Argosy All-Story Weekly, January 21, 1922 — page 98: what you’re looking at

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

88 “In a hospital up-town,” Simpson an- swered. ‘ You'll learn more about her after a bit. Let’s eat now.” When their food had been served to them in the restaurant they ate in a very satis- factory silence. For that long Shelby was glad that Simpson was a silent man. *‘ Silent, we have some time,” Shelby said when they had finished their meal. “I wish you would unravel some of this stuff for me.” “What do you want to know?” Simpson asked as he lit a long black cigar. ‘Td like to know about Miss Sutherland —not anything she wouldn’t want me to know—but something that you know and that she herself probably doesn’t know.” Simpson blew out a cloud of smoke. He eyed the glowing end of the cigar for a moment. Then he looked up. “ You're in love with that young lady, aren’t you?” he asked. “ Certainly not,” Shelby said emphatical- ly. “TI hardly know her.” “ Sutherland was a fine man—for twenty- five years,’ Simpson said slowly. ‘“ But when he was young he stubbed his toe. He came to our road from the West and started in as an operator. By hard work he rose to be trainmaster. ‘‘ When he had been here a year he mar-~ ried. He got along fine. He owned the house where his wife and daughter live now, and he had money invested in a big electric company. He started to buy the stock when it was cheap. A little of ity bought then, would look like a fortune to you and me at its present value. “So he prospered. When he died, he was worth a good deal of money in one way and another. A year and a half ago, fate handed him a knockout. He sent for me one night to meet him down-town. “We went to a quiet place where we could talk. I knew something had hit him hard. I can see him right now as he was then. His face was as white as this napkin and there were tiny beads of sweat on his face. “¢ Silent,’ he said, ‘I’m dying.’ ‘“‘T sat and looked at him. He looked sick just that minute, but I had not no- ticed that he had been failing particularly up to that time. ried her five years ago. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY. WEEKLY. ““¢Oh,’ I said, ‘ you’ve just something on your mind.’ ‘““¢ T’ve just come from a doctor,’ he said. ‘He says I have heart trouble. I’ve been feeling off-color for some time, but I thought it was my stomach. I'd wake in the night and have to sit up in bed and gasp for my breath. And, Silent, I ave got something on my mind.’ “He sat picking at the table-cloth for a long time. Then he looked up again and his eyes were pretty haggard. “ ¢ Silent,’ he said, ‘ you know I’ve beén on the level since I’ve been here. My life has been an open book. You know Os- borne, don’t you?’ ‘“‘He seemed to be jumping from one notion to another, but I could see that there was a kind of sequence in his talk. I just sat there and waited. “*¢ Silent,’ he said, ‘ when I was a kid I was hedged all about with rules. I was never permitted to live my ownlife for a minute. My father thought everything out for me. I had to do just as he said. So when I came to go out in the world I was like a ship without a rudder. ““<T fell into the evil ways of the time and the place. I gambled and drank, and I got into debt. I invaded a man’s home and ran away with his wife. She robbed him of everything he had, for he trusted her. The man followed us and killed her. He would have killed me, but I ran away. Then he killed himself. That’s the kind of snake I was before I came here.’ “*¢ Qh,’ I said, ‘lots of men make mis- takes and afterward settle down and become good citizens. I think your ‘doctor is off his trolley. I think you’ve been working too hard and got yourself into a nervous state. I imagine you have thought about this thing a lot, but in your present con- dition you can’t think about it sanely.’ ““Do you know Osborne’s wife?’ he asked. “*¢T didn’t know he had a wife,’ I an- swered. ‘“‘ “She is keeping a boarding-house over on Hollister Street,’ he said. ‘She goes under the name of Strong. Osborne mar- He treated her brutally, but she stuck to him. Thornton COMmiclboo SS C©