Argosy All-Story Weekly, June 13, 1925 — page 116: what you’re looking at

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

588 He concluded with a reference to an iIn- closed money order for forty dollars. Lem rapped on Jules’s door, opened it and entered. ‘‘ Have you written to him?” he asked. ‘“T ’ave but now done so,” replied Jules; “and to-morrow I must take the letter to the post office and there purchase an order for the dollars I am sending to ’im; and while I am on that errand I shall inquire for a new job.” ‘“Would you quit at the commencement of harvest?” protested Lem. “It is your idea, your decision, zat I leave you,” returned Jules. ‘“Well, it ain’t! Yer pride ‘ll be the death of you some day, Jules. I didn’t mean what I said, and you know it. Send him every dollar you make, if that’s the way you feel. It’s none of my business. It’s yer own money. But what you want to give it to kim for beats me—unless it’s for the woman. And I reckon even you wouldn’t be so soft as all that.” “One reason is gratitude, my friend. In ' doing ’imself much ’arm I see a great deliv- erance for some one else.” “Vere thinkin’ of the Griffou girl, I reckon.” “TI do not deny zat she is betier off as she is, even if ’er ’eart be broken, zan she would be if Jeff ’ad kept ’is pledge wiz ’er.” ‘* Maybe—” began Lem; and then, after a pause: “ You needn’t tell him to come home, for I wouldn’t have either of them set foot on my land,” he said. Jules made no reply to that. ‘You won’t be quittin’ me now, Jules?” queried the boss. ‘“Y shall be glad to remain in your serv- ice indefinitely,” returned Jules. “ And now, if you wish to play a game of chess, T am your man.” A week later Lem repeated his offer of adoption to Jules, and Jules again declined the honor. In due course, a reply to Jules’s letter ar- rived, in which the money order was grate- fully acknowledged, but no reference was made to the advice that had gone with it. At about the same time Jules received an envelope bearing the Ste. Jeanne postmark. He opened it with trembling fingers. It ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY, contained the money which he had supplied » Marce} for her journey—nothing else—not a word! He stared for a long time at the stamped paper—until he had to blink his eyes to rid them of a queer dimness. ‘““ She is honest, at least,’ he murmured. ‘“ As for gratitude—it may be zat it ’as gone out of style—an old-fashioned weakness.” The friendship of Jules and the boss in- creased daily from that date, as if it had been stimulated by recent discords; but in reality it was grief that strengthened that old bond. Each had his sorrow, and in the ache of it depended more and more the companionship and sympathy of the other. Lem could only guess at the na- ture and cause of Jules’s unhappiness, for Jules always denied the fact when taxed with it; and as to how near the truth he guessed, who can say? Their conversation during meals became less and less general; they played chess every evening, very slow- ly, or walked aimlessly side by side across stubble and pasture; and the Skellogs be- gan to feel that they belonged to another world. For the third time Lem offered to make Jules his heir; and the refusal this time had no anger in it. ‘ My acceptance would not give you ’ap- piness,”’ said Jules, “and it would make me ashamed. Your friendship is of more value to me zan your fortune could ever be; and in friendship J, too, can give, and do so wiz all my heart.” ‘“ There’s yer pride again,” returned Lem, smiling. ‘* Ye’re the independentest cuss in the whole world, Jules d’Ance.” CHAPTER XVII. MUMPHY WORKS FAST. N Porcupine Brook the oats were har- vested and threshed, the potatoes were dug, the turnips were pulled: and far awav in the great city of Montreal ten thousand furnacemen got up steam. The fall of the year, with its imminent pro- blems of self-preservation, was upon urban life as surely as upon rural all over the Northern Hemisphere: and to Montreal, from the southward, came yet another problem in the form of Mr. Dills Mumphy. COmiclbookks CO