15
HOME ANT) FATiM MAGAZINE SECTION
HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION SERIAL,
A Fool and His Money
By
George Ban
McCntcheon
Copyright, 181!,
By Geo. Ban
MoCutcheon.
STNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS $
INSTALLMENTS. i
3 la the opening installments of J
"A Fool and His Money," $
Geo. Barr McCutcheon's charm- &
3 ing novel, serial rights for which
s have been specially obtained for
S the Home and Farm Magazine $
3 Section, we learn of John Bel-
S lamy Smart, the young man who S
S is telling the story. He has just
written his first novel, and at
the same time has fallen heir to
3 an immense fortune left him by
G his uncle. He is 35 years of age. J
3 After a visit to London, Smart 3
takes a trip on the Kiver Dan-
$ ube. After finding an old-world
S town, he discovers an ancient
$ castle, which he purchases from
S its owner, the Count. With his
S secretary, Poopendyke, he takes $
possession of the immense struc- 3
$ ture, which is supposed to be
? tenanted only by the caretaker S
S and his family, the Schniicks. To
8 Smart's amazement, the first 3
S night, he hears the cry of a baby.
S Looking out at a balcony one $
night Smart sees the white figure fc
3 of a woman silhouetted. He im- $
mediately begins a hunt for S
Schmick, the caretaker, to solve $
3 the mystery of who the woman
3 may be. With the Schmicks he
endeavor s to break down a
heavily barred door into that Bee-
tion of the castle, but fails. The S
$ story continues: $
(Continued From Last Week.)
THE Schmicks fairly glowed with joyl
Afterwards Max informed mo that
the door was nearly six inches thick
and often had withstood the assaults of
huge battering rams, back in the dim past
when occasion induced tho primal baron
to seek satety in the east wing, which,
after all, apimnrs to have been the real,
iimon pure fortress. The west wing was
merely a setting for festal amenities and
wits by no means feudal in its aspect or
appeal. Here, as I came to know, tho
old barons received their friends and
feasted them and made merry with the
flagon and the hum of pkmty; hiire the
humble tithe payer came to settle his
dues with gold and silver instead of with
blood; huro the little barons and baro
nesses romped and rioted with childish
glee, and hero tho barons grew fat and
gross and soggy with laziness and pros
perity, and hire they died in stupid
quiescence. On the other side of that
grim, staunch old door they simply went
to the other extreme in every particular.
Tukto they killed their captives, butch
red their enemies, and sometimes died
with tho daggers of traitors in their
flavoring backs.
As we trudged back to the lower halls,
defeated but none the less impressed by
ur failure to devastate our xtron'noM,
I was struck by the awful barrenness of
tho surroundings. There .suddenly came
ever me the shocking waheat'vn : tin1
"contents" of the castle, as .s.-t. forth
rather vaguely in the bill of talc, wore
not what I had been led to ciiiuiiilw
them. It bad not occiimd to mo at the
time of the transaction to insint npou
an inventory, and 1 n?.d been too busy
fine the beginning of iny teanncy to
take more than a pasin account of my
belongings, lu exrusin; mytcll fw thu:
lather careless oversight, f.tmi only nay.
that during duliirut hours llu carnlo
wa3 so completely stuffed with work.
men and their quwr utensils that I.
couldn't do much in the way of elimina
tion, and by night, it wa.-i so horribly
btack and lonesome about, the plaeo ami
tho b were so littered with tools
and moj.a and tiuiimr Urn I it was ex
tmneiy tiaturtiouB to go piuwling about,
o 1 iirclernd to remain in my own
quarter-., which wcro quite coinforUblo
nd wny in fj'.ifti of the distance be
tivctfi pwi.iU of coMveniimco.
StilJ I was vaguely ecHain (hat many
ariichc: 1 had seen ii.li.nil the hulls on
my fir.it and second visit were no
longer in sviieaixs. Two or lliroe
antique ruga, for instance, were mies
Ing from the main Irill, and uwo
Issatsbie wkklien i eDuus
at the lower end where wo tad stacked
a quantity of rare old furniture in or
der to make room for the workmen.
"Herr Schmick," said I, abruptly
halting my party in the center of the
hall, ' ' what has become of the rugs that
were here last week, and where is that
pile of furniture we had back yonder J"
Rudolph allowed tho lantern to swing
behind his huge legs, intentionally 1
believe, and I was compelled to relieve
him of it in order that we might extract
ourselves from his shadow. I have never
seen such a colossal shadow as the one
he cast.
Old Conrad was not slow In answer
ing. "The gentleman called day before
yesterday, mein herr, and took much
away. They will return tomorrow for
the remainder."
"Gentlemen!" I gasped. "Re
mainder! "
"The gentlemen to whom the Herr
Count sold tho rugs and ehairs and
chests and"
"What!" I roared. Even 1-oopen-dyke
jumped at this sudden exhibition
of wrath. "Do you mean to tell me
that these things have been sold and
carried away without my knowledge or
consent! I'll have the law "
Herr Poopendyke intervened. "They
had bills of sale and orders for removal
of property dated several weeks prior
to your purchase, Mr. Smart. We had
to let the articles go. Yon surely re
member my speaking to you about it"
"1 don't remember anything." I
snapped, which was the truth. ' ' Why-
why, 1 bought everything that the eas
tlo contained. This is robborvl What
the dickens do you mean by "
Old Cenrad held up his hands as if
expecting to pacify mo. I sputtered out
the rest of the sentence, whieh reallv
amounted to nothing.
"The Count has been sellinz off the
lovely old pieces for the past six months,
sir. A eh, what a sinl They have come
here day after day. these fiirnitnrn huv.
era, to take away the most priceless of
our treasures, to sell them to tho poor
rich at twenty prices. I could weep
over the sacrifices. I have went.
i haven't I. Gretel! Eh. Rudoloh?
j liuckets of tears have I shed, mein herr.
Uci-ans of thera. Time after time have
,1 implored him to deny these rascally
curio hunters, these blood sucking "
j "But listen to me," I broke in. "Do
.you mean to say that articles have been
taen away from the castle since I came
into possession!"
"Many of them, sir. Always with
proper credentials, believe me. Ach,
what a spendthrift he is! And his poor
wife! Ach, Gott. how she must suffer.
Nearly all of the grand paintings, the
tapestries that came from France and
;! hundreds of years airo. tho won.
derful old bedsteads and tables that
were here whea the castle was new all
Bono! And for mere sones. mein herr.
the cheapest of songs! 1 I "
i lease don t weep now, Herr
Pclnniek." I made haste to melaim
seeing lachrymose symptoms in his blear
o.'i ovr-s. then l becamo firm once more.
This knavery must cease, or I'd know
tlo reason why. "The next man who
comes here to cart away so much as
single piece is to be kicked out. Do yon
ii'xi!!iit.aod! These thine hekinir to me.
Kick hiro into tho river. Or, better still,
notify me and 111 do it Why, if tail
goes on well soon be deprived f nny-
tliinir to sit on or sleep in or cat from!
rM the doors, Conrad, and don't ad
mit any one without first eoneuHing me.
I'.y .love, I'd like to wring that rascal's
neck. A Count! Umphl
" r he is of the noblest family In
all the land," sighed old Crete!. "His
grsodf&ilinr was a fine man." I con
trived to subdue my rase and disan-
pointmont nd somewhat loudly returned
io mo iopc irom which we were drift
ing -
"As for those Wstly padlocks, I
ehall have them filed off tomorrow. I
Fjivo you warning, Conrad, if the keys
arn not forthcoming before noon tomor
row, l'U file 'em off, so help me."
"They are yoere to destroy. mia
ho.r, God knows," said he dismally.
"ft is a pity to destroy fine old pad-
Wim "
"Well, you wait and see," said I,
grimly.
His faee beamed once more. "Ach, I
forgot to say that there are padlocks
on the other side of the door, just as
on this side. It will be of no use to
destroy these. The door still could not
bo forced. Mein Gott! How thankful
I am to have remembered it in time."
"Confound you, Schmick, I believe
you actually want to keep me out of
that part of the castle," I exploded.
The four of them protested manfully,
even Gretel.
"I have a plan, sir," said Britton.
"Why not place a tall ladder in the
courtyard and crawl in through one of
tho windows!"
"Splendid! That's what well do!"
I eried enthusiastically. "And now let's
go to bed! We will breakfast at eight,
Mrs. Schmick. The early bird catches
the worm, you know."
"Will you see the American ladies
and gentlemen who are eomiug tomor
row to pick out the "
"Yes, I'll see them," said I, com
pressing my lips. "Don't let me over
sleep, Britton."
"I shan't, sir," said he.
Sleep evaded me for hours. What
with the possible proximity of an unde
sirable famine neighbour, mysterious
and elusive though she may prove to
be, and the additional dread of dogs
and babies, to say nothing of the amaz
ing delinquencies to be laid to the late
owner of the place, and the prospect of
a visit from coarse and unfeeling bar-bain-hunters
on the morrow, it is really
not surprising that I tossed about in my
baronial bed, counting sheep backwards
and forwards over hedges and fences
until the vociferous cocks in the stable
yard began to send up their clarion
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howdy-dos to the sun. Strangely
enough, with the first peep of day
through the docrepit window shutters I
fell into a sound . sleep. Britton got
nothing but grunts from me until half
past nine. At that hour he came into
my room and delivered news that
aroused me more effectually than all,
the alarm docks or alarm cocks in the
world could have done.
"Get up, sir, if you please," he re
peated the third time. "The party of
Americans is below, sir, rummaging
about the place. They have ordered tho
workmen to stop work, sir, complaining
of the beastly noise they make, and the
dust and all that, sir. They have al
ready selected half a dozen pieces and
they have brought enough porters and
carriers over in the boats to take the
stuff away in "
"Where is Poopendyke!" I cried,
leaping out of bod. "I don't want to
be Bhaved, Britton, and don't bother
about tho tub." He had filled my
twentieth century portable tub, recently
acquired, and was nervously creating a
lather in my shaving mug.
"You look very rough, sir."
"So much the better."
"Mr. Poopendyke is in despair sir. He
has tried to explain that nothing is for
sale, bnt the gentlemen say they are
onto his game. They go right on yank
ing things about and putting their own
prices on them and reserving them.
They are perfectly delighted, sir, to
have found so many old things they
really want for their new houses."
"I'll I'll put a stop to all this," I
grated seeing red for an instant
(To be Continued Next Week.)
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