WITH
SYNOPSIS.
A foolish young tenderfoot becomes
fascinated with the bold, artful wife of a
drunken prospector In a western mining
town. They prepare to elope In a blind
ing blizzard but are confronted by the
maudlin husband, lie Is shot by the
wife, but the chivalrous boy pins a
note to the body taking the crime
upon himself. In their flight to the
railroad station the woman's horse
falls exhausted; the youth puts her
n his own and follows hanging to the
stirrup strap. Seeing he Is an impedi
ment, the roman thrusts her escort into
a snow drift and rides on. Half-frozen
he stumbles into the railroad station just
as the train bears the woman away.
CHAPTER l Continued.
lie actually gave her $200,000 to
start that great institution for young
working women which was the prido
of her heart, and he promised hor
that as the work developed, a3 ho
had no douht It would develop on the
foundations she was planning, he
would follow up the first gift by others
even larger. He told her that he was
willing to devote a million or perhaps
more to the enterprise, if it proved
worth while, especially as so many of
his own employees would be benefited
by It
Miss Haldane did not intend to live
!a the social settlement herself. She
might perhaps have enjoyed such a
life; but her social duties at the other
end of society were of so exacting a
character, and her family were so op
posed to her undertaking such work,
that she contented herself with fur
thering from afar the efforts of cer
tain of her college mates in that di
rection. One thing possibly that Induced
Gormly to promise this great sum of
money, which he could very well
spare, was the knowledge Imparted to
Mm by Miss Haldane that she herself,
through her father and friends, would
give a like amount,
Gormly had exacted a pledge from
the young woman that she would not
betray him as a benefactor in her In
stitution. He had actually made out
the check to her for the amount in
question and turned It over without
hesitation after an interview lasting
less than half an hour, in which Miss
Haldane had set forth her plans, her
hopes, and her ambitions with all her
charm of manner. He was not cer
tain that he could have refused her
the store if she had demanded it!
When Miss Haldane left his busi
ness office, check in band, she felt
that she had indeed accomplished
much. She was quite satisfied with
.herself.
Gormly was equally satisfied with
himself. Then and there he deter
mined to marry Miss Haldane. It
takes the cool headed, prudent man of
business to make the most extraordi
nary plunges into wild endeavors at
times. He felt as a man with the
Wall street germ in his blood might
feel who was suddenly, after a quar
ter of a century of restraint, launched
on the sea of speculation. What Gorm
ly determined was usually brought
about sooner or later. In this in
stance, however, there was no as
surance of success. Matrimony is the
oretically regarded as a contract be
tween two equals into which neither
enters upon constraint. That was
Gormly's view of It. He could buy
and sell merchandise. He would not
buy or sell a woman.
Nor had George Gormly a particular
knowledge to enable him to play the
Came he had entered upon with such
Impetuous indiscretion. He could hand
cut a million dollars or bo on occasion
without feeling it; but cynical though
be had become about womankind in
general, Gormly Instinctively realized
that such means would be entirely in
adequate to do more than arrest tem
porary attention and excite a passing
Interest in such a woman rs Miss Hal
dane, Indeed, too freely resorted to,
such practise would inevitably dis
gust her.
Meanwhile he must keep in touch
with her. At intervals, therefore, he
won himself a sight of her and main
tained a speaking acquaintance by
further remittances toward her pro
ject; which had already started with
a tremendous flourish of trumpets and
Rreat interest on the part of the pub
lic. iMiss Haldane, for all her other qual
ities, was human and a woman.
Tlere was something rather alluring
in a secret even to her. She enjoyed
being the means of disbursing for
good ends millions that remained
tnonymous to the general public. She
was quite willing to call at Gormly's
business office on occasion for the
purpose of relieving him of further
donations. Naturally she confided
more and more of her plans and
Fometlmes her difficulties to the same
Kstute man.- She found Gormly re
markably intelligent on such matters
end able to give her the very best pos
sible advice. Sometimes she even
came to him of her own motion to re
reivu Eomething else than signed bits
cf paper good at the bank, and to dis
miss vexing questions and problems
that arose from time to time. She
crew to respect hira and then to like
Lim. Fortune as usual favored him.
Miss Haldane ws twenty-two. Nat
crally she retarded a man of forty-
SOME INCIDENTAL
delation lb Urn Woman
Cyavs JowhsendBdady
four as a possible father, and she had
no hesitation In approaching Gormly
with much more familiarity than she
would have dreamed of allowing her
self had he been younger. And yet
Gormly himself was a young looking
man for forty-four. He was still as
tall and slender, not to say spare, aa
he had been when a boy. He was
smooth shaven, and the flecks of gray
in his blond hair were scarcely notice
able. If Miss Haldane had ever given
thought of his age, she would have
supposed him ten years younger than
he was; that is, on appearance. When
she thought of his business, she would
have considered him sixty. Ever since
she could remember, she had dealt
at the great shop, and Gormly himself
unconsciously took on to her the as
pect of ancient history.
So the little affair ran on; Gormly
consciously becoming more and more
deeply involved, Miss Haldane uncon
sciously Interweaving herself in the
same tangled web.
CHAPTER II.
The Dsvotion of Mr. Gormly.
The relationship of Miss Haldane
and Gormly was all very well so far
as it went, but It did not go far
enough for the man's purpose at least;
and Gormly was shrewd enough to see
that things might run on without any
definite results in this way forever.
Since the beginning of the acquaint
ance Gormly had kept track of Miss
Haldane through a clipping bureau!
instance of his " practical common
sense which may amuse the romantic
, .
1
Then and There He Determined to Marry Miss Haldane.
reader. He had neither the time nor
the inclination to search the journals
in which were chronicled the doings
of social New York in which the Hal
dane name was prominent; so he in
structed his private secretary, Cha
loner, upon whose discretion he could
rely, to have sent to him at his private
address all clippings relating to Miss
Haldane. Gormly, therefore, knew the
life of the object of his attention as
well as it could be known from its out
ward and visible presentation before
the public. Indeed, there was little
that was concealable under such cir
cumstances the higher you rise the
less privacy you have, obscurity being
the prerogative, or the penalty, of the
humble so that he was entirely
aware of Miss Haldane's goings and
comings, who her friends were, what
houses she visited, what diversions
she affected, who paid her attention,
and so on. ;
Meanwhile the man did not neglect
his business nothing would ever
make him do that but he divided his
time between it and the young woman
which was a great concession to her
influence. One reason why he had be
come such an assiduous student of the
clippings was because he wanted to
know whether Miss Haldane was, or
was likely to be. engaged to be mar
ried. His apprehensions on that score
were soon set at rest. It was Miss
Haldane's second season. She had
created an instant furor when she had
been launched in society the year be
fore. The usual contingent of im
pecunious foreigners had promptly
laid their coronets at her feet; but it
was quite evident that none of ftiera
had found favor in her eyes, and that
she was still free. Ho would enter It,
he decided; but how?
First of all. something must be done
to bring Gormly himself into the pub
lic eye in some other capacity, some
higher capacity, some more attractive
capacity, than that of a mere retailer
of ribbons, so to speak; the public eye
for Gormly being Miss Haldane'B liq
uid orbs. And Gormley knew that the
way to private consideration is more
often than not through public inter
est. He had to do something to justi
fy himself, therefore, to make himself
known in 6ome .enviable way; in short,
he determined to make himself worthy
of her; And again the question arose;
but how?
He had thought vaguely of the ra
cing game, of the most magnificent of
yachts, of the finest and speediest of
stables, of the fastest string of auto
mobiles, of a thousand similar things
which he had dismissed as unworthy
of his high purpose and inadequate to
his end; until finally, fortune favoring
him, he hit upon the field of politics.
Miss Haldane in some of those now
rather frequent 'conferences, had cas
ually enough remarked that she liked
men who did things, who really ac
complished something for good in this
world.
Gormly Instantly resolved to do
something. Now if any man really
wants to accomplish good in this
world, there are few opportunities of
greater possibilities than those pre
sented in the political arena. There
is also no field in which it is harder
to accomplish the end. Gormly as a
political force was entirely unknown.
He was without experience. One
requisite, popularly considered vital,
he had, and, that was an abundance of
money. Another requisite he pos
sessed albeit unwittingly, was char
acter. And still a third was his, and
that was imagination coupled with
capacity the ideal and the real; the
dreamer and the practical man in one f
An irresistible combination that!
Fortune was further kind to him,
however, for concurrently with his de
cision she presented him with an
opening. Gormly's business was suffi
ciently great to have enabled him to
extend, it in several directions. He
brought Ireland, England, France,
Germany, Holland, Spain, Italy, and
the Orient into New York bay and un
loaded them ia his great institution.
He had conceived, Eome dozen years
before after raying tremendous freight
charges, the propriety of establishing
hi3 own line of freight steamers. It
had amused him to combine the prac
tise of the ancient merchant prince
with the customs of the modern one.
He had bought the controlling inter
est in a freight line of half a dozen
large steamers, which he found no
difficulty in using as cargo carriers
for other people when they were not
supplying his own needs.
The purchase of the freight line had
with it a lease of one of the piers in
the North river. The lease had run
out the year before. He had there
after availed himself of what he con
ceived to be an excellent opportunity
of subleasing another pier in the East
river. The city had Just completed an
elaborate railroad, surface and sub
way, for the transportation of heavy
freight from the water front to the
great mercantile establishments in
land. This system had been leased
to the Gotham Freight Traction com
pany, a vast corporation with a full
set of ostensible promoters and di
rectors, but which had back of it pow
ers and persons unknown to the gen
eral public, carefully concealed from
it in fact.
The corporation had not been form
ed to promote the health of its mem
bers. Therefore when Gormly ap
plied to the authorities for permis
sion to construct a switch from his
pier on the one hand and his ware
house near the river front on the other
to connect both with this subway, the
permission was Instantly granted, but
coupled with an expense demand upon
him for something like a million dol
lars. Gormly could clve Miss Haldane a
million dollars to play with; he would
not spend ten cents for bribery. He
saw instantly that the demand upon
him was a mere attempt to hold him
up. To build the switch would cost
perhaps forty or fifty thousand dol
lars; the privilege might be worth aa
much more; but inasmuch as no
streets were crossed, no overhead traf
fic hindered, he was doubtful even as
to that. The road had been built by
private capital subscribed by the peo
ple on a public franchise. The in
terests of the public were supposed to
be paramount. A reasonable return
upon their investment was all that tka
promoters had a right to expect.
Gormly had consulted his attorneys,
had appealed to the city council, and
had done everything that he could to
settle the matter short of publishing
the whole affair. He had failed ab
solutely everywhere. The members cf
the transportation committee of tho
board of aldermen were very sorry,
but they did not see what could ba
done. ' A gentle hint that Gormly
might prefer to indemnify the alder
men for their trouble in case they
should glye him permission was met
with pained silence or explosive wrath.
It was furthermore pointed out to him
that the board had no power, the
rights of the people having been vest
ed In the corporation for a ninety-nina
yearperiod. It was too bad that the
innocent aldermen had allowed them
selves to be placed in such an unfor
tunate position; but so It was and
there you were. There was no help
for the matter, and Gormly's only re
source was to pay the money, unless
he wanted to unload his goods into
truck wagons and vans and cart them
all over the city. O, course he could
do this; but it would be much easier,
more profitable and more desirable in
every way if he had the right to run
cars out on the pier alongside of the
essels of his fleet and transport the
merchandise in bulk in that way.
He was in a very desperate situa
tion. Here he was saddled with a
twenty-five-year lease of one of the
most expensive piers in New York;
here he had a great warehouse six
blocks or more away from the pier;
here he had also a vast store Beveral
miles from the warehouse; here was
a railroad that practically connected
all three, provided one or two little
spurs or switches could be built from
pier to railroad, and from warehouse
to railroad. It was perhaps the one
mistake that he had made in his busi
ness career not to have arranged mat
ters before all this came to a climax.
The railroad people meant to" make
him pay. They were resolved that
he should; he was equally determined
that he would not.
He was not alone in his position,
however; for it was found on all side's
he discovered it by making quiet in
quiries that other shippers and
merchants seeking similar privileges
were being held up in the same way.
The road had proved enormously ex
pensive to build; the stock had been
watered unmercifully. " Contracts
which had been entered into for tha
construction of switches were found
to be of little value; means were avail
able to break them and evade them,
and the whole water front of New
York found itself practically helpless
in the grasp of this octopus of a corpo
ration. There had been no clamor in the pa
pers over this matter; but there was
a tremendous undercurrent of resent
ment and dissatisfaction, and Gormly
thought he saw an opportunity of turn
ing it to his own account. To expose
the iniquitous methods of procedure
of the Gotham Freight Traction com
pany, to bring about its ruin or its
downfall by depriving it of the fran
chise it was abusing, to safeguard the
people in their rights in any further
grants, was "certainly an object suffi
ciently high and, sufficiently vast tc
attract the attention, and, should he
succeed, to awaken the admiration of
any being. And Gormly himself with
out losing sight of Miss Haldane be
gan to look at the possibilities from a
high and noble point of view, in which
self-interest took a secondary position.
Therefore, late in November he
came boldly out in the open, land over
his own name vigorously attacked the
Gotham Freight Traction company.
He did it in a unique way, too. In
stead of the full page advertisement
of Gormly's store which appeared
simultaneously in all the great dailies,
there was presented one morning in
clear, direct, businesslike English a
statement of the whole situation ex
actly as it was. There were no threats,
no menaces, no intimations of any fu
ture plan or purpose; Just a blunt
statement of facts prluted in large
double-leaded type, and signe-I with
the familiar facsimile of his hcmv f
mous autograph.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
The Combustible Clive.
As Jong ago as the middle of tha
eighteenth century, a famous Georgian
actress, Mrs. Kitty Clive, felt the call ot
tha nerves commonly associated with
modern women. The whole green room,
according to the author of "Garrlcli
and !:'s Circle," feared her tantrums.
Her character stood high, but her
clean, wholesome nature and hone3t
heart scarcely offset her temper. Sha
was the one player Garrick feared, and
he did everything he could to dis
perse her nerve storms, or. if they
broke, assuage them. It Is among
the legends of the English stage that
he said to her:
"I have heard of tartar and brim
Ftone. but you are the cream of one
and the flower of the other! "Youth'f
Compauion.
-Vv ! ,. 4t." 'kiPI'v. .w,4a
r
HIS is going to be the biggest
year yet for aviation. Not
only In America and Europe.
I uut in iar-on countries ime
Japan air craft are being built
by the hundreds and scores of exhibi
tions are planned' for the next few
months. In this country and in Eu
rope alone a total of more than $1,500,
000 Is offered In prizes for aviators.
No such wonderful progress in a new
means of transportation has ever been
witnessed in the world before. Tho
.flying machine is coming into' general
use more than twice as rapidly as did
(he automobile. Although travel by
land and water will not be rivaled by
travel In the air for many years to
come, yet the airship is likely to out
strip all other methods of rapid trans
portation within the next year or so.
America is still far behind Europe,
both in the giving of prizes and the
flying of machines. This, however, Is
not likely to continue to be the case.
Not even France is showing more ac
tivity in aviation than America is be
ginning to. The list of prizes that are
open for competition thus far this
year in America totals almost $500,
000. Under the auspices of the Chi
cago Aero club, there will be a tour
nament that In the wealth of its prizes
and the distinction of its contestants
will exceed anything the world yet has
seen. The most expert of pilots will
be in charge and the most famous of
Inventors will there meet in contest.
The prizes are fixed at a minimum of
$200,000. At the very first meeting of
the club, called by Harold F. McCor
mick, $SO,000 was subscribed, and
6ince then the total originally desig
nated has been made up.
Like all the other contests of this
year, it will be a cross-country meet
that is, it will be a long-distance affair
and not merely an exhibition. It, will
be utilitarian, and nothing will be per
mitted in the way of competition that
will not have for its intent the evolu
tion of the science of aviation. The
Chicago Aero club in this particular Is
following closely the lines laid down
by the Aero Club of America, which
has for its basic principle the making
of mere sport subsidiary to utility and
advancement. Hence It is that it has
enlisted hundreds of thousands of cap
ital contributed by men whose eco
nomic genius forbids a questioning of
the correctness of their foresight.
These men do not fly machines. But
at their desks they write out the
checks that stimulate "pilots' and in
cite inventors to their best efforts.
They pay tho expenses, precisely as
"the grocery men" in the days of the
Argonauts "Krub-staked" the pros
pectors for gold and other precious
metals.
Among the other prizes that will be
competed for this summer is that of
fered by the Automobile Club of Amer
ica, motor reliability, $1,000. Then
there is the $15,000 prize offered by
Edwin Gould for the most perfect and
practical heavier-than-air flying ma
chine designed and equipped with two
or more separate motors and propell
ers so connected that they may be op
erated individually or together. There
are two big prizes for long flights.
One of these is $50,000 for a flight
across the continent, and the other
$30,000 for a flight from New York to
St. Louis.
In England the biggest prize that
has been hung up thus far this year
Ik for the 1,000-mile race around Great
Britain, and the winner's purse is $50,
000. On the continent the French
government's competition for military
aeroplanes has $240,000 in prizes. The
prizes at mis'cellaneous meets and cir
cuits ia Germany, Italy, Russia and
Belgium amount to $150,000. There
are many big individual events. All
:: iimm0p':i&. :q W .Kilt 1; i
wmm 11(0)112
mm
over the world the story is the same.
They are having aviation meets in
Hawaii, In China,; in Japan, In Aus
tralia, in India, and even down in
South Africa.
Almost as important as getting the
right sort of motor is the finding of
the secret of automatic stability of
aeroplanes. More has been learned in
the last twelve months about the
swirls and turmoils that beset the nav
igator in the fields of air than ever
vas known before. But the aero
plane will have to become a steady,
well-balanced machine under varying
conditions before it can surpass the
automobile in popularity and general
use. Many devices are being tried to
accomplish this -end. There is .no
doubt that the problem will be solved
satisfactorily before long, and that the
annual death roll of the aevenauta will
be . cut down considerably.
A great many enthusiastic people
have been urging their governments
to stop building battleships ana spend
their millions for air craft. They have
pointed out that for the cost of one
Dreadnaught an aerial fleet that
would darken the sky could be con
structed. In fact, the nations of the
world are feverishly preparing for aer
ial warfare. - Great as has been the
rivalry between the great powers to
build and equip battleships, the rivalry
between them for mastery of the air
is fully as keen. Even the United
States has caught the fever and within
a few months expects to have 150 aer
oplanes under its command. The last
congress appropriated $125,000 for the
purchase and building of aeroplanes
for naval and military purposes. The
aerial corps is already under organiza
tion and the most noted aviators In
the United States are now commis
sioned officers In it. The Aerial corps
of the regular army has been seeing
some service during the maneuvers
still under way In the southwest and
have done scout duty for the marching
columns.
The air of the United States will be
full of machines during the summer.
As in the old days, the nation relied
for its fighting sailors upon the sea
faring men of the New England coast;
in these later times it must rely, upon
the citizen aviator to aid in manning
its machine! in the event of a conflict.
In Europe the military use of tho
aeroplane is well recognized. ' Ruasia
has given orders for the purchase of
300 warplanes of the latest type. Ger
many has anywhere from thirty to
fifty dirigibles and a score of aero
planes carefully guarded in her mili
tary department. England is nerv
ously arming with warplanes, that sho
may be able to defend the air as she
has long held the -water. Italy is
strong in the fighting potentiality of
these new creatures.
A first-class steel warplane costs
$7,500 in the open market. The mod
ern battleship costs nearly $10,000,000,
so that the cost for one battleship a
good-sized fleet of aerial craft might
be assembled. In France the manufac
turers are behind with their orders.
They have been swamped with orders
during the past few months and have
enough now to keep them busy for a
year. '
His Promotion.
"When I was working on a salary.1
said the head of the firm, "I was al
ways the first one in the establish
ment in the morning and the last one
to leave it at night."
"Was you?" replied the office boy.
"How long did you keep it up?"
"How long did I keep It up? For
twenty-two years." -
"Gee! It took you a long time tc
coax the boss to let you marry his
daughter, didn't it?"