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About The gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925 | View Entire Issue (July 2, 1914)
HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION 15 By Geo. Barr McCutcheon HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION SERIAL. A Fool and His Money Copyright, 1913, By Geo. Barr McCutcheon. f 3 SYMOPSIS OF PEEVIOCS INSTALLMENTS. & In the opening installments of "A Fool and Money," Geo. Burr Mc- 3 0 Cutcheon's charming novel, aerial 4 rights for which have been specially Ji S obtained for Ihe Homo and Farm $ Magaiine Section, we learn of John Bellamy Smart, the young man whii 3 it telling this story. He haa just 0 written hie first novel, and at the 4 same timo has fallen heir to an im- 4 mense fortune left him by his uncle. $ $ Ho is 35 years of age. J After a visit to London, Smart 4 takes a (rip on the Hiver Danube. After finding an old-world town, he J disonvers ui ancient castle, which be purchases from its owner, the Count. With his secretary, Poopcndyke, he $ takes possesion of the immense structure, which is supposed to be Q tenanted only by the caretaker and .$ 4 his family, tho Srhmicks. To Smart's J aniaiement, the first night, he hears 4 the cry of a baby. $ Looking out at a balcony one night Smart sees the white figure ol l 41 woman silhouetted.. He immediately J 4 begins a hunt for Bchmick, the eare- J S taker, to solve the mystery of who J the woman may be. Wit the Srhmicks he endeavors to break down a heavily barred door into that sec- $ tlon of the castle, but fails. Smart J s$ learns that souvenir hunters from J New York are demanding to buy the J castle heirlooms. Smart's visitors demand to buy the curiosities of the $ castle although he assures them time t sj and time '.gain they are not on sale. They think be is holding out for a higher prica. The would be buyers $ J are insuhii,g. nnd are roughly eject- ed from ths castle. Smart discovers w a woman ft at .. i Ho u too much interested to attend i to his oorrespondenee, as is desired by 4 his secretary. Smart determines to V soive me mystery of the east wing of the castle and enters a window by J J means of a ladder. Ho is blocked by t a stout door on which is pinned a ? 0 note reading: "Please keep out. Tbi 4. is private property." j, HvSe$$4 I HAVE no patience with the so-called eccentricity of genius. It is merely an excuse for unkempt hair, dirty finger-nails, unpolished boots, opes placquets, bad manners and a tendency to forget pecuniary obligations, to say nothing of such trifles as b:sottedness, vulgarity and the superior knack of knowing how to avoid making Bui table provision for one 's wife and children. All the shabby shortcomings in the character of an author, artist or actor are blithe ly charged to genius, and we are eon tent to let it go at that for fear that other people may think we don't know ny better. As for myself, I may be foolish and inconsequential, but heaven will bear witness that I am not mean enough to call mvself a genius. 80 wo will call it stupidity that put ate where I might be rained upon at auiy moment, or permanently interrupt ed by a bolt of lighting. (There were low mutterings of thunder behind the hills, and faint flashes as if a mon itrous giant had paused to light his pipe on the evil, wind-swept peaks of the Caucasus mountains.) I was scribbling away in serene con tempt for the physical world, when there came to my ears a sound that gave me a greater shock than any treak of lightning could nave pro fluced and vet left sufficient life in me to appreciate the scnation of being elec trified. A woman's voice, speaking to me out of the darkness and from some point quite near at hand! Indeed, I could have sworn it was almost at n.y elbow; elio might have been pecritg over my shoulder to read my thoughts. "I beg your pardon, but would you Bind doing me a slight favorf" Those were the words, uttered in a clear, sweet, perfectly confident voico, s of ono who never caked for favors, but exacted them. I looked about me, blinking, utterly bewildered. No one was to be seen. Bho laughed. Without really meaning to do so, I also laughed nervously, of eonrse. "Can't you see met" she asked. I looked intently at the spot from which the sound seemed to come a perfectly solid stone block less than three feet from my right should r, It must have becB very amusing. She laughed again. I flushed resentfully. "Where ire youf" I cried out rather tartly. "I can see yon quite plainly, -tnd you are very ugly when you cowl, sir. Are you scowling at met" "I don't know," I rcplieo truthfully, still searching for her. "Does it seem 1 so to youf" 'Yes." 'Then 1 must be looking in the right direction," I cried impolitely. "You must be Ah!" My straining eyes had located a small, oblong blotch in the curve of the tower not mors than twenty feet from where I stood, and on a direct line with my balcony. True, I could not at first see a face but as my eyes grew a little more accustomed to the darkness, 1 fancied I could "distinguish a shadow that uiight pass for one. "I didn't know that little window was there," I cried, puzzled. "It isn't," she said. "It is it secret- loop hole, and it isn't here except in times of great duress. See! I can close it." The oblong blotch abruptly dis appeared, only to reappear an instant later. 1 was beginning to understand. Of course it was in the beleaguered oast wing! "I hope I didn't startle ou a moment ago." I resolved to be very stiff and formal about it. "May I enquire, madam, what you are doing in my hou my castlef" 'You may." 'Well," said I, seeing the point, "what arc you doing here!" 'I am living here," she answered distinctly. 'So I perceive," said I, rather too distinctly. "And I have come down to ask a simple, tiny little favor of you, Mr. Smart," she resumed. "You know my name!" I cried, sur prised. "I am reading your last book Are yon going!" "Just a moment, please," I called ut, struck by a splondid idea. Beach ing inside the window t grasped the lanthorn and brought its rays to bear upon the perfectly blank wall! I stared open-mouthed and unbelieving. 'Good heaven! Have I been dreaming all thisf " I cried aloud. My gaze fell upon two tiny holes in the wall, exposed to view by the bright light Of my lamp. They appeared to be precisely in the center ot the spot so recently marked by the elusive oblong. Even as I stared at the holes, a slim object that I at onca recognized as a finger protruded from one of them ana wiggled at me in a mrry but exceed ingly irritating manner. Sensibly 1 restored the lanthorn to its place inside the window and waited for the mysterious voice to resume. "Are you so homely as all thatl" I demanded when the shadowy lace look ed out once mere. Very clever of me' I thought. "I am considered rather good-looking," she replied, serenely. "Please dont do that again. It was very rude of you, Mr. Smart." "Oh, I've seen something of yon be foro this," I Baid. "You have long, beautiful brown hair and a dog." She was silent. "I am sure you will pardon me if I very politely ask who you arc!" I went on. "That question takes me back to the favor. Will you be so very, very kind as to cease bothering ni, Mr. Smart! It is dreadfully upsetting, don't you know, feeling that at any moment you mav rush in and" "I like that. In my own castle, tnol" "There is ample room for both of US," sue saia Bimrpiv. here for more than a month 01 six weeks, and I am sure we can get along very amiably under tho same roof for that length of time if yon '11 only for get that I am here." "I can't very well do that, madam, You see, we are making extensive re pairs about the place and you are prov ing to be a serious obstacle. I cannot grant your request. It will grieve me enormously if 1 am compelled to smoke you out, but I fear" "Smoke me out!" "Perhaps with sulphur," I went on resolutely. "It is said to be very effective" "Surely you will not do anything so horrid." "Only as a last resort. First, we shall rely on smoke. Yon will admit that you have no right to poach on my preserves." 'None whatever," she said, rather plaintively. . I can't remember having heard a sweeter voice than hers. Of course, by this time, I was thoroughly convinced that she was a lady a cultured, high bred lady and an American. I was too densely enveloped by the fogginess of my own senses at this time, however, to take in this extraordinary feature of the case. Later on, in the seclusion of my study, the full force of it struek me and 1 marveled. That plaintive note in her voiee served its purpose. My firmness teemed to dissolve, even as I sought to rein force it by an injection of harshness into my own maBHcr of speech. 'Then you should be willing to va cate my premises r or" here is began to show irresoluteness "or ex plain yourself." "Won't you be generous!" I cleared my throat nervously. How well they know tho cracks in a man's armour! 'I am willing to be amenable to reason. That's all you ought to ex pect." A fresh idea took root. "Can't we effect a compromise! A trust, or something of the sort! All 1 ask is that you explain your presence here. I will promise to be as generous as possible under the circumstances." "Will you give me three days in which to think it over!" she asked, af ter a long pause. "No." "Well, two davs!" "I'll give you until tomorrow after noon at five, when I shall expect you 0 receive ine in person." "That is quite impossible." ' ' But I demaud the right to go where ver I please in my own castle. You " "If you knew Just 'how circumspect I am obliged to be at prescut you wouldn't inipoBe such terms, Mr. Smart." "Oho! Circumspect! That puts a new light on the case. What have you been up to, madam!" I spoke very severely. She very properly ignored the banal ity. "If I should write you a nice, agreeable letter, explaining as much as 1 can, won't you be satisfied!" "I prefer to have it by word of mouth." She seemed to be considering. "I will come to this window tomorrow night at this time and and let you. know," she said reluctantly "Very veil," said I. "Well let it rest till then. " "And, by the way, I have some thing more to ask 01' you. Is it quite necessary to have all thiB pounding and hammering going on in the castle! The noise is dreadful. I don't ask it on my own account, but for the baby. You see, she's quite ill with a fever, Mr. Smart. Perhaps you've heard ber cry ing." "The baby!" I muttered. "It is notning serious, of course. The doctoT was here today and he re assured me " "A doctor here today!" I gasped. She laughed once more. Verily, it was a gentle, high bred laugh. "Will you please put a stop to the noise for a day or two!" she asked, very prettily. "Certainly," said I tco surprised to say anything else. "Is is there any thing else!" "Nothing, thank you," she replied. Then: "Good night, Mr. Smart You are very good." "Don't forget tomorrow But the oblong aperture disappeared with a sharp click, and 1 found myself staring at the blank, sphynx-like wall. Taking up my pad, my pipe and my pencil, and leaving all of my cherished ideas out there in the cruel, darkness, never to be recovered at leas'; not in their original form I scrambled through Ue window, painfully scraft- ng my knee m passing just in time to escape the deluge. I am sure I should have enjoyed tTrific drenching if she had chosen to subject me to it. (To Be Continued.) 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