The Argosy, Vol. 61, No. 4 — page 59: what you’re looking at

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

THE IMPOSTOR. Nor was he indifferent to the appeal of her shy, violet eyes, or the exquisite color which came and went upon her rounded cheek. He fell in love with her; there can be no doubt of that. No man with a drop of red blood in his veins could resist the charm and sweet- ness of Gladys Burke in her gracious maidenhood, and Washburn had more than a share of the crimson fluid in his arteries. The mother saw how things were go- ing, and was well content. If she could have had her choice, there was no one who could have suited her better as a son-in-law. So, in due process, the two young peo- ple became engaged, and it was arranged that the marriage should take place as soon as Guy became a little better estab- lished in his profession. Everything looked favorable for their future. He had started to dabble in pol- itics some little while before, and now received the appointment to a post under the city government which was not only charged with considerable trust, but would serve as a means to his advance. Gladys selected her bridesmaids, and began to prepare her trousseau.- And then came the crash! An honest and inquisitive district at- torney, rooting around through the rec- ords of some transactions which seemed a shade peculiar, unearthed a trail of graft which grew broader and more man- ifest the farther he followed it, and which eventually led him to explode a sensation, convulsing official Chicago from center to circumference. Among those gathered into the net and placed under indictment was young Guy Washburn. On the eve of the day set for his wedding he found himself lodged in jail, deserted and betrayed by the precious gang of rascals he had been willing to serve. When Gladys and her mother came to see him, he, of course, vigorously pro- tested his innocence, declaring that he was the victim of a conspiracy ; and they believed him. The proof against him was so absolute and certain that he had found it impossi- ble to obtain bail; but the faith of these two women in his integrity never wa- vered. 617 Gladys offered to marry him right there behind the bars, if he wished it; and pledged herself to stand by him, no matter whether he was convicted or ac- quitted ; while Mrs. Burke mortgaged all her resources to the last penny, and even went to the point of pawning her few beloved jewels to obtain the money for his release. Yet, despite this generous sacrifice, Washburn seeing no way to avoid the verdict he felt sure was coming, fled on the day before the trial, leaving his trust- ing benefactor to hold the bag; and, what was worse, he fled with a girl who had been Gladys’s best friend, and was to have acted as principal bridesmaid at the wedding. His victims made no effort to pursue him. They accepted the result without outcry or complaint to the world, and, although it practically beggared them, paid their obligations to the court to the uttermost farthing. Prostrated by the treacherous blow which had been dealt her, however, Mrs. Burke did not recover. From that time on she failed steadily, and a year later Gladys turned away from a new-made grave with the bitter feeling that here was another loss to be charged up to the already full account of Guy Washburn. Yet the girl did not mope or repine, nor permit the shadows which had fallen upon her youth to darken her entire life. Bravely she took up the work of a music-teacher, and, cheerily struggling away, managed to support herself, and even in time to forget in great measure the sorrow which had fallen to her lot. Then, like a bolt from the blue, came the startling news that the father she had so long supposed dead had but just passed away, and in dying had left her: the heir to a well-nigh fabulous fortune. The tidings came to her from a lawyer named James Hart, and, according to his instructions, it was necessary that she come out at once to the little mining town where her father’s career had end- ed, and there take possession of her prop- erty. She had lost no time in obeying the mandate. | Packing up merely a few necessaries, she had started without delay upon her journey, her head awhirl with excite- COMICLOO© (©