Argosy, Vol. 111, No. 1 — page 65: what you’re looking at

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

A LETTER OF DISCREDIT. the pale, tear-stained face of Agnes Thurston. He tried to speak and failed. ‘The girl found voice first: ‘““George! Did you think I’d let you go like that? Never! I’m going with you. I don’t know where, and I don’t care. Don’t try to argue me out of it. I don't care what you’ve been. I know what you are. Your letter came just in time. Father and mother had gone to bed. I managed to slip out unnoticed. Oh, it’s awful to leave them so! But—but you are more to me than they are now. I had to choose, and there was no time to think it out.” Hysterical tears checked her words. Oblivious of the two drummers on the back seat, he gathered her in his arms. It seemed to Bradwell as though they had sped along thus for an eternity, two souls alone in empty space. But at length the harsh shriek of the whistle and the ' grinding of brakes penetrated to his con- sciousness, vaguely at first, then with a meaning which brought prompt resolution. He sprang to his feet. ‘““Come, dear,” he whispered gently. ‘This is our station.” ‘“* Why—why!” she exclaimed in wonder. “This is only Hortonville! I thought you were going a long way off. Why, they'll know us here!” But he drew her gently along, and she went trustingly, without further question. For.a few moments he left her in a dark corner of the waiting-room, while he roused a drowsy liveryman. It was not till they were driving along the cool, starlit country road that she asked him wonderingly where he was taking her. ‘“‘ Home!” he answered. old Eden.” ‘““ No ”—he hastened to forestall the fear he felt in the sudden tension of her body— “Tm not going to desert you, dear. Ill face the music there now that I know you care so much. I left for your sake, and I’m going back for your sake. I couldn’t take you with.me now. We must wait a little longer till I find a place where they'll let me stay and make a home for you. Ul have to use that old letter of discredit again, after all. An hour ago I thought I was ‘“ Back to little 55 doomed to be a vagabond the rest of my life. Now I feel sure that I shall yet succeed.”’ It was past midnight when they drew up in front of the little white cottage on the hillside overlooking slumbering Eden. Bradwell trusted that no one in the village had witnessed the impulsive flight of Agnes or their return together. He was deter- mined that she should not suffer from the gossiping tongues of the townspeople. He intended to leave her at her door after a word with her father, return the horse and carriage to the livery-stable, and stay away from Eden till he could establish himself and offer Agnes a home. In response to his rap a light glowed in the little hall, and a moment later the startled face of Judge Thurston appeared in the doorway. _ ‘Why, Agnes!” he exclaimed. ‘“‘ We didn’t know you had gone out! Where on earth have you been at this time of night?” Then he saw Bradwell. ‘* Why—why—what does this mean?” he stammered. Agnes threw herself weeping into her father’s arms, and in a few broken words explained. ‘“T want you to understand, sir, that I am not going to intrude,” Bradwell added when she had finished. “I have already told you how I feel toward Agnes. I am very happy and very proud that she feels the same way toward me. But I’m going away now, and unless I can make good somewhere I will never hold her to what she has said to-night.” “Papa, don’t you let him go!” Agnes exclaimed.. ‘If you do, Ill go with him, whether he wants me to or not,” she added. ‘“ My poor children, come in and let’s talk this over a little,” soothed the judge. Mrs. Thurston had joined them by now, and her husband, in a quiet aside, explained the situation. ‘‘ George,” he added, turning to Brad- well, ‘“‘I appreciate the way you’ve acted in this. I know now I have been justified in trusting you as I have this last year. If my little girl cares for you as she does, we must find a way to get you started right. mn CO NOOLK