Indianapolis Times, Volume 35, Number 182, Indianapolis, Marion County, 9 December 1922 — Page 8

8

A Hoosier Chronicle By MEREDITH NICHOLSON First Novel in thè Times Serics of Fiction Stories by Indiana Writers 'CoiijTieiit. 1012. by Meredith Kichoison.)

“Yes; all right; come in,” he said, a Harwood hesitated. He at once addressed liimself to thè reports with i.is accustomed care. Bassett carried an immense amount of data in his head. He understood bookkeeping and •’.as essentially thprough. Dan constantly sound penciled calculatlons on thè margins of thè daily reports from thè paper mill. indicating that Bassett scrutlnized thè figures carefully, and he promptly questioned any devlatlon from thè established average of lcss and gain. Bassett threvv down bis pendi at thè end of half an hour ad told Dan to proceed with thè writ;ug of thè report. *Td like to file it persona lly so I can talk over thè prospect of gettìng an order of sale before thè judge goes on hls vacation. We’ve paid thè debts and stopped thè slow of red tnk, so we’re about ready to let go." Whlle they were talking Miss Farrell brought In a telegram for Harwood: it was thè summons from Mrs. ’wen that he liad becn waiting for: >e bade him come to Montgomery <> next day. He handed thè message “Go ahead. I'II go over tuere if you like and fimi you thè necessary bondsmen. I know thè judge of thè Circuit Court at Montgomery very wIL You go in thè mornlng? Very well: I’U stay here till you get back. Mrs. Bassett will be well enough to leave thè sanatorium in a few days, and I’m going up to Waupegan to get thè house ready.” “It will be pleasant for Mrs. Bassett to have Mrs. Owen there this summer. Anybody is lucky to have a woman of her qualities for a neighbor.” “She’s a noble woman,” said Bassett impressively, “and a good friend to ili of US.” On thè train thè next morning Harwood unfolded thè day's Courier in thè languidly criticai frame of mimi t hat former employes of newspapers iiring to thè reading of thè journais they have served. He scanned thè news columns and opened to thè editoria! page. The leader at once •aught his eye. It was double-leadod, —an emphasls rarelv emploved at thè < ourler office, and was condense.! in a single brief paragraph that -tared oddfly at thè reader under thè • aption “Stop. Look. Listen.” It Ueld Harwood’s attention through a • ozen amazeil and mystified readings. It ran thus:— • It has long been Imliana’s proud oast. that money unsuppor? ?d by merit has never intrudtd in ; er politics. A malign force tlireat ■ts to mar this record. It i: inu/nbent upon honest mn of all par As who have thè best interests of our State at heart to stop. look, listen. The Courier gives nctice that it is ully advised of thè intentions. and ■erfectly aware of thè methods, by vhich thè fair mune of thè Hrosier State ls menaced. The Courìet, beng thoroughly informed of thè begin nings of this movement, whose porose is thè seizure of thè Democratic •arty, and thè manipulation of its power for private ends, will antagonize to thè utmost thè element that has intiated it. Honorable defeats v’ne party in Indiana has known, and ;'t will hardly at this late dav sur ■ ender tamely to thè buccaneers ami . dventurers that seek to capture its iattlefiag. This warning will j.ot be opeated. Stop! Look! Listen! From internai evidence, Harwood ilaced thè authorship readily enough: he paragraph had been written by -he chief editorial writer, an old hand at thè game, who indulged frequently in such terms as “adventurer” and ’buccaneer.” But not without special authority would such an articie have i>een planted at thè top of thè editorial page, and beyond doubt these lines were thè residium of Bassett’s ong ihterrfew with Atwill. And its *im was unmistakable; Mr. Bassett was thus paying his compliments to Mr. Thatcher. The encounter at thè Country Club might have preciplcated thè crisis, but, knowing Bassett, Dan did not believe that thè Courier’s batteries would have been fired on so little provocation. So, at least, Har wood reasoned to liimself. Several of his fellow jiassengers in thè smoking car were passing thè Courier about and pointing to thè editorial. All over Indiana it would be thè subject of discussion for a long time to come; and Dan's journalistic senso told him that in thè surrounding cap;tals it would not be ignored. “If Thatcher and Bassett getto ùghting, thè people may find a chance to sneak in and get something,” a man behind Dan was saying. “Nope,” said another voice; ”tliere won’t be 'no core’ when those fellows get through with thè appiè.” “I can hear thè cheering in thè Republican camp this morning,” renarked another voice gleefully. “Oh, pshaw!” said stili another speaker; “Bassett will simply grind Thatcher to powder. Thatcher hasn’i <ny business in poLitics anvhow a*d loesn’t know thè game. By George, Bassett does! And this is thè first time he’s struck a full blow since he got behind thè 'Courier.' Something must have made him pretty hot. riiough, to have let off a scream like that.”

Harwood was interested in these remarks because they Indièated a prevUent impression that Bassett dominateti thè Courier, in spite of thè mystery with whicli thè ownership of thè paper was enveloped. The only rioubt in Harwood's own mind had been left there bv Bassett himself. He recali ed now Bassetti remark on thè day he had taken him into hia contidence in thè Ranger County affair. “I might have some trouble in provine it myself," Bassett had said. Harwood thought it strange thit aster :hat first deliberate contìdence and his introduction to Atwill, Bassett had, in this important move, ignored him. It was possible that his relations wltri Alien Thatcher, which _ Brssett knew to be intimate, acconnted for thè ohange: or it rnight l>e due to a lessening warmth in Bassett’s feeling toward him. He reealled now that Bassett had lately seemed moody—a ■ew development in thè man from Yraser—and that he had severa! times vn abrupt and unreasonable about mali matterà in thè office. Certain -cidentp that had appeared trivlal at A .me of their occurrence stood • ’nrly now. If Bassett

had ceased to trust him, there must be a cause for thè change; slight manifestations of impatience in a man so habitually cairn and ratlonal inight be overlooked, but Dan had not been prepared for this abrupt cessation of coniidential relations. He was a bit piqued, thè more so that this astounding editorial indicated a range and depth of purpose in Bassett’s plans that Dan’s imagination had not fathomed. He tore out thè editorial and put it away carefully in his pocketbook as Montgomery was called. A messenger was at thè station to guide him to thè court house, where he sound Mrs. Owen and Sylvia v*ni:ing for him in thè private room of ti>judge of thè Circuit Court. Mrs. Owen had, in her thorough fashion, arranged all thè preliminaries. She had sound in Akins, thè president of thè Montgomery National Bank, an old friend, and it was her way to use her friends when she needed them. At her instance, Akins and another resident freeholder had already slgned thè bond when Dan arrived. Dan as anuised by th© direct manner in which Mrs. Owen addressed thè court: thè termìnoiogy pestaining to thè ad uiinistration of estate.-: was at her iingers’ ends. and there was no doubt that thè judge was lmpressed by her. “We won’t need any lawyer over here, Daniel; you can save thè estate lawyer's fees by acting yourself. I guess that will be all right, Judge?” His honor said lt would be; people usually yielded readily to Mrs. Owen’s suggestiona. "You can go up to thè house new, Sylvia, and lil be along pretty soon. I want to rnake a memorandum for an inventori* with DanieL” At thè bank Akins gave them thè directors’ room, and Andrew Kelton’s papera were produced from his box in thè safety vault. Akins explalned that Kelton had been obliged to drop fife insurance jiolicies for a considerable amount: only one policy for $2.000 had been carried through. There were a number of contracts with pub lishers covering thè copyright in Kelton’s mathematical and astronomical textbooks. The royalties on these had been dinùnishing steadily, thè banker aid, and they could hardly be regarded as an asset. "Lise Insurance two thousand, conracts nothing, and thè house is worth two with good luck. Take lt all in—and I reckon this ls all—we’U be in .uck to pinch a little pin-money out of thè estate for Sylvia. It’s more than I expected. You think there ain’t anything else, Mr. Akins?” ‘ The professor talked to ni© about his affairs frequently, and I have no reason to think there’s anything more. He had Ave thousand dollara in Government bonde, but he sold them and bought shares in that Milite Kiver Canneries combinatlon. A lot of our Montgomery people lost money in that scheme. It promised fifteen per cent —with thè usuai result.” Mr. Atkins returned th© papera to th© safety box, and when Mrs. Owen and Harwood were alone, she closed thè door carefully. “Now, Daniel,” she began, openlng her handsatchel. ’’l always hold that this is a funny world, but that things come out right in thè end. They mostly do: but sometlmes thè Devii gets lnto things and lt ain’t so easy. You believe in thè Devii, Daniel?” "Well, my folks are Presbyterians,” said Dan. "My own religion Ss thè same as Ware’s. I’m not sur© he vouches for thè Devii.” “It s my firm convlction that ther© is one, Daniel. —a red one with a forked tali; you see his Works scattered around too ostento doubt lt.”

Dan nodded. Mrs. Owen had piaced carefuliy under a weight a paper she had taken from her reticule. ■'Daniel,’ —she looked around at thè door again, and dropped her voice.— "I believe you’re a good man and a clean one. And Pitch says you're a smart young man. It’s as much because you’re a good man as because you’ve got brains that I've called on you to attend to Sylvla’e business. Now I’m going to teli you somethlng that I wouldn’t teli anybody else on earth; it's a sacred trust, and I want you to feel bound by a more solemn oath than thè one you took at thè clerk's office not to steal Sylvla's money." "Yes, Mrs. Owen.” She waited until he had answercd her, and even then she was silent, lost in thought. "Professor Kelton didn’t know, Daniel." she began gravely, "who Sylvla’s father was.” She minimlzed thè slgnificance of this by contlnulng rapidly. "Andrew had qult thè Navy soon aster thè war and carne out here to Madison College to teach, and his wlfe had died and he dldn’t know what tc do with his daughter. Edna Kelton was a little headstrong, I reckon, and wanted her own way. She didn’t Uke living In a country college town; there wasn’t anything here to Interest her. I wonT teli you all of Andrew’s story, but lt boils down to just this, that while Edna was in New York studying music she got marrled v.ithout telìlng where, or to whom. Andrew rever saw her till sha was dying in a hospital and had a little girl wlth ber, —that’s Sylvia. Now, whether there was any disgrace about lt Andrew didn’t know; and we owe Jt to that dead woman and to Sylvia to believe it was all right. You see what I mean. Daniel? Now that brlngs me down to what 1 want to know. Somebody has been keeping watch of Sylvia.—Andrew told me that." She was thinking deeply as though pondering just how much more it was necessary to teli him, and before she spoke she pleked up thè folded paper and read it through carefuliy. ‘‘When Andrew got this it troubled him a lot; thè idea that somebody had an eye on thè girl, and took enough Interest in her tc do this, made him uneasy. Sylvia never knew anything about lt. of course: she doesn’t know anythiug ab ,'it anything, and she won't ever need to." She pushed thè letetr aerosa thè table to Harwood, and he read it through carefuliy. He turned it over aster thè tb-st reading, and thè word “deelined/' written firmly and underscored, held him long—so long that h està rt ed when Mrs. Owen roused him with “AVell, Daniel?” He knew before he had finlshed rendine that it was he who had bo> ■ tlie 'Ufi- to thè cottage in there had been

DOINGS OF THE DTJFFS—

SAV, HELEN, 1M SOlklsV BUT.TOM WAIT- NO, IVE GOTTOSI —/^OhTtO^jJto ?Ì^^EvÌhßlG^ OUT FOR A LITTLE //voUDIDN’T 50 RIGHT Now - W TO M. DO VOU # ! / Ht’3 COH6 WM jQ , hfl£d mMVSEEMS RffIHER WHILE , BuT I’LL Bli L HAVE TOUR I WON'T BE GORE JJj WANT ME TO —f”i NEVER EveN (ttW Pu L t IS/TWltó UKE ABOUT . HOME VERV — I _ [ "■ -U- \_GOOP '■ —■ — y , r /hoh-<}u.te^^ene^ n \! ! i r

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TIIL-M IS UUwNE FOKHVER—

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’ jr MAYDR SIMON DOOLiTTLE AND MAPSHAL OTEV WALKER DECIDE TÌ BEST TO LET THE TWO OUT < OF JAIL- AS THEV ARE FAST EAT JNG, THE

a series of sudi Communications, which was unlikely on thè face of it. He rea I‘ned tbe importance and signjflcance of thè sheet of paper with thè swiftnesa of a lightnlng flash: but beyond thè intelligence conveyed by thè letter itself there was stili thè darkness to crepe in. His wlts had never worked so rapidly in his lise he felt his heart bseting un-

OUT OUR WAY—By WILLIAMS

THE OLD HOME TOWN—By STANLEY

comfortably; thè perspiration broke out upon his forehead, and he drew out his handkerchief and niopped hi face. ‘‘lt's certainly very curious. Tory curious, indeed,” he said with all tlu calmness he could. muster. "But i doesn’t teli ìjjì mudi " “Tt wosn’ij intended to teli an; thing,” said Mrs. Owen. h i-.oi-v

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

Achieve Thia On Your Alto

wmte that letter was troubled about oyivia. 1 reckon it was a mau: and 1 guess it’s fair to assume that b< felt under obligatlons. but hadn't thè nerve to face ’em as obligations. Is that thè way lt strikes you?” "That seems clear enough.” he re plled lamely. Me made a pretenso of rereading thè letter, but only detaehed phraees

Tom Makes a Get-Away

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penetrateti to his consclousness. His imaginatiOn was in robelilon agalnst thè curiling to which he strovo to subject it. When he had borne his 8, ìswe' ■ back to Fitch’s office and been dischaxged with thè generou.s uayraent of SIOO for his Services as measenger. just what had ben thè history o< thè tjajiMictlon '! He had so far con troll *4 tua Mfitarioa

FREOKLES AND THS FRIENDS—By BLOSSER

OUR BOAEDING HOUSE—By AHERN

that he was able to conitnue discussing thè letter formally with thè Kìnd old woman who had piaced thè clew in his hands. He was little experienced In thè lifficult art of convera lng with half a mind. and a direct question from Mrs. Owen roused him to thè neceesitv of heedlng what she wtMn sarte (Te Be Cestino

DEC. 9, 1922

—By ALLMAN

—By AL POSEN

Wall Stneot Stufi A holding oomppdiy holds by owner siiip or otherwise thè stock of othe' oompanies. It ma-Y hold a majority ot thè stock or et 10 '!?' 1 ! of thè stocSs to absolutely oont-ttjl its policies, or lt may only hold a minority of thè stock for investment or other purposeeip - Philip M*BoO r< be'm luint Oseauiae.