14
_HOMK AND FARM MAGAZINE RECTIOV
By
Geo. Barr
McCutcheon
0
♦
«
HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE S ECTION SERIAL.
A Fool and His Money
It is the law's lauit for not prohibit
ing such marriages as ours. Oh, I know
She regarded me steadfastly for a
Copyright, 1913,
By Geo. Barr
McCutcheon.
I offered her everything that thft
SY N O P SIS OF PBEVIOO B
moment, and then shook her head.
castle afforded in the way of loyalty
I must seem awfully foolish and idiotic
in st a l l m e n t s .
“ I 'd rather not tell you my name,
0
In the opening instalm ents of " A
to you, but but i t ’s too late now to Mr. Smart. It really can’t matter, you and luxury.
0 Pool and Ilia M oney,'* Ueo Barr Me*
‘‘And we’ll have a telephone in the
0 fh iteheon'e ehanning novel, aerial 0 back out, isn’t it I ”
know. I ve thought it all out very care main hall before the end of a week,” I
I did not mean to say it, but I did
0 right« for which have been specially
fully,
and
I
'vo
decided
that
it
is
not
coucluded beamingly.
obtained for the Home and Farm
and I said it with some conviction
best for you to know. Y’ou see if you
0 M agazine Section, we learn of John
Her face clouded. “ Oh, I ’d much
‘‘It
is!
You
must
be
protected.”
V Bellam y Sm art, the young man who
‘‘Thank you, thank you!” she cried don’t know who it is you are shelter rather have it in my hallway, if you
0 is telling th is story. H e has ju st
ing, the courts can't hold you to ae dou t mind. Y ou see, I can’t very well
clasping and unclasping her little hands.
* w ritten his first novel, and at the
count. You will be quite innocent of de go downstairs every time I want to use
- same tim e haa fallen heir to an im
I found myself wondering if the brute
liberately contriving to defeat the law. the phone, and it will be a nuisance
0 mense fortune left him by his uncle.
had dared to striko her on that soft
0
After a viait to London, Sm art
No, I shall not tell you my name, nor sending for me when I'm wanted.”
pink cheek.
0 takes a trip on the River Danube.
my husband's, nor my father's. If you’d
0 A fter fin ding an old worl 1 town, he
This was rather high-handed, I
Suddenly a horrible thought struck like to know, however, I will tell you
0 C'***overa an ancient castle, which - e
thought.
0 purchases from its owner, the Count. 0 <s> me with stunning force.
my baby g name. She’s two years old,
But if no one knows you 're here, it
‘‘Don’t tell me that your—your bus and I think she'll like you to call her
W ith his secretary, Poopendyke, he 0
seems to mo you’re not likely to be
tak es possession o f the imm ense 0 band is the man who owned this castle
Rosemary,”
0 structure, which is supposed to he
called. ”
0 tenanted only by the caretaker and 0 0 up to a week ago,” I cried. ‘‘Count
By this time I was quite hypnotized
You never can tell,” she said mys
his fam ily, the Selim icks. L ater Smart 0 James ITohendahll”
by this charming, confident trespasser
0 fin ds a woman who is in possession 0
She shook her head. ‘‘No. He is not ujion my physical—and I was about to teriously.
0 o f a wing of the eastte that is harred
I promised to put the instrument in
the man.” Seeing that I waited for her
say my moral estate. Never have I
0 to him. She grants a brief interview , •
0 hut refuses to leave. The servants 0 • to go on, she resumed: ‘‘I know Count known a more complacent violater of all her hall, and not to have an extension
0 appear to he in league w ith her, and 0 James quito well, however. He is mv the proprieties of law and order as she to my rooms for fear of creating sus
0 Sm art is in a quandary Later he ia
picion. Also the electric bell system
husband’s closest friend.”
appeared to be. She was a revelation;
0 captivated by tile w it and beauty of • •
‘‘Good heaven,” said I, in quick more than that, she was an inspiration. was to be put in just as she wanted it
0
the m ysterious lady and no longer 0
to be. And a lot of other things that
alarm. “ That complicates matters,
0 urges her departure. He finds that
0 she is divorced from a w orthless and 0 • doesn’t itf Ho may come here at anv What a courageous, independent, fasci do not seem to come to mind at this
nating little bucaneer she was. Her over moment.
0 schem ing A ustrian Count, who w as
time.”
whelming confidence in herself, despite
0 sw arded the custody of the la d y ’s •
I left in a daze at lialf-past three, to
‘‘It
isn
’t
likely,
Mr.
Smart.
To
be
0 child. *1 he Count demands a m illion 0
the occasional lapse into despair, stag send Britton up with all the late novels
<» dollars from his rich American father- 0 perfectly honest with you, I waited un gered me. I couldn’t help being im
■» in law, when he would give it up. The ... til I heard you had bought the castle
and magazines, and a big box of my
0 mother sh d u rts the child and selects 0 before coming here myself. We were in pressed. If I had had any thought of special cigarettes.
0 the castle as a lulling place. Sm art 0
ejecting her, bag and baggage, from my
hiding at the house of a friend in Linz
<•» fears trouble w ith the authorities,
CHAPTER YTI.
0 hut consents to a ssist the fair 0 0 up to a week ago. I did not think it castle, it bad been completely knocked
out of my head and I was left, you
0 divorcee.
I Discuss Matrimony,
right or fair to subject them to the
0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 < > > ^ ^ £ notoriety or the peril that was sure to might say, in a position which gave
OOPENDYKE and I tried to do a
mo no other alternative than to con
little work that evening, but
I f i « VI) f in d me b e re t” she com- follow if the officers took it into their sider myself a humble instrument in
heads to look for me there. The day the furthering of her ends, whether I
neither of us seemed quite capa
A * plctcd gloomily.
And take tho child away you bought the eastle, I decided that it would or no. It was most amazing ble of concentration. YVe said “ I beg
was the safest place for me to stav Superior to the feeling of scorn I natu pardon ' to each other a dozen times
from yon, ’ I made haste to explain,
<( A fierce light flamed in her eyes. until the danger blows over, or until rally felt for her and her kind—the or more, following mental lapses, and
“ I should—kill—somo one before that father can arrange to smuggle me out fools who make international beds and then gave it up. My ideas failed in eon-
could happen,” sho cried out, clench of this awful country. That very night find them filled with thorns—there was seeuti veness, aud when I did succeed
we were brought here in a motor. Dear the delicious sensation of being able in hitching two intelligent thoughts to
ing her hands.
I—I beg of you, madam, don’t work old Conrad and Mrs. Scbniiek. took me to rise above my prejudices and become gether ho invariably destroyed the se
yourself into a - a state,” I implored, in. They have been perfectly adorable, a willing conspirator against that despot quence by compelling me to repeat mv-
self, with the result that I became iras
in considerable trepidation. ‘‘Nothing all of them.”
Common Sense.
cible.
‘‘May I enquire, madam,” said I
bko that can happen, believe me.
She was very sure of herself, that
stiffly, ‘‘how you came to select my was plain; and I am positive that she
We had gone over the events of tha
‘‘Oh, what do you know about i t ! ” abode as your hiding placet”
was equally sure of me. I t isn ’t alto day very thoroughly. If anything, ha
‘‘Oh, I have forgotten to tell you gether flattering, either, to feel that a was more alarmed over our predicament
she exclaimed, with most unnecessary
vehemence, I thought. ‘‘Be wants the that we lived here one whole summer woman is so sure of you that there isn't than I. He seemed to sense the danger
child and and—well, you can see why just after we were married. Count any doubt concerning her estimate of that attended my decison to shelter and
he wants her, can't you! Be is making Hoheudahl let us have the castle for our vour offensive strength. Somehow one rotect this cool headed, rather self-
our honeymoon. He was here a great feels an absence of physical attractive centered young woman at the top of
tho most desperate efforts to recover
my eastle. To me, it was something of
her. Max says the newspapers are full deal of the time. All sorts of horrid, ness.
of the—the. scandal. They are depict nasty, snobbish people were hero to help
“ Rosemary,” I repeated. “ And what a lark; to him, a tragedy. He takes
everything seriously, so much so in
ing mo as a brainless, law defying us enjoy our honeymoon. I shall never am I to call you!”
American without sense of love, honor forget that dreadful summer. My only
“ Even
my
enemies
call jne fact that he gets on my nerves. I wish
he were not always looking at things
or respect. 1 don’t mind that, however. friends were the Sehmieks. Every one Countess,” she said coldly.
through the little end of the telescope.
It is to be expected. They all describe olso ignored and despised me, and they
“ Oh,” said I, more respectfully,
the Count as a long suffering, honor all borrowed, won or stole money from see. \\ hen am I to have the pleasure of I like a change, and it is a novelty to
able, dreadfully maltreated person, and me. I was compelled to play bridge for meeting the less particular Rosemary!” sometimes see things through the big
are doing what they can to help him atrociously high stakes without know
“ I didn’t mean to bo horrid,” she end, especially peril.
They will yank us all up for aiding
in tlfo prosecution of the search. My ing one card from the other. But, as I said plaintively. ‘‘Please overlook It,
mother, who is in Paris, is being sha say, the Sehmieks loved me. You see Mr. Smart. If you are very, very quiet and abetting,” he proclaimed, trying to
dowed; my two big brothers are being they wero in the family ages and ages I think you may see her now. She is focus his eyes on tba shorthand book
he was fumbling.
watched; my lawyers in Vienna are be before I was born.”
asleep. ”
“ You wouldn’t have me turn her
ing trailed everywhere—oh, it is really
Tho family! What fam ily!”
I may frighten her if she awakes,”
over
to the law, would you!” I demand
a most dreadful thing. But—but I will
I
said
in
haste,
remembering
my
an
Tho Kothhoefen family. Haven’t
ed crossly. “ Please don’t forget that
not give her up! She is mine. He they told you that my great grand tipathy to babies.
we are Americans. ,f
doesu t love her. Be doesn't love nte. mother was a Kothhoefen! No! Well,
Nevertheless I was led through a
“ I don’t , ” said he. “ T h at’s what
Be doesn't love anything in the world she was. I belong to the third genera couple of bare, unfurnished rooms into
but himself and his cigarettes. I know, tion of American born descendants. a sunny, perfectly adorable nursery. A worries me most of all.
“ Well,” said I loftily, “ w ell see.”
for I ve paid for his cigarettes for Doesn’t it simplify matters, knowing nursemaid—English, at a glance—aroso
We were silent for a long time.
nearly three years. Be has actually th is!”
from her seat in the window and held
It must be horribly lonely and
ridiculed me in court circles, he has de
“ Immensely,” said I, in something a cautious finger to her lips. In the spooky away up there w’here sho Is,”
famed me, snubbed me, humiliated me, of a daze.
middle of a bed that would have ac
1 said at last, inadvertently betraving
cursed me. \ on cannot imagine what
And so I came here, Mr. Smart, commodated an entire family, was the
it has been like. Once ho struck me where hundreds of my ancestors spent sleeping Rosemary—a tiny, rosy cheek my thoughts. He sniffed.
in— ”
“ Have you a cold!” I demanded,
their honeymoons, most of them perhaps ed, yellow haired atom bounded on four glaring at him.
‘ ‘Struck you!” I cried.
as unhappily as I, and where I knew a sides by yards of mattress.
“ No,” ho said gloomily; “ a pre
“ — in the presence of his sister and fellow countryman was to live for
I stood over her timorously and
her husband. But I must not distress awhile in order to get a plot for a stared. The Countess put one knee upon sentiment.”
“ Umph!”
you with sordid details. Suffice it to new story. You see, I thought I might the mattress and, leaning far over,
Another period of silence. Then: “ I
say, I turned at last like the pro be a great help to you in the shape of kissed a little paw. 1 blinked, like a
wonder if Max— ” I stopped short.
verbial worm. I applied for a divorce suggestion. ”
confounded booby.
Y es, sir, ’ lie said, with wonder
ten months ago. It was granted, pro
Then we stole out of the room.
She smiled verv warmlv, and
visum,all v ns I say. Be is a degenerate. thought it a very neat way of putting I
“ Isn 't she adorable!” asked the ful divination. “ He did.”
“ Any message!”
He was unfaithful to me in every sense it. Naturally it would he quite impossi Countess when we were at a safe dis
“ She sent down word that the new
of the word. But in spite of ail that, ble to put her out after hearing that tance.
the court in granting me the separa she had already put herself out to some
‘‘They all are,” I said grudgingly, cook is a jewel, but I think she must
have been jesting. I ’ve never cared for
tion, took occasion to placate national extent in order to assist me.
when th ey ’re asleep.”
a man cook myself. I don’t like to ap
honor by giving him the child during
“
You
are
horrid!”
“ I can supply the villain for yonr
the year, pending the final disposition story if you need one, and I can give
“ By the wav,” I said sternly, “ how pear hypercritical, but what did you
think of the dinner tonight, s ir ! ”
of the case. Of course, evetything de
you oceaus of ideas about noblemen. I does that bedstead happen to be a yard
“ I ’ve never tasted better boiled ham
pends on father's attitude in respect to am sorry that I can ’t give you a nice, or so lower than any other bed in this
in my life, Mr. Poopendyke.”
the money. You see what I meant A
entire
castle!
All
t’
a
o
rest
of
them
are
sweet heroino. People hate heroines a f
‘‘Ham! T h a t’s it, Mr. Smart. But
month ago I heard from friends in ter they are married and live un so high one has to get into them from
what I ’d like to know is this: “ What
\ ienna that he was shamefully neglect happily. You— ”
a chair. ”
ing our- my baby, so I took this awful,
“ Tho public taste is changing,” I in “ Oh,” she said complacently, “ it was became of the grouse you ordered for
this perfectly biiarre way of getting
dinner, sir! I happen to know that it
terrupted quickly. ‘‘ Unhappy marriages too high for Blake to manage conven was put over the fire at seven— ”
her out of bis hands. Possession is nine
iently, so I had Rudolph saw the legs
are
so
common
nowadavs
that
the
points in the law, you see. I_”
“ I sent it up to the countess, with
women who go into 'em are always off short.”
“ Alas!” interrupted I, shaking mv
our compliments, ” said I, peevishly. I
heroines. People like to read about suf One of my very finest antique bed
head. “ There is more than one way fering and anguish among the rich, too.
think that remark silenced him. At
to look at the law. I'm afraid you Besides, you are a Countess. That puts steads' But I didn't even groan.
any rate, he got up and left the room.
“ You will let me stav on. won't
hare got yourself into a serious—er - you near the first rank among heroines.
(To Be Continued.)
pickle.”
you, Mr. S m art!” she said, when we
I »on't you think it would be proper at were at the fireplace again. “ I am
lU ly will add about one hundred end
•*I <Un t rare,” she said defiantly this point to tell mo who you a re !”
“ r ’pUu«a »o its l.-mj equipateat tlua
really so hcli<!ess, you know.”