Newspapers / The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.) / Sept. 25, 1914, edition 1 / Page 9
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THE NEWS-RECORD, MARSHALL, NORTH CAROLINA. .;., The Aiiibition Mark Truitt By HENRY RUSSEL MILLER 6YNOP8I3. Mark Truitt. encouraged by hi sweet heart. Unity Martin, leave Bethel, hi native town, to seek hie fortune. Simon Truitt tella Mark that It long has been nla dream to see a ateel plant at Bethel and asks tha aon to return and build one if he ever (eta rich. Mark appllea to j noma Henley, head or the guinDy iron 'Work a. for a lob and la Mnt to tha eon- atruotfon tans. Hla auoceaa In that work win him a place aa helper to Roman Andarejaekl. open-hearth furriaoeman. He become a boarder In Roman'a home and aaaieta Plotr, Roman'a aon. In hi atudlea. Kaala, an adopted daughter, how her Irautuae in such a manner aa to arouae lark' Intereet In her. Heavy work In the Intense heat of tha furnace cauaea Mark to oollap and Kaala carea for Dlnv Later Roman alao auocumba ana Mark gets hla lob. Roman reaenta thl and tella Mark to find another boardln, Slaoa. Five year elapse during whlci ark haa advanced to the foremanshli while hla labor-aavlng device have mad him Invaluable to tha company. In the meantime Kaala haa married one Jim Whiting. Mark meet with an accident which dooms him to be a crlDDle for life. ' He returns to Bethel Intending to atay there. Ha finds Unity about to marry an- un urge him to return to hla work In the city. Mark rises rapidly to wealth and power In the steel business, but tbe so cial ambition of hi wife make their mar Med life unhappy. The big ateel Intereet are secretly anxious to get hold of stock in the Iroauola Iron company, supposed to be worthless. Timothy Woodhouae aeeka financial assistance from Mark and ' tha latter buy Woodhouae' Iroquois stock at a email figure. Henley forces Quinby to let Mark have atock In the Qulnby company. Mark find Plotr mak ing a socialistic) speech on the street and the boy ahowa that he la attll bitter against Mark. Mark find Kaala. who la divorced and la now a hospital nurse. caring for Roman who la near aeam Mark la advised by hla physician to atop taxing arugs ana ISJie a long rest. CHAPTER XVII Continued. "It did." hs answered. ' "But you didn't invite It - Ton weren't the tort of girl that needed to invite It you aren't that sort of woman now!" Eyes, no less than tongue, were eloquent of hla admiration; but she was looking way. "But most women wouldn't be so ready to forgive. They would re member only hurt vanity. I'm at your feet for your charity. I've seen little of it in my life.- "Have you looked for itr "No. Nor had it, Nor valued It until now." ; i "And now?" -"Why now I need it." Somehow the confession, an uncon sidered remark that, however, had the ring of sincerity impulsive sayings are Apt to have, seemed to establish even more firmly their intimacy. It nerved him to his next remark. . "Kazla, don't you think you could tell me what has happened to you during all these years T" "You'll be disappointed," she began- abruptly, "because there Isn't much and It's commonplace enough. I mar lied Jim and lived with him a year. Then I left him. Not because he wasn't , kind he was, In bis rough way. But he was shiftless and he drank too much. He had no ambition and I wasnt happy with him, so I left him, though I knew It hurt him." "A woman can do that," he Inter rupted quickly. . , "Some women do It, you mean. I've - always been ashamed, though I never went back to him. Later, I got a di vorce. I went to live with Uncle Roman, but Plotr, who had hated Jim, made It so unpleasant I had to leave. He hated me. too, I think." . "Or loved you, in Piotr's peculiar fashion. But go on." "After a while I found work in a tobacco factory, rolling cigars. Not the kind you smoke, but cheap vile things. ; It it wasn't nice." ' "I've heard of those holes," he mut tered. "You there why " I was one of many," she went on. "In two years I was sick and in the hospital, a heavenly place where there .. was ventilation and nothing to do and . good things to eat. I used to pray I'd never get welL V . i "There Isn't much more. I didn't have to leave the hospital. One of the internes took an Interest. He had Influence and helped me to register aa . a nurse. I've a knack for surgical work, and since I passed my examina tion I've always bad-cases. For tbe rest, Fm not educated. I've merely read a little, here and there, as I've had time.,-' y-.-..;f. "That's all and not what yon seemed to expect. Just , cruel selfishness In the beginning and a little luck after ward. .Which is not the success you worship." . ., . yi --,-Jy. t'i "But I see more than that . I read between tha lines." Long afterward, recalling this scene, he remembered , her quick questioning glance, but then he gave It no thought. "I see the cour age to make a fight the will to rise and being equal to the opportunity when it came. And I've heard that the really charitable, are never so to ' themselves." "Oh, if you will'' She broke off with a shrug. "Let us talk of some thing else." When at length he broke the silence, his voice was a caress. "I wouldn't have you different What you've lost is nothing compared with what you've gained." ' -y.v-yiy: She turned her heard slowly toward him. . For a . long minute their eyes held. Then with one accord they looked away, Not tbe heart of a boy of twenty could have beaten more . violently. - ..' . aa they drove on, the silence be came awkward, self-conscious. Neither seemed able to break It - . Rounding a curve In the tortuous driveway, they met a landau, a beau tlfully enameled affair drawn by high stepping horses in elaborate silver mounted harness.: In it sat two women. They bowed to him, the younger with a pointed smile. Kasla heard him mutter: "I had for gotten!" "Who was she?" "The older? That was Mrs. Thomas Henley, of whom you may have heard." "Yes? But I meant the other." "That" be answered in a dry con trained voice, "was Mrs. Mark Truitt' After a while: "Ah!" she breathed. "She la lovely." "That makes it unanimous," be said snortiy. It had ceased to be the pleasantest time he had had In years. A heavy cold cloud had settled upon their lntl macy. Why dream of the possibility of a mighty primitive passion! It was not possible. , . . But it was a char acteristic of the man to want most the things farthest away, the things forbidden. "We've gone far enough," she said. True words, however she meant themt And It is getting too cold for you. Let us turn back." . He made no protest. He swung the team around and drove toward tbe hospital: at a reck leas pace, that he might not have to talk. He had no wish for common' place speech with her. From other speech the habit of self-repression saved him. But not wholly. For as they were hearing the hospital, he drew the horses down to a soberer gait "When," he asked, "will you drive with me again?" "Not arain."' He had known, even before she spoke, what her answer would be. And he knew so bad she given It that It waa irrevocable. "I wonder why you came today." "I'd been thinking of you. And was curious. To see what sort of man you had become." . They swung Into he hospital grounds and up to the entrance. Over her protest be descended to help her to the ground. He took a queer 'pleas ure in the pain the needless little service gave him. He sought her eyes. "Was it only curiosity, Kazla?" Her answer was not in words. Slowly she mounted the stairs to the doorway, and turning, looked steadily down upon him. Her face was white. but her eyes were lustrous and un- speakably sad. "Kazia -"Good-by." He had had the answer he wanted. But he received it with a heart as heavy as lead.' He wanted her as he had desired nothing since life began. And he could only stand and, help less, see her leave him. CHAPTER XVIII. Sundered Bonds. Dinner, on the rare occasions when the Trultts dined together and alone, was marked by a careful formality that was but a thin disguise for their mutual . dislike. At no other time. save by hastily cured accident were they apt to confront each other. The quarrel of the night of their first In vltatlon to Henley's house had never been healed. Each had gone a sep arate way, ignoring as far as possible the other's existence. With Unity the dislike had been gen ulne. She believed that when her easy husband had so suddenly and definitely put an end to her suprem- acy, she had been robbed of a right that she, a woman and therefore a superior finer ' being, should enjoy, Fear, of him and of what the man she now perceived him to be mlghtdo if unduly provoked, kept dislike alive and hot. ' ' : ' With him it had been rather con. tempt for her airs and vanities, for the uselessness to which, even in a woman, he "could not . become recon- "Now, Perhaps. You "Weren't Alone V This Afternoon In the Park." ciled. But on this night It was both contempt and a rising bitter resent ment that heightened the . emotional tumult. - 'yi' y , She chose this hour to lay aside the cold, " somewhat theatrio hauteur It waa her wont to' assume before him. In Us stead she donned an air of tri umph, of smiling aggressiveness that he was quick to connect with their meeting In the park. . She criticised the knot of his necktie. Several times she contradicted him wantonly. , Finally be rose abruptly and left the ' HjV Mil r ! room. ' . s Unity,' too, rose and, following, over took blm In the Drellt drawing room. "You are rude. I wish to speak witn you. -"I'm going up to my study." ; "You're supposed to have given up work, I believe." "I wish to be alone." "Now, perhaps. You weran't alone this afternoon in the park." "I didn't want to be then. What la that to- your " 7 - "A wife has Some right to consider atlon. I think.: ' "A wire yes. , You'll hardly claim the title." "Do you deny It to me?" , "A wife has something to give her husband. But you What Is It you have to say?' By your manner I judge you think It Important." "It is. 'You're too ill to work, but It seems not too ill to go driving In the park with striking looking women. With an effort he kept his voice cold. "And you object, is that Itr , "I do." y. ' "Very well. . You've registered your protest Is that alir "No, it is not" She leaned sharply forward, forgetting to pose and to smile, the delicate prettlness of face eclipsed by a cloud of vixenish tem per. ''It is not I have some self respect and regard for our position, If you haven't Do you suppose husband means nothing to me but name?" He glanced hesitatingly toward the door, meditating retreat Then, with a grim tightening of his Hps, he re turned his gase to her. "You really want an answer? Then, I had supposed a husband means to you a name and a check book. With Inexhaustible leaves." "So you begrudge me the money spend! You grow " . "Your expense account fuUy Pet ! the best answer to that I think." "But I want more than money. Do you think a little money a little pal try money can repay me for your neglect and selfishness ?" "So you scorn money? It's news to me. But I think you've nothing to complain of." "Nothing!" she cried. "Is it noth ing that I have to go everywhere alone, always having to listen to whispers behind my back of my husband's fool ish attempts to play the man about town?' You see, you couldn't keep your escapade of last year from me. Or that you've turned the old set against me by cheating poor Timothy Woodhouse out of his last property?1 He winced and flushed painfully at that. She saw and believed she had pierced his armor. She rose again, that she might deliver her final thrust most effectively. "Do you call it nothing that you, who have no time or thought to spare your wife, brazenly flaunt your women In public, on the streets and in the parks, for all the city to see and gos sip about?" : He was standing rigid, both hands gripping his cane, his gaze fixed un waveringly on her. The tightened lips had become the merest line. "If you refer to Mrs. Whiting," he began at last steadily, "you will please use more respectful terms." "You reprove me on her account! This," she cried tragically, "this is too much. I suppose this Mrs. Whiting If that's her name is your mistress perhaps I should say, your latest mis trees." ; "Why, you" The storm burst, choking back speech, but finding an outlet through his eyes. He reached out swiftly and caught her hand in a cruel clutch, crushing the soft useless member un til her rings bit into the flesh and she cried out In pain. yy Let me go," she gasped. "You're hurting me." ' He released her and sank back into a chair.. ' ; :.w.y "I think we've come to the end of our chapter, Unity. But I'll give you us one more chance." ; You'd think I were a criminal!" -We both are-rbut let that go. Here tofore you've made our life. And you've failed. Since our first month we've never been really happy, at least In each other. Now let me choose. Let's go away somewhere " "To New York or abroad?" "Not to New York or abroad. To Bethel .or some place where we can live a quiet decent, natural life. Let us begin over again and try to re cover what we've lost or rather what we never had." "You are absurd!" ""Is It absurd for a man to ask his wife you've claimed the title to share the life he wants and needs?" "You forget to consider what I would have from such an. arrangement" "You would have me." She answered with a contemptuous shrug. "I will do nothing so silly. You ask too much." s; ( y : : v Ah! You're franker than I thought you could be. I'm glad you're frank." He rose, looking curiously down at her. "If you look back, you'll find I've never asked you anything until now. I've, been content '.' to take af, least I've' taken only what It suited your whims to give me. And you've given exactly nothing." And what," she flung back, "have you glvea me?" - "From another woman that might be a crushing retort' I've given you very little. But, as It happens, it s been all you wanted. " You wouldn't take, you never wanted, tht only worth while thing I had to give."- He paused again, his manner hardening.,.. "How ever, all that is ended. I go away to morrow morning. . I don't think I shall ever see' you again,"- -K ' V k 7y Even then he might have relented, If she had given him excuse. But she gave him no excuse.. ' ' ' ; "You're asking for a divorcer ' "Yes." . "I suppose," she sneered, "you want to marry that woman, your mistress." He held himself under rigid self- control. ' "She isn't . my mistress, though I love her. She was the girl I gave up years ago out of loyalty to you." y- ; There was nothing lovely about Unity Truitt Just then. . 'lAnd now you want to renew the broken romance. Very pretty!' But," she laughed In vindictive pleasure in her fancied ability to thwart his de sire, you shan't have her. I don choose to be a divorced woman. And 1 know you can't get a divorce without my consent" "I think you will consent," be said quietly. .- y ; "I will not I don't choose" ; "The choice is with you, of course. But you must understand it. You're through with me in any case. But if you consent to the divorce, I'll make a settlement that will satisfy you. If hot, I will make only the allowance I think you've earned." She went pale at that, the one threat which could, reach her. "Why," she gasped, "you couldn't do that Even you couldn't be so brutal " "Choose." "But you couldn't You I must have time to think" You must choose now. He waa inflexible. She sat transfixed, beginning to comprehend the reality of bis purpose, Her confidence suddenly melted. Fear shone In her eyes. She rose, and with a piteous pleading gesture, too fright ened to be conscious of her hypocrisy, she went to him. "Why, Mark Mark, dear! You can't mean that. You couldn't cast me off like this. Why, we're husband and wife and I know I haven't been fair to you, but I can't let you go. Let me make up this last year to you. Let us go away, as you say, and begin over. We can be happy " The stammering Incoherent cry halted, silenced by the unrelenting quality of his steady eyes. The out- "Even You Couldn't Be So Brutal" stretched hands fell limply to her Bides. She shrank back a step from him. "I believe you do mean it" "I'm waiting for your choice." After a little it came, gaspingly. "I have no choice. I I must con sent." He turned away and without another word or glance for her, limped heavily out of the room. CHAPTER XIX. Bond Though Free. The Truitt divorce sensation had reached and passed Its height One day, when the decree was scarcely two weeks old, a man alighted from an incoming express train. He did not look like a roue or the villain of a famous scandal; he himself did not know that he had been heralded In such a role. His doctor would hardly have recognized him. He was still thin and the cane had not been dis carded, but he was clear-eyed and healthily bronzed and the limp was far less noticeable than at any time since the accident I Six 'months he had spent in the northern wilderness, living in the open, sleeping under the stars, with no com pany but his own thoughts and a taci turn half-breed Indian. But they had not been lonely months, nor did he think them wasted. For they had brought him to what he was pleased to call a new birth. The first news of the Trultts' sep aration had evoked scant interest from the. gossips. But as the time set for the trial approached it began to be whispered about that more than the usual stale story of domestic disagree ment lay behind the affair. The whis per became an audible chorus. It was a dull season In a year when no Impor tant election impended, there was a dearth of spicy news; the newspapers avidly seized this chance to give flavor to their columns.' From some source. which might have been Identified as Unity's lawyer, reporters were fur nished material for innumerable sug gestive rumors. Vague but deftly worded . Innuendoes of Truitt's cruel treatment of bis wife appeared, of his sly profligacy, of the one strikingly handsome woman who had captivated hla fancy and whom It was supposed he ; would marry after the divorce. From Truitt, who had completely dis appeared, came no denial. His flight and silence were, taken as an admis sion of guilt : At the trial, to be sure, the testi mony was a distinct disappointment It proved merely commonplace deser tion and touched but lightly on only one short-lived period of dissipation during which Truitt, at certain mid night suppers, had shared with other men the more or less Interesting com pany of sundry nameless women. Tbe public, deprived of tbe scandal for which its mouth had been watering, decided that Mrs. Truitt had been overly magnanimous in thus sparing her husband and let its heated Imag ination supply the lacking details, Truitt entered no defense and a decree was quickly handed down. Mrs. Truitt at once sailed for Europe. , He hailed a cab and gave the name of a club that to cabby brought vis ions of a liberal tip. In a few minutes the destination was reached and the passenger descended to the pavement At that moment a woman, whom he recognized as one of Unity's familiars, approached. He lifted his hat and bowed. She looked squarely at him and passed on without greeting. Red surged into his cheeks. "Cut!" he muttered. "I suppose Unity's given her version of our smash-up. Unity would." He paid his fare and entered the portals from which no rich man had ever been excluded. At the desk a well dressed and usually very polite young clerk so far forgot himself as to look his amazement. "Mr. Truitt! I supposed you were out of town. I thought " He stopped in confusion, remembering that it was no part of his business to think. Mark looked hard at him. "You thought?" "I thought you were out of town," stammered the clerk. "I was. And now I'm back," Mark answered dryly. "So I think I'll ai range for rooms here Indefinitely." Nor was this all of the city's greet ing to the returned wanderer. Tha rooms arranged for, he turned away from the desk, to come face to face with a man whom he had used to like and who, he had reason to believe, had not been without Interest in him. "Why, hello, Baker!" Mark held out a friendly hand, with a genial smile that was part of his new resolve. Baker took the hand, but released it quickly. "Ah! How are you, Truitt?" "Bully. Just back from a long stay in the woods. Dine here with me to night won't you?" 'Thanks, no. I'm probably not din ing here. Excuse me. Some men I must see" Baker broke hastily away, passed a few words with a nearby group and went out. The ruse was obvious. Mark, feeling as though he had re ceived a blow in the face, stared after the retreating figure. The genial smile faded. Then be went to the rooms he had engaged. Passing the group that had helped out Baker's ruse, he was conscious of their furtive curious glances. Arrived in his rooms, his first act was to have back newspaper files sent up to him. For two hours he read how, while he was winning back health In the wilderness and planning a life of amity with his fellows, his name had been bandied about on tbe tongues of slander and gossip. As he read in the light of what had Just happened the amazing accumulation of suggested filth, only here and there brushing the outer edges of fact, utter bewilder ment filled him. Shirley's brief com munication, making mention of "some talk," received at the edge of the wil derness, had not prepared him for this. It's all a pack of dirty lies," he cried. "How could these men, who've seen me go in and out every day, be lieve it? What rotters they must be themselves to be able to believe it! By God! I'll" He stopped, with a sudden feeling of dismay. "Why why, I can do nothing." He was helpless. "Then I am not free! She haa put a mark on me that a lifetime can't rub out. Must we pay forever for our mistakes? . . ." One evening, when his residence at the club had continued about three weeks, the affair came to a climax. He was entering the grill for dinner. At the sound of his name from a nearby group of diners, he halted in voluntarily. : i r That's all well enough," one of the diners was saying. "A club's a club and, of course, we have to allow a certain latitude. Still, when it be comes the refuge for a man so no torious we couldn't have him In our homes " The speaker was checked by a warning kick. , ' ; Mark, sweeping the group with eyes from which the mask had momentarily fallen, met Baker's embarrassed gaze. With a contemptuous smile, he passed on to bis own table and ordered a dinner which he made such show of eating as inward rage and pain al lowed. ins conee ana cigar naa just been brought when Baker crossed tbe room and stood by his table. "Truitt " be began uncertainly. "Well?" Mark's upward glance was not welcoming. May 1 sit down for a minute?" Aren't you afraid of catching the plague?" y ;u ;o ' : : "I'm more afraid of being kicked for my impertinence." I understand," said Mark grimly. I'm a pretty tough customer, but I don't commit assaults in public. Sit down."'1 .;'-;';-':'' A; '- ..' . Baker sat down, looking earnestly across the table at Mark. "Look here. Truitt. There are things on both sides of your fence I don't approve. But I particularly disapprove this Pharisee business. I felt like a cad when you caught us over there. I want to apol ogize for my part la it, though it wasn't a speaking part" "All right" Mark lighted his cigar. "You've done your duty." , "But thlB is a little more than duty. I" Baker hesitated. "Ok, hang It all! Some things beooM so painful only plain speech serves". You doert need to be told of the stories going around. Lately tfa occurred to me that you've been ttttag us take thess at face, without trying to contradict tbem. a That's the thing I'd do myself if I were in the right. But it can be carried to extremes. Have I your per mission to say that the stories a re let us say, overdrawn?" "You have not Life's too short to enter into a contest with rumor." . "But your silence" "Is my affair," Mark answered gruff ly, rising. "You may say to your meticulous friend that fiq about to resign from this clfcb." Baker, too, rose, looking at Mark keenly. "Oh, come, Truitt" he began, "that's" But Mark cut him short "At least it will sav him and his sort the ne cessity of setting a precedent that would der-lmate the club. Qood eve ning." HomMr, who had been ut of tha city when Mark returnee caoe back soon after the latter took jp its resi dence in the hotel. Mark approached him with the Inward shrinking that preceded every new meeting just then. "You've picked up physically," Hen ley remarked after a cool handshake. "Six months in the woods accounts for that." "I'd think, If it waa doing you so much good, you'd have stayed." "In other words?" "In other words," said Henley, "why did you come back now?" Mark laughed hollowly. "I didn't know I'd become a notorious char acter." "How, in heaven's name," Henley exclaimed, "did you let yourself get caught In a divorce court scandal? I'd have thought that you, of all men. If you had to play the fool, would at least have used finesse." So even Henley believed tbe rumors! "At any rate, no one but myself la hurt." That's not true. Every one who had anything to do with you is more or less hurt The company is reflected on. I," Henley concluded with an air that declared the Indictment to be complete and unanswerable, "I am be smirched, because we're known to be In so many things together." That" Mark returned coldly, "can be easily cured. We can wind up our affairs. And I'm ready to resign from the company." You can't cure the fact that wa have been together. And you can't resign. Are you going to add to the scandal by marrying that woman?" What woman?" Mark's voice was cool and steady. "The one that turned your head and your wife was smart enough to dis cover." You've heard names, then?" No," growled Henley. "She's aa mysterious as the rest of your di does." As mythical, you mean," Mark an swered in a voice that did not betray his relief. . "There was no woman." What! You mean these stories aren't true?" ' "You'd seen me almost every day for years. You might have guessed that But last year those women " "An experiment in idiocy nothing worse. There were no women, except at arm's length." Henley surveyed him keenly. "Then how did these stories get out? But you needn't answer. I can guess. A woman is never clever except when she's up to mischief. "However," he went on, "this puta a different face on the matter. As you say, I might have guessed the truth." This, for Henley, was abject apology. Mark shook his head. "My resigna tion holds Just the same." "Are you going to let a little talk drive you out?" Henley demanded. "It isn't that. I had decided before I knew of it I'm tired of the scramble. I want peace." Mark laughed dis cordantly. "And I'm getting it wltfe ay vengeance." l.y 1 "As much as you'll eve; get It Henley returned promptly. "I know what you want. Who doesn't? Some time or other every man wants, or thinks be wants, peace. And if we had it, we'd want to die. I told you once before things are. Accept them, fit yourself to them, forget theories that lead nowhere. Pick out the thing you want most and fight until you get it Then fight to keep It Besides, yon aren't a misfit. The trouble with you is, your ; strength is your greatest weakness you've too much imagina tion. And you're not a well man yet Qo back to your woods until you're cured. Then you'll feel the itch to get into the scramble again and break a few heads." But Henley the philosopher had done. He resumed his usual crisp manner.-. "Moreover, you can't resign. Tha new agreement with the men cornea up next year and the Qulnby company , faces the fight of its existence. We'll need every good head we've got ; And : If that isn't enough, your withdrawal would leave me to fight Quinby alone. And I made you, don't forget thar You've got what you wanted out of the company and me. You can't drop out easily now and shirk the respon ' sibllities." .. . i . y; : y . ;,. .yy: : y -"You say, can't?" "I say, can't. You've got a sens v of obligation, haven't you?" y 'If I have," said Mark grimly, "itt the last proof that I am a misfit" 4 ' A Gotham genius has Invented a hat that can be turned into an umbrella. The advantage is that nobody would -be likely to borrow your hat and for-' get to return It. There may be men who never stole - watermelons In their boyhood, tc probably they didn't have a chance.
The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.)
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Sept. 25, 1914, edition 1
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