15
HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION SERIAL.
A Fool and His Money
By
Cfoo. Ban
McCuteheon
Copyright, 1913,
By Geo. Bare
McCutcheon.
HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION
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SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS
INSTALLMENTS.
I the opening instalment of "A
Fool and Hi Money, " (Jeo. Brr Me
Cutcheon'g charming novel, aerial
rights for which have been ipeeially
obtained for the Home and Farm
Magazine Section, we learn of John
Bellamy 8mart, the young man who
U telling this atory. He hai just
written his first novel, and at the
me time has fallen heir to an inv
mcneo fortune left him by hit uncle.
After a visit to London, Saisrt
takes a trip on the Hiver Dannie.
A'lcr finding an old-world town, he
dvers an ancient castle, -which ao
purchases from its owner, the Count.
With his secretary, Poopendyke, he
takes possession of the iramtnso
structure, which is supposed to bo
lenauted wily by the caretaker and
hia family, the Sihmicks. Later Smart
finds a woman win, : in possession
of n wing of the castle that is barred
to him. She grants a brief interview,
but refuses t leave. The servants
appear tu be in Unjne with her, and
Smart it in a tjiiamlar-y. Later be is
captivated by t, wit and bra ity of
the mysterious lady and no longer
urjes hr departure. He finds that
the ts divorced from a worthless and
scheming Austrian Count, who was
awarded the rustidy of the : lady's
chid, the Cnmt demands a million
d .liars from his rich American father
in law. when he would gire it up. The
in 'thr abdue Is the child and tilccts
III- ensile as.n biding place. Smart
Kara tculilc with the authorities,
but minsonts lo assist the fair
divor.-ee.
I LAID awake hclf the niHk morbidly
beiit'.iitg t,Vi Aaitncan lalhrr who is
so afraid 0; ,v r,. that he lets Iter
bully him into f.-icrtfiiinjj their joint
flesh ami blood upon the altar of social
ambition. She had said that her father
wits oppi;soi to tl.u tn.tch front llu be
gimiing. 'I he:i why, m tl10 flmo 0f
heaven, waan 't ho n.nn enough to put
a Ktop ti it' Why lint wluit use i.-;
there in applying rrh-m to a man who
doesn't knuT whal Go.l meant whei; He
lasniontfl two r-e.esj I put him down
I have hopes that they won't be
able to stand the workmen banging
around al day," I confessed, somewhat
guiltily.
"Women in the party f
"Two, I believe. Both married and
qualified to express opinions."
"They will be suro to nose me out,"
she said ruefully. "Women are dread
ful nosers,"
"Don't worry," I said. "We'll get
a lot of new padlocks for the doors
downstairs and you'll be as safe as can
be, if you'll only keep quiet."
"But I don't see why I should be
made to mope here all day and all night
like a sick cat, holding my hand over
Rosemary's mouth when she wants to
crv, and muzzling poor Jinko so that
he-"
"My dear Countess," I interrupted
sternly, "you should not forget that
these other guests of mine are invited
here."
"But I was here first," she argued.
"It is most annoying,"
"I believe you said yesterday that
you are in the habit of having your
own money." She nodded her head.
"Well, I lm afraid you'll have to come
down from your high borne at least
temporarily."
"Oh, I see. Yon -jTu mean to be
very firm and domineering with me."
" You must try to Sic things from my
point of "
"Please don't say that!" she flared.
"I'm so tirel of hearing those words.
For the last three years I've "'eeB eom
canded to see things from some else's
point of view, and I'm sick of the ex
pression." "For heaven's flake, don't put me in
tho same boat with your husband!"
Nhe regarded me somewhat frigidly
for a moment longer, and then a slow,
witching smile crept into her eyes.
"I shan't," she promised, and
But I couldn't fr?t tlw daughter
of this brr.w-bfai.cn American father.
There was sometii'iKg singularly familiar
about her exquisite focj, a conviction
on my per; that in easily accounted for.
Her portrait, of coumc, had been pub
lished far and wide at the time of the
wedding; she must have been pictured
from every conceivable angle, with
illimitable gowns, hats, veils and para
sols, and 1 certainly could not have
missed seeing her, even with half n
eye. But for the life of me I eouldn 't
connect her with any of the much-talked-of
international marriages that
came to mind as I lay there going over
the meagre assortment I was able to re
call. I went to sleep wondering whether
l'oopendyke's memory was any better
than mine. He is tremendously inter.
ested in the financial doings of our
country, oeing the possessor of a flour
ishing savings' account, and as lie also
possesses a lively sense of the ridicu
lous it was not unreasonable to bus
1vi iuai ne mignt remember all the
details of this particular transaction in
stocks and bonds.
The next morning I set my laborers
10 worn putting guest-rooms into shape
jr me coming or the Hazzards and
the four friends who were to be with
them for the week as my guests. Thvy
were to arrive on tho next day but one,
which gave me ample time to consult a
furniture dealer. I would have to buy
at least six new beds and everything
else with which to comfortably equip
as, many bed chambers, it being a fore
gone conclusion that not even the hus
bands and wives would condescend to
"double np" to obligo me. The ex
pensiveness of this ill-timed visit had
not occurred to me at the outset. Still
there was ome prospect of getting the
wholesale price. On one point 1 was
determined; the workmen should not be
laid off for a single hour, not even if
my guests went off in a huff.
At twelve I climbed the tortuous
stairs leading to the Countess' apart
ments. She opened the door herself in
response to my rapping.
'I neglected to mention yesterday
that I am expecting a houseful of
guests in a day or two," I said, after
she had given me a very cordial greet
in M Guests i"" sbe cried in dismay. "Oh,
dear I Can't you put them off t" . . .
as neutral and tried my best to forget ,!UtCncd outright. "Do -"orgivc me, Mr.
him. . I Smart, I am such a piggy thing. I'll
try in be nice end sensible, and I will
bo as still as a mouse all the time
they're here. But you mutt promise to
come up evjry day and ive mc the gos
sip. You can steal up, ean't you! Sur
reptitiously t"
"Clandestinely," I said, jravely.
"I really wight to warn you onee
more about getting yurself involved,"
she said pointedly.
"Oh, I'm quite a safe old party," I
assured her. "They couldn't make
capital of me. '
"The grouse was delicious," she said,
delibOTttely changing the subject Nice
divorcees are always aoing that.
We fell into a discussion of present
and future needs; of ways -And means
for keeping my frien4s utterly in the
dark concurring her -'resence in the
abandoned east wing; and of what we
were pleased to allude to as "separate
maintenance," employing a phrase that
might hav been considered distasteful
and even banal under ordina-y condi
tions. "I've bc.n trying to recall all of the
notable marriages we bao in New York
three years ago," said J, after she had
most engagingly reduced me to a state
of subjection in the matter of three or
four moot questions that earae up for
settlement. "You don't seem to fit in
with any of the international affairs I
can bring to mind."
You promised you wauldn t bother
about that, Mr. Smart," she said se
verely.
Of eourse you were married in New
York."
In a very nice church just off Fifth
Avenue, if that will help you any," she
said. "The usual crowd insido the
church, and tho usual mob outside, all
fighting for a glimpse of me in my
wedding shroud, and for a chance to see
a real Hungarian nobleman. It really
was a very magnificent wedding, Mr.
Smart." She seemed to be uuduly
proud of te spectacular sacrifice.
A knitted brow revealed the obfus
cated condition of my brain. I was
thinking very intently, not to say remotely.
"The wholo world talked about it,"
she wont on dreamily. "We had a real
prince for the best man, and two of tho
ushers eouldn 't speak a word of Eng
lish. Don't yon remember that the
police closed the streets in the neigh
borhood of the church, and woulrtn 't
let people spoil everything by going
about their business as tbey were iu the
habit of doing f Some of the shops sold
window space to sight-seers, jnst as
they do at a coronation."
I dare say all this should let in
light, but it doesn't."
"Don't you read the newspaperst"
she cried impatiently. She actually re
sented my ignorance.
Religiously," I said, stung to re
volt. "But I make it a point never to
read the criminal news."
"Criminal newst" she gasped, a spot
of red leaping to her cheek. "What
do you mean?"
"It i merely my way of saying that
I put marriages of that character in
the category of crime." -
"Oh!" she cried, stariag at me with
unbelieving eyes.
"Every time a sweet, lovely Amer
ican girl is delivered into the bands of
a foreign bounder whs happens to pos
sess a title that needs fixing, I call the
transaction a crime that puts white
slavery in a class with the moat trifling
misdemeanors. You did net love this
pusillanimous Count, nor did he cure a
hang for you. You were too young in
the ways of tho world to have any feel
ing for him, and he was too old tu have
any for you. The whole hateful busi
ness therefore Tesolved itself into a
ease of give and take and he took ev
erything. Ho took you and yonr fa
ther's millions and now you are both
back where you began. Rome ore de
liberately committed a crime, and as it
wasn 't you or the Count, who levied
his legitimate toll, it must have been
the person who planned the conspiracy.
I take it, of course, that the whole af
fair was arranged behind youi back, so
to speak. To make it a perfectly fash
tonablo and up-to-date delivery rt wonM
have been entirely out of place to con
suit the unsophisticated girl who was
thrown in to make the title good. Yor
were not sold to this bounder. It was
the other way round. By the god,
madam, he was actually paid to take
vou! '
Her face was quite pale. Her eyes
did not leave mine during the long and
crazy diatribe, of which I was already
beginning to feel heartily ashBmed,
and there was a dark, ominous fire in
them that should have warned me.
She arose from her chair. It seemed
to me she was taller than before.
"If nothing else came to me out of
this transaction," she said levelly, "at
least a certair amount of dignity was
acquired. Pray remember that I am
no longer the unsophisticated girl you
so graeionsly describe. I am a woman.
"True," said I, senselessly dogged;
"a woman with the power to think for
yourself. That is my point. If the
same situation arose at your present
age I fancy you'd be able to select a
husband without assistance, and I vent
ure to say you wouldn't pick up the
nrsc atssoiute sooietnar. that came
your way. JNo, my dear countess, you
were not to blame. You thought, as
your parents did, that marriage with a
count would make a real countess ef
you. What rot! You are a simple,
lovable American girl and that's all
there ever can be to it. To the end
of your days you will bo an American.
It is not within the powers of a scape
grace count to put you or any other
American girl on a plane with the
women who are born countesses, ot
duchesses, or anything of the sort. I
don't say that you suffer by compari
son with these noble ladies. As a mat
ter of fact you are surpassingly finer
in every way than ninety-nine per cent,
of then! poor things! Marrying an
English duke doesn't make a genuine
duchess out of an American girl, not
by a long shot. She merely becomes a
figure of speech. Your own experience
should tell you that. Well, it's the
same with all of them. They acquire
a title, but not the homage that should
go with it."
We were both standing now. She was
still measuring me with somewhat in
credulous eyes, rather more tolerant
that resentful.
"Do you expect me to agree with
you', Mr, Smart t " she asked.
"l.do," said I, promptly. "Yon, of
all people, should be ablo to testify that
my views are absolutely right."
"They are right." she said, simply.
"Still yon are pretty much of a brute
to insult me with them.
"I moat sincerely crave your par
don, if it isn't too late," I eried, ab
ject onee more. (I don t know wnai
gets into me once in a while.)
"The safest way, I should say, is for
neither of ns to express an opinion so
long as we are thrown into contact with
each other. If you choose to tell the
world what you think of me, all well
and good. But please don't tell me."
"I can't convince the world what I
think of you for the simple reason that
I'd b speaking at random. I don't
know who yon are."
"Oh, you will know some day," she
said, and her shoulders drooped little.
iX've I've dona a most cowardly,
despicable thing in hunting you " .
"Pleasel Please don't say anything
more about it. I dare say you've done
me a lot of good. Perhaps I shall see
things a little more clearly. To be per
fectly honest with you, I went into this
marriage with my eyes wide open, but
I was only one fool among many. Doz
ens of other girls in my set were crazy
to many him. I I haven't told yon
that he is -extremely good looking. And
he was was adorable in those days."
A far-away, dreamy look came into
her eyes. She was staring at me, but
I felt myself quite outside the range of
her vision.
I ventured a shrewd conjecture, con
sidering the obvious character of her
abstraction.
"Stranger things have happened
than that you should patch up your
difficulties and go back to live with
yeur hunband."
She uttered a little cry of revulsion.
The dreamy light died in her eyes and
he transfixed me with a look of in
dignation. "How dare you saggeet such a thing
How dare you speak to me in that way!
You I ought to order you out of this
room and never sever "
My luminous smile checked the oat
burst. "Splendid!" I cried. "Yeu convince
me that it can never happen."
6be smiled doubtfully, quite uncer
tain how to take my humor.
"Oh. dear me," she sighed, "I dont
believe we shall ever get en at all well
togtber, Mr. Smart. You are such a
whimsical person."
I'll try to do better," I cried,
frankly pleased with the situation.
Give ane a chance." .
"Yon spoke of him as my husband," .
she said, going back to my remartc.
He is not my husband. Please be good
enough to remember that. "
"It will be easy, I assure you. May
I therefore venture the hope that if you
ever decide to marry again you'll give
some deserving American a ehanco to
make you his queen f YonH find it
better than being a countess, believe
"I shall never marry, Mr. Bmart,"
she said with decision. "Never, never
again will I get into a mess that is so
hard to eet out of. 1 can say tnis to
you because I 've heard you are a bach
elor. You can't take offence."
"I foadly hope to die a bachelor,"
said I with humility.
"God bless you!" she cried, bursting
into a merry laugh, and I knew that a
truce had been declared for the time be
ing at least. "And now let us talk
sense. Have you carefully considered
the consequences if you are found out,
Mr. Smartt" "
"Found out I"
"If you are found shielding a
fugitive from justice. I eouldn 't go to
sleep for 'ours last night thinking of
what might bappen to you if "
"Nonsense! " I eried, but for the life
of me I couldn't help feeling elated.
She had a soul above self, after all!
"You see. I am a thief and a robber
and a very terrible malefactor, accord-
ng to the reports Max brings over from
the city. The fight for poor little
Rosemary is destined to fill columns
and columns in the newspapers of the
two continents for months to come. You,
Mr. Smart, may find yourself ir the
thick of it. If I were in your place, I
should keep out of it."
(To Be Continued.)