Trask’s room and. lifting him in hls
sheets, hurried out into the hall and
down the stairs with him. The old
man suffered agonies from the Jolts
nnd jars, but he smotnered his groans
somewhat. The Judge went ahead as
a scout and warded off one maid who
ran in for Aunt Hortensia’s parasol
nnd a man who hurried back for a so
cial register of the county to be used
in making up a committee list.
Thus Trask wns, as the saying Is,
spirited away without being seen by
anyone except his abductors. The
chauffeur ran his car from the grounds
by the tradesmen’s entrance and
Judge Freeman, lingering, saw the
cloud of dust the machine raised ns It
dashed north. He remained to keep
watch nnd to do what he could to
turn pursuit in the wrong direction.
He felt disquieted by the pallor of
Trask and by his extreme exhaustion.
He was afraid that the old man would
not last long. He hated himself for
the thought, but he could not dismiss
the belief that it would solve all prob
lems if the wretch would pass away
in silence. If he spoke he might con
demn himself to death in the clmlr
and take David with him.
Judge Freeman abhorred his owu
deed and regretted that he could not
punish himself publicly ns severely as
he would have punished another judge
who violated hls honor so. But he
“I've Got a Surprise for You.”
had been a father before he became a
judge, nnd tho parental Instinct over
ruled the legal obligation. He under
stood as never before the almost lrre*
sistiblo Impulses that compel men to
ward criminal acts, and he wondered
which it were better to do, resign his
post us Judge of other men or remain
on the bench and administer mercy
more freely than he hud been wont to
do.
Meanwhile he smiled, though dismal
ly, to think that his old head had out
witted the young wits of Gloria. He
suw how disturbed she was by the es
cape of her captive, but he felt no
more remorse than one feels who takes
a sharp knife nway from a child lest
It wound itself as well as others.
Gloria was frantic. She was still
surrounded by hostile friends who
thwarted every effort she inudo to
learn tho truths that were all lmpoi*
tant to her peace of heart.
<TO BE CONTINUED.)