The Okeene Leader. (Okeene, Okla.), Vol. 6, No. 16, Ed. 1 Friday, October 27, 1911 Page: 5 of 8
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M._
WOMANS ’
LAND—
COPYP/CPT, /9/0 BY IOU/3 JOSPfitt YA/TCS
SYNOPSIS.
Garrett Coast, a young man of New
Yoik City, meets Dougina Blaekstock, who
Invites him to a card party. He accepts,
although he dislikes Blaekstock. tjie rea-
son being tlint both are In love with Kath-
erine Thaxter. Coast tells to convince her
that Blaekstock Is unworthy of her
friendship- At the party Coast meets two
named Dundas and Van Tuyl.
CHAPTER II.—(Continued.)
Blaekstock Interposed hastily “That
fourth-best spado of yours oertalnly
did lead him up to slaughter." He
reached over and took up the deck at
Truax’s elbow, spreading the cards
with a dextrous sweep of his strong,
blunt Angers. "New game. Cut. you
fellows.”
"The Invitation tempts; but there
are some skins too thick . . Van
Tuyl pursued.
Truax pushed back his chair, nod-
ding cheerfully to Coast. But for a
heightened tint of color hs showed no
trace of being aware of Van Tuyi’s in-
solence. “Cut In, Garrett; It’s your
turn. . . . Unless," he added,
“you-all want to quit. It's pretty late.
1 think I’ll drop, for one.”
“Drop," said Van Tuyl sweetly, “and
be damned."
“What do you mean by that?” Tru-
ax, on his feet, turned upon his tor-
mentor with an Imperceptible tremor
In his voice.
Prudence Is the better part of
bridge," Van Tuyl explained careful-
ly. "He’s a prudent man who be-
come* conscious of chilled extremities
when ahead of the game.”
Crimson with resentment, Truax
hesitated, the retort on the tip of his
tongue only withheld because of
Coast’s appealing and sympathetic
look. Then with a lift of his plump
shoulders he turned away, nodding to
his host, Dundas and Coast.
“Good-night,” he said brusquely, and
so betrayed the effort his self-control
cost him. “You-all can send your
checks if I am anything ahead.’’
“We’ll try not to forget, thanks.” A
satiric smile on Van Tuyi’s thin lips
winged the Parthian dart.
Truax did not reply, but left the
room abruptly, Blaekstock accompany-
ing him to the door, in his absence
Coast cut in as Van Tuyl’s partner
and took the chair Truax had Just va-
cated.
“Deal?” he inquired.
“Yours," Dundas told him.
“And,” Van Tuyl Interjected as
Coast took up the cards, “let us trust
you’ve more bridge sense than that
professional dummy.” He nodded to
Indicate the departing Truax. "I care-
fully told him, early in the evening,
that when I doubled I wanted not his
highest heart, but the highest card of
his weakest suit. Do you think you
can remember that?”
“Yes," said Coast shortly, annoyed
by the other’s offensive manner.
“I sincerely trust so. 1 didn’t come
here to be rooked by everybody', by in-
competent partners Included.”
Coast quietly put down the cards
without completing the deal. “Aren’t
you spraining something in your at-
tempts to be Insolent, Van?” he In-
quired as Blaekstock reappeared. “It
happens I’ve been your partner this
evening more frequently than anybody
else.”
“Precisely.”
“And you think yourself justified In
suggesting that I’ve played against
you?”
Van Tuyl’s dark eyes met his stead-
ily in a sardonic stare. “I’m the heav-
iest loser here,” he said. “You’ve
played like a raw amateur every time
you’ve played with me. Interpret that
to your liking.”
“I shall.” Coast got up, white to
the lips. “It spells good-night to me."
Blaekstock struck In with a heavy
note of Insincere suavity. “Oh, come
now! It’s early yet Van doesn’t
know what he’s saying—”
It was Van Tuyl’s turn to rise; he
accomplished the action with surpris-
ing, dignity If with a slight unsteadi-
ness. “Since when did I appoint a
bounder like you to read my mean-
ing?” he asked crisply.
Blaekstock h* sitated, swaying a lit-
tle as his tetn.jer strained at the
leash. “I’ll fate that from you in
your present condition, Van Tuyl,’’ he
said slowly.
In his nervous anxiety to avert the
quarrel, little Dundas blundered and
precipitated it. “Oh, say now!” he
piped. “We’re all good friends. Don’t
let’s us slang one another. Come on,
Van Tuyl—let’s have a drink and
make up.”
At the suggestion Van Tuyl s weath-
ervane humor veered. “All right, be
assented; “that listens like sense."
He turned to the buffet. Dundas with
"Good-night., Blaekstock.” Coast of-
fered his hand. “I’m off now.”
Why , . . good-night.” Black-
stock’s mouth smiled, but his speech
was mechanical and his eyes, slightly
prominent and magnified by thick
lenses, met Coast’s with an opaque
look singularly suggesting a cast.
“I’m sorry our party has to break up
so early—’’
“Look here!" Van Tuyl swung
round with a glass half-full of raw
Scotch In his hand. “Aren’t you going
to Join us?”
“Thank you, no,” said Coast dryly.
"No,” said Blaekstock. “And,” he
added, “if 1 were you, Van, I’d chop
that drink. It won’t do you a world
of good.”
“Oh?” Van Tuyl smiled acidly.
Don’t, you know I reserve the priv-
ilege of acting as my own wet-nurse?”
“I advised you as a friend, but Ini
willing to push the trespass and tell
you something you evidently don t
know, Vau Tuyl; drink makes you
ugly.”
Coast, lingering in anxiety, detected
suddenly the gleam of drink-insanity
in Van Tuyl’s eyes. Alarmed, he
moved to place himself between the
men, and In the act received full In
the face what had been intended lor
Blaekstock—the contents of Van
Tuyl’s glass.
Half-blinded and choking, he stepped
back, groping for his handkerchief.
The alcohol burned his eyes like liquid
fire, and the fumes of It In his throat
while his blank gaze, falling, rompre
bended the neat black puncture with
lis widening stain upon the bosom of
his shirt
“God . he said again In a voice
of pitiful Inquiry
Then he fell, dragging the table
over with him.
On the sound of that, Blaekstock
moved Tor the first time. He drew
himself up. relaxed, and dropped the
weapon upon the table beside him.
His glance encountered Coast s, wa-
vered and turned away. He moistened
his Ups nervously.
Coast, with a little cry. dropped to
his knees beside Van Tuyl. Already
the man’s eyes were glazing, the move-
ments of the hand that tore at his
breast were becoming feebly convul-
glve. While Coast watched he shud-
dered and died.
“Well?” Blackstock’s voice boomed
in his ears as the man’s hand gripped
his shoulder. Coast shook off the
grasp and rose.
“You’ve done for him,” ho Bald,
wondering at the steadiness of his
own voice.
Blaekstock shook bis head, blinking
like a man wakiDg from evil dreams.
“Why . . .?” be said huskily.
He turned away as If to lose sight
of the figure huddled at bis feet..
Dundas In his comer whimpered.
Blaekstock swung to him with an
oath. “Shut up, damn you! D’you
want—” He clicked his strong white
teeth, jumping as the bell of the
house telephone interrupted. Then
he went heavtfy to the instrument In
the short hallway that led to the en-
trance to the apartment. Coast heard
him jerk down the receiver.
“Well?” he demanded savagely.
“Yes. An accident.”
“One of my guests. Yes, badly.
You’d be«er call up police headquar-
ters and tell them to send an ambu-
lance.
“And don’t let anybody up here un-
to the other end of the room nnfi
threw himself, a dead weight, into a
chair, facing the wall In the silence
(hat followed Coast could hear tu*
deep and regular respirations, unhur-
ried, unchecked. After a moment,
however, he swung round, dug his el-
bows Into his knees and buried hi*
face In his hands. v
“Good God!” he said. “Why did I
do that?”
Dundas coughed nervously and
moved toward the door. Blaekstock
looked up with the face of a thunder-
cloud.
“Where are you going?”
Dundas stammered an Incoherent
excuse.
“Well, you stop where you are. Get
back to that window-seat—and try to
keep your miserable teeth still, can t
you? D’you think I’m going to let
you desert me now, after all l ve done
for you, you ungrateful rat?”
Without a protest Dundas sidled
fearfully between him and what h;ul
been Van Tuyl. and returned to the
window-seat. Blackstock’s glowering-
gaze fell upon Coast. A sour grimace
twisted his mouth.
You’re not a bad fellow, Coast,” he
said—“to stick by me. . . •”
Exerting himself, Coast tried to
master his aversion anA contempt tor
the man as well as his blind horror of
the crime.
“What are you going to do?”
“Do?” Blaekstock jumped up and
began to pace to and fro. What the
hell can I do but give myself up?”
“You mean that?"
The question was Involuntarily on
Coast’s part, wrung from him by suw
prise, so difficult he found it to credit
the man’s sincerity.
“Of course," Blaekstock explained,
simply; “It’s too late now to make a
get-awjiy. • • . If It hudn t been lor
that racket . . . They’d cop me
before I could get out of town." He
paused, questioning CoaM with his In-
tent stare. “You wouldn’t let me off,
would you? You’d tell the police, of
course?”
“Of course.”
Blaekstock nodded as if he found
the reply anything but surprising. Of
course. He was your friend.
“Yours, too. Why did you do it?
“This damnable temper of mine.
He—didn’t you hear?—threatened to
tell Kate Thaxter. . . •" Black-,
stock resumed his walk.
“What?”
“Never mind—something to prevent
our marriage.”
“And you killed him for that?”
Blaekstock stopped, staring down at
the body. “Yes,” he said, in a sub-
dued voice.
“If that’s your way, you’d have to
murder me also, you know, before jou
could have married Miss Thaxter.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
BACKACHE!
Suffered Over Nine Months, Nothing
Relieved Me Until 1 Took PE-R U-h A.
Mrs. Joseph Lftcnllo, 121 Glenora Ave.,
Ottawa, East, Ontario, Canada, writes:
“l suffered with back&chc and head-
ache for over nine months and nothing
relieved me until I took Foruna. This
medicine is by far better than any other
medicine for these troubles. A few bot-
tles relieved me of my miserable, half-
dead, half-alive condition.”
PARKER'S
HAIR BALSAM
Clpftuae# ami beautlflcl “in half,
j'romote, a lummnt growth.
.Never Falla to llentoro Oroy
Ilnir to its Youthful Color.
Cures Hdlp diseases & hair lulling.
60c, and #!.<*> at IkTiKRlsta
THE BEST MEDICINE
Ifor Couchs b Colds
Pettits tve Salve
FOR ALL
CYC
DISEASES
CONTINUOUS PERFORMANCE.
and nostrils almost strangled him lor
a moment, preventing his clear under-
standing of what was taking place.
Dimly he heard Van Tuyl raving in
his curiously clear and incisive ac-
cents, heard him stigmatize Black-
stock card-sharp and blackguard.
More vaguely he heard him name
Katherine Thaxter—in what connec-
tion he did not know. On the heels
of that something barked hideously;
Dundas screamed like a rat; Van
Tuyl said: Oh, God!” thickly.
Dazed with horror, Coast managed
to clear his vision.
Blaekstock had moved to the other
side of the room, where he stood at
a small table, the drawer of which he
had evidently jerked open the instant
before he fired. His feet were well
apart and he leaned a little forward,
his large head lowered upon its heavy
neck. His lips were compressed to
the loss of their sensual fullness, his
eyes blazed beneath knotted, intent
brows. One hand was clenched by his
side; the other held an automatice pis-
tol from whose muzzle a faint vapor
lifted in the still hot air.
In a corner little Dundas was hud-
dled with a face of parchment, mouth
gaping, eyes astare.
Both men were watching Van Tuyl.
Coast saw the tall, graceful figure
sway like a pendulum gathering mo-
mentum. An expression of strained
surprise clouded the man s face. He
lurched a step forward and caught
himself with a hand on the card-table,
j and so held steady for an instant
til they come. Understand?”
He hung up^ the receiver with a
bang and tramped back Into the din-
ing-room. “That damn’ hallboy!
. , They heard the racket in the
flat below and called him up. .
I have made a pretty mess of things!”
He went to the buffet, carefully
avoiding the body, and poured himself
a stiff drink, which he swallowed at a
gulp. , . ,
Blaekstock strode restlessly back
NEW KIND OF INFANT SCHOOL
“Three R’s” Are Cut Out and Children
Are Taught to Be Happy
Instead.
The man in the club had been talk-
ing politics with a school inspector,
until the gentleman declined to diB-
cuss the subject any more.
“We’ll talk about the youngsters
themselves, for a change,” be said
“Do you know that both in France and
Belgium reading, writing and arith-
metic are being omitted from the sub
jects taught In infant school? Tha
children are simply taught to be hap-
py Instead! And when they bring
their dinners to school, the food has,
under the official regulations, to be
put Into a basket, which must be la-
beled at the school, and put on a spe-
cial shelf in a clean, airy place. Fancy
such regulations here! Any old news-
paper and any cupboard is good
enough for our children.
“In Germany, toys are provided fur
play time, and all little children are
compelled to bring a clean pocket hand
kerchief to school, and they must have
a bath once a week.
“In Finland, the tiniest children are
taught to wash dolls, dust, sweep, look
after flowers, and so on; and in soma
Japanese schools a resting room with
a bed Is provided, so that over tired
children may have a nap!’’—Answers,
London.
Poet—In winter I write poems to
keep the wolf from the door.
Admiring Friend—Yes—
Poet—And in summer I have to
keep on writing poems so the iceman
will stop at the door.
Salve to Conscience.
It was at a concert, where the re-
moval of hats was not obligatory, still
the woman with a conscience wished
to be accommodating. She turned to
the woman sitting beside her and
said:
“Does my hat bother you?”
“Not in the least,” said the other
woman sweetly, so the woman with a
conscience settled complacently back
to listen to the music while persons
on the back seats twisted their necks
out of joint trying to see around her
hat.
It Is quite possible for a man to
he hot-headed and still get cold feet.
Most Honest People in the World
That Is the Opinion Count Jacques de
la Tour Blanche Has of
Americans.
Count Jacques de la Tour Blanche
was praising in New York the honesty
of America.
“You are, for all the tales about
your political and corporate corrup-
tion.” he said, “the most honest and
the most honorable people in the
world. It Is to your cridit, not to your
discredit, that adventurers so often
dupe you In Europe. It isn’t because
your minds are stupid that you are
duped. It is because your minds are
noble—too noble to believe such mean,
small creatures as European adventur-
ers can exist.
"That was a typical adventurer who,
meeting an American millionairess in
Paris, congratulated her on her good
fortune in making his acquaintance.
“ ‘You know,’ he said, ‘I always pick
my friend*.’
“But thla lady, who was up to snuff,
retorted:
“ ‘As you would a chicken, eh, mar-
quis?’ ’’
The Craze for the Weird.
The artistic craving today is for
novelty—for new expressions of form
and combinations of color, the mors
strange and weird the better; hence
the passing fashion for post-lmpres
sionism and other kindred cults, in
which neither truth nor beauty is the
inspiring motive.—Connoisseur.
Foolish Wager Caused Death.
A workman named Celestin Leroy,
aged fifty, died in Paris, France, the
other day while trying, for a wager,
to eat a large beefsteak at one mouth-
ful
One Mother
Says
*
“There’s only one
trouble with
Post
Toasties
“When I get a pacK-
age or two, Father
and the boys at once
have tremendous ap-
petites.”
Post Toasties
Require No Cooking
Serve with sug’ar
and cream and the
smiles go round the
table.
“The Memory Lingers”
Sold by Grocers
Postum Cereal Co., Ltd.,
Battle Creek, Mich.
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Ragland, J. H. The Okeene Leader. (Okeene, Okla.), Vol. 6, No. 16, Ed. 1 Friday, October 27, 1911, newspaper, October 27, 1911; Okeene, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1172496/m1/5/: accessed April 25, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.