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About The gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 24, 1914)
15 HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION SERIAL. A Fool and His Money Copyright, 1913, By Geo. Barr MeCutcheon. By Geo. Ban McCutcheoa HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION O SYNOPSIS OP PREVIOUS A THRTATT vruifia A $ In the opening instalments of "A Fool nd His Money," Geo. Barr Me- Cutrheon's charming novel, serial rights for which have been specially $ obtained for the Home and Farm Magazine Section, we learn of John Bellamy Smart, the young man who is telling this story. He has Just written his first novel, and at the same time has fallen heir to an im $ mense fortune left him by his uncle. 0 After a visit to London, Smart V iaea a trio on the Biver Danube. After finding an old world town, he disinters an ancient castle, which ho purchases from an Austrian count With his secretary, Poopendyke, he takes possession of the immense o, wuicu is supposes w n v tenanted only by the caretaker and iniuiiy, me scnmicks. Lister amart finds a woman who Is in possession of a wing of the eastle that is barred to him. She grant a brief interview, but refuses to leave. The servant appear to be in league with her, and Smart is in a quandary. Later he meets her and is eaptivated by her wit and beauty. He finds that she is divorced from a worthless and scheming Austrian Count, who was awarded the custody of the lady's child. The Oount demands a million dollars from his rich American father-in-law, whan he would give it up. The mother abducts the child and selects the castle as a hiding place. Smart 0 but decides to assist the fair divorcee, 3 4 although she warns him of the S V oanger. A number of visitors makes it difficult to keep secret the prea- cnc of the Countess in the castle, especially as she has been seen by some of the party, wno are aus picious but have failed to identify her. One guest, familiar with castle, almost cornea upon Smart and the Countess unawares. The woman escapes but slams a door behind her. The visitor suspects Smart of an intrigue with the wife of his valet. Finally the party leaves and i Smart is relieved. $)$$$$ I HAD the somewhat valuless satisfae I tion of k no wine a blessed eieht more about the matter than he and all of his blood hounds put together. I could well afford to laugh, but under the ex tremely harrassing conditions it was far from possible for me to get lat, as a matter of fact it seemed to me that I was growing thinner. Mrs. Betty Billy Hmith toward the end of her visit, dolefully almost tearfully remarked upon my haggard appearance one was very nice about it, too. i unea ncr im mensely. It did not require half an eye to see that she was thoroughly sick of the baron and Mr. Pless. She was really nito uncivil to them toward the end. At last thore came a day of deliver neo. The guests were departing and I ean truthfully say that I was speeding them. Elsie Hazzard took me off to a re mntn corner, where a little later on Betty Billy and the two husbands found SB. " "John, will you ever forgive met" she said very soberly. "I swear to you I hadn't the faintest idea what it "Please, please, Elsie," I broke in warmly; "don't abuse yourself in my presence, fully understand cverymin. At least, nearly everything. What I can't understand, for the life of me, is this: how did you happen to pick up two such consummate bounders as these fellows arc!" "Alas, John," Baid she, shaking her head, "a woman never knows much about a man until she has lived a week in the same house with him. Now you are a perfect angel." "You've always said that," said I. "You did not have to live in the same house with me to find it out, did you!" She ignored the question. "I shall never, never forgive myself for this aw ful week, John. We've talked it all over among ourselves. We are ashamed oh, so terribly ashamed. If you can ever like us again after" "Like youl" I cried, taking her by the shoulders. -I' Why, Elsie Hazzard, I have never liked you and George half so much as I like you now. Tou two and the Smiths stand out like Uibraitars in my esteem. I adore all of you. I shau't bo happy aKin ,,nt1 1 ,now hnt vou four ami no more are coming back to Sehloss Rothhoefen for nn indefinite stov. 'flood Lord, how happy wo shall bnl" I said it with a great deal of feelinc. The tears rushed into her eyes. "You are a dear, John," sue signed. "You'll comef" "In a minute." said sho with vehe mence, a genuine American girl once more. Just as soon as those pesky work men are out of the place, I'll drop you a line," said I, immeasureably exalted. "But I draw the line at noblemen." Don't worry," she said, setting her nice little white teeth. "I draw it too. Never again! Never!" It occurred to me that here was an excellent opening for a bit of mission ary work. Very pointedly l said 10 her: " I fancy you are willing to admit now that she wasn't such a simpleton for leaving him." She went so far as to shudder, all the time regarding me with dilated eyes, "I can't imagine anything more dread ful than being that man's wite, Joiin.' "Then whv won't vou admit that you are sorry for her! Why won't you be a little just to nen" She looked at me sharply, "uo you know her!" "Not by ft long shot," I replied has tily, and with considerable truthlul Whv are you so keen to have me tnko nidus with her!" "Because I did, the instant I saw that infernal cad." She pursed her lips. It was hard for her to surrender, "Out with it, Elsie," I commanded. You know you've been wrong about that poor little girl. I can tell by the look in your eyes that you have switched over completely in the last four days, and so has Betty Billy. "T ml. fnrinve her tor marrying mm in the first place," she said stubbornly. But I think sho was justified in leav ing him. As I know him now, 1 don t see how she endured it as long as she dill Yes. I am sorry for her. hhe is a dear girl and she has had a a" "I'll say it, my dear: a nou or a time." "Thank vou." "An T daresay von now think she did right in taking the.ehild, too," I neraiatenV "I I hope she gets safely away with little Rosemary, back to God's comi tnr n9 we are nrone to call it. Oh, by the way, John, 1 don't see wny jl snoum feel bound to keep that wretch's secret r lnnrer. He has treated us like TTo dnnsn't deserve " "Hold on! Yon'ro not thinking of toiiinff mn his name, are youT "Don't you want to know itf Don't nm tn hear that vou'vo been en tertaining the most talked of, the most interesting li V T flnn 't! " "Don't you care to hear who it was that ho married and how many millions ho got from" "No, I don't." ; "And why not?" , "Well," said I, judicially, "in the first place I like the mystery of it all. t DnArtn.l nlnce T don't want to XU IUV I I - know anything more about this fellow than I already know, tic is enougu ui a horror to me, as it is, God knows, without giving a name t) him. I pre fer to think of him as Mr. Pless. If you AH mind. Elsie. I'll try to eradicate him thoroughly from my system as Pless before 1 tauc mm on in any mun fm nf ovil. No. I don't want to know his name at present, nor do I care a hang who it was he married, ouiy no tion, I suppose, but I mean what I sav." Sho looked at me in wonder for a moment and then shook her head as if considering mo quite hopeless.. "You are an odd thing, John. God loft some thing out when He fashioned you. I'm just dying to tell you all about them, and you won't let me." "Is sho pretty?" I asked, yielding a little. "She is lovely. We've been really wnful iihmit her. Betty and I. 4U'" . , ',.,.. v.. oi, Down in our hearts we nsu uei. . o anniled child, of course, and all that sort of thing, but heaven knows slio's been pretty thoroughly made over ; o nflw crucible. We used to feel terribly sorry for her, even while we were dcridintf her lor tue 1001 sue uau made of herself in marrying him. I've seen her hundreds ortimes driving aooui Hlnne in Vienna, where they spent two winters, a really pathetic figure, scorned not only by her husband out oy every one else. He made it clear to his world that she was not to be inficted upon it by any unnecessary act .of his. one rniTiA"tn sen Bcttv and me occasionally; always bright and proud anu mu w snirit. but we could see the wounds in her poor little heart no matter how hard she tried to hide them, i ten you, joun, they like us as women but tney oespise us as wives. It will always be we same with them. They won't let us into their charmed circle. Thank God, I am married to an American. He must re spect me whether he wants to or not. "Poor little beggar." said I, without thinking of how it would sound to her; "she has had her fling, and sue ua paid well for it. ' ' "If her Btingy old father, who per mitted her to get into the scrape, would eome up like a man and pay what he ought to pay, there would be no more nffcr nVwiiit. this busines. He hasn't lived up to bis bargain. The Mr. Pless has squandered the first million and now he wants the balance due him. A trade's a trade, John. The old man ought to pay up. He went into it with his eyes open, and I haven 't an atom of sympathy for him. You have read that book of Mrs. Burnett s, haven t joui Th RhntHnf' Well, there you are. This is but another example of what fools American parents can be wncn they get bees in their bonnets." She seemed to be accusing ine! "T lume she gets away safely with the kiddie," said I, non-committally. Heaven knows where sue is. may be she's as safe as a bug in a rug. i it oi,ni,i,in 't lip siinirised. said J. The Billy Smiths and George Hazzard ..r, ,.f tliU iime.hire. Elsie at once proceeded to go into a long series ot conjectures as to the prooaoie wuciu iJt. f Wt rieKs's former wife and their child. I was immensely gratified to find that they were now undivided in their estimate of Mr. Pless and firmly allied on the side of tho missing conn t .ikr from their remarks that the young woman's mother and brothers were still in Pans, wnere meir movement was being watched by secret i. Tl.ov u-pre awaiting the ar rival from New York of the father of the countess, after which they were to come to Vienna for the purpose or man. :, o .ininmiined fight for the daugh ter's absolute freedom and the custody nf the child. Somehow this news gave me a strange feeling of apprehension, a sensation that later on was to do ampiy jun 1 daresav an historian less punctilious about the "truth than I proposo to be, m .t ti,ic otntre of the narrative, in- sort a whopping lie for the sake of ef fect, or "action," or 'neart mier., as such things are called in mo f world of letters. He would enliven ms tale by making Mr. Pless do sometnmg mmil while he was about it, such as yanking his erstwhile companion out of her place of hiding Dy mo un v n v'i.-liinfT down all the barri cades about the place, or fighting a dual with me, or well, tnere is n ' things he might do for the sake of a "situation." But 1 am a person ui vC ;i mj tho truth is in me. Mr. Tlcss did none of these interesting things, so why should I say that he didi lie went away with the others at half -past eleven, and that was the end of his first visit to my domain. u til reader, may be disappointed, I make haste to assure you that he was to como again. Of course there was more or jb m moil and-I might say disanecuon attending his departure. He raised (.am with my servants because they did this and that when they shouldn't have done either; he (and the amiable baron) took me to task for having neglected tobook compartments for them m wu r. .Ni, iQiated nnon having a luncheon put up in a tea basket and taken to the railway station by Britton, i, . t.n it nersonally that three or four bottles of my best wine were ,..n. ni-ked in with the rest. He said three or four, but Britton is firm in his belief that there was nearer a dozen, judging by the weight. He also contrived to have Mr. Poo pendyke purchase first-class railway tiekets for him and the baron, and then forgot to settle for them. It amounted to something like four hundred and fifty kronen, if I remember correctly. He took away eleven hundred and sixty- five dollars of my money, besides, gen ially acquired at roulette, and I dread to think of what he and the baron took out of my four friends at auction bridge. I will sa ythis for him: he was the smartest aristocrat I've ever known. Need I add that the Hazzards and thd Smiths traveled second-class! "Well, thank the Lord!" said I, as the ferry put off with the party, leav ing me alone on the little landing. The rotten timbers seemed to echo the sen timent. At the top of the step all the) Schmicks were saying it, too; in the butler's pantry it was also being said, workmen were grunting it; and the windlass that drew me up the hill was screaming it in wild, discordant glee. I repeated it once more when Britton returned from town and as sured me that they had not missed tu train. . That's what I'd like to say, sir," said he. Wpll."av it." said I. And he said on vociferously that I knew it must have been heard in the remotest corners of heaven. The merry Bong of the hammer and the sweet rasp of the saw greeted my delighted ear as 1 entered tne cahwu. Men were singing and whistling for all they were worth; the air was full oi music. It was not until the grand trana r,fmn ocfine in the nantomine when all that has been gloom and despond ency gives way to the flaes ci an ey to elysian splendour and dazzling gaiety, 'Pon my soul, I never felt so exuberant oil mv life. The once nerve-racking clangour was like the soothing strains of an invisible orchestra to my lighted senses. Ha! ha! What a merry; old world it is, after aiu Nearing my study, I heard an almost forgotten noise the blithe, incessant crackle of a typewriting machine. Never have I heard one rattle so rapidly with such utter garrulousness. (To be continued.) I The creamery at Winthrop, Wash, shipped 85,000 pounds of butter last year and will run better than a hun dred thousand this year. 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