The Argosy, Vol. 75, No. 4 — page 114: what you’re looking at

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

816 “Do you know Mr. Radford—Mr. Ted Radford?” she asked. “ Yessuim,” Silsby replied. “Will you find him for me?” she requested, smiling from the blue depths of her eyes with the, smile that always won. what she wanted. “Wisht I could,” Silsby replied. “ But—I think you can,” she said. “ [’m his mother.” Of course, Silsby had to believe it. But he dodged telling the truth. He could tell it to a man or perhaps to another kind of a woman. But the lady who leaned against the brass rail and gazed down to him looked as if every unpleasant communication should be passed her through a hedge of roses —and roses were not plentiful at Pinon. “Tl try, ma’am,” he said. He turned his horse and galloped wildly away just as Midge Stratton came to the door of the car. CHAPTER XX, NATALIE ON THE.«TRAIL, Ir took Midge Stratton just the time required to hire a horse and ride out to the Stone House to find out why Silsby had dashed away from Mrs. Barring- ton’s question with the look on his face which had stimulated Stratton’s en- ergies. He had come on the trip with a re- luctance due to his peculiar position. He was madly in love with Bess Hetherington. She was sacrificing herself to her fear of her own inability to live with- out money, to her mother’s ambition, and to the need for not awakening in Mrs. Barrington the curiosity that might enlighten her about Ted. Stratton, Bess, and Barrington were all three united by a kind of protective league which had for its object the keeping of her son’s crime from Mrs. Barrington. Love for his wife had impelled Bar- rington to his extravagant provision THE ARGOSY. for Bess if she married Ted. Bess suspected that he was buying her ‘si- lence. If she was.once ‘T'ed’s wife, her lips must be forever sealed and guard- ed closely. It would be to hef interest to keep Mrs. Barrington ignorant. Bess and Midge had talked with wondering admiration of the unselfish devotion, the adoration of Barrington for his wife. Neither of them could underestimate it. Love had grown in them till anything that might be done for love seemed possible. Bess had wild dreams of running away with him—which she never told. He had dizzy hopes that rose as high as win- ning her—which he never told. With the insight which is of soul, Midge valued the meaning of money at what it stood for to Bess. He did not look down on her or quarrel with her for her acquiescence to the mar- riage. He knew as well as she that if she broke the engagement, after Mr. Bar- rington’s profuse generosity had be- come known, it would entail explana- tions that might result in exposing Ted. But when Ted’s telegram came he had felt as if nothing but his own powerful hands choking the life out his boyhood friend would ease the rage. he felt at the insult he had of- fered Bess. Bess took it more calmly. There were tears in her wonderful eyes, and tears, too, in her low voice when she interrupted his raging with: “If he loves some one? We didn’t know, he and I, what love was! Now, if he has found out—” Midge had crossed the room—she had come to him at his office with the telegram—and grasped her hands in his. “You're sacrificing ‘yourself — for his sake! To keep his mother from suspecting him, you were doing—” Bess interrupted him. “T’m selling myself and my silence —for millions.” | ‘Oh—confound it all!” COMIC OOOKS (E©)