Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 271, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 November 1911 — The RING and the MAN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The RING and the MAN

With some incidental RELATION 10 TBE WOMAN

By CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY

SYNOPSIS.

A foollzh young tenderfoot becomes fascinated with the bold, artful wife of a drunken prospector tn a western mining town. They prepare to elope tn a blinding hlliaard but are confronted by the ■MHriUln husband. He is shot by the wife, but the chivalrous boy pins a note Jn the body taking the crime upon himself. In their flight to the railroad station the woman’s horse trite exhausted: the youth puts her on his own and follows hanging to the stirrup strap. Seeing ho is an Impediment, the woman thrusts her escort into a snow drift and rides on. Half-frozen ho stumbles into the railroad station Just as the train bean the woman away.

CHAPTER !^—Continued. He actually gave her >200,000 to start that great Institution, for young working women which waa the pride <rf her heart, and he promised her that as the work developed, as he had no doubt it would develop on the foundations she was planning, he would follow up the first gift by others oven larger. Ho told her that he was willing, to devote a million or perhaps nftre to the enterprise, If It proved worth while, especially as so many of his own employees would be benefited by It Miss Haldane did not intend to live tn -the social settlement herself. She might perhaps have enjoyed such a life; but her social duties at the other end of society were of so exacting a character, and her family were so opposed to her undertaking such work, that she contented herself with furthering from afar the efforts of cerbin of her college mates In that direction.

One thing possibly that Induced Gormly to promise this great sum of money, which he could very well spare, was the knowledge Imparted to him by Miss Haldane that she herself, through her father and friends, would give a like amount. Gormly had exacted a pledge from the young woman that she would not betray him aa a benefactor in her institution. He had actually made out the check to her for the amount in question and turned it over without hesitation after an interview lasting teas than half an hour, in which Miss Haldane had set forth her plans, her hopes, and her ambitions with all her charm of manner. He <as not certain that he could have refused her the store If she had demanded it! When Miss Haldane left his business office, check tn hand, she felt that she had Indeed accomplished much. She was quite satisfied with herself. Gormly was equally satisfied with himself. Then and there he determined to marry Miss Haldane. It takes the cool headed, prudent man of business to make the most extraordinary plunges into wild endeavors at times. He felt as a man with the Wan street germ in his blood might feel who was suddenly, after a quarter of a century of restraint, launched on the sea of speculation. What Gormly determined was usually brought about sooner or later. In this instance, however, there was no assurance of success. Matrimony is theoretically regarded as a contract between two equals into which neither enters upon constraint. That was Gormly’s view of it He could buy and sen merchandise. He would not buy or sell a woman. Nor had George Gormly a particular knowledge to enable him to play the game he had entered upon with such impetuous indiscretion. He could hand cut a million dollars or so on occasion without feeling it; but cynical though he had become about womankind In general, Gormly instinctively realised that such means would be entirely Inadequate to do more than arrest temporary attention and excite a passing interest in such a woman aa Miss Haldane. Indeed, too freely resorted to, such practise would inevitably disgust her.

Meanwhile be must keep In touch with her. At intervals, therefore, he won himself a sight of her and maintained a speaking acquaintance by further remittances toward her project; which had already started with a tremendous flourish of trumpets and great Interest on the part of the public. Miss Haldane, for all her other qualities, was human and a woman. There was something rather alluring tn a secret even to her. She enjoyed being the means of disbursing for good ends millions that remained anonymous to the general public. She was quite willing to call at Gormly*s business office on occasion for the purpose of relieving him of further donations. Naturally she confided more and more of her plans and sometimes her difficulties to the same astute man. She found Gormly remarkably intelligent on such matters and able to give her the very beat possible advice. Sometimes she even same to him of her own motion to receive something else than signed bits of paper good at the bank, and to disease vexing questions and problems that arose from time to time. She grew to respect him and then to like him. Fortune as usual favored him. Miss Haldane was twenty-two. Nab easily oho regards* a man of forty- •

four as a possible father, and she had no hesitation tn approaching Gormly with much more familiarity than she would have dreamed of allowing herself had he been younger. And yet Gormly himself was a young looking man for forty-four. He was still as tall and slender, not to say spare, as he had been when a boy. He was smooth shaven, and the flecks of gray tn his blond hair were scarcely noticeable. If Miss Haldane had ever given thought of his age, she would have supposed him ten years younger than he was; that is, on appearance. When she thought of his business, she would have considered him sixty. Ever since she could remember, she had dealt at the great shop, and Gormly himself unconsciously took on to her the aspect of ancient history.

So the little affair ran on; Gormly consciously becoming more and more deeply Involved, Miss Haldane unconsciously Interweaving herself In the same tangled web. 7.-7' 7

CHAPTER 11. * •••“ The Devotion of Mr. Gormly. The relationship of Miss Haldane and Gormly was all very well so far as It went, but It did not go far enough for the man's purpose at least; and Gormly was shrewd enough to see that things might run on without any definite results In this way forever.

Since the beginning of the acquaintance Gormly had kept track of Miss Haldane through a clipping bureau! — Instance of his practical commonsense which may amuse the romantic

reader. He had neither the time nor the Inclination to search the journals tn which were chronicled the doings of social New York—in which the Haldane name was prominent; so he instructed his private secretary, Chaloner, upon whose discretion he could rely, to have sent to him at his private address all clippings relating to Miss Haldane. Gormly. therefore, knew the life of the object of his attention as well as it could be known from its outward and visible presentation before the public. Indeed, there was little that was concealable under such circumstances—the higher you rise the less privacy you have, obscurity being the prerogative, or the penalty, of the humble—so that he was entirely aware of Miss Haldane’s goings and comings, who her friends were, what houses she visited. what diversions she affected, who paid her attention, and so on.

Meanwhile the man did not neglect his busfo— nothing would ever make him do that—but he divided his time between it and the young woman —which was a great concession to her influence. One reason why he had become such an assiduous student of the cuppings was because be wanted to know whether Miss Haldane was. or waa likely to be, engaged to be married. Hie apprehensions on that score were soon set at rest It was Miss Haldane’s second season. She had created an Instant furor when she bad been launched in society the year before. The usual contingent of impecunious foreigners had promptly laid their onromsta at bsr fest; bed It ...1. . - ’

was quite enoeirc mat bom or mem i had found favor tn her eyes, and that she was still free. He would entesrit, he decided; but how? First of all, something must be done to bring Gormly himself Into the public eye In some other capacity, some higher capacity, some more attractive capacity, than that of a mere retailer of ribbons, so to speak; the public eye for Gormly being Mito Haldane's liquid orbs. And Gormley knew that the way to private consideration Is more often than not through public interest He bad to do something to justify himself, therefore, to make himself known in some enviable way; in short, he determined to make himself worthy of her. And again the question arose; but how?

He had . thought vaguely of the racing game, of the most magnificent of yachts, of the finest and speediest of stables, of the fastest string of automobiles, of a thousand similar things which he had dismissed as unworthy of his high purpose and Inadequate to his end; until finally, fortune favoring him, he hit upon the field of politics. Miss Haldane In some of those now rather frequent conferences, had casually enough remarked that she liked men who did things, who really accomplished something for good in this world.

Gormly Instantly resolved to do something. Now If any man really wants to accomplish good In this world, there are few opportunities of greater possibilities than those presented In the political arena. There is also no field In which It Is harder to accomplish the end. Gormly as a political force was entirely unknown. He was without experience. One requisite, popularly considered vital, he had, and, that was an abundance of money. Another requisite he possessed albeit unwittingly, was character. And still a third was his, and that was Imagination coupled with capacity—the ideal and the real; the dreamer and the practical man In one! An irresistible combination that!

Fortune was further kind to him, however, for concurrently with his decision she presented him with an opening. Gormly’s business was sufficiently great to have enabled him to extend It in several directions. He

brought Ireland, England. France, Germany, Holland. Spain. Italy, and the Orient into New York bay and unloaded them in his great institution. He had conceived, some dozen years before after paying tremendous freight charges, the propriety of establishing his own line of freight steamers. It bad amused him to combine the practise of the ancient merchant prince with the customs of the modern one. He had bought the controlling interest in a freight line of half a doxen large steamers, which ho found no difficulty in using as cargo carriers for other people when they were not supplying his own needs. The purchase of the freight line had with It a lease of one of the piers in the North river. The lease had run out the year before. He had thereafter availed himself of what he conceived to be an excellent opportunity of subleasing another pier in the East river. The city had just completed an elaborate railroad, surface and subway, for the transportation of heavy freight from the water front to the great mercantile establishments In-

land. Thia system had been lensed to the Gotham Freight Traction company, a vast corporation with a full set of ostensible promoters and dft* rectors; but which had back of It powers and persona unknown to the general public, earaMDy concealed from It In foot > The corporation had not boon formed to promote the h—Wh of Ito members. Therefore when Gormly applied to the authorities for permtoelon to conotrwt a switch from hfo

! pier on the one tend and WMF ' house near the river front on the other to connect both with ♦bls sub Way, the permission waa Instantly granted.’ 'Mt with an expense demand upon him for something like a million do! lars. Gormly could give Miss Haldane a minion dollars to play with; he would not spend ten cents for bribery. He saw Instantly that the demand upon him was a mere attempt to hold him up. To build the switch would cost perhaps forty or fifty thousand dollars; the privilege might be worth as much more; but inasmuch as no streets were crossed, no overhead traffic hindered, he was doubtful even as to that The road bad been built by private capital—subscribed by the people—on a public franchise. The interests of the public were supposed to be paramount A reasonable return upon their Investment was all that the promoters had a right to expect.

Gormly had consulted his attorneys, had appealed to the city council, and had done everything that he could to settle the matter short of publishing the whole affair. He had failed absolutely everywhere. The members of the transportation committee of the board of aidermen were very sorry, but they did not see what could be done. A gentle hint that Gormly might prefer to indemnify the aidermen for their trouble In case they should give him permission was met with pained silence or explosive wrath. It was furthermore pointed out to him that the board had no power, the rights of the people having been vested In the corporation for a ninety-nine year period. It was too bad that the innocent aidermen had allowed themselves to be placed In such an unfor-

tunate position; but so it was—and there you were. There was no help for the matter, and Gormly*s only resource was to pay the money, unless he wanted to unload his goods into truck wagons and vans and cart them all over the city. Of course he could do this; but It would be much easier, more profitable and more desirable in every way if he had the right to run cars out on the pier alongside of the vessels of his fleet and transport the merchandise In bulk in that way.

He was in a very desperate situa» tidn. Here he was saddled with a twenty-five-year lease of one of the most expensive piers in New York; here he had a great warehouse six blocks or more away from the pier; here he had also a vast store several miles from the warehouse; here was a railroad that practically connected all three, provided one or two little spurs or switches could be built from pier to railroad, and from warehouse to railroad. It was perhaps the one mistake that he had made in his business career not to have arranged matters before all this came to a climax. The railroad people meant to make him pay. They were resolved that he should; he was equally determined that he would not

He was not alone in his position, however; for it was found on all sides —he discovered it by making quiet inquiries—that other shippers and merchants seeking similar privileges were being held up in the same way. The road had proved enormously expensive to build; the stock had been watered unmercifully. Contracts which had been entered into for the construction of switches were found to be of little value; means were available to break them and evade them, and the whole water front of New York found Itself practically helpless in the grasp of this octopus of a corporation.

There had been no clamor in the, papers over this matter; but there was a tremendous undercurrent of resentment and dissatisfaction, and Gormly thought he saw an opportunity of turning it to his own account. To expose the iniquitous methods of procedure of the Gotham Freight Traction company, to bring about its ruin or its downfall by depriving it of the franchise it was abusing, to safeguard the people in their rights tn any further grants, was certainly an object sufficiently high and sufficiently vast to attract the attention, and, should he succeed, to awaken the admiration of any being. And Gormly himself without losing sight of Miss Haldane began to look at the possibilities from a high and noble point of view, in which self-interest took a secondary position.

Therefore, late in November he came boldly out in the open, and over his own name vigorously attacked the Gotham Freight Traction company. He did It in a unique way, too. Instead of the full page advertisement of Gcrmly’s store which appeared simultaneously in all the great dallies, there was presented one morning in clear, direct, businesslike English a statement of the whole situation exactly as It was. There were no threats, no menaces, no Intimations of any future plan or purpose; just a blunt statement of facts printed in large double-leaded type, and signed with the familiar facsimile of his now famous autograph.

(TO BE CONTINUED.)

Then and There Ho Determined to Marry Miss Haidane.