Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 March 1913 — All OVERGROWN BOY [ARTICLE]

All OVERGROWN BOY

Put a Foe of Great Resource, Determination, and Sinews of Warfare.

By ARTHUR W. PEACH.

When Miss Alice Romley entered the o ffice of tfie head of the big manufacturing firm, she met Roy Hillard for the first time. That meeting served to make her Interested in him and the Interest grew from friendship into something else. She would not confess it was love for him but she was attracted by his cheery, happy-go-luck personality, his willingness to do little services that a woman values. It did hot take her long to discover use to Mr. Lake, the head of the firm, whose confidential clerk he was supposed to be. She learned, too, that Hillard, had mopey in his own right—a considerable amount fact, but as it had been the wish of his father that he enter business with Lake he had done so. . He was lazy, never on time, always putting off his work. She could see that Mr. Lake was exasperated at times, but managed to hold his temper. Therein, she discovered, too, that if Hillard were discharged, his position would be hets. Hillard got into the habit of seeing her home; sometimes, she found him and his car waiting for her. Before long he was coming on Sundays and eoon 'she was listening for his slow, good-natured voice asking the girlat the door if Miss Romley were in. One starry night, when it seemed be alive, and good to be beside him, he proposed. She was startled, yet she had read it in his eyes days before. His first words thrilled her, the next angered her, for he was proposing as be did everything, carelessly, good-naturedly, as If It didn’t amount to much anyway. Marriage Involved giving up the business career for which she had fitted hqyself, and of which she had dreamed. It was not a matter to be talked of in other than a serious way. His manner angered her. She told him, frankly, that she would not marry him, that he was still on overgrown boy, and hadn’t a serious thought in the world, and that a girl liked to have the thuoght of marriage with her regarded as the biggest thing in the world. His open, smling face grew serious, for once, as she went on, and she found she could not scold when words of a scolding nature bounded off so easily. Before they had returned, she . was smiling herself, but ’under her smiling exterior was her detremlnation never to marry him. She told him so flatly.

The next day a small bomb burst In the office. Hillard appeared late, and making no effort to make up for lost time, he aroused Lake’s long suffering wrath, with the result that the room full of stenographers heard the irate, bittter-tongued man turn on Hilliard a stream of condemnation in which he ripped Hilard’s character into shreds and showed it up before Hillard himself in its bare truth. Not stopping there he went on to discharge him, closing with the words, “You aren’t hilf a man! Get out! Miss Romley, you take his work.’’ Hilard stood, white to the IJps, his fair, good-natured face stiff under a new’ then he turned toward the cloak-room without a word. Alice Romley had realized her ambition; she was the chosen clerk of the manufacturer, and she labored to show her value to him: He seemed pleased by her efforts, and she certainly was by the size of her pay check and his words.

Of Hillard, she heard nothing- after his departure. She missed him keenly, and she began to believe it was all right, after all, to have a nature that sees only the sunny side of life, even If such a nature never gets one anywhere. No word came from him, and she did not write for she had no idea where he was.

The first inkling came through a note from one of their western managers, saying that the first of a crop of salesmen were intruding on his territory with an article similar to theirs, but better made and cheaper, and that his men were getting the worst of it right along. Lake’s face had looked worried after that. She knew they were making a large profit on their goods, and that he had been afraid of the advent of competitors. The next report from the west was still more discouraging, and before she knew it a royal battle was on between two firms for existence. Dazed a bit by the wonder of It, she took her small part in it. She saw that they were fighting a foe of great resource and determination, and one equipped with the sinews of warfare —wegltt). and credit. They could not learn who the power was in the opposing company, but she knew they were men of ability; some of them had been with Lake's firm in the old days. Then came the afternoon she she would never forget. She sat in the room where the members of the firm sought to find a way out; she saw them desperately plan, and turn back, held at bay from every corner. One by one they left in despair, and only Lake remained. The telegram came offering no compromise, but stating that it would give a reasonable amount for their business. Beaten, and beaten badly, Lake assented.

When the representative of the other firm entered, she heard Lake gasp, and looking up, she gasped herself. It was Hillard, but a. changed Hillard.

His face was firm and. steru, bls eyea had grown steadier, and his manner was slow but certain. On his face were the signs of the terrific struggle in which he had taken part. Laie could not believe his eyea, nor was he willing to make terms with his former clerk, but Hillard, smiling a grim smile, proved that he was the one. Lake, humbled by the evidence that Hillard had been the power behind the competition, surrendered. The terms were discussed and drawn up by Miss Romley. She wondered at the masterfulness of Hillard, at his sure grasp of the items, and his relentless hold on the vital points at stake. J When they were both through, and Lake’s shaking hand was signing the agreement, Hillard leaned back, and his eyes went to hers, but hers dropped before the mute power in his, and she did not look up. He went OILJXL.teII that -the words he ; spoke had ripped the mask from his own life, and he had seen how useless it was. He offered .Lake the position of eastern manager. Lake gulped a little, and asked for time to think It over. Hillard agreed, and his voice was kindly. When Lake went out, she expected Hilard to go, too, but she -heard his steps -come back toward her desk. She was afraid of him now, she knew, and she did not lift-her face; but she mastered her fears enough to say, “Well, Mr. Hillard, I suppose I am discharged, and must needs seek a new position.” She said it as playfully as she could. He did not answer, but she felt his hands come down, and lift her to her feet. She knew then by the touch what Was"comlng. The suddenness of •it made her tremble a little, and she thrust her face against his coat, as his strong arms drew her close to him. . “Yes, you are discharged, Alice, but I want to give you the highest position a man can offer a girl. I want you '-to be my partner In the business of building a home and happiness. Are you willing?”

Soothed by the quiet sense of power, the low thrill of emotion in his voice, she loowed up into his eyes. In them, far back, was the gleam of the old good nature. Her answer was not In words, but it sealed the agreement. (Copyright, 1913, by the McClure Newspaper Syndicate.)