14
HOME ANT) FARM MAGAZINE SECTION
By
Geo. Ban
McCutcheon
HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION SERIAL.
A Fool and His Money
Copyright, 1913,
By Geo.' Burr
MeCutcheon, .
SYNOPSIS OP PBEVIOTJS S
INSTALLMENTS. $
In the opening instalment! of "A $
Pool ind His Money," Geo. Barr Mo-
Cutcheon'i charming novel, serial Q
righu for which have been specially
obtained for the Home and Farm Q
Magaiine Section, we learn of John
Bellamy Smart, the young man who
i telling this story. He has just 4
written his first novel, and at the
$ same time has fallen heir to an im- 4
mouse fortune left him by his uncle. 9
After a visit to London, Smart j
takes a trip on the River Danube.
After finding an old-world town, he
!iverg an ancient castle, which uo j
purchases from its owner, the Count.
With his secretary, Poopendyke, he
$ takes possession of the immense
structure, which is supposed to be
tenanted only by the caretaker and
his family, the Schmicks. Later Smart $
finds a woman who is in possession
of a wing of the castle that is barrod
5 to him. She grants a brief interview,
but refuses to leave. The servants J
appear to be in league with her, and
Smart is in a quandary. Later ha is
captivated by tho wit and beauty of fc
0 the mysterious lady and no longer $
9 urges ner departure. He finds that $
she is divorced from a worthless and $
scheming Austrian Count, who. was S
awarded the custody of the lady's J
child. The Count demands a million $
8 aonars irom Ms rich American father- $
in law, when he would give it up. The j
mother abducts the child and selects S
the castle as a hiding place. Smart
fears trouble with the authorities, $
but consents to assist the fair s
6 divorcee.
&"eS$e3$.(3$
lfJlND mi me eieV she corn
els plcted gloomily.
"And take the child awav
M . . . .
xrom you,-' i made haste to explain.
A fierce light flamed in her eves
"I should kill some one before that
could nappen," she cried out, clench
ing her hands.
"I I beg of you, madam, don't work
yourself into a a state," I implored,
in considerable trepidation. "Nothing
like that can happen, believe me.
"Oh, what do you know about itf"
sho exclaimed, with most unnecessary
vehemence, I thought. "He wants the
child and and well, you can see why
he wants her, can't you! He is making
the most desperate efforts to recover
her. Max says the newspapers are full
of the the scandal. They are depict
ing me as a brainless, law-defying
American without sense of love, honor
or respect. I don't mind that, however.
It is to be expected. They pll describe
the Count as a long-suffering, honor
able, dreadfully maltreated person, and
are doing what they can to help him
in tho prosecution of the search. My
mother, who is in Paris, is being sha
dowed; my two big brothers are being
watched; my lawyers in Vienna are be
ing trailed everywhere oh, it is really
a most dreadful thing. But but I will
not give her up! Sho is mine. He
doesn't love her. Ho doesn't love me.
He doesn't love anything in the world
but himself and his cigarettes. I know,
for I've paid for his cigarettes for
nearly three years. He has actually
ridiculed me in court circles, he has de
famed me, snubbed me, humiliated me,
cursed me. You cannot imagine what
it has been like. Once he struck me
in"
"Struck you!" I cried.
"in tho presence of his sister and
her husband. But I must not distress
you with sordid details. Suffice it to
say, I turned at last like the pro
verbial worm. 1 applied for a divorce
ten months ago. It was granted, pro
visionally as 1 say. He is a degenerate,
He was unfaithful to me in every sense
of the word. But in spite of all that,
the court in granting me the separa
tion, took occasion to placate national
honor by giving him the child during
the year, pending the final disposition
of the case. Of course, everything de
pends on father's attitude in respect to
the money. You see what I mean! A
month ago I heard from friends in
.Vienna that he was shamefully neglect
ing our my baby, so I took this awful,
this perfectly bizarre way of getting
her out of his hands. Possession is nine
points in the law, you see. I "
"Alas!" interrupted I, shaking my
head. "There is more than one way
to look at the law. I'm afraid you
have got yourself into a serious er
pickle."
v "I don't un," she said defiantly.
"It is the law's fault for not prohibit
ing such marriages as ouri. Oh, I know
I must seem awfully foolish and idiotic
to you, but but it's too late now to
back out, isn't itt"
I did not mean to say it, but I did
and I said it with some conviction:
"It is! You must be protected."
"Thank you, thank you!" she cried.
clasping and unclasping her little hands.
1 found myself wondering if the brute
had dared to strike her on that soft.
pink cheek.
Suddenly a horrible thought struck
me with stunning force.
Don t tell me that your your hus
band is the man who owned this castle
up to a week ago," I cried. "Count
James Holiendahlf"
She shook her head. "No. He is not
the man. 1 ' Seeing that I waited for her
to go on, she resumed: "I know Count
James quita well, however. He is my
husband s closest friend."
Good heaven," said I, in quick
alarm. "That complicates matters
doesn't itt He may come here at any
time.
"It isn't likely, Mr. Smart. To be
perfectly honest with you, I waited un
til I heard you had bought the castle
before coming here myself. Wo were in
hiding at the house of a friend in Linz
up to a week ago. I did not think it
right or fair to subject them to the
notoriety or the peril that was sure to
follow if the officers took it into their
heads to look for me there. The day
you bought the castle, I decided that it
was the safest place for me to stay
until tho danger blows over, or until
father can arrange to smuggle me out
of this awful country. That very night
wo were brought here in a motor. Dear
om ixinraa ana Mrs. Scnmick took me
in. They have been perfectly adorable,
all of them."
May I enquire, madam," said I
stiffly, "how you came to select my
abode as your hiding place!"
Oh, I have forgotten to tell you
that we lived here one whole summer
just after we were married. Count
Hohendahl let us have the castle for our
our honeymoon. Ho was here a great
deal of the time. All sorts of horrid,
nasty, snobbish people were here to help
us enjoy our honeymoon. I shall never
forget that dreadful summer. My only
friends were the Schmicks, Every one
else ignored and despised me, and they
all borrowed, won or stole money from
me. I was compelled to play bridge for
atrociously high stakes without know-
ng one card from the other. But, as I
say, the Schmicks loved me. You see
they were in the family ages and ages
before I was born."
"The family! What family!"
"The Rothhoefen family. - Haven't
they told you that my great-grand
mother was a Rothhoefen! No! Well,
she was. I belong to the third genera
tion of American-born descendants.
Doesn't it simplify matters, knowing
tnisf"
"Immensely," said I, in something
of a daze.
"And so I came here, Mr. Smart,
where hundreds of my ancestors spent
their honeymoons, most of them perhaps
as unhappily as I, and where I knew a
fellow-countryman was to live for
awhile in order to get a plot for a
now story. You see, I thought I misfit
be a great help to you in the shape of
suggestion."
She smiled very warmly, and
thought it a very neat way of putting
it. naturally it would be quite impossi-
ble to put her out after hearing that
she had already put herself out to some
extent in order to assist me.
"I can supply the villain for your
story if you need one, and I can give
you oceans of ideas about noblemen. I
am sorry that I can't give you a nice,
sweet heroine. People hate heroines af
ter they are married and live un
happily. You" J
The public taste Is changing," I in
terrupted quickly. "Unhappy marriages
are so common nowadays that the
women who go into 'em are always
heroines. People like to read about suf
fering and anguish among the rich, too.
Besides, you are a Countess. That puts
you near the first rank among heroines.
Don't you think it would be proper at
this point to tell mo who you are!"
i She regardod me steadfastly for s
moment, and then shook her head.
"I'd rather not tell you my name,
Mr. Smart. It really can't matter, you
know. I've thought it all out very care
fully, and I've decided that it is not
best for you to know. You see if you
don't know who it is you are shelter
ing, the courts can't hold you to ac
count. You will be quite innocent of de
liberately contriving to defeat the law.
No, I shall not tell you my name, sor
my husband's, nor my father's. If you'd
like to know, however, I will tell you
my baby's name. She's two years old.
aud I think she'll like you to call her
Rosemary."
By this timo I was quite hypnotized
by this charming, confident trespasser
upon my physical and I was about to
say my moral estate. Never have 1
known a more complacent violator of all
the proprieties of law and order as she
appeared to bo. She was a revelation
more than that, she was an inspiration,
What a courageous, independent, fasci
nating little bucaneer she was. Her"bver-
whelming confidence in herself, despite
tho occasional lapse into despair, stag
gered me. I couldn't help being im
pressed. If I had had any thought of
ejecting her, bag and baggage, from my
castle, it had been completely knocked
out of my head and I was left, you
might say, in a position which gave
me no other alternative than to con
sider mvself a humble instrument in
the furthering of her ends, whether I
would or no. It was most amazing.
.Superior to the feeling of scorn I natu
rally ten ior ner ana uer Kina tne
fooU who make international beds and
find them filled with thorns there was
the delicious sensation of being able
to rise above my prejudices and .become
a willing conspirator against that despot,
Common Sense.
She was very sure of herself, that
was plain; and I am positive that she
was equally sure of me. It isn't alto
gether flattering, either, to foel that a
woman is so snre of you that there isn 't
any doubt concorning her estimate of
your offensive strength. Somehow one
feels an absence of physical attractive:
ness.
"Rosemary," I repeated. "And what
am I to call you!"
Even my enemies call me
Countess," she said coldlv.
Oh," said I, more respectfully. "I
see. When am' I to have the pleasure of
meeting the less particular Rosemary!"
I didn t mean to be horrid," she
said plaintively. "Please overlook it,
Mr. Smart. If you are very, very quiet
I think you may see her now. She is
asleep."
I may frighten her if sho awakes,"
I said in haste, remembering my an
tipathy to babies.
Nevertheless I was led through a
eouple of bare, .unfurnished rooms into
a sunny, perfectly adorable nursery. A
nursemaid English, at a glance arose
from her seat in the window, and held
a cautious finger to her lips. In the
middle of a bed that would have ac
commodated an entire family, was the
sleeping Rosemary a tiny, rosy cheek
ed, yellow haired atom bounded on four
sides by yards of mattress.
I stood over her timorously and
stared. The Countess put one knee upon
the mattress and, leaning far over,
kissed a little paw. 1 blinked, like a
confounded booby.
Then we stole out of the room.
"Isn't she adorable!" asked the
Countess when we were at a safe distance.
"They all are," I said grudgingly,
when they're asleep."
"You are horrid!"
"By the way," I said sternly, "how
does that bedstead happen to be a yard
or so lower than any other bed in this
entire castle! All the rest of them are
so high one has to get into them from
a chair."
Oh," she said complacently, "it was
too high for Blake to manage conven
iently, so I had Rudolph saw the legs
off short."
One of my very finest antique bed
steads! But I didn't even groan,
"You will let me Btay on, won't
you, Mr, Smart!" she said, when we
were at the fireplace again, "I am
really so helpless, you know."
' I offered her everything that the.
castle afforded in the way of loyalty
and luxury.
"And we'll have a telephone in the
main hall before the end of a week," I
concluded beamingly.
Her face clouded. "Oh, I'd much
rather have it in my hallway, if you
don't mind. You see, I can't very well
go downstairs every time I want to use
the 'phone, and it will be a nuisance
sending for me when I'm wanted."
This was rather highhanded, I
thought.
"But if no one knows you're here, it
seems to me you're not likely to be
called."
"You never can tell," she said mys
teriously, I promised to put the instrument in
her hall, and not to have an extension
to my rooms for fear of creating sus
picion. Also the electric bell system
was to be put in just as she wanted it
to be. And a lot of othor things that
do not seem to come to mind at this
moment.
I left in a daze at half-past threo, to
send Britton up with all the late novels
and magazines, and a big box of my
special cigarettes.
CHAPTER VI.
I Discuss Matrimony,
OOPENDYKE and I tried to do a
little work that evening, but
neither of us seemed quite capa
ble of concentration. We said "I belt
pardon" to each other a dozen times,
or more, following mental lapses, and
then gave it up. My ideas failed in con
secutiveness, and when I did succeed
in hitching two intelligent thoughts to-1
gether he invariably destroyed the se
quence by compelling me to repeat my
self, with the rosult that I became iras
cible.
We had gone over The events of the
day very thoroughly, If anything, he
was more alarmed over our predicament
than L He seemed to sense the danger
that attended my decison to shelter and
protect this cool-headed, rather self
centered young woman at the top of
my castlo. To me, it was something of
a lark; to him, a tragedy. He takes
everything seriously, so much so in
fact that ho gets on my nerves. I wish
he were not always looking at things
through tho little end of the telescope.
like a change, and it is a novelty to
sometimes see things through the big
end, especially peril. .
I hey will yauk us all up for aidine
and abetting," he prolaimed, trying to
focus his eyes on the shorthand book
he waB fumbling.
iou wouldn't liavo me turn her
over to the law, would you!" I demanded-crossly.
"Please don't forget that
we are Americans."
I don't," said he. "That's what
worries me most of all.
"Well," said I loftily, "woll see."
We were silent for a long time.
"It must be horribly lonelv nnd
spooky away up there where she is,"
l saia at last, inadvertently betraying
my thoughts. He sniffed.
"Have you a cold!" I demanded.
glaring at him.
No," he said gloomily; "a ore-
sentiment."
"Umph!"
Another period of silence. Then: "I
wonder if Max" I stopped short.
Jfes, sir," he said, with wonder- '
ful divination. "He did."
"Any message!'.'
"She sent down word that the new
cook is a jewel, but I think sho must
have been jesting. I've never cared for .
a man cook myself. I don't like to ap
pear hypercritical, but what did you
think of the dinner tonight, sir!"
"I've never tasted better boiled ham
in my life, Mr. Poopendyke."
"Ham! That's it, Mr. Smart. But
what I'd like to know is this: "What
became of the grouse you ordered for
dinner, sir! I happen to know that it '
was put over the fire st seven"
I sent it up to the countess, with
our compliments," said I, peevishly. I
think that remark silenced him. At
any rate, he got up and left the room,
(To Be Continued.)
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