19
HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION
HOME AND FARM MAOAZOTE MOTION SERIAL
-rj .
A Fool and Mis Money
By
Qtorg Ban
MCOntetooB
Copyright, 1U,
By Geo. But
MeCutoheoa,
& SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS J
INSTALLMENTS.
& la tie opening installments of $
8 "A Fool and His Money," George
S Barr McCutcheon charming novel,
S serial rights for which have been 3
& specially obtained for the Home
& and Farm Magazine Section, we i
j learn of John Bellamy Smart, the $
fi young man Vho is telling the story. $
S He has just written his first novel, $
E and at the same time has fallen $
& heir to an immense fortune left $
s him by his uncle. He is 35 years S
years of age.
After a visit to London Smart
& takes a tiip on the river Danube. S
E After finding an old-world town, &
he discovers an ancient castle,
I8 which he purchases from its owner, $
the Count. With his secretary, $
Poopendyke, he takes possession of $
5 the immense structure, which is S
g supposed to be tennanted only by 4
S the caretaker and his family, the
0 Schmicks. To Smart 's amazement, G
6 the first night, he hears the cry 4
6 of a baby. v ; . . .
lG Looking out at a balcony one
!G night Smart sees the white figure 8
i$ of a woman silhouetted. He im- $
G mediately begins a hunt " for $
t Schmick, the caretaker, to solve e
the mystery of who the woman 3
g may be. The story continues: S
& S
d$.Js$S5J5J$5JJJ
(Continued From Last Week.)
E FOUND the four Schmicks in the
J vast kitchen, watching Britton
while he pressed my trousers on an
oak table so large that the castle must
have been built around it
Herr Schmick was weighted down
with the keys of the castle, which never
left his possession day or night.
' ' Herr Schmick, ' ' said I, ' ' will you be
o good as to inform me who the dickens
that woman is over in the east wing of
the castlet"
" Woman, mein herrt" He almost
dropped his keys. His big sons said
something to each other that I couldn 't
quite catch, but it sounded very much
like "der duyviL"
"A woman in a white dress, with
dog."
"A dogt" he cried. "But, mein
ierr, dogs are not permitted to be in
the castle."
"Who is Shef How did she get
there! "
"Heaven defend us, sir I It must
have been the ghost of "
"Ghost, your granny!" I cried, re
lapsing into English. "Please don't
beat about the bush, Mr. Schmick. She 's
over there in the unused wing, which I
haven't been allowed to penetrate in
spite of the fact that it belongs to me.
You say you can't find the keys to
that side of the castle. Will you ex
plain how it is that it is open to strange
.women and and dogs I"
.."You must be mistaken, mein herr,
lie whined abjectly. "She cannot be
there. She Ah, I have itl It may
have been my wife. Gretell Have you
been in the east"
" Nonsense 1" I cried sharply. "This
won't do, Mr. Schmick. Give me that
bunch of keys. We'll investigate. I
can't have strange women gallivanting
about the place as if they owned it.
This is no trysting place for Juliets,
Herr Schmick. We '11 get to the bottom
of this at once. Here, you Budolph,
fetch a couple of lanterns. Max, get
a sledge or two from the forge. There
is a forge. I saw it yesterday out there
back of the stables. So don 't try to tell
me there isn't one. If we can't un
lock the doors, we '11 smash 'em in,
They're mine, and I'll knock 'em to
smithereens if I feel like it."
The four Schmicks wrung their hands
and shook their heads, and, then, re
pairing to the scullery, growled and
grumbled for fully ten minutes before
deciding to obey my commands. In
the meantime, I related my experience
to Poopendyke and Britton.
"That reminds me, sir,'.' said Britton,
"that I found a rag-doll in the court
yard yesterday, on that side of the
building sir I should say castle, sir."
'l am guite sure I heard a baby
crying the second night we were here,
Mr. Smart," said my secretary nerv
ously.
"And there was smoke coming from
one of the back chimney pots this
morning," added Britton.
T am thnnahf fill for a. fnnmiiL
"What became of the' rag-doll, Brit
tont" I inquired shrewdly.
"I turned it over to old Schmick, sir"
said he. He grinned. "I thought as
maybe it belonged to one of his boy"
fin ttin awnd Mrptjikp.r 'a raannenranee.
I bluntly inquired what had become qf
the doll-baby, tu was ternoiy con
fused. v ' .
I know nothing. I know nothinz."
he mumbled, and I could see that he
wna miserably uDset His sons towered
and glowered and his wife wrapped and
unwrapped her bands in net apron, au
the time supplicating heaven to be good
to the true and the faithful.
Vrnm what I could eather. they all
seemed to be more disturbed over the
fact that my hallucination included a
dog than by the claim that I had seen
a wuman. .
"But. confound you. Schmick," I
cried in some heat, "it barked at me,"
"Gott in himmell" they all cried,
and, to my surprise, the old woman
burst into tears.
"It is bad to dream of a dog," she
wailed. "It means evil to all of us.
Evil to"
1 Come! " said I. crabbing the keys
from the old man's unresisting hand.
"And, Schmick, if that dog bites me,
I'll hold you personally responsible.
Do you understand!"
Two abreast we filed through the long,
vaulted halls. Budolph carrying a gi-
,nnH lantern and Max a sledge. We
traversed extensive corridors, mounted
tortuous stairs and came at length to
1ib aturdv oak door that separated the
east wing from ,the west: a huge, for
midable thing strengthened by many
and . studded with rusty
bolt-heads. Padlocks as large as horse
shoes, corroded by rust ana renaerea
absolutely impracticable by age, con
fronted us.
"I have not the keys," said old Con
rad Schmick sourly. "This door has
not been opened in my time. It is no
use." . .
"Tt ia no use." repeated his grizzly
sons, leaning against the mouldy walls
with weary tolerance.
"Then how did the woman ana ner
dog get into that part of the castlet" I
demanded. "Tell me that!"
Thev shook their heads, almost com
passionately, as much as to say: "It is
always best to humour a maa man.
"And the baby," added roopenayne,
turning up his coat collar to protect his
thin neck from the draft that smote us
from the halls.
'Smash those padlocks Max," I com
manded resolutely.
Max looked, stupidly at his father and
the old man looked at his wife, and
then all four of teem looked at me, al
most imploringly.
"Why destroy a perfectly good pad
herrl" beaan Max. twirling
; the sledge in his hand as if it were a
bamboo cane.
"Hil Look out there!" gasped writ
ton, in some alarm. "Don't let that
thiniT alinl "
"Doesn't this castle belong to me?
O i ... . ...
T demanded, considerably impressea Dy
!th ease with which he swung the sledge.
A very dangerous person, 1. began to
perceive. .
"It does, mein herr'' shouted all of
them gladly, and touched their fore
locks.
"Evfirvthini? ls-vours." added old
Conrad, with a comprehensive sweep of
his hand that might have put tne wnoie
universe in my name.
"Smash that padlock, Max," l saia
after a second's hesitation.
"I'll bet he can't do it," said Brit
ton, ingeniously.
Very reluctantly Max bared his great
arms, spit upon his hands, and, with a
pitiful look at his parents, prepared to
dnnl tha first blow unon the ancient
padlock. The old couple turned their
heads away and put tbeir lingers to
their ears, cringing like things about to
be whipped.
"Now, one two three! " eried I, af
fecting an enthusiasm I didn't feel
The sledge fell upon the padlock and
rebounded with almost equal force. The
sound of the crash must have disturbed
every bird and bat in the towers of the
grim old pile. But the padlock merely
shed a few scabs of rust and rattled
back into its customary repose.
' "See! " cried Max, triumphantly. "It
cannot be broken." Budqlph, his broad
face beaming, held the lantern close to
the padlock and showed me that it
hadn't' been dented by the blow.
"It is a very fine old lock," cried
old Conrad, with a note or pride in his
voice.
I began to feel some pride in the
thing myself. "It is indeed," I said.
"Try once more, Max."
It seemed to me that he struck with a
great deal more confidence than before,
and again they all uttered ejaculations
of pleasure. I caught Dame Schmick in
the act of thanking God with her fin
gers.
"See nero," I exclaimed, facing them
angrily, "what does all this meant You
are deceiving me, all of you. Now, let's
have the truth every word of it or out
you go tomorrow, the whole lot of you.
I insist en knowing wh othat woman is,
why she Is here in my hou my castle,
and everything, do you understand t"
Apparently they didn't understand,
for they looked at me with all the
stupidity they could command.
"xou try, Mr. Poopendyke," I said,
giving it up in despair. He sought to
improve on my German, but I think he
made it worse. They positively refused
to be intelligent.
"Give me the hammer," I said at
last in desperation. Max surrendered
the clumsp, old-fashioned instrument
with a grin and I motioned for them all
to stand back. Three successive blows
with all the might I had in my body
Hotel
Seattle,
Under new management entire change in
all departments all rooms redecorated and
refurnished. Particular attention is now being
paid to prompt, efficient and courteous service.
DAILY RATES
$2.00 Up With Private Bath
$1.00 Up Without Private Bath
Hotel Butler Cafe
-THE FINEST IN SEATTLE
Service the Best
ROBERT J. ROBINSOW
Manager
failed to- shatter the lock, whereupon
my choler toss to heights hitherto un
known, I being a very mild-mannered,
placid person and averse to anything
savouring of tha tempestuous. I de
livered a savage and resounding thwack
upon the broad oak panel of the door,
regardless, of the destructiveness that
might attend the effort. If any one had
told me that I couldn t splinter an oak
board with a sledge-hammer at a single
blow I should have laughed in his face.
But as it turned out in this case I
not only failed to split the panel but
broke off the sledge handle near the
head, putting it wholly ont of commis
sion for the time being as well as sting
ing my hands so severely that I doubled
up with pain and shouted words that
Dame Schmick could not put into her
prayers. (To bo continued.)
(225,000 Paid to Farmers.
The Cashmere, Wash., Fruit Grow
ers' Union has just paid to the grow
ers $15,500, making the total payment
on apples in the 1913 pools up to the
immense sum of $225,000. Based on
181,217 boxes handlod by the union in
its fall "pools this amount represents
an average pyament to date of $1.24
per box. This is a net figure to the
grower.
The union has recently closed three
of its four unreported pools, leaving
now only the Wincsap variety unclosed.
Of this variety the management reports
11 cars are still outstanding, nine being
in cold .storage in the East and two
entransit sold already at good prices f.
o. b. Cashmere. From the present indi
cations it will be about May 1 when the
final -resutls of the Winesap pool be
come known.
Butler
Wash.
Cuisine Unexcelled