The All-Story, March 1914 — page 138: what you’re looking at

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

THE SMOLDERING PAST, Whatever he had been before com- ie to the island, his was now a virgin- B nature, one in which an inherent Belicacy and fastidiousness triumphed yer mere instinct. For him it was Rorious to love; to pour out the riches fa radiant devotion before his di- Pmity. He was one of those rare men who love with almost a negligible Moucht of self. "Nor could this change of soul fail to Rave its effect on his associates. Wom- Bn marked the light that seemed to Mow upon his face formerly so blank, find men, finding him abstracted, oked at one another and tapped their Eyreheads. But, for him, people as well as things rere shadows, and only Betty was the Reality. Each hour in her presence feerned to reveal in her new lights and Bhades of youthful loveliness, quaint humors and playfulness, all displayed @ith a simplicity as unaffected as it Bvas arch. In the morning one gracious look Brom her sent him to his work exalted, d when ke drew near the gate again t evening the sight of her quietly wait- me for hin quenched the thirst for her esence that had consumed him since is momentary glimpse of her at noon. t Though little changed physically, ul made tremendous strides in his ew imental development. Life ap- eared purposeful at last, and dis- layed to his hitherto unseeing eyes the wards attainable by purely material ccess. Naturally, his greatest desire was to marry Betty Sprague, and yet he was not so blinded by his dream that he could not apprehend the financial diff- culties to be overcome. Dispassion- ‘ately he reviewed his resources. - Boughton was paying him five dol- Jars a week, and out of this he was able to put by one. But, he realized, for two people to live on such a sum was out of the question, even on Grand Manan. He resolved to ask the store- keeper for seven dollars, and to get it, either from him or from some one else 611 with business acumen enough to realize his value. He calculated that, with desperate economy, he and Betty could just squeeze through on that sum. Paul still had to his credit in the bank the money discovered on his body the day he was rescued, and this, after deducting Asa Poole’s bill and other incidentals, amounted in round num- bers to two thousand dollars. The thought now came to him that to in- vest this money in rehabilitating the burned fish-stand might materially in- crease his income, and make him a man of some position in the village. He gave the idea long consideration. Heretofore he had refused to touch the cash because there was no evidence to prove that it was lawfully his. Fur- thermore, he dreaded the prospect of losing it in some venture, thus burden- ing himself with a possible debt. But now it seemed to him that opportunity. had knocked at his door. From the gossip of the fishermen, and by his own observation, he knew that another fish-stand at North Head was absolutely imperative if the island was to market her regular yearly out- put and all the men were to have op- portunity to work. It was an alluring investment. He deliberated anxiously, and at the end of two days had practi- cally decided to risk the venture when an unexpected occurrence halted him. As he entered the store after lunch the third noon he saw Bill Boughton and another man under the glaring light in his bookkeeping cage, evident- ly examining his ledgers. Idly curious he approached them and discovered Boughton’s companion to be one of the auditors who had been boarding -at Mis’ Shannon’s, a man whom he knew to be named Burke. Paul watched fascinated as Burke skimmed up and down page after page of figures with almost inconceivable rapidity. Then, as customers com- menced to trickle into the store, he hung up his hat and coat and plunged into the afternoon’s work. An hour later the auditor, his EXE inn