Flowing Gold

mise, and however adroitly he undertook to ascertain who or what she was, she foiled him. It gave her a mischievous pleasure to evade his carefully laid conversational traps, and what little he

accepted this checkmate with the best possible grace, but revenged himself by assuming the airs and privileges of a friend more intimate even than Miss Good had implied,

then Gray was again banished with in

nded only to spare your feelings. And you haven't any,"

no fee

ee that I'm peris

nd her blue eyes laug

only to cats. It i

nd out all

ow

ining the Bris

ave you tell them what yo

f-conscious. I'll make them think you are a much dearer friend than I h

uldn't b

rything is fair. Perhaps thes

ng wha

spoke desperately. "When I return, permit me to ask those t

smiled. "Very well. If you are still curiou

you right now how perfectly splendid I think you are. You have completely r

as unobtrusively as she had appeared, and, what was more annoying, she had left no word whatever for him. This was practical joking, for a certainty, and Gray told himself that he abhorred practical jokes. It was a jolt t

ng, and as confidential as if Gray were a practicing chiropodist. What she had to say about tight shoes was bitter in the extreme; she voiced a gloomy conviction that the alarming increase in suicides was due to bunions. The good woman confessed that she dearly loved finery and had bought right and left with

Allie?" Gr

money we've spent! Allie's gone hog wild." The complaint ended in a stifled moan induced perhaps by some darting pain, then without further ado Ma Briskow unbuttoned one shoe and removed it. "Whew!" She l

surprised at the keenness of his chagrin. He had seen Miss Good but a short time, and she had made no effort whateve

in this handsome, modish young woman the awkward, ill-dressed country girl he had seen at noon. Allie was positively stunning. She was completely transformed from the soles of her wel

erful! Let me see you." He stood off and g

s'pose you'd look like th

look nice, but I didn

Allie." Gray said

ughin' at me?" The am

ook at yourself.

aling glance at her mother, but the latter was staring at h

a peculiar effect upon the girl. Allegheny's tears star

saying: "There! We've overdone i

brought audible sobs; the gi

bone. Allie! You dry up an' stop that snivelin' so w

ig dining room at the Ajax?" Gray said, gayly. "You'll be all right afte

declared, in mingled wonderment and irritation.

ry for, then. But-Miss Good said I-I'd look jest as purt

vertheless, it surprised him to discover

, and he still wore his rough ranch clothes. After an hour or more spent with his wife and daugh

rsation, then he put an abrupt question:

o consi

o's I'm gla

ifference can i

ok a turrible shine to you, an' he can't ta

es

sees strangers he's liable to charge 'em or else throw up his head an' his tail an' run plumb over a cliff. He'd ought to go to school, but he says

tutor f

s why I'm sorry you're so well off. Y' see I'd of paid you anything-I'd of doubled whatever you're gettin'-" The speaker raised a hopeful gaze; he paused as if

or the compl

ng onto what's comin' to him an' Allie. He needs a man like you to l

're sensible enough to understand plain talk. I'm not a fit man to teach Budd

w s

couldn't permit Buddy to make a mess o

ccount I come to Dallas. Ma told me over the telephone how nice you been an' what you done for h

his chair and regarded

idn't expect they'd find much, ourselves-a few bar'l a day would of looked big-but I allus had ambitions to be good an' rich, so I got options on quite a bit of acreage. It didn't take no money at the time, '

oes it

tur

s to-m

ap at a thousand dollars an a

e you'll

op

y n

ht to do us, but I promised Ma to play safe, an'-we can't take everything. You kin have that option, Mister Gray, for nothin'. You kin sell the lease inside of a w

usand dollars!

thin' to a m

f currency and a handful of silver. These he counted before saying: "What capital I have is entirely liquid-it's

the smiling countenance before him. "You'r

full possession of all my faculties. I'm perfectly healthy and cheerful. I know men who would pay a m

re was a pause, then t

ddy, after all? You k

I couldn't accept, even if I wished. I've told you on

the ot

Texas. Before I can accomplish it, I shall have to make a lot of mo

d his eyes to rove about the spacious Governor's

Three weeks ago I was an utter stranger here; to-day I know everybo

rn Buddy to make

sement from my own peculiar characteristics and c

eed money, and-I

so short, I could probably turn this lease you so kin

bunch from Wichita, but they tricked me. I offered it the day you wa

ho

ichita Falls. I s'pose he knowed the option was about run out; anyhow, he

ray broke in, sharply

Bell's hard-

y Nel

t's

e window. He stood there staring down into the st

w them N

ow-He

to act like he done with me. I sure hate to see him git that Evans lease for next t

was white, his brows were drawn down. "By God!" he c

er a paper. "An' I got the hull title ab

to me, and I'll make it worth something to both of us. At first I thought the time was too short, but-I work b

rong, for his was a positive character. As is the case with most successful men who pride themselves upon their cold caution and business acumen-and Mr. Roswell did so pride himself-he really was a person of impulse, and intuition played a much larger part in his conduc

he had neglected to secure a report upon him, assuring himself that there was always time for suc

hen he studied the map that Briskow spread upon his desk

ll said, finally. "As sure as anythin

inion of the bank's oil

knew the property; he considered it a cheap lease at a thousand dollars an acre. It was proven st

and something good. You're a hustler.

k upon which was scarcely dry. "There's the joker. It expires to-morrow

m get away with it.

eason in New York," Gray told him. "I couldn't rea

f your own

, at such s

el

people here who will take it, but I've come first to you. Get together a little syndicate right here in the bank, and buy it. I'll agree to take it off your h

guaranty

ake to sell off the land in twenties right here in Dallas, double your money, and divide the prof

verybody has. So it's nothing new. There's a big play on Ranger stuff and we couldn't lose. But I know nothing abo

me, and the oil business is just my speed. Permit me to remind you that time is flying and that I have given myself only three hours in whic

a button on his desk-"let's see if there are any others here who feel as I do." It was early evening when Gus B

you was run over,"

he nester declared, wi

lease an'-we got m

d a new suit," Allie told

gan at once to recount them. He told the story badly, but in a language that the wome

ean to say Mister Gra

An' him livin' here like a king w

eople talked it over," he said, finally. "Then they got their lawyer in an' he examined the title papers. Seemed like he'd never gi

yes widened. "Why, that Evans

and dollars! It give me a jolt, an' I says I didn't make it. I told him I'd fell down an'

ad repeated himself, she asked with even greater intens

ve him a good night's rest is to wire Henry Nelson the

sion altered, her lips parted in a slow smile. "So! He's pore, eh? Pore a

"Not now he ain't. I says it's his deal an' hi

She uttered a cry of protest; then, "What a

feel that way we'll go pardners. He wouldn't listen to nothin' el

You f

ting his senses. Never had Allegheny used toward him a word, a tone like this, never had he seen her look as she did at this moment. He could not believe his

ped. She, too, was aghast. "Y

ou do it for? Wha'd you-?" Allie's voice failed her completely, she

d! And after all he do

cusingly. "You ou

t you." A harsh exclamation burst from the girl-to the astonished parents it sounded like an oath, but it could not have been-then she swung h

, empty face upon the partner of his joys. "I-I

to side. "I dunno what's come over the child," she moaned, tearfully. "She behaves so queer over them silk stocki