Motion Picture Story Magazine (Feb-Jul 1911)

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A GAMBLER'S END. 103 wife's desertion, the fatherless child's innocence and beauty, and the likeness he perceived in her childish features and her coloring to his deserted wife; all this swept in a big wave over him. He was not all bad, and the spark of what was human and best in him kindled his excited mind to sympathetic emotion. It helped his game, too. He knelt on one knee and held out his arms to the little girl, smiling, to lure her. Luella looked to Westmore for guidance in this little drama. He gently pushed her toward the other. What Ralstone had said about the fray in the saloon might be true. He knew Jack Crane was hotheaded, and he might have forced the other to self-defence. He seemed to show genuine manly feeling now over the little girl. Ralstone folded her gently in his arms and rose to his feet with her face pressed to his. "Kiss me, little one," he pleaded, in a soft, winning voice. Luella coyly bent her curly head and gave an innocent childish kiss to the hot brow. He pressed a fervid kiss on her golden curls and put her gently clown. Westmore took her hand and returned her to Nellie, bidding the latter wait a few moments longer. "Go ! ril do nothing," he said curtly, in a low, suppressed tone to Ralstone, returning to him quickly. "Not for your sake, but for their's ! But don't let any of us ever see you again in these parts. I'll shoot you like a dog if you do. You wronged my wife. Get out !" He conducted him to the door and declining the hand which Ralstone offered him, motioned for him to go and then closed and bolted the door after him. As he turned he saw Nellie in the middle of the room, pale as death, her eyes, wide with fear, but full of pathetic entreaty. She had caught a glimpse of Ralstone, as they passed the door of the bedroom. Luella had said : "Who is the man that kissed me, mamma," and with woman's curiosity she had peeped through a crack of the door. Then she listened. Her wild suspicions proved well founded. "Dick!" There was a wail in her voice, and her soft, loving eyes were widj with a fearful doubt. Had her husband learned her fatal secret? And would what she had done thru fear of losing his love, cost her his affections after all? It was an agonizing moment. But excited voices outside, and then sounds of hurrying feet followed by a shot, and then by two others in swift succession, prevented his answering. Westmore hurried out, while Nellie threw herself upon the sofa, and clasped the frightened little Luella to her breast. She heard her husband's voice talking with the deputy sheriffs, and then the swift hoofs of horses as they galloped away. Westmore came in wiping the perspiration from his brow and breathing quickly. He stopped as he saw his wife and the little girl on the sofa. His eyes searched the drawn, agonized face of the suffering woman, whose gaze was bent on him so pitiously. There was only a moment's hesitation on his part. But it seemed an age of suffering to the warm-hearted woman who had feared that what she cared for most in life was slipping away from her forever. "Nellie !" The word said all, even had he not stretched his strong arms out yearningly toward her. She rose witli a glad sigh of relief, tottered toward him, and sank sobbingly into the manly embrace which had never seemed such a heavenly haven as now. They stood motionless for an instant. Then he gently guided her to the sofa, and they sat down upon it, his arm still encircling her. "Nellie, the man is dead. I don't believe he got any more than was coming to him. A bullet is better than a rope. He killed my cousin. But he was a white man for once before he died. And she did it." He placed his hand on the little girl's head. "Oh, Dick!" she cried, passion