Argosy All-Story Weekly, January 21, 1922 — page 99: what you’re looking at

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

SHELBY’S HEAD-ON CRASH. is boarding there. Thornton is a pal of Osborne’s. It isn’t necessary for her to keep any other boarders, because Thornton pays her as much as four or five ordinary boarders would pay. Osborne furnishes the money. Osborne has Thornton there mere- ly to keep track of her. Osborne has prom- ised her that if she will help him in his present scheme he will make amends for the past. Don’t you see, Silent?’ “T didn’t see anything. I thought Suther- land was out of his mind. I even had an idea that all this stuff was the result of hallucinations. I pretty near told him that. ‘¢¢ Maybe I’m not very coherent,’ he said. ‘Mrs. Osborne is the daughter of the man I wronged. She was ten years old then, just old enough to remember. She told the story to Osborne, and Osborne found out where I was after a long search and followed me here. He made me get .a job for him. I had to pass him off as a protégé of mine. And then, Silent, he started in to bleed me. You know I was pretty well fixed, but Os- borne has taken half of what I had. Now I’m dying. When I’m gone he’ll take the other half away from my wife and child.’ ‘“*¢ ‘You mean he’ll threaten ‘to expose you after your death?’ I said. ‘ Nobody would believe him.’ “<< He’s got the proof,’ Sutherland said. ‘Two months ago he wrote out a confession in detail and made me sign it. He has been holding it over me and he will hold it over my wife and child when I’m gone. Can’t you protect them, Silent?’ ” Simpson paused and smoked a while in silence. He looked at Shelby keenly. “Do you know why I’m going out of my way to tell you all this?” he asked. ‘“¢T don’t,” Shelby answered. “ Because you are koing to marry Suther- land’s daughter,” Simpson said. “ You’re head over heels in love with her now. It’s been shining in your face ever since you met her. Now, lemme give you a tip, son. Mrs. Sutherland hasn’t got very far to travel. When she goes the daughter will have about twenty thousand dollars. Don’t let that deter you. You’re clean and you'll come along. As soon as you get a few kid notions out of your head, you’ll be a man. Then you'll strike out for the big things 89 in this railroad game. If you’re in love with this girl, go to her and have it out with her, fair and square. That’s the only way. “Well, Sutherland and I went out into the street that night and we wandered about for hours. He made me swear—it wasn’t necessary—that I would somehow get hold of the confession that Osborne held. I got hold of it in Osborne’s room. ‘There isn’t any confession now. “ ‘You can tell the girl that. That’s what she has been worrying about. That’s what she went to see Thornton about. That’s what Osborne has been holding over her. Osborne had a notion that Thornton was a dried-out. old fool and he took Thornton into his confidence to a limited extent. As I say, he used Thornton to watch Mrs. Osborne, so that she wouldn’t kick over the traces. But Thornton is pretty foxy. He played on Mrs. Osborne’s sympathies. She was getting pretty tired of the way Os- borne treated her. She spilled a lot of stuff to Thornton, so that Thornton finally held the whip hand over Osborne. ‘““So~they both wanted to marry the Sutherland girl—partly for herself, but mostly to get the money that Sutherland had left. “The order that Thornton forgot pre- cipitated things. I have no doubt that Thornton forgot that order because he had this thing on his mind. That’s how events will sometimes dovetail. At first when Osborne saw Thornton was in a hole, he said he. wouldn’t cover him up. And Thornton said if he didn’t he would blow the whole business about Osborne to the girl. A few whispers under cover of the rattle of the sounders took care of that. They went to Mrs. Osborne’s that morning when they got through work and they quar- reled all over the house. Thornton Dlurted out that Osborne intended to marry Miss Sutherland as soon as he had got rid of Mrs. Osborne. ‘“In the end Osborne agreed to protect Thornton about the order. They seemed to come to an understanding. -Well, you’ve heard of the fury of a woman scorned. Mrs. Osborne sent for me when Osborne and Thornton left to go to the super’s office. She told me her story. That's how. COMmiclboo SS C©