The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., August 19, 1920, Image 8

About The Bridgeport times and evening farmer. (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1918-1924

Image provided by: Connecticut State Library, Hartford, CT

                
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Boys Wi
By Walt Gregg.
Be
ES, ni tell you, boys
will be boys, that's
all. Kegley said."
concluded "Dad"
Winter.
For several mo
menta after "Pad"
ceased speaking the
Chair Warmers'
Ch preserved a
- Bevera 1 a t n a
While the members moved up closer
to the stove and Indulged la fresh
chews. - A '
"Wen. - now, that Idea may bo all
right as pertains to kids," said "North
Pole" Peters at last, as he spat deli
cately and with precision on the nick
el rim of the stove, "but you take It
with animals and Its different, as I had
occasion to learn once and remember
distinctly, in tell you how It was."
"North Pole," who derived hi mon
iker from the fact that on the top of
his head but one brave, lone hair
stood forth la. alljta naked, loveliness
on A .vast, expanse of baldness, bor
rowed a fresh chew of tobacco, elevat
ed his feet, and began.
"I don't suppose any - of you ever
knew Bill MacQulnn, for this hap
pened out West, and besides, -was a
long time ago. This MacQulnn had a
ranch out there', and. I got a job with
him punching cattle. " There was a
broncho on the place at this time
Which was considerable of a speeder
In his way, and we used to race him
with all the bronchos around the
neighborhood, and be always won if
the rider's whip arm held out.
"You see, MacQulnn got the nag
from a bunch of Mexican horse trad
ers who had raised him from a colt,
and It seems they formed a habit of
beatln' the pony about the first day he
was born, and had consistently kept it
Wire, which was the critter's name,
didn't toe the scratch.' the Greasers
would grab a fence picket and break
It over his system In five equal pieces.
"Of , course, with some beasts it
might have been different, but Barb
Wire got so used to It and his back
became so cussed tough, that he
seemed to enjoy the wallopings, and
When MdC bought him he had reached
that hilarious stage where no one
HQ song ended ab
ruptly, there was a
quick step on the
stairs and the door
was flung open and
Miss Peggy O'Neill
stood facing Lady
Mansfield. i
She looked like a
school girl, not an
adventuress. She
was dressed as Lady Mansfield's
daughter might beressed only bet
ter; and under a halo of fair hair two
, very blue eyes rested Inquiringly on
Lady Mansfield's tape.
"My son tellB me that he has prom
ised to marry you,' said Lady Mans
field briefly.
"Won't you ait down?" asked Peggy
suavely. She waited until Lady Mans
field, -after a momentary hesitation,
seated herself In rigid Insecurity on
the edge of the big Chesterfield that
was drawn up in front of the fire, then
Peggy pulled forward a straight, high
backed chair, where she perched, her
little feet swinging high above the pol
ished floor. -
'Your son has asked me to marry
him," she corrected gently.
"Iajnarriage 'necessary?" questioned
Lady Mansfield coldly.
Peggy regarded the buckles of her
little shoes with an absorbing Inter
est. "Necessary is hardly the word." she
replied, still more gently.
There was the suspicion of a smile
In the curve of her mouth that made
Lady Mansfield flush quickly under her
velU She realized her mistake. She
leaned a little forward, trying to make
both her manner and her voice softer
as Bbe spoke.
"I mean to say that In your profes
sion. Isn't marriage rather a draw
back? It would mean giving up so
much; your life as a married woman
would be so dull, so commonplace, in
comparison."
"Many ' people still think that a
countess can never be quite common
place." "But you know better, surely?"
Lady Mansfield had not meant to
make her voice quite so eager.
"Besides, do you think that you
could be really happy with my son?
He is still only a-boy. he is fickle, he
is spoiled you jnust know far more
brilliant and amusing men."
Peggy met her eyes full.
"Harold is about the dullest man I
have ever met, and the weakest."
It was hardly a verdict for a mother
to hear of her only son from a woman
- she did not consider good enough for
him.
"Perhaps my son would like to hear
you say that."
-He has orcen neara me say ic xou
see," she added. In a sudden burst of
friendly confidence, "you have spoiled
him at home, and bo have all your
well-brought-up young ladies he meets
at the dances and tennis parties, or
Wherever well-bred ypung girls meet
the men they hope to marry; so the
could get anything out of him with
out bustin' him a couple tVies with
an ax as a sort of preliminary hear
in'. "But the critter did have the speed,
and as I Bald, if the rider could fan
him long enough, he would burn up
the distance remarkable.
"Well, In the natural , course of
things came the first annual fair of
Tomahawk county, and what did Mac
do but get It into his bean to enter
Barbwire in the big free-for-all
sweepstake. Yes. sir, that's what he
done, and when the entry opened he
took me and -we went over to Lucky
Strike, the county seat, with the
dough. . Fifty good hard beans It cost
to get an admission Into that speed
f est, but it was worth the chance, any- ,
way, as it was only one heat, and car
ried a purse of two thousand. Yep,
they done things up right in them
days.
"'Bob,' said the old man to me, 1
believe we can pull down that kale if
no better plugs than these show up.
Barbwire has beaten all of them al
ready, and I believe he can do it
again.'
"'Yes,' I answered thoughtful, "but
remember he beat them only on quar
ter and half-mile dashes, and this is
for five quarters, which Is a whole lot
different.'
" 'How different? asked Mac.
" 'It's like this I replied. 'Barbwire
will run just as long as the jockey's
arm holds out, and then, good night t
Well, you remember, he's only, run
three half-mile races, and he nearly
lost two of them because the jockey
couldnt keep up the pace. Now,
therefore, where you going to get a
rider who can apply the osteopathic
treatment for a mile and a quarter?' -
" 'Why, that aint such a awful
stunt.' said Mac. "I could do it myself.'
" 'Sure, sure, but " you weigh two
hundred and fifty with one1 hand tied
behind you.'
" 'That's so,' answered Mac, "I nev
er thought of that.'
"'It's a terrible and astonishln'
thing,' I went on, 'to stick on the top
of a streakin' cayuse a mile and a
quarter, and at the same time try to
play the Anvil Chorus on the plug's
- - r
fact that he bores me adds to my
charm or whatever you aje pleased
to call it."
"Then why do you want to marry
him?" ,
"I must marry one day. I can't al-.
ways be what the papers call an 'Idol
of the Public,' and so I might as well
be a countess and . a rich one. I am
promised while I am about it."
' "I wish that he had not a penny
then he would be beyond the clutches
of such as you."
"Do you really hate me as much as
that?"
Lady Mansfield realized how undig
nified her outburst had been; she felt
suddenly mortified that this girl
should have witnessed her lack of
control, and there was something al
most pathetic in her attempt to re
gain her composure.
"I am sorry if I hurt you," she said,
with a kind of proud humbleness, "but
my son is all the world to me. This
marriage would bo such a great, such
a terrible mistake a mistake that will
be beyond remedy ever again. I am an
old woman, and he is all I care for;
you are only a child, still with your life
before you. You don't love him, so
why can you wish to make me, an ut
ter stranger to you, so unhappy? Why
do you wish to wreck his life, a life
that means so little to you, just to
satisfy a girlish vanity?"
"Vanity is the wrong word. Lady
Mansfield. It is to satisfy a revenge."
Lady Mansfield stared at her blank
ly. "You hate me without knowing me,
because you hate the type I represent
the pretty, brainless, -unscrupulous,
ambitious type that understands all
the same how to make fools of the
dissipated, brainless young men who
come to us. But I" she paused, her
eyes full . of a shining hardness "I
hate you, not because of your type and
the worlds away it places you from
me, but because I know you you
yourself!"
She went to the writing table and
took up a small velvet case that lay
there. She opened it with a cool , de
liberation and then held it close for
Lady Mansfield to see.
"This is my father's picture," she
said simply.
Lady Mansfield was an unemotional
woman. All her life she had accept
ed while others gave, but as she lean
ed forward, peering wonderingly at
the painted face, her own went white,
and she gave a stifled cry that was
almost a sob.
"I am Doris Weatherfleld, and you
are the woman who ruined my father
and broke my mother's heart."
Lady Mansfield straightened herself
suddenly. It was the first time in all
her life that her self-possession had
been shaken; she-regarded it almost
as a breach of good taste that she had
been startled into an exclamation of
dismay. She looked up with unwaver-
ing eyes, and her voice was calm again
when she answered, .
hindquarters at every Jump.
" 'How about you?' asked Mao sudden-like.
'You're as tough as they
make 'em.
"'I'm not much overweight,' I said,
but I'm not durable enough In the
arms.'
" "Well, it's a week before the race,'
replied Mac. 'Suppose you practice up
and see what you can do.'
- "Now, I never used that 'spare the
rod' thing as my motto, and wasnt
much of a fellow to Indulge In a whole
lot of massage treatment with ani
mals, so I started in sort of easy and
gentle with Barbwire, lntendin' to try
and coax a little speed out of him with
sugar and kind words instead of cuss
talk and clubs. The first time I tried
that program I was surprised at the
astonishln' results. Barbwire Just
stood still ' a minute lookin' puzzled
and sad, then he. turned his head sud
den, bit me In the leg, tossed me
over his head into a fence, and walked
off filled with gloom.
"I didn't ride any more that day, but
the next morning I saddled the cayuse,
mounted the leather with a club in one
hand and a deep, dark grouch tinc
tured with revenge in the other, and
we went the first half in 0:32. Then
I got tired, and we finished the course
we bad staked off in two minutes and
a halt.
"Of course, this was discouragln to
some extent, but I stuck with it, and
the day before the race I used two
clubs and went a mile in 1:20, then I
fell off from exhaustion and Barbwire
never did finish.
"That made me sick and downheart
ed, as it were, and Mac wasn't feelin'
any too -well himself, and when we
went over to Lucky Strike the next
day and discovered that a dark horse
.named Golddust had butted Into the
game, we felt grieved and hurt, and
wished we were dead, .but of course,
there was no way out of it except by
losing the entry fee, so Mao said we
might as well take a chance anyhow,
and pray by the shade of Mercury that
my arm would last to the finish.
"There was nothing to do until time
for the big race in the afternoon, as
Barbwire didn't belong to that class of
rowdy-dows that require a couple of
"I knew your father and mother
many years ago, my dear child, but I
think you must apologize for the re
mainder of your speech" and then
she made the fatal mistake of explana
tion. "It was naturally a shock to
me please forgive me if I wound you
in saying It that a woman like you
could be the daughter of old friends
of mine."
"A woman like me," she repeated
"and a woman like you has made me
that." . .
She settled dowif in her chair again.
-4 and though her small, frail face looked
Sweetly child-like under the halo of
her fair hair, her eyes were the eyes
of a woman.
v "I will tell you how that came to
be," she said, in a tone that was coolly
impersonal. "You and my father were
girl and boy lovers you were en
gaged in a kind of way ; and then
Harold Eliot came to stay with my
people for the shooting one autumn,
and he promptly fell in love with his'
ISS LIDDY and Miss
Letty had not spok-
en to each other for
nearly a year.
It was sad that a
trivial, petty little
quarrel should have
the power to
estrange the little
old ladles thus late
in life. For both
had been born upon the same day,
played together as children, been
chums through a happy girlhood, and
fast friends at middle age, though
Miss Letty lived in the stately stone
house, and Miss Liddy in the humble
brown cottage beside it.
A long, lonely, miserable year It had
been for both of them. They had nev
er realized before how much they de
pended upon each other. Many of the
friends of their own age were gone,
and both were now quite alone ia the
world. .
Miss Liddy was subject to severe
attacks of bronchitis, which no one
but Miss Letty knew how to cure, and
Miss Letty was at times so crippled
with rheumatism that she could not
walk, and upon these occasions Miss
Liddy's touch seemed to possess some
wonderful magic which never failed to
bring relief to the poor swollen limbs,
Of course, with the' ceasing of
speech between the friends, these mu-
tual ministrations also ceased. But
luckily for a long time neither Miss
Liddy or Miss Letty suffered from
their dreaded -maladies.
wet nurses and a chambermaid. If any
valet had trleNi to wrap bandages
around his knuckles or dress him in
a bathrobe or braid ribbons in his tall,
Barbwire would have been bo sur
prised "he would have kicked his at
tendant's remains all over the distant
horizon, so we just tied him to a post
out behind a barn and started out to
take in the shows.
"We saw three or four punk enter
tainments, I guess, before we come to
Kid Keno, and right away I. got a fine
idea. Keno was a little duffer who
claimed to have been a 'pug of a
whole lot of account in his day, and
now he was givin' exhibitions with the
punchin' bag and takin' on all comers
to teach them the manly art of fallln'
easy. ' -
" 'There's the guy to ride that leather-backed
son of Satan." I said to Mac,
as soon as I seen the little man per
form, and I started toward the back
of the tent.
"What d'yu mean?" asked Mac, as he
trailed along behind.
" 'Did you see the arms on the gink T
J. asked. 'He's a boxer, and is used to
standln up and fannin' his wings all
day. He's the guy to wallop that cay
use under the wire if anybody is.'
"'By gee, you're right!' replied Mac,
and we descended upon Keno and Mao
put up the proposition. '
"Keno seemed to think Mac was kid
din' him at first, and lie acted dubi
ous as if he didn't know whether to
laugh at the old man or hit me. but
after a while he tumbled, and wanted
to know the particulars and how much
they was In it.
"'Can you ride?" asked Mao.
"'I never have yet,' said the Kid,
but I guess I could.
"'Howlin' cats! I yelled. 01611
need both hands to hold on, unless
he's tied to the cayuse.
" That's the idea,' said Mac. That's
the Idea. We'll tie him on, and then
he can use both hands to the club.'
"Keno didn't seem to take to that
idea with any great amount of enthu
siasm, but at last he consented to take
a chance, ' and him and Mao made
terms.
"It was clouded up considerable
when we came out of the tent, and
ibbbQHBMMbMA
friend's sweetheart. -
"After all, it was something to bask
In the shadow of an earldom; and a
life-, in London, smart friends, a good
time all these things appeal to an
ambitious and pretty girL
"When men are young, it sometimes
happens that they know how to love
very deeply; if they do, it is a love
that lasts a lifetime. That was my fa
ther's love for you. It was a wound
that healed in tin, but it left its
scar.
"He too married a gentle, good un
selfish little creature who was faithful
to him all her life. He left the army
when he married and came to London,
where his father-in-law offered him a
partnership in his business on the
Stock Exchange, as you know. He
prospered steadily, so that you and
and your husband were glad enough
to renew an old friendship that was al
most forgotten.
"It is a bad thing, Lady Mansfield,
for a young and pretty woman with
But one cold, rainy morning Miss
Liddy arose with all the familiar
symptoms of a severe bronchitis at
tack: Her head ached, her chest
ached, her limbs ached, her throat
was sore, and she groaned miserably
at the dismal time which she knew
was ahead of her.
But little Miss Liddy possessed true
New England grit. "I've Just got to
keep a-going somehow," she kept re
peating bravely, as she dragged ner
self heavily about her tiny abode,
grimly attempting to render moru
spotless the already immaculate little
rooms. '
About 10 o'clock she peered out of
the kitchen window, and to her-horror
espied Miss1 Letty come out or Tier
house and go down the rain-soaked
driveway.
For Miss Letty to go out at all upon
Buch an inclement morning was indis
creet enough, but it was not this fact
which caused Miss Liddy to gasp with
dismay, while involuntarily her hand
flashed to the window and almost
sounded ah imperative tap to arrest
the. departing figure. Miss Letty was
actually going out, on this miserable
cold wet morning, at her age, and sub
ject to rheumatism as she was, with
out a sign of a pair of rubbers to her
feet!
It was this terrible discovery and
all that it involved, flashing through
Miss Liddy's . brain, punctuated by a
series of mental exclamation points,
that had prompted her to call a shrill
summons to her careless neighbor
A Sfrenlfeiied Tie
the air smelled a lot like rain, but he
was so full of joy and rapture at the
bright outlook of things generally that
we didn't pay much attention to the
weather. '
'"Why, that fellow could play the
stick for twenty miles,' said Mac, real
jovial, but he had never tried it him
self. I had, and as I knew I was no
weakling, all I was hoping was that
the guy would Just last to the finish.
"I noticed that it was a good deal
colder when we saddled the plug up
and . got ready tor a race, and also
there was a big bank of tough-lookin
clouds over in the northwest and thun
der occasionally, but of course, noth
ing short of an earthquake could stop
the big event
"Keno was 'on time all right, and
after we put him on the nag we got
a rope and tied him there so tight he
couldn't have been lifted without
bringing the horse with him. I'm glad
he never thought of the plug fallin
down. Then, when everything was
fixed, we give the Kid some final in
structions on how to get away, handed
him a good, stout club, and led him
out.
"There must have been ten thou
sand people in the stands that day,
and when we come on the track just
about ten thousand of them rose up
and gave us the merry ha! ha! but
they didn't know Barowjre, ana n
just goes to show that where ignor
ance is bliss it's a shame to get wise.
"While they were warmin' up 1 got
a good look at Golddust, the dark
horse, and somehow with all our well
laid plans I felt nervous and wished
I was home. Golddust was a long,
rangy bay, with a shiny coat and a
coon jocky dressed in white pants and
a -yellow silk shirt, while our horse
looked like he needed a haircut and
shave, and besides he had been roll
ing in mud. The other nags I knew,
and it was a cinch Barbwire could
leave them so fast they would look
like they was tied to a brick barn,
and it would be a dead sure thing for
us if only the 'pug's' arm held out,
and also if the dark horse didn't get
too previous.
"They scored up and down several
times before getting away, and when
extravagant tastes to live on the edge
of wealth and have none to have a
position, and no money to keep it up.
You deliberately eprobed by father's
heart, for when he was not empty
handed it was a love worth winning.
He gave you all he had to give and
more, for there is no "enough" when a
woman's wants are to be stilled.
"Your husband must have known;
he must have been a poor, weak
wretch Indeed very like your son to
dayonly the world never knew; you
were sheltered by his name. But you
were no better than any poor remnant
of humanity who sells herself in the
street in the shadow of nighfl'
For a moment a silence hung heavy
between them, and then the voice went
eoftly on:
"This continued for years. My moth
er knew and suffered; but she never
complained and she never spoke. She
only waited. And then the day came
when my father's luck turned. His
speculati6ns went wrong; he plunged
S EATON
then she remembered that they were
not speaking, and her hand dropped
limply away from the window pane.
As the day wore on, Miss Liddy grew
steadily worse. She sat huddled up in
the big' rocker by the window, wrapped
in a shawl, too sick to move, but too
stubborn to go to bed. Sometimes she
closed her eyes, but more often she
peered out of the window in the direc
tion of her friend's house.
It was growing dusk when she dis
cerned Mis,3 Letty"s little figure going
slowly up her-walk. She was limping
Unmistakably. She mounted the long
flight of steps stiffly, painfully. Every
motion of her body bespoke Intense
suffering.
"Oh, Oh, Oh," moaned Miss L!ddy,
rocking miserably back and forth,
"You careless, careless creature! You
ought to be shaken!" She continued to
scold until Miss Letty unlocked her
front door and went into the house.
Then her lips quivered and she began
to sob. "Poor girl, poor girl! All sole
alone in that big house, all crippled
up with rheumatism and nobody to
lift a hand!"
, She pressed her face anxiously
against the window pane, striving; to
pierce the darkness between the two
houses. But no light appeared at the
Stone house windows.
Five, ten, fifteen minutes dragged
by. The fire was nearly out and Miss
Liddy Bhivered convulsively beneath
her shawl. Her head whirred and
throbbed painfully. And no sign of
life appeared in the house opposite.
I saw the way Keno was picking the
openings and handling things general
ly, I cheered up remarkably. He got
his quickness from the ring, I sup
pose, and he caught onto the new
game bo fast that anybody would think
he was an old hand at it if they
hadn't seen the rope.
Then, as they turned and came
down the stretch, every horse was in
line. Barbwire second from the pole,
and when, they passed under the wire
a shot rang out, and they were off in ,
a bunch. '
"At the same Instant a large wet
drop of Ice water hit me In the neck,
and I saw the storm was coming up
fast. Then I climbed up on the fence
and fixed my. eyes on the ponies.
"Keno seemed a little rattled when
they first lit out, and use his hands to
hold on, and before he had taken a
hundred steps Barbwire began to
slow up, drop behind, and look sur
prised while Golddust shot into the
lead and stayed. Then all at once
Keno remembered, and the whole
hearted, enthusiastic wallop he land
ed on that old cayuse filled him with
so much joy he seemed to say, 'Ah,
now, we're down to business!' and be
fore the quarter was reached he was
up in the bunch again, with Keno yell
ing in his ear and playing the club
like a man nailing shingles.
"As they came down the stretch our
horse was up showing his speed and
had left the field behind, but Gold
dust still was a good two lengths
ahead, and traveling strong. When
they hit the three-quarter pole, Barb
wire was right up against the dark
horse's hip. At seven-eighths our
horse was a nose ahead, and when
they hit the mile Golddust was three
lengths behind, and the coon Jockey
began to turn white.
"They rounded the last curve wnn
Barbwire still going and Keno beating
Kyoff In six-eight time and then all
at once I saw the Jockey bring the
club down extra hard, Barbwire gave
a mighty leap in reply, but the gad
bad snapped off close to the kid's hand.
"For a minute I felt so weak I
thought I'd faint and had to . lean up
against Mac for support. I saw Barb
wire Blacken his speed and look
By Enos Emory
3
more and more.
"That was the end, and so you part
ed he a broken man; you gently tol
erant, sweetly sorry, but what else was
there for you to do? There was no
place in your life for the unsuccessful.
"It was then that your husband
came suddenly and unexpectedly Into
the title and the Mansfield fortune'. My
father died, and then my mother, and
this wretched story was my only in
heritance. Perhaps it may : interest
you to know that I still have your let
ters to my father men are like that.
Lady Mansfield and his old pass
books." She paused again, but Lady Mans
field eat rigid, only her eyes burned,
alive and suffering, in the deadness of
her face.
"i came to London to look for a po
sition as governess or companion I
was fit for nothing else; but I was too
young and too pretty for either, and
so I fell in with a musio hall actor
who lived in the same boarding house.
Miss Liddy swayed to her feet. After
a long time she reached the back
door. She wrapped her shawl tightly
around her head and shoulders and
tottered out Into the storm. '
She groped unsteadily through her
yard and was entering Miss Letty's
when she became aware of a black ob
ject not more than three feet away
which hitched slowly in her direction.
"Oh, JLdddy." quavered a tearful
voice, "Is that you? I saw you sitting
by the window nd I knew you were
sick by the looks of you. You never
did know how to take care of your
self. Liddy, and I was' coming
to see to you. Seems as though I'd
been hours just getting this far an' an'
I guess I'll have to g-g-give it up aft
er all." '
Miss letty burst into tears.
"Oh, Letty, Letty," moaned Miss Lid
dy, "you're soaking wet! You ain't
any more fit to take care of yourself
than a baby! There, there, just you
lean on me, dearie.' That's right! I'm
just going to take you right home and
put you to bed. Almost there, almost
there, here's the steps, lean on me,
dearie, lean on me ah, here we are!
Now to perk up the fire and get you
nice and warm. Don't try to talk.
Everything's going to be all right "
"But,.Liddy, I Just want to say about
that -same abominable quarrel !"
And both glad old voices rang out
together in a gay little struggle for
precedence:
"It was all my fault I"
around in Keno's face as if askinVwhat
fell had gone wrong. The dark horse
rushed up and shot into the lead. And
then the storm broke.
"I felt so bad I didn't care If a cy
clone struck, but the next instant I
saw something which 'made me
stretch my neck and yelp. The storm
was one of that kind which gets a big
wind behind it and tears along in
streaks, and it broke right behind
Barbwire. Not rain. It was too cold
for that. It was hail, great big, beau
tiful hailstones about the size of a
hen's egg, and the first one to fall,
hit Barbwire . such a plunk that he
nearly jumped out of the saddle. It
was a lucky jump, for the wind kept
risin and the storm was tearin right
down the stretch and playin the
devil's siattoo on that -. plug's hind
quarters -
"As fate would have it, Barbwire
went Just fast enough that the ad
vance guard of hail kept plunking him
over the flanks all the time, and he
Just lit out so enthusiastic that he ,
overhauled that dark horse and darker
rider something amazin.
"On they came down the long home
stretch, Golddust kickin' it off for all
he was worth, with the Jockey leanin'
bo far over his neck you could hardly
see him, and Kej-bwire gainln' fast and
bringin the hailstorm right along with
him.
"A hundred feet from the wire our
horse was right up smtlllng Golddust's
dust, and the stands were yellln' like
a football game. At fifty feet Barb
wire was at the dark horse's flank, and
the onrushing hal was trying to knock
his poor old tail off. Twenty-five feet
and our nag's noso was right up
against Golddust's ears. Then their
noses were but an inch apart, then a
half-inch, then a weak quarter, and
ten feet from the finish Barbwire drew
his neck back . like a snake gettln'
ready to strike, and nearly dropped
dead. Deliberately pulled his head
back a foot behind the other horse.
But a foot from the tape, old Barb
wire let loose like a jumping jack.
His neck uncoiled, and his nose shot .
out a good fourteen Inches ahead oi
the other horse, and We won bands .
down. !
I had been well and carefully trainef
in music, but all my years of study re
suited In playing accompanimects ;
dressed in a violent pink satin frock
up to my knees for a man with a
Cockney accent and many diamonds h
that were elaborately displayed on all7 "
occasions.
"That was the beginning of a now
famous career. It has been a long
road. You would not understand the J7
vulgarities, the hardships, the disap- ''
pointments of such a life; but if I
had remained respectable and obscure
I should never have had the privilege .'
of your son's friendship or the honor ,
of a visit from hi3 mother. .
"And it has made me your equal, t
Lady Mansfield. I am now as hard, as
relentless, as selfish as you, and so,. I
shall marry your son."
Lady Mansfield rose stiffly. "I shall -
tell my son your preposterous story,"
she saijj, in her coldest voice.
"I ask for nothing -better, but you
will not have the courage, and be- ,
cause you are a coward, and because I T
am vindictive. I shall marry your son."
Lord Mansfield straggled reluctant
ly out of his chair when his mother
entered the room.
"Morning, mother, he said, with an -elaborate
cheerfulness.
Lady Mansfield stood still on the
threshold, looking at her son as if she
had never seen him before. But it
was his singular likeness to his father
, when he was 23 that struck her pain
fully. ,
She thougirt KvASCci c tno useless,
dissipated fot ct. kr- husband
a worn 3?',J4nj.tj i..sn at 40.
She f elt i vNtsM V' 3i t j0 erless to
cope wg5r tt !'rf' & ft.vw for her
boy. &; e ilr wxCx te-a immense -
pity fu?
"My boy,-' ; whispered brokenly,
and then she looked up into his eyes. '
They were , full of an uneasy sur
prise. He was wondering what shev
had. found out now was he in tor
another lecture? He scowled witn aZ
pucker of Impatient annoyance, which '
brought his eyes closer together. giv--ing
his weak young face a lowering,
suspicious look. , ..."
With one swift, comprehending.
glance his mother read his mind. Shes,
meant no more to him than a figure- "
head who had some dim, intangible -right
to criticise and find fault with V
his every action. She turned Aiway
from him with a weary helpless"sigh.iro
"The mater looks Jolly well fagged f
looks her agje," her son was thinking,"'
and then she spoke. . .
"I have seen Miss O'Neill," she said
smoo.thly. "I am willing to received
her and give my consent to your mar
riage." - . .
Her life work lay wrecked before
her; she surveyed it stoically, a smile
on her drawn lips. She faced tho-f-r
was a coward. She dared not tell.1'
Lord Mansfield shot his hands In hla '?
pockets triumphantly. 1
"Cheer v O ! " he exclaimed, - with f
classic simplicity. -
(