The Argosy, Vol. 84 No. 2 — page 111: what you’re looking at

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

THE GILDED TRAP. “ No, nor twice twelve,” he boasted with a note of defiance. ‘“ I paid twenty- - six dollars for these duds.” His intention was half teasing. His failure to get any response save a long stare by which the girl convinced herself that he was telling the truth caused him to abate her alarm when he was sure she was not going to express it In words. Ellen fingered the knotted ribbon on the little candy-box with trembling hands. “Tt didn’t break me at that,” he now told her. “I made a little money extra this week.” He awaited an inquiry as to the amount of his winning. It did not come. “Look at this,” he bade her. He had pocketed the new bank-book, half afraid of leaving it about his room at the cheap boarding-house. He opened its first page with its single entry. She read it twice over, blinked, read it again. To her sixteen hundred dollars was an amount of money almost as meaningless as the vast figures in which astronomers glibly mention the number of miles to some fixed star. Of course other people might have sixteen hundred dollars, might have sixteen thousand or a million dollars. But, as in any way related to herself, sixteen hundred was as fabulous as the wealth of Midas. Her father, a shipping clerk, had never received over twelve dollars a week. A sudden, terrible thought choked back the question the answer to which must kill her. Had Bruce’s sterling honesty broken down under the long strain? Had he hungered and hungered for things beyond his means until the hunger grew irresist- ible? Had the. sight of money in vast sums always before him—other people’s money— No, she would not doubt him. She would not allow herself to think it. And yet— “Oh, Bruce, give it back—quick!” broke from her lips involuntarily.. Bruce laughed. ‘“— stocks! 293 ‘““ Give it back to whom—the brokers?” Her suspicion did not anger him; her alarm only amused. Her fears were only increased. Brokers That was what they all did. Only, Bruce had won. ‘““Oh, Bruce!” she cried again; but the other things that she meant to add seemed too terrible to utter. “Don’t you think I can get a little money without stealing it? This is just as much mine as the twenty-five dollars wages I got to-day,” he said. She waited for him to go on. had deserted her. And he told her of Wheelock’s loan and the manner in which he had acquired a small fortune. | To his surprise it did not cheer her up.. “Why did he lend you ll money?” she asked. It was the question he was persistently driving out of his own mind. ‘““T don’t know. He’s taken a sudden fancy to me, I guess. I’m going out to his place for the week-end to-morrow. He’s. going to take me out in his boat. Oh, I tell you, it’s pretty soft after all these years of grind.” Her fears were relieved in a measure. But, from then on, conversation lagged. Another thought had taken possession of her that For five years Bruce had given her to understand that only his utter lack of means to support her prevented imme- diate marriage. For the past six months they had wait- . ed only for the day when he would have paid the last of the undertaker’s and doctors’ bills. Now he had money to marry her more easily than they had ever dreamed. He- could go out and buy the little place at Sunnyvale and have enough left to make a snug nest-egg against a rainy day. Be- sides he had his salary raised by more than half. But Bruce no longer wanted the little place at Sunnyvale. He uttered no hint Gomicbaooks Speech . (E@