else when the truth waa known they would
say that he had balked at taking his
.medicine. ,
Lathrop's mind dwelt for a space on
"Billy Ranch good old Billy Ranche, as
dear to him as a blood brother, maybe
dearer. Throughout the weeks of train
ingmiserable weeks indeed. for the bro
ken pitcher Billy had watched like an
eagle for some favorable sign, watched
and waited and prayed and staved off the
' reporters and snarled and raged as only
Billy Ranche could. Lathrop knew that
his defeat would mean almost as much to
his manager as to him. The pair had not
bunked together for six seasons for noth
ing. Lathrop noted that the train was bear
ing them nearer home. Familiar subur
ban stations swept across the window and
were left behind by the special which fled
cityward like a homing thing.
The pitcher got to his feet and made
his way back to the fourth coach, where
he had left his packed suitcase and trav
, eling bag.
No one paid any attention to him as he
passed back. Last year they would have
crowded about him, joined him, made life
miserable for him out of the plethora of
their good will. Then he had been the
bright particular stair of a brilliant gal
axy. They had made him miserable with
their attention last year; this year they
were making him miserable for the lack
of It Yet, in justice to the shattered idol,
let it be said that he did not misinterpret
the attitude of his fellows. He knew that
It was not from lack of Interest that they
left . him alone, but rather because they
thought he would prefer it so. And that
made Lathrop miserable more miserable
than the other would have made him.
, " The surging, thunderous crowd was
there, just as he had known It would be.
A brass band brayed "Tell It to Charlie,"
and a thousand personal greetings were
tossed Above the heads of those who had
come to welcome him home. It was all
just as he had pictured it so short a time
before, and It was just the same particular
hell for him that he had known it would
be. But THE particular hell for Charlie
Lathrop was avhen he greeted Mazie and
the two kiddies who had come in the car
to meet him. They, too, had come to
greet him as the old-time conquering hero.
Lathrop wished now as he made his way
out toward the car that he had written
fend told Mazie all about it. But some-
I bow he had not been able to summon
i courage.
A .They -entered the car and made the
start toward home.
l t AS he watched his wife's competent
1 hands manipulate the steering wheel and
caught the tonic of te clear, sunlit air
into his lungs a new hope flar.ed up In
him, a hope that at the last his doom
might not overtake him. He caught at
the hope as a starving dog catches at a
very small bone. And all the way home,
while Mazie chattered her brightest and
the children related to each other what
"daddy would do to 'em" in the first game.
he answered her in his old cheerful way
and sucked and sucked at that thread of
marrow. By the time they reached the
flat the marrow was all gone. Yet La
throp could not bring himself to tell her
the truth.
r
fi Dinner at the flat that evening was not
Ja r happy time for Charlie Lathrop, with
iMazle chatting away about how well
'daddy looked" and the kiddies piping
again the wonderful predictions of his fu
ture feats on the diamond. It was de
cidedly uncomfortable, when all the time .
tie knew that he was 1a "has been," a man
aid on the shelf, and, worst of all, one
mho, despite his $10,000 per year for the
ast five years, had saved next to nothing.
lie wondered if he would have enough to
keep him going for the next six months.
Knd he was only 32.
Lathrop looked across the table at
Xazie as she sat pouring the tea. She did
hot look like the wife of a man who had
een shelved. Her firm figure, the plump
THE SUNDAY FICTION MAGAZINE, MAY 7, 1916.
curve of her cheeks, the rounded white- alongside the grand stand, shook off his
ness of her throat,; her febrile fingers she "S" Inscribed sweater, and twirled a new
had kept them all wonderfully, and It and shiny ball into the waiting glove of a
seemed to him that she was the same girl catcher, the seething mass of humanity
he had married at the end of his first big gave vent to a cheer that shook the mas
season, when all the world showed a gay sive stanchions of the structure. It was a
and alluring prospect before mm. Mazie sight for eyes gone sore since the last
was only 28, and in the prime of fresh, baseball season to see Charlie Lathrop
radiant motherhood. No, she did not look - "warming up." And when the band struck
like the wife of a "has been." up "Tell It to Charlie," the crowd did
While he ate Lathrop found it in his with a vengeance. Cries of "Oh, you kid!"
heart to harbor a trifle of bitterness "Same old whip, CharTVe!" and "You're a
against his wife because she had spent so bear, boy!" echoed from far and wide,
lavishly of his earnings. More than once Lathrop doffed his cap, bit his lip, and
during the years of their married life he offered up a silent prayer for a "come
had suggested that they put something back."
aside for a rainy day. But each time she A bell clanged, and the announcer,
had parried the question in a way that megaphone to mouth, stepped to the plate,
was all her own, and Lathrop's frugal "Batt'ries for today's game: Miller
soul had been thrown back upon itself for and Haynes, for the Panthers; Lathrop
comfort. Because he was deeply in love and Deneen, for the Sharks. Play ball!"
with her, he never pressed the point. But Eight white-uniformed figures trotted
now, with his arm shattered, he knew that onto the diamond. The ninth slowly moved
he should have been firm with her, that he toward the pitcher's box. With a half
should have taken the reins in his own smile sort of a weary smile he took
hands. Women were such fools in money the ball handed him by the umpire, spat
matters anyhow. He pondered that if he on it, rolled it around in his glove, encir
had only put down the brakes he would cled it with two forefingers and a thumb
by this time haye had a tidy sum with and faced the batter,
which to begin a little business of his own onds he stood there,
and to spare.'
It was with a heavy heart that Charlie
Lathrop kissed the kiddies good night
For fully ten sec
motionless; then,
raising on one foot, he flung the ball.
"Strike one!"
A ray of hope was born in the breast
when the nurse came for them. But he of Charlie Lathrop. He still was nursing
had made one decision. He' would reveal
nothing to Mazie until the blow had Ir
revocably fallen, until he had received of
ficial notification of his release. This, he
felt, would be on the morrow.
it as he bent for the second throw. Could
it be possible that
Crack!
Lathrop dazedly watched the bail as It
Lathrop's supreme torture came later, 8ped liko a meteor far beyond center field.
when he and Mazie sat together in the To fir8t base to second, to third sprinted'
cozy little living-room. The wife busied the batter. There he stood on the bag-a
herself with a bit of fancy work and look of triumph in his face.
talked while he tried to become interested
in a perfectly good cigar that under any stand bleachers.
A low murmur ran through the grand
other circumstances would have soothed
Lathrop breathed heavily as he faced
" ew,i tIr ouo- the second batter. He tied himself in a
Snce the children had been put to bed otf as they lQ basebaI1 parte,
Mazie had brooded over her husband like heaved a ..slow ball.. one of his oW
a mother over a child. Mazie was like time foolers. The batter stepped forward
that, it was what made her so adorable
in her husband's eyes. Only a moment be-
slightly, met it full, and the white pellet
bounded like a streak of lightning be
fore she had sat on the arm of his chair tween flrst and man on thlr1
stroking his hair, and when he glanced trotted home, the look of triumoh chane-
up into her eyes he; looked into fathomless mg. jQ a Droad grin-
brown depths. His gaze had gone deeply Panthers' coach held the other
into hers for a moment, after which she on first.
nestled her cheek close down against his
with a little fierce gesture and murmured:
"Oh, you man! My man! What would I
do without you?"
And Lathrop had been stirred just as
he always was stirred on occasions like own a 0at!
this.
"All together, now, boys; we've got his
goat!" he shouted.
The remark cut deep into the heart of
the oncemighty and invincible Lathrop.
"All wrong!" shouted the coach on
third. "He's too poor this season even to
Lathrop thought of Mazie and the kid-
Now he sat watching her smooth, firm dies-and a lump came into his throat as
fingers manipulate the crocheting needles he tajuA the next batter.
and again found it in his heart to cherish,
a little spark of resentment against her.
She had always been so extravagant! The
automobiles, the fine raiment, the expen
sive apartments, the trips hither and
thither with the kiddies and their nurse.
Whack!
The pitcher stood as one in a trance.
There might have been cries of "He's rot
ten!" "Take him out!" if the man were
any other than Charlie Lathrop. He was
awakened by the voice of Hurlburt. ih
What would she do now, that all this janky kid from Cedar RapJd8.
would be changed? They had meant so .Tm ln to relieve you .. tne
much to her. He wished that she had young twirler. "Sorry, old man."
been a business woman, that the years SIow,y Lathrop walked across the dia-
spent by her as a stenographer in a bank mond-for the, last time. Slowly he walked
had taught her the value of a dollar. They into the dressIng-room and threw himself
talked of many things that evening, of al- onto a j,. A flood of teara flUed his
most everything except that thing which eyes
lay like a constricting band about the - A few moments later he felt si hand on
heart of Charlie Lathrop. hi shoulder. It was Billy Ranche. and
Lathrop carried some of his bitterness the voice of Billy said: "The Old Man
to bed with him. wanU) you right away at the offlce
lie." .
It was the opening day of the baseball v There was no mistaking the pity In
season. Through the turnstiles at the Ranche's voice.
Sharks' park a long line of fang wended Lathrop put on his street clothes and
its way to grand stand and bleachers. The left the dressing-room,
raucous cry of the program vendors, the While Lathrop was living his hell, Mrs.
appetizing smell of fresh-roasted peanuts, Lathrop had done an extraordinary thing,
and the sound of popping "Llme-o" corks When her husband left home for the ball
lent life and color to the scene. Out on grounds that day she burst Into a storm
the diamond the Sharks were "scooping of tears, But when she lifted her
em up" In before-the-game practice, drenched face a little later a smile was
spurred to thrilling feats by encouraging breaking through. She called the nurse
" 'Atta boy's" flung from the coaching box. and told her that she would spend the
Suddenly the attention of the crowd afternoon alone and motoring. Helene
was focused on the figure of a tall, white- gasped. Never before had her mistress,
uniformed player who had Just emerged unaccompanied by her children, taken the
from the bench. As he strolled leisurely car out.
I.
An hour later a big car with Mrs. Law
throp at the wheel got away from in front
of the apartment building.
Down at Shark headquarters, situated
at the top of a spirelike skyscraper, a
short, thick-set little man with the brain
of a Napoleon and the breeding of a boor
broke the news that was no news to Char
lie Lathrop. His beady little eyes snapped
and his words automatically clipped them
selves under his cropped mustache as be
epoke.
Charlie's arm had gone back on hlmf
he couldn't pitch or bat. Three weeks
training and his tryout in the opening
game was enough time in which to teU
about those thing's. Charlie was there
fore released. The Sharks could take no
chances. It was hell, but it had to be.
The man whose speed and curves had
baffled the best of them made his way
blindly to the elevator and out into the
ttreet. One thought burned itself in his
brain. He couldn't stall any longer, ne
must go home and tell Mazie and the kids.
It was hell, but it had to be.
-y .
In the private' office of the Strongest
National Bank a tall, spare man with
white hair and equally snowy side whis
kers was saying to a smartly gowned
woman who sat opposite him:
"Two weeks wasn't much time in which
to withdraw your investments, but we got
'em out. There is more than a comfort
able profit."
He handed her a bank book.
"And let me congratulate you, Mrs.
Lathrop, on being able- to pick up consid
erable business acumen while you were a
stenographer with us."
Mazie Lathrop slipped swiftly to her
feet and hurried out of the Strongest Na
tional Bank.
,
Mrs. Lathrop had Just divested herself
of hat and wrap and seated herself when
she heard the blundering hand of her hus
band lay hold on the door. He swung it
open and stepped in. For a moment be
did not notice her; then his glance caught
her up.
. "Honey, honey, we're all ln; my arm!
This is Waterloo for me, I guess!" The
voice was broken with grief.
In an instant she was beside him. As
she passed the library table she reached
out and lifted the little leather-bound
book that the banker had given her.
She came close to him and peered up
into his white face. She thrust the bright,
fresh-smelling bank book into his hands,
and her arms went up and around his
neck.
"Whatdeye mean Waterloo?" mho
called hysterically. In her excitement she
fell Into a slang that waa rare to her.
"Look at it! Look at it!" she went on,
as if he could with his head drawn down
on her shoulder. Lathrop did look, and
what he saw made him gasp. It was an
acknowledgment of bank deposits total
ing $30,000. He looked down into his wife's
face with mint-dimmed eyes.
"What you you "
"Yes, me, Charlie. WSat kind of a
baseball man's wife would you think me
if I had not been saving all these years.
Billy Ranche wrote me about the arm
two weeks ago. The money was all In
vested, but I wanted to turn it over to
you in cash. It took quick work, but"
She paused a moment and asked In the
vernacular: "Whatdeye mean-Waterloo
V
Going and Coming
"That's Dr. Sharp ln the fine motor
car," said the native of the town to a vis
itor. "He's our leading medical man, and
very rich."
, "Oh!- said the visitor, politely interest
ed. "And did he make ail his money froi
his practice in this small town?"
"Not all of It. He Invested some money
in an oil weir company, which has turned
out very successful.
"Then -he makes his money out of the
sick and the well, does he!