Argosy All-Story Weekly, July 11, 1925 — page 65: what you’re looking at

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

THE INNOCENT. for you, to make you happy! You didn’t know that, did you? I wanted money; power; I wanted to see you rollin’ in diamonds, palaces, steam yachts, limousines, where you belong, up among the million- aires, showin’ up the flossy dames that couldn’t hold a candle to you! What if I did thrown down those slobs? They’re only a bunch of bums! It was you I was thinkin’ of, Paula; you!” The fat man laid a hand on his heart. “ I’ve had a pain here—a longin’—an ache—ever since I first saw you! Paula, Paula, look up! Tell me you was only kiddin’ me, before you break my heart!” ‘“‘ Oh, get out!” suggested Steve, wearily. Paula’s right arm bent and her head lowered toward it. Her body rocked. There was a stifled cry which might have been a laugh, a sob, or a protest against this degradation. Steinemann started toward her. Steve extended a leg to trip him. “ Enough of this burlesque!” rasped the cattleman. ‘“ Get out!” “‘ Burlesque?” The stout man’s little blue eyes became steely as he halted, revealing dynamic brutalities which were far from lover like. ‘‘ Where do ya get that stuff? You get gay with me and they’ll be puttin’ you into an ash can? I may be cuckoo about Paula, but that don’t give any of her relatives any right to butt in, not with me! You’re out! Go back to the alfalfa, where you belong Steve felt wildly desirous of hurling the man through the doorway and down the steps; but Steinemann’s figure was so un- shakably ponderous that the idea looked like a total loss. To shove this man would be like shoving a barn. ““ Oh, take a hint!” amended Steve. ‘‘ Go home!” Steinemann’s cold eyes flared at the rancher and then turned toward Paula. They began to look bewildered and hurt and defeated. He licked his lips. “Paula!” he bleated. ‘Is this the end?”’ “Sure!” intercepted Steve. ‘‘ Slam the door!” Steinemann whirled on him. Passion—- the passion of disappointment—made him bawl forth in a tremendous bull voice: “Ya! You hick, you buttinsky, you’re 1» 219 atthe bottom of this! Paula ain’t been the same since you came! I see through you now, you schemer, you snake-in-the-grass! Turnin’ her against me, eh? Knockin’ me behind my back, eh? Say, do you know who you’re monkeyin’ with?” ‘“‘ There are ladies present.” “Uh. Oh. I see.” The fat man’s man- ner became less choleric and more deadly. “Well, have a good time while you can, but lemme tell you this: I’m one of the big bosses, see? Get that? I’m Big Bill Steine- man, the King of the Bail Bond Brokers, see? I stand in with the main guys, see? Ask. about me at the City Hall, that’s all. Ask anywhere!” Steinemann snapped his fingers under Steve’s nose. “‘ You monkey around me and [’ll turn you into a grease- spot! Now, go ahead and light your cigarette in the dynamite!” Steve turned wearily to Paula, who had Beth alongside her. ‘Get me a crowbar!” he appealed. “I can’t shove it out so J’ll have to pry it out!” The fat man, with a certain dignity, raised an enormous reproving hand toward Steve and then looked again toward the woman in the chair.” “Paula!” he appealed, softly. She turned her back on him. He stood hesitant for a moment and then, bowing his shoulders, he crammed his splendid shining hat upon his head and passed slowly beyond the threshold. “T’ll say good-by now,” he surrendered. “Tl come back when you feel better. Paula. You ain’t yourself!” The door closed. ; Paula bowed her head again in her arms and her body shook with racking sobs. Beth bent over her. So did Steve. ‘“* Humiliation!” she cried, clenching her hands. “I cannot stand this thing! What have I let myself into! What irony! What retribution! I cannot stand it—I cannot stand it!” There was silence. Paula—the proud and unruffled Paula—broke down and cried like a baby, until even Steve saw that she was only a nerve-shattered wreck, incapable of meeting the situation much further. He turned to Beth. re o ’ wy er a Sas 35% . ot is Day ma ~ LT) Nxt eee PA ee eG Pen . — >} = = & ‘.., a Or he | =" Se * >. a » > SP rT. Pe = — com —