Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 145: what you’re looking at

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

~~ WHITE DISHONOR. and treated him as a joke, for he was always very frank about himself and as pleased as a child with a new toy when he was hav- ing success with a pretty lady. However, he ought to have left Natalie alone. To encourage a poor man’s wife to gamble was a dirty trick. Wade gave me his own version. He was a fellow one would very much rather never have spoken to; but in the absence of an excuse, which he was careful never to pro- vide, one had no option when he said good morning, except to conform to the usages of polite society. Wade, having said good morning, launched into a discourse on Natalie. “Poor kid, she is just gambling because she is miserable,” he said. “Miserable!” I repeated. “Why, I thought the marriage was such a happy one.” Wade shook his head. “‘ Husband drinks like a fish.” | “What! Who told you that?” “She did. That’s why she has come home.” | Now, Bob Summers, who knew Natalie as well as any of us, Tad never said one word about this. So much by way of preamble. Now, with the aid of a little imagination, for the tale. il. NATALIE had twenty-four hours to pay, and not*one soul in the world to whom she would go for help. That was the streak of pride in her, for of course she had plenty of friends; only, having married a poor man, she was all the more reluctant to come down on them. The hour was now about 8 p.m. Before the banks closed to-morrow she must make good the five hundred pounds she owed Caley, and she had not even twopence to pay for another check form, much less the money in the bank. : She reviewed her assets in the glass: a _ skin white with the whiteness of the moon; large, dark eyes with tiny shadows, like stormclouds in a fair sky beneath; a mouth willful and a trifle wayward; and a figure that was all that could be desired. 455 Wade was coming in a few minutes to take her out to dinner. They would eat caviare, partridge, and fresh peaches, she expected. .- Wade mostly liked the same things. He could order a stew of aloes that night, for all she cared. A bell ringing made her start. Heavens! She was nervous this evening. Well, she had cause to be. ; She heard the outer door close, then Wade’s step in the corridor, saw the handle of her sitting room door turn, mobilized her will-power to secure self-command, and turned to greet him. ‘“ Hope I am not late?” Late, thought Natalie. The touch of his hand revolted her. Aloud she said: “ Of course you are not, Wade. Have a cock- tail? I have invented a new one.” Without waiting for his answer she went to a small table and began to prepare a drink. She must keep every minute occu- pied until they went out. It was her right, to do this; her right, if she chose, not te see him until the same hour to-morrow. But this prerogative she had not exercised. On the contrary, she had rung him up and asked him to take her out to dinner. The phone message had surprised Wade. Her last words had been: “ By the laws — S a of tHe club I have twenty-four hours to — pay.” had bowed gravely, and, when her back was turned, had smiled. A check for five hundred pounds was in his pocket. knew as well as he did that it would be of no more value without delay. The proposition was, roughly, “that Natalie should accept an invitation to stay at Mrs. Montagu’s villa at Cannes, where Wade had also been invited. Natalie answered that she would let him know next day. Wade said a little irritably that he wade hike to know that night; if they were going to travel together te must reserve accom- modation. It was at this point that she had ex~ plained that she had twenty-four hours to GComicbooks that time to-morrow: Hence his suggestion that they should - come to a settlement about the matter (E@) She had Sookeh almost menacingly. He oi 2 She ~—