Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 January 1912 — No Man’s Land A ROMANCE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

No Man’s Land A ROMANCE

By Louis Joseph Vance

Dnstratioiis by Ray Walters

(Copyright, iszo, by Lonit Joseph Vance.) SYNOPSIS. |• ' 1 Garrett Coast, a young man of New York City, meets Douglas Blackstock, who Invites him to a card party. He accepts, although he dislikes Blackstock, theu reason being that both are In love withK&tb- . seine Thaxter,,. , ‘ ...I CHAPTER I.—(Continued.) - He felt her eyes upon him, seriously sweet and questioning, and frowned slightly, wishing he had held his tongue, though aware that he could noff have, earing the way be did. “Why not tell me? I’m waiting, Gartett” rrr" “Well. ..." It was difficult: an Impertinence; incredible, besides. But now that he had committed himself, he stiffened a resolve and plunged. “It was said that your engagement to this man Blackstock would be announced before long." That out bluntly, he caught a long breath and, divided between fear and faith, sat watching her. The seconds of her silence Bpun for him an hour of anguish. “Katherine . . ." She turned. “Yes?” “Have you nothing to say?" he asked Involuntarily, and at once regretted it “What do yoil wish me to say?” Her tone was dull, as If she spoke mechanically, with a mind detached. “Esther affirm or deny. You owe me that, at least" l “Do I?” She seemed surprised. YBut what" she pursued, rousing, "does ‘this man Blackstock’ —” “You know I don’t like him, Katherine. I can’t” “But I can and do, .Garrett” There was simplicity in that, almost confessional. His tears assailed him more imperiously. “Then it’s true? Don’t tell me that!” , “What does Mr. Blackstock say?” “I haven’t Interviewed him, of course. I seemed too absurd —” “Why?” ' The only report he had at command was pitifully Inadequate: “Because I love you." “Is that any reason why Mr. Blackstock should not?” “There are reasons why you shouldn’t let your name be coupled with his.” “And they are—?” , She put It crisply. His heart sank, foreseeing defeat He veered at a tangent, evasive. “You haven’t answered me. Is them any truth in this rumor?" “Not yet” ' ~~r — i “You mean it may be true —later?” “It’s possible.” she affirmed quietly. “Mr. Blackstock has asked me to marry him; he hasn’t as yet had my answer.” “Katherine! . . . You can’t reafly—care for him?" “I’m trying to be sure, Garrett, before I tell him so—or you.” “But —but you mustn’t! . . . The thing’s impossible. . . . You —’* “You’ll tell me why?” Her composure was sobering. He got himself more In hand: she was not to be moved by storming, he knew. Reason, logic, an appeal to her intelligence: she would require these of him. Yet when put to It he could not bring himself to tell what he knew of the man by hearsay, if very credibly. Personal defects, luck of breeding, and the like were all unstable objections. ... In the end the best he could do, since some sort of an answer was essential, was to frame a halting, inconclusive: “He’s not the sort. . . .” She misinterpreted his confusion. “I know what you’re thinking: that he’s not a spoke in our particular social wheel] an outsider. Must I condemn him for that? Are there no right men, Garrett, but yourself and others of our ’set?' I know he has his lacks; I fancy you’d call him crude, If you were candid; with me. Bat men of his genius, upbringing , Not that I concede any crudity in him; it’s hardly that: he merely lacks—epmething—difficult to name It; not cultivation, not sensibility, but, I'd say, friends.” “He has many. , . ." So she cared enough to fight for him! There was bittern es*. surpass; tog the bitterness of aloes, to that discovery. “I mean the right kind, yourself, for instance; friends to bring him out He’s quick, adaptable, of a 'good" fami* ljr-rjif not a wealthy one.” ’ C*e*L toll back upon the one mentlpna,ble objection of Which he had dfrtato knowledge. “H?ss get a viif .e -- -■ - 11X1X10iciuptyr- . “Friend* would teach him to control it/ And there are excuses for that: his sif&t—bis eyes are in a bad way. If* injured them seriously, somehow, 1 1 el '

to his work—something about the spark, I believe.” “Those wireless experiments of bier* ’W"/;: X::-feg=fe “Yes. He’s going to do great things, Garrett.” “Late to the field.” “He leads it today; they all look to him. His inventions, discoveries, improvements, will make wireless aa every-day a thing as the telephone. ... 1 don’t mean he couldn’t win without friends: he’s strong enough . “Men have little use sos him, Katherine.” “Women have.” Coast strangled temptation. . . . “He has magnetism.” “That* and strength, ambition, enthusiasm. He’s worth being a friend io. I want you to know him better, to like him, Garrett.” After a little he managed to say: “I'll try, If you wish.” 5 “I do wish. Please, Garrett.” “Then I’m to understand you seriously contemplate marrying him?” Her “Yes!” was absolute. “Don’t you see” —he hated himself for this —he’s after your money, Katherine?” “Garrett, that is unworthy of you.” He said nothing, doggedly taking what comfort he might from the knowledge that he was right. Gradually he comprehended that In the course of their conversation the car had left Fifth Avenue at the Plaza and was crossing Central Park at the Seventy-second Street entrance. “We’re near the gate,” he Bald abruptly. “If you’ll drop me there, please—” , “Certainly. Tell Patrick.” Coast groped for thevepeaking tube and communicated with the driver. When he sat back he was conscious of the woman’s softening regard. “You’re not angry, Katherine?” “No, Garrett; but I’m very, very' sorry.” “If I’ve seemed presumptuous—” “To me. Garrett? Can you remem-

ber the time when we were not — friends?” •< - “No. . . . I want you to understand that It wasn’t altogether because I want you myself—need you, because I love you—as you knowhave loved you for years. . -. . It was jealousy of your happiness. I said nothing that I didn’t believe.” “I know. But you were —are mistaken. You’ll come to understand.” “i don’t want you to make a mistake. Wait, Katherine, wait a little before deciding. I’m sure of your heart: it won’t misguide you." “I believe not I know my heart and mind.” "You know mine,’’ he Bald gently, and no more. • That stabbed her; she winced, wondering why. But the personality of Douglas Blacks took stood forth so largely, limned in such vivid coloring, in the foreground of-her- consciousness, that there was left little room, even for old friends such as Garrett Coast Afoot, Coast lingered at the door, keen eyes searching hers almost plaintively. i - "I’ll drop in for tea tomorrow. If you ask me, Katherine.” “Have you . ever needed an invitation, Garrett?” “Then I’ll come.” He nodded to the driver and the ear swept away. Long after it had shot out of sight be stood staring. Then dlscovettng himself bareheaded, hat and stickFln hand, an object of amused regard, with a curt laugh of confusion and awakened self-consciousness, he turned back through the park. , CHAPTER 11. Resigning with Utile reluctance his place at the card table to Dun das, whose darn it was to cut la. Coast w -.- * ' —... ... w —-

ligbted a cigarette and wandered round the dining-room of Bl&ckstock’s apartment, idly inspecting the hhlfdozen hunting-prints that adorned the green burlap walls. Unspeakably bored, he went to the buffet, where he poured a very little Scotch Into a tall glass, drowning it with icy charged water; He had refused to drink up to that moment, and was thirsty, but as he sat ripping and watching the players, Van Tuyl’s unnatural pallor, moist hair and fixed smile affected him with a faint disgust, and he put the glass aside, not half-emptied. His brows knitted to. his concern for the man, who had been drinking heavily and would pursue that madness until satiated or sodden: no influence that Coast knew of would restrain him; he was as unmanageable as a wild horse, and as spirited. „ Slender, graceful, high lord erf Devil-may-Care, Van Tuyl sober was inimitable, more loved than feared In spite of, perhaps because of, the wit he wielded like a whip-lash. Excesses fanned that brilliancy to a burning frenzy; at such times he knew no friends, and those who knew him avoided him; his wits, submerged, frothed with a satiric humor that etched as-indelibly as an acid when he did not lay on with a bludgeon of vituperation. . . .. A dangerohs foil to Blackstock] Coast thought, comparing them, wondering that they were so much together. Contrasting them he thought: fire and tow, rapier and broadsword! Blackstock was the broadsword of that comparison, heavy and cumbersome if capable. Without an effort he dominated the others. Van Tuyl always excepted; the sheer weight of Blackstock’s personality forced them into the background. Little Dundas, with his deferential smile, delicately pink face and permanently rounded shoulders, seemed the veriest shadow of a man: Blackstock’s shadow he had apparently constituted himself. Truax, round of face and blandly prac-

tical, if unquestionably independent, was only less dwarfed by his host “A good bridger”—Blackstock to the current slang:- giving himself wholly to the game, playing to win, “wolfing the tricks,” Van Tuyl told him. The comment brought a darkish smile to the man’s face. “What d’you want me to do with ’em?’’ he growled semi-humorously, flipping a card from his hand and as swiftly making his play from dummy. “Make you a present of ’em? . . . Play to that, now; come through with that ten-spot” He chuckled as he gathered in the trick and led the final card from dummy. “That’ll teach you to double my original make, I guess. Game and •’ rubber, Dunny: six without, doubled, and a little slam. Got that down?” “Yes,” replied Dundas, grinning m he jotted down the score. “Tough luck, partner,” Truax observed to Van “You couldn’t help doubling on your hand, of course, and equally of course I had to be chicane In hearts.” “Brains, rather,” observed Van Tuyl blandly, shuffling. (TO BE CONTINUED.)

“Brains, Rather,” Observed Van Tuyl Blandly.