The Argosy, Vol. 75, No. 4 — page 46: what you’re looking at

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

oe ae nt ae or = z > Smee ER 748 ging anger and scornful with disgust. He could no more have made one con- scious effort to be agreeable to Barring- ton than he could have flown. A rankling hatred of the money- chase had ken possession of him. When his mother asked if he had re- membered to bring the papers she men- tioned, he told her that he had, with an inward determination that he would keep possession of his own worthless affairs even if he had to be boorish. Barrington observed casually that he would be glad to look at any papers Ted might have. “T think there’s really only one pa- per that ever had much value,” Radford was forced to reply. “ And it has lost it—so Marsh assures me.” “ What is it?” Barrington asked un- concernedly. “ Mining stock, I think. I haven't even looked at it,” Radford answered. “Why, Ted, Mr. Barrington knows all there is to know about mines!”’ Bess exclaimed, with a warning lift to her black brows that promised Ted a good reprimand for his stupid coldness toward the man he should have tried to win. “The papers are in my _ clothes up-stairs,” Radford remarked with a curtness that short-stopped the conver- sation. Goaded by his sudden dislike for his stepfather, by the rebellion of his better nature against the thought of being de- pendent on him, Ted exploded a bomb, almost as unexpectedly to himself as to the others: “T’m going West—for a while.” “West?” his mother and Bess ex- claimed, while Barrington fixed him with the boring grip of his keen_eyes that seemed to be digging into his very brain and excavating his thoughts. “Yes. I want to try my hand at work—for a change,” he said. He saw the quick look of understand- ing in his mother’s eyes; and he noted the sullen little pout of Bess’s pink lips. “Tt—it isn’t necessary, you know, Ted,” his mother said: — THE ARGOSY. “Yes, it is. My nature cries out for the big open,’ he answered half jest- ingly. “And Tl leave to-morrow morning, I think.” He had not thought of any such hasty departure; but now that he had crossed his bridge, he enjoyed burning it behind him. But his fiancée was thoroughly enraged. Mrs. Barrington thoughtfully pro- pelled her husband away from the cor- ridor when Bess led him out, prepara- tory to beginning the examination into his motives that she thought necessary. Half in a spirit of bravado, half because he had begun to sense the differences that divided them and their real interests, he fixed his attention with the enjoyment of a connoisseur on a great red lacquer vase. Bess refused to be interested in its marvelous glaze. She read him a lec- ture on his rudeness to Barrington. “If you think I’m going to kotow to my mother’s husband just for the sake of his money, you are wrong!” he exclaimed after he had endured her reproaches long enough. “If I need money [’ll make it or steal it, but you can make up your mind I won’t beg it.” It was a veritable quarrel that fol- lowed. ‘Ted was bitterly conscious that Bess had little use for him except as the man to whom a big fortune was ap- pended. He started to tell her he was a poor man and wanted her to consider herself free if it was agreeable when his mother came and interrupted them. He made his farewells, grimly insist- ing that he would be gone before they were up. He arranged for his car at a fiendishly early hour. And he fell asleep in a state of mind so different from the depressed misery he had ex- perienced since he knew of his change of fortune that he was convinced of the wisdom of his decision. It seemed to him that morning had come very suddenly when he was sud- denly conscious of the light on his face. He wrestled with a desire for a few winks more and leaped out of bed. He heard the door closed softly and (€(0) 0)(\) (CG nn) Ss (C@)