EE
his early days, gave him a quick el-
bow in the pit of the stomach, and
Bert doubled up in the middle like a
ht
——————————————
.
e
CHAPTER XVII.
Molly Starts For a Drive.
LOOSENING of his collar, a
y dash of cold water into his
face, a sip of brandy, restored
Frank Marley to conscious-
ness, bu¢ he was an old man. He
seemed visibly to have shrunk in his t
clothes and the flesh to have sagged a { )
unexpected defender. The tall young
i By Sledge shook his head and spluttered
The minister, whose heart was par-
like a kiss at a country dance.
J jackknife and dropped heels up on a
couch. clawing for breath while Sledge, |
, | as resistless as an auto dray. dragged
preacher threw himself upon the big
boy bodily, avoided the pile driver el
{ as he would in a shower bath, but
GEORGE never let go of Molly's wrist and plod-
/RANDOLPH
_ ticularly in his work because this was
| the first opportunity he had ever en-
Tommy Reeler, who had been clear-
ing the legs of the limp butler out of
: | the struggling Molly steadily toward
7 | the front door.
/ Opposite the library he met with an
J
J oF bow, grabbed Sledge around the neck
§ with his steel-like left wrist and #ith
i his right fist poked him in the jaw.
ded on toward the front door, trying
CHESTER to force off the clutch of the tall young
minister with his mighty left arm.
t, 1914, by the Bobbs-
Merrill Co.
| joyed to wallop a man in a righteous
cause. industriously slammed Sledge
on his other jaw, and the smack was
the path of progress, now sprang on
the minister's back and pinioned his
busy arms from behind. while Sledge
in his cheeks. He tried to smile brave- |
ly when they set him in his chair, but
the attempt was a pathetic failure.
“] guess I'm out of the game,” he
confessed. ‘*‘My heart's bad.” |
Molly took up the telephone. El
i
tal. I've lost my nerve. Molly, Sledge
wins. We're broke.”
“How can that be?” she puzzled, un-
able to comprehend it. “You even
showed me the check.”
“Here it is.” said Bert, who had pick-
ed it from the floor and was smoothing
it out.
“Worthless!” Marley groaned at sizht
of it. “I can sue for it, but they'll beat
1 me.”
ore i Bert edged in between Molly and
che Fern, so that he could stand directly
i in front of Marley and see his face.
ckache ° “Do you mean to tell me tbat our
».clean- whole pian has fallen to the ground?”
Use Marley nodded miserably.
“How did it happen?”
>leum “I don’t quite understand,” wavered
floors. Marley. “I haven't the details, but by !
some trick Sledge has secured fifty
year franchises for every street in the
leum city, including mine.” i
as well as “How does that affect you?" persist-
bathroom ed Bert, his eyes falling again to the
; check. That document looked so much
able. like real money that he was inclined to
believe it rather than Marley.
early : “Affect me!” protested Marley, warm-
yiout-ofs ed into a trifle more of life as he ex- :
eed nob plained. “It renders my street rail- Sledge Steadily Dragged Them All To-
way company a junk heap. We lose ward the Front Door.
everything.”
_ steadily dragged them all toward the
front door, with Molly now screaming
and Mina, her arms about her mis-
" “But the sale,” insistéd Bert.
“Invalid. Coldman claims he was
not authorized to act.”
SON
«I want that booze quick!
don’t. Miss Molly: you're all right!”
And he made the futile attempt of
mopping his brow with the foolish lit-
tle handkerchief which he somehow
found in his hand.
fool me again. I'm goana marry you.”
marry that pinhead.
fusser. He's been mixed up with them
since you were engaged, and he'd nev-
ward window.
the window again.
as the machine stopped.
the level now. Do you love Bert?”
the other way.
Now, don’t kid yourself.”
SHERS
Attic
J
ersdale
p from
DALE
3 and good ¥
e of sale.
CTED
URE
ys Board
ips, etc.,
payment
L IN:OR-
AGENT
rr ——
Ee a
ed
dicap of versation had begun, but now came | hoarsely cooed over and over, but final- :
ke you back apologetically. ly a happy thought struck him, and, ! always to have had an undercurren
nd de- “I am sorry to urge you,” he observ- | opening a forward window, he gruffly
f ed, looking at his watch. “I have a directed, “Say, Billy, stop at Sheeny. from herself.
> root 0 brief appointment, but I can return.” | Jake's and bring out a slug of rye.” ! : bh
ar your «1 don’t know,” hesitated Molly, Molly dabbed at her eyes with the] to look s0 lightly upon the Savage re
f impur- glancing at Bert. “Wait just a min- | filmy lace handkerchief which she had | lation that it might be entered nto
: ute.” intended to carry under the cut glass thoughtlessly; that a girl might select
workin g The thin butler, who was Dow Cross chandelier.
thy with eyed, came through the hall to the | «You are hurting my wrist,” she com- dancer.
_ control.
i
tress’ waist, jerking ber from behind.
“Mina!” cried Molly. “Let go! You're
pulling my arm in two!”
The weight of Tommy Reeler told at
last. The minister’s hold on Sledge’s
neck loosened, and he and Tommy
tumbled back with a thud into the mid-
dle of the parlor, rolling under the
mortgage. Your stock and mine are : Very chandelier which was to have been
worthless. You lose this house. Iam the pivot of the wedding. Tommy,
stuck for the loan I made to give you who had risen to be a boss contractor
We haven’t money enough largely through muscular will, enjoyed
to go into business, and we can't go & lively tussle with the young minis-
back east. Molly, it looks like a post- | ter, but luck favored him, and he land-
ponement!” i ed on top.
Jessie Peters edged closer and slip- | “Now, you behave!” he panted, with
ped her arm around Molly. | his hand at the minister’s throat and
“Not on my account,’ protested Mar- | his fist held in convenient range for
ley, fumbling at his collar, and he | microscopical scrutiny. “I don’t want
arose feebly to adjust it before the you to start anything with me because
mantel mirror. | I daren’t punch a preacher.” |
Molly, seeing that he wavered, hur- | With as steady a progress as if he
ried to his support. | had been marching behind a hearse
He turned to her and put Lis hands | Sledge dragged Molly out of the hall
on her shoulders. and across the porch and to the door
«I'm sorry, Molly,” he said simply, ! of his waiting limousine, into which
looking into her eyes with more fond- he pulled her with the same careful
ness than he was in the habit of show- | force as a man landing a particularly
Bert ripped out an oath.
“I suppose that if the sale had been
a profitable one you never would have
heard of the invalidity.”
Marley smiled and shook his head.
“Then all our plans are off,” discov-
ered Bert. “The Porson tract is un-
galable for enough to clear its own
ing her. | game bass.
«We can stand it,’ she comforted | “Home, Billy!” he chuckled to the
him. “After all, it’s only just. I feel driver.
so much less wicked if we suffer with | Molly’s first and perfectly normal ac-
all the poor people we have helped to | tion when the limousine drove away
ruin.” with her was to indulge in a splendid
A short laugh from Bert interrupted | case of hysteria, not one detail of
her, and she turned to him with a ris- | which was omitted. She laughed, she
ing flame in her eyes, but little Jes- cried, she shrieked, she pounded ber
gle Peters had caught her hand and : heels on the floor of the car, she tried
was looking up into her face. to jump out of the machine, she laugh-
The minister, a tall chap who had ed and she cried again, and Sledge
won the hammer throwing medal in | was So scared that he wilted his col-
his last year at college, had withdrawn | lar.
with the first peal Sledge paled.
“Hit ’er up!” he yelled to his driver.
Please
“Let me out of here!” she demanded
“Nix!” he grufily replied. “You don’t
“You can’t” she told him. “It isn’t
legal if I don't say ‘Yes.”
“You got to say ‘Yes,’ ” he insisted.
Look here, Molly, I couldn't let you
He’s a woman
r stop.” ;
“It won’t do you any good to belittle !
Bert,” she flared.
“1 can’t,” he informed her. “I kept
my mouth shut, but now I got to spill
what I know. These pretty men are
always worse after they're married.
Bert's a bum!
yellow the size of a canal.
got the brains of a tadpole.
make a living unless somebody helps
him. Youwd hate his bones. in six
months.
He's got a streak of
He ain’t
He can’t
So don’t you marry him!”
+] am the one to decide on that.” .
Molly indignantly advised hia.
Sledge looked at her a moment con-
emplatively, then he opened the for-
“Stop!” he ordered Billy, and closed
“All right; go to
t; decide,” he unexpectedly told her
“But be on
“That's my affair,” she evaded, flush-
“I'll call Dr. Brand, she anxiously ing.
decided. ; : : “Naw, it ain't,” he insisted. “It's
Don’t!” he begged, stopping her with mine. Do you love him enough to be
his hand. “It isn’t physical; it’s men- poor with him? Now, be square.”
Molly was silent.
“You don’t,” he concluded. ‘Put it
How about Bert?
Again Molly was silent. She could
answer that question if she chose, and
‘he picture of littie Jessie Peters’ sub-
ine adormton of Dicky Reynolds came
Leiore her eyes, linked with the mem-
ory of Bert's face when he had sug-
gested a postponement. Being broke
was an incident with Jessie and Dicky
and entirely aside from thei: love.
With Bert and herself it was the love
which had been incidental.
Sledge waited a reasonable time for
her to allege Bert's enthusiasm
“Home!” he commanded Billy. “You
see, I'm wise, Miss Molly. That pin-
head couldn't love anybody enough to
20 the distance. 1 can. I'll murder
anybody you name. ‘Want anybody
killed 7°
“you!” she savigely retorted and
‘hen. to her own surprise, laughed.
She had put her hand on the catch of
the door: but. since he made no at
tempt to stop her. she left it there.
“You don't hate me that much,” he
calmly informed her. “You like me.”
Aenin she laughed. this time at his
nnivete. “You see, it's like this,” he
explained: “I'm a big slob, and I'm
rough. [I ain't pretty, and | koow it,
but I can start something any minute,
and when I do I can finish it. You
don’t know if. but you're strong for
that,”
With a thrill Moly realized that he
was right in this. She did admire
force. She admired Sledge, and. now
that she had time to think it over.
something within her responded to his
direct and simple method of breaking
up her wedding.
«But love is different,” she replied,
arguing more to herself than to him.
“Nix! he denied. ‘It’s the strongest
thing there is.”
“Love cries.” Molly mused, remem-
bering Jessie.
“It hurts,” he agreed. “It used to
sound like a joke to me—till I got it.
Now I want to break chains with my
chest. Molly. when I think of you 1
could holler. I don’t dare touch you.
It makes me weak. You don’t want
to go back and marry Bert, do you?”
His voice had in it a trembling plea,
so un-Sledge-like that she would have
pitied him bad she not been so ab
sorbed in her startling attitude toward
the question he had asked her. Noth-
ing seemed more remote and absurd
than that she should go back and
marry Bert.
“No!” she bluntly confessed.
Sledge opened the front window.
and Molly laughed.
CHAPTER XIX.
Molly Feels Sense of Relief.
Bert. It would have been wick
, in their loves.
admission hurt Him, but she vaguely
guessed at it, and something like pity
stirred within her.
“In that I must be,” she asserted. “I
thought we were going to your home,”
she added. puzzling over the out of the
way route.
“Naw, yours!”
“Mine?” she returned.
“It was to be,” he corrected, “the
governor's bouse. : bought it, furni-
ture and all. 1 sent Waver to Paris.”
“You're a eentinuous shock,” she
laughed. “You Go such big things.”
“That's nothing,” he sheepishly de-
nied. “Waver's tickled stiff. I got
him a big job. He didn’t want to sell,
though.”
Molly longed for «ern.
*1 thought the governor was going
to Switzerland,” she observed, won-
dering how. things fell so conveniently
to Sledge's hand.
“Naw; Judge Lansdale’s going
there,” he told her, looking moodily
ahead at the road. "You'll take me
out to the house before you go back,
won’t you, Molly?”
ALCOHOL 3 PER CENT. |
AVegetable PreparationforAs-
similating the Foodand Regula:
ting the Stomachs and Bowels of
| | ness and Rest Contains either
Opium. Morphine nor Mitera! *
“Who's there?’ she inquired. i Not NARCOTIC.
“Mike and the servants. They went | Recipe of OU DeSAMUELPITCHER
with the furniture.” ir Seed =
Sledge seemed to feel no need of a Alx.Seana +
Mother Grundy, and she realized, with Soil
a trace of approbation, that there was
a fineness in him which made decency
a matter of principle rather than of
circumstances.
“I don’t mind the ride,” she laughed,
feeling suddenly triumphant. After
all, she had won her battle with
Sledge and had reduced him to the
pulpy consistency all men should be
The conquest was a
tremendous one, she smilingly thought
: Aperfect Remedy for Comsfijt
| tion, Sour Stomach, Diarrhoea
Gil: Worras Convulsions feverish
| ness and LOSS OF SLEEP.
iano in BAT
TacSimile Signature of
as she looked at him and remembered tie CENTAUR COMPAEY;
his reputation for high handed ruth- NEW YORK. 1
lessness. Somehow, however, she had i
not quite the glee in her victory to ENCE OLS GE vo
which she was entitled. | RAS LD LEE a
He was so obviously downcast that |
she wanted to cheer him up. but she
could think of nothing to say which
would lighten the heavy gloom now
settling upon him. That failure in it- |
self made her feel rather mean, and
she was not at all satisfied with her-
GASTORIA
For Infants and Children.
Mothers Know That
Genuine Castoria
Always
Bears the
} | Promotes Digestion Cheerful Signature
|
of
In
Use
For Over
Thirty Years
GASTUS
self when they finally drew up to the
porch of the magnificent Waver man-
sion. i
Sledge alighted immediately and held :
out his hand. 1
“You fooled me before.” he charged,
“but that’s off.” |
“It’s off.” she assured him in his own
. . . MOTTLED
Good layers of large, white
eggs. -:-
Cost less to keep than ordi-
pary fowls, and lay more
eggs, Mature Early and
language. His big hand was warm
and a solid. substantial thing to hold
to. She was glad that he liked her
so well. It was safe and comfortable
to know that. Do Not Set.
“Good words!” be approved. ‘Mol Improve your flocks, make
ly, youre a lady.” He still held her
hand. He looked at it foolishly. He
squared his shoulders with sudden de-
fiance. He kissed it! ‘Back to Mar-
ley’s, Billy!” he directed and closed the
door of the limousine.
Billy pulled away from the porch. |
more money. -
PRR RRB EE ROBE RISA
EGGS $2.50 per 15
CREO EH
Seieieieiee:atalaie:etateie a acuta 0ceia etn a nb ucncutucucn tuto ein ute)
1. W. GAIN. maxi w wa |
ANCONAS...
NT CR : oF
Have Birds of Which You will be Froud by Bu ng a setting of Fges
She waved her hand at Sledge as they
made the turn. There was a new
drotyr to his shoulders as he stood
there on the stately big porch all alone
in his black Prince Albert, with a red
“Qh, Molly, isn’t it just great?”
“Just what do you mean is so great?”
inquired Molly.
“Qh, everything. Wait a minute.”
. affectionately
up on his shoulder,
“would you object to have Dr. Tem-
pleton marry us?”
“That preacher that soaked me in
rose in his buttonhole. and his silk hat
in his hand. He seemed so forlorn, 80
lonely, that Molly felt as if she were
leaving him on a desert island.
There was a pause, and then there
was a great change in the voice of
Fern. “Tell me it isn’t so, Molly!
Tommy says you're not going to marry
“Hurry up!” he admonished Billy,
OMEHOW she felt a sense of
vast relief, of freedom, of ex- | peplied, with a pang of regret that she | Dicky. And bring all my red roses!”
hilaration in her release from | had given him this needless hurt.
Around the corner of the house there | Sledge.”
lly limped ce white bull ter-
a re and both ears “Did you xen lly expect me to?’ ask-
chewed to ribbons and scars crisscross- o0, Mons rlousiy. I dar declared
ed in every direction. Slowly, tortu- Form. oie erdzs in love with Bical
ously, but with steady determination, | o =, "CoCo gy = er:
he wabbled jerkily along the path and Sr y ? y
up the steps and rubbed his battered % LN '
old head against Sledge’s leg; then lay Have I?” wondered Molly, dazed
7s with nis chin on Sledge's foot. (and thinkingiiover,
Molly tapped half hysterically on the | | of course you have,” insisted Fern.
window in front of her and fumbled You've been dippy about him ever
since he sent out that first wagon load
IrRniealy of red roses, only you're too stubborn
to see Bob!” Ls to say so. I'm so disappointed I can’t
Bob looked up at her with a distinct see, Molly!
grin as she alighted, and when she “Why?
stooped swiftly down and put her arm “It was so romantic. Tommy’s been
about his neck he laid his head against | telling me all about it Tommy's al-
her knee and whined. ready got the county clerk by phone
“He's crazy about you,” said Sledge, | at his home, and he’s gone over to the
looking down at them both with hun- | courthouse to get a blank marriage
“] want |
the neck?” queried Sledge. “Lord, no!”
THE END.
MRS. LAWRENCE SIPE
Mrs. Alice Cook Sipe, aged 35 years
wife of Lawrence E. Sipe, died at her
home in Somerset recently. Mrs. Sipe
was a daughter of Prothonotary Jonas
M. Cook. Besides her parents and
hnsband she is survived by four
children, Henry, Dorothy, Carl and
Roger. She was a sister of Charles F.
Cook, Miss Elizabeth Cook and Miss
Cora Cook, of Somerset; Mrs. George
Smith of Rochester, N. Y.; Mra.
George L. Brown and Eugene Cook of
Johnstown; Ernest V. Cook of Mil-
waukee and Miss Mary Cook of New
York city. Interment in the Husband
cemetery.
ees
HARRY SLAGLE,
gry affection. “I got a big kennel out | license. He's probably on the way
Aged 22 yeasr and single, died of
here for him, but he’s lonesome. | out there now, to have you fill it in at tuboreulosis at his home at Cray
| There's a place for Smash too.”
| “Qh, they’d fight,” she quickly pro-| to perform the ceremony. I was going
tested. to bring out your father in my blue car
| “Not now.” he returned mournfully. ' and make Tommy run your red one.”
«Bob's been licked.” “Have him bring Jessie,’ begged
| «Then it will be safe for me to take Molly.
| “1 don’t think she’ll come,” regret-
ted Fern. “Her folks won't let her.”
“Plumb safe,” Sledge bravely agreed. “Dicky will,” Molly assured her.
“You want to take him back today?” “Invite Dicky too. Tell him I want
“Not right now, I think,” she quickly | him, Have him bring Smash. ‘He likes
Bob home with me when I win him,”
Molly mischievously suggested.
“Anybody else?” asked Fern, quiver-
“You can’t have
He's gone. He's
Governor Waver's former butler, al ing with eagerness.
| the house, and Judge Blake is with him |:
His remains were interred on Satur-
| day at Pocahontas with Undertaker
L. G. Hoffman in charge. The deceas-
ed served an enlistment in the Na-
tional Guard, being a member of Co.
C. and at the anual encampment he
was always one of the liveliest men
in uniform and very popular among
his comrades.
|
MRS. ANNA MAY,
Wife of Harvey May of Pine Hill
discreetly to the parlor when the con- | “You're all right, Miss Moily,”
front door, which he opened, and a
plained.
ne | ed to have entered into a lifelong mar-
riage with him, and now she seemed | dignity, came out on the porch.
of that feeling which she had hidden | Sledge.
A little trace of resent
ment rose in her that girls were taught with disfavor.
“Well?” he grunted.
her life partner because he was a good | here.”
«T don’t mind confessing that 1 would
in all likelihood have broken the en
gray haired Englishman of torturing | Bert, you know.
“Come on, Molly,” invited Sledge.
«We'll tell him. Do you like that but- shrilled Fern, whose voice had been
ler?’ he asked as they went in the gradually rising in pitch as s
! hustled down to the police station to
«I beg your pardon, sir.’ he said to] have Sledge arrested.”
Both the girls laughed hilariously at
1
i
i
Sledge turned and looked him over that absurd idea, while Sledge stood
. by in a dumb trance.
{ “We'll hide him,” giggled Molly, “if
«Mr. Reeler is telephoning, sir. He, we can find any place big enough.
wishes to know if Miss Marley is don’t want Judge Blake, Fern. . Has
' Dr. Templeton gone?”
“Yes, but we can get him again,”
he be-
He let go slowly and looked at the
deep white indentations of his big fin-
gers. He almost blubbered.
«Pm a slob!” he confessed. “Why,
Miss Molly, I'd saw my leg off before
I'd hurt you! Why, doggone it, you're
second later he was sitting in the um-
brella rack.
“Say, youse!” bellowed the voice of |
Sledge as his huge bulk, followed by |
Tommy Reeler, slammed back through
the hall, filling the perspective like a
M’ S:
for the first time to look her own sel
squarely in the face.
“that Bert's attitude toward our mar
on the ferry crowding into her dock. “Is it | jike a flower or a butterfly or a canary
owels, re- all over?” | 0 me! Look at that wrist!”
: ed Db Fern was the first one to recover | She drew her hand away, with a
Not habit from the shock. | splendid assumption of cold disdain,
“No,” she said meekly, but her eyes although. through some freak or fancy,
Dit leave danced of the devil as they met those | she could® see the giggling face of Fern.
ney of Tommy Reeler. { «Mr. Sledge. where are you taking
ork, first when it's off!” yelled Sledge and | me?"
Ins grabbed the startled Molly by the | «home he informed her. “We're
much 10 wrist. goan
Bert end ed to tl olf in In spite of an
f between the two and to I edge, | was something in so ri al
ou but that experienced old ward leader. | that she was com 1 to laugh. and |
who had not forgotten the training of |
that I am willing to marry you. That’
one thing yon can't make me do, M1
Sledge.’ and she looked him quietly
the eye.
|
| He studied her a tong
| Te}
{00 n
|
|
time and
gagement, even had you not come,” she
told Sledge, deciding suddenly to have
it all out, to be perfectly frank, and
«1 had realized
just at the last moment,” she went on,
riage was not what it should be. That
does not necessarily mean, however,
mn
f «Al] right; I'll keep him,” he decided. | that she’s afraid she won't dare come.
«] did think I’d fire him and get a | Sledge, you know.”
wooden one. Honest. Molly, that, guy | «You tell Jessie it’s all right,” di-
- | gin’t human.” rected Molly. “Mr. Sledge Is going to
He picked up the telephone. | take father’s company into the consol-
“Hello, Tommy! Yes, you bet she’s | dation, and that will make every-
here. No, nothin’ doin’. Molly wins. | body’s stock worth a hundred dollars
Sure! Here, Molly.” a share tomorrow morning, and the
Molly took the telephone, but instead West End bank can pay out its de-
of the full voice of Tommy she heard | positors, and Bert Glider can sell out
¢ ¢ 1. < ark
yet, Molly?” Fern | pry
ack east
S
his stock d his amusement
t and go b
he tu
Moll;
{ died a few days ago at the Markle-
| ton Sanitarium of enlargement of the
| liver. She was aged 28; her husband
|and four children survive. The remain
were taken to Salisbury for inter-
ment.
| MRS. THOMAS RINGLER.
Mrs. Ida Ringler, aged 47 years,
died of cancer of the stomach at 4
o'clock on the 14th day of April at her
library. | came more and more excited. “He'll |
“He is a very efficient one, I believe,” do anything for me. Say, Molly, Jes- j home near Stoyestown. She was
she granted. | sie’s here yet, and she just tells me [2 daughter of the late Corneljus
1 Buechley and wife of Thomas Ringler.
| Her mother, husband, one sister, Mrs.
| James Barnett, and one brother,
| Isaiah Buechley, all of Stoyestown,
| survive. Funeral services were cone
| ducted at 2 o'clock Sunday afternoon
lin the Mt. Tabor Reformed church by
the Rev. Frank Wetzel, pastor of the
Stoyestown church.
4
5 >
~
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