Adventure, August 3, 1919 — page 93: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ee * early dark of September, puffing no longer p at a pipe but at a two-shilling cigar. — It was after office hours, but Williams had waited purposely, knowing the ways of Silas and wanting to meet him when \ alone. Of course, there was the chance of his staying home, now that he was married. But the captain thought other- wise, remembering cynically that the wed- ding had occurred some weeks before. And he was right. True, for a few days the old.man had lingered by his fireside—at home, rather, for Silas allowed no heat in his house before late October—but he had soon pleaded the call of business and gone back to his old habit of sitting in his lonely office, bemoaning his unlucky invest- : ment in ships. And his wife had made no objection. She had pretended, of course, but had secretly rejoiced when he left her. And Williams, stepping quietly, found the outer door open and went in. : He paused to think for a moment on the number of times he had entered that office full of a craven fear that he might lose his job. Then he squared his shoulders and went forward, still so quiet that Silas did : not hear him but saw him framed in the doorway of the private office when he happened to look up. And for a moment the old man imagined he was looking at a ghost. - Then the captain shut the door, sat down by the desk and lit another cigar, but he did not remove his shiny hat. : “Didn’t expect to see me, did you, you old - thief?” he began pleasantly. Silas made no reply. Williams was cer-, tainly not a ghost, but he was decidedly an apparition—what with the frock coat, the tall hat, the jewelry, the cigar and, above all, the assured manner. He was so unlike the old Williams that he was only -* just recognizable as that person. And the first coherent thought of Silas was the wish _* that Williams had always been as he then _~ Wwas—in which case the woman would have _ never thrown him down. “I don’t need that dirty four hundred and fifty—I’m a rich man now—but I’m going to make you sorry for what you did.” “T am sorry, Williams, very sorry.” And 80 full of truth was the old voice that the captain believed him. You tiean it?” “Yes, 1 mean it. But not about the meee You wouldn’t believe me if I said «a ~ oe <si,% ‘ie ivi ‘ + ad ah To iching the Perils - like you all the better for it. in 83 I was sorry about the money, and I don’t blame you. But I'll give you a check for that right away, Williams. I wish I could give you back all I robbed you of so easily.” He looked so old, seemed so tired, so utterly disappointed with life, that Wil- liams, who had come in anger, became . ; sympathetic. He watched the veined, trembling hand writing the check and coughed to hide an unexpected swell of emotion. J ‘Yes, Williams—” the old man handed the captain the check—‘‘maybe I was alone too long; maybe I was never meant 4 for a married man, and maybe I got the 7 wrong sort of a woman. But, just as I sit here, she sits at home*-I want my ships to sink; she wants me to die. And I must leave her my money. It don’t seem right not to, does it?” 7 There is a clannishness about sex. Wil- ~ t liams had gone to Silas with anything but = friendly feelings, but now he found himself taking sides with him—against the woman. ™ “Tf I was you, I’d give her fifty thousand and tell her to get a divorce. Get drunk, tell her to have witnesses and take a strange woman home with you some night. She’d jump at the chance to cry in court. AN It’s the best way out of it—infidelity and cruelty, you know.” s “But,” wailed Silas, “I’m a deacon of my church—have been for forty-odd years.” “Tt’s the devil how a man’s youthful follies dog his life, isn’t it?” answered Williams gravely. “But I wouldn’t let ‘ that stop me. You can easily square the "7 church with a fat check and a public con- fession of sin. Weep a bit and beg ’em " to take you back into the fold. They'll Sy. It’s a cinch.” The old man brightened; then he became unhappy. “But think of the expense, Williams; think of the expense,” he groaned. ‘With ipping the way it is.” “Why, as to that, I can help you,” ss Williams exclaimed as if the idea had just come to him. “I have come into a tidy -* bit of money, you see. Not got it ail .. through the courts yet, but got a good bit > of it. I’ve always wanted to be a ship- owner—all skippers do—and I wouldn’t wonder if things looked up soon. As I said, I can not get hold of all my money justnow, but I'll pay you five shillings a ton oe a a i option to purchase your seven ships, at " comicbooks.com