THE RANT MILLION,

Lake County Press, Issue 2791, 26 June 1919, Page 2

THE RANT MILLION,

By MARTIN J. McHUGH.

rCOPYRIGH T]

CJHAPTEK HI .-(Continued ) "Ah, said Mr. Gegan, thoug fully. "I knew that man. made a corner in glue, and piled a few millions before it burst." "eH had plenty of money, hi ever he made it,'' went. on 1 thony. "But it was not of mi use to the poor fellow, who x then winding up his affairs in N York, and about to go West search of health, though he did expect to find it. 'l'm a g< coon, Anthony,' he said to me; '1 you'll come travelling with me, a you'll brighten me up some bef I hand in my checks, for I gu you're the querest cuss J c struck.' " 'l'll tell you what will bright you up to begin with,' I said, 'a that is if I read you "Don Quixot or "The Arabian Nights." They fine lasting books for a long journi too.' " 'What will you do when I gone?' he suddenly asked me o day after a very bad spell, in t San Francisco hotel that proved 1 last stopping-pi ace. 'I don't kno\ I answered, truthtfully, 'for haven't yet thought of that.' 'Y told me you are one of the Cla: of Ballyran, who are top-notcht at doing nothing,' lie went c 'Who are they, anyhow?' 'T Clairs of Ballyran,' I replied wi dignity, trying not to show h< hurt I was at such a question, 'w€ in their day one of the great< families in Ireland, counting kin and princes galore among them.' "But what about that stateme that you say concerns the family asked Btrenrifcn, fidgeting impjati ently. "I*ll come to that presently,' said Anthony. "Well, then, wh Mr. Van Rant next said was, guess you right name should 1 "The O'Clair?"' 'lt might,' answered, 'if I happened to be tl head of the family; but I'm on tl poorest edge, and not thought muc of by my relatives on that accoun though every bit as good as then selves. For, after all,' I explaine to him, 'the present head is only rheumatic elderly Colonel on hal pay, and the next most presentabl member is a beauty-man of farme--barrister. Ireland just now : I added, 'is finished with her ol families, and the running is wit] all sorts of upstarts. But,' I con eluded, 'if the Clairs of Ballyrai had all the money they think the l should have, I can tell you they'( sweep the country clear of all sue! rubbish and be cocks of the wall themselves once more !' " He paused for breath, looking searchingly at the Colonel and Brendan, who had respectively stiffened and grown red at the candid reference- to themselves. "That tal about money evidently stuck in Mr. Van Ran't mind," went on Anthony, "for he was very silent that day. And next morning he suddenly asked me, 'What would yon do if you got a few million dollars?' 'Heaven and earth!' I exclaimed, astonished, 'they'd be only a bother to me, for I'd have no us for them, never having been accustomed to money. But maybe, if I £et hold of a thousand pounds or so before I'm too old, I'll return to Ireland and buy back Peafield.' 'But if you got a few million dollars in spite of yourself,' he persisted, 'what would you do with them? They'd be the making of that family you think such an almighty lot of.' 'To be sure they would,' I admitted, 'and if those millions come to me by any miracle. I'd go straight back home and spend them on making the Clairs of Ballyran great and powerful again.' 'I guess that miracle's going to happen,' he said, laughing, 'and that then you'll skeddale back to Ireland to become "The O'Qiiixote" of the Clairs of [Ballyran. * " "And when he died—— ?" put in Mr. Glynn. "I'll tell you now," said Anthony, in his slow way, and his voice taking a sudden accent of melancholy. "That joke tickled the

PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Author of "The Maid of the Mill," "The Death Mask," "P fca cock Farm," "The Dream Song,"Etc.

poor felolw immensely, and he laughed a great deal too much over ht it during the next few days, He although he was growing all the time very weak. But I did not see as much of him then as usual, )w- or * ie iac * some business with a in _ lawyer, and he sent me out of the xch llotel ior lon S s P ells on one pretext vas or anotn er. And in the end that ew J oke killed him. For his last j n moment cam suddenly in a great fit n>t of laughter at me as 'The me °'Q uixot e-' The poor felolw! I mt was ver >" sorr y for him." nd Anthony Clair stopped short, 3re broken-voiced, while tears came into ess his . eyes - Producing a big handker/er cllief anel mo Pping away the tears, he resumed : en "That was the end of Anthony nd Van Rant. His death so upset me e> > that it was well he had prearranged - re for his interment. But I had hardly begun to realise my own awkward position, friendless and ■ m almost penniless, when the lawyer ne who had been with Mr. Van Bant he before his death came to me and ]is astounded me with the announce--9 > ment that my late kind friend had ' T bequeathed all he had died possessed of to " rg "The Clair family!" completed , rs Brendan, almost breathlessly. in , "No, not to the Clair family, but he to me," corrected Anthony. "Howth ever," he went on, smiling at the )W disappointed faces before him. "It re was left to me, 'Anthony Clair, forest merly of Peafield, Ballyran, &c, g S hereinafter called "The O'Quix- " ote" '—as the will puts it—to be n t devoted to the uplifting of the !" Clair family of Ballyran, the de- ' . scendants of Hugo de Clair, should T find that practicable. But of ' course I shall," added Anthonv, at "if you all co-operate with me with 'I heart and soul." >e "Indeed we shall, Anthony," reI sponded the Colonel, heartily. 1 ie "What an amazing affair!" ie "You have all the papers as hj well as the money?" asked Mr. fc, Glynn. i- "Yes. I can let you see the d papers when I get back to Bally-: a ran," said Anthony, rising. I f "You must not go back to such a ' e place as Tumpane's; I could not' a permit that," protested the Colonel.' ' "You must be my guest, Anthony, 1 , i until you can find a more worthy' a residence." , ' "Well, perhaps I may stay a day s i or two with you later;'but I must 1 t go back to Ballyran first," returned ; ? I Anthony. ] i "You'll stay for dinner this even- ! i : ing, at any rate," said the Colonel, 1 hospitably. "I insist on that." r Everybody crowded round An- ; : thony, and there was a babel of t family folk. Sadie Gegan went ! c out thffough the French window, o and her father followed her. \ The girl drew her father into the tl shelter of a great clump of rhodo- j dendrons, and then, putting her ti arms round his neck, hid her laughing face on his breast. la "Oh, poppa, poppa!" she gasped. "That Anthony Clair " "Is the most all-fired goney I A ever saw!" completed her father, jin vigorously. ! 01 : s h CHAPTER IV. A Mr. Brian Glynn, who lived near ' ca Ballyran, derived a flourishing prae-1 tice from a district that extended ' WB even to the country town, Strad- th more. It was his personal pecu- ' liarity that his manner was either :„. very agreeable or extremely the re- s ' verse, according to the influences of o7 the moment. But however bad his an , humour, his clients found it advis- t h ( able to put up with it, for he was a 1 j straight and clever solicitor. eo , When, on the following forenoon. ,'J, his motor-car entered Ballyran, and sne drew up at Tumpane's 'door, and Mr Mr. Glynn jumped out, and, leaving : a ] r( his wife in charge of the car. briskly \\t walked into the shop, he was in his ( mn most affable mood. ' j , "Good morning, Mr. Tumpane," sm j he said, cheerfully, to the master of I seei the establishment, who was weigh- mei

ting sugar for a customer. "How are you, and how's business?" ' "I can't complain of either, thank Heaven." returned Mr. Turn pane, a stout, (lull, elderly widower "What can T do for you, sir?" "1 want to see Mr. Clair for s minute or two," replied Mr. Glynn " I hope he's in." "fie is so. and alone in his rooir this very minute," said Mr. Turn pane, opening tlie door of the coun ter and coming out. "Will I b< calling him down to you?" "No, I'll go up to him, for 1 want a few words in private witl him," answered Mr. Glynn, glanc ing into the room behind the shop 1 where two men sat drinking. Foi Mr. Tumpane. like most of his neighbours, combined under on< roof half a. dozen businesses, one oi which was that of publican. "I hope, now, 'tis no trouble Mr Clair is in?" queried Mr. Tumpane in a lowered voice and coming clos( to the solicitor. "I'd be sorry tc ; think that, and him just come bacl< from America a broken man. as yoi may well say." "Oh, nothing of the sort," Mr Glynn assured him, with ar i amused laugh. "Don't bother t( leave the shop; I'll go upstairs anc find Mr. Clair all right." Larry Tumpane at that moment . entered by a back door, bearing i large placard. "Give that to me," said hii father, "and show Mr. Glynn up stairs to Mr. Clair's room." "Tis pasted, so I'd better put i up first," said Larry, referring t< the placard, which bore a strikin.' picture of a liner at sea. Th young man then stuck the placar on a vacant space on the wall a the direction of his father, wh made an occasional commission a an emigration agent. Mr. Glynn was directed througl a dark passage behind the shop, anc then, preceded by Larry, mounted a narrow 7, uncarpeted staircase. "Oh, you?" said Anthony, rising ' from a sofa, a book in his hand. i "I promised to call to-day," returned Mr. Glynn. "Have you .those papers here?" Anthonv unlocked a portmanteau and produced a bundle of papers, which he laid on the table. Mr. Glynn drew over a chair and proceeded to examine them. "I see that Tumpane thinks yo'' a poor man," he said. "I expect he does, for I did not look a millionaire when I turned up here," replied Anthony.- "And I thought it best to keep my affairs to myself as long as I could. That won't be much longer, I expect." : "You were prudent." approved Mr. Glynn. slightly surprised. "Ah, here's the copy of the will." He paused to study it. "T see that you are enjoined to reserve at least two hundred and fifty thousand dollars that's fifty thousand pounds—for your own use and benefit," "Oh, well, I can disregard that," returned Anthony. "It was only a wish of poor Van Rant's." "You are equally freed to disregard the testator's desire to benefit the Clair family, for that is left to your discretion—and conditionally on your finding it practicable," said the lawyer, bluntly. "So you see you can do exactly what you like with your million. Here, put thes papers away." "Van Rant's purpose in leaving me this great fortune was to benefit the Clair family," returned An-

thony, locking up the papers agair "and I mean to carry it out." "Guided by my advice, I hope, : said Mr. Glynn. "Yes, of course," conceded An thony. "Did I not invite you t act as my solicitor?" "That is why I am here now, fo I want to get you settled down a soon as possible in a style suited t( your new and enviable circum stances," said Mr. Glynn. "It is well you did not come hall an hour later," said Anthony, "foi I was just about to visit my old home." "Instead of which," interposed the lawyer, rising, "you are now uoming with me to inspect your new >ne." "My new home?" queried Anihony.

"Yes Ballyran Castle," r< turned his companion. "(Ballyran Castle my new home! laughed Anthony. "Certainly," said Mr. Glyiu "That's the only home for you now And since I have learnt that yoi must spend fifty thousand pound on yourself. T am determined yoi shall buy the Castle." "Indeed, I will not, then," sai< Anthony, in his deliberate way. "Come along," said Mr. Glynn "My wife is waiting in my motor car outside." "Why should T go, when I don'l want the place?" persisted An bhony. "T'll tell you why. Even grantng you don't want the place yourself, you will require it for the seat >f the regenerated Clair family," mswered Mr. Glynn. "Better buy he Castle than build a new house -indeed, there's no site hereabouts iqual to the Castle site for that mrpose. So come along and inpect the place, anyhow. T've kept Irs. Glynn waiting too long lready, and she'll not forgive me f 1 do not bring you, for she is lost anxious to meet you again." "Is she, indeed?" said Anthony, tniling. "Well. now. it doesn't ?em so very long ago when not a lember of the Clair family would

From others, a large enclosed bad ' garden in which some flowers asserted themselves amidst a wilder . ness of tall rank weeds. "Tin's will make a fine strongholc for you, or the head of the family j when it is done up," said Mr. | Glynn to Anthony, as they emerged j from the house. Indeed, you | might keep up a small army of retainers, and give them a uniform, I emblazoned with the family arms, j though you had better give them i some other occupation than fightjing." j "Ob, nonsense!" returned An- | thony, taking the other's sarcasm 5 seriously. "That might have done : two or three hundred years ago, but lit won't do now. No; the head of regenerated Glairs must be of his age, and one of the best men in | it. Tf he is a soldier, as our Colonel is, he must in some way become the first soldier in the land. Tf, like Brendan, lie is a lawyer, he must manage to become Lord Chancellor, and then, if he deserves her, as he must, he must marry the loveliest and most charming girl he could find-—" "Tf you mean to make the head of the Clairs like that," said Mr. Glynn, drily, "you will have your work cut out for you."

be seen on the same side of the road as myself." "You'll have to get accustomed • now to their never letting you have . the side of the road to yourself," returned Mr. Glynn, with a laugh. \ "You should by now know some- . thing of the world we live in, Mr. Clair. As it is now, it is reasoni able for us to desire to know you - better. I myself plead guilty to - that wish. For at our only meeting i in the past, when I conveyed your : farm to Christy Minogue, I did not . think much of you for having made ljsuch a bad bargain." -| "That was not a bargain, good , )V bad, but an arrangement I had >• io submit to," replied Anthony. i "However, I'll go with you to ; Ballyran Castle, since you so ? urgently wish it." iWhen they went down to the waiting motor, Mrs. Glynn smiled sweetly on her husband's comijpanion, and invited him by a ges- > ture to seat himself beside her. But : Anthony, receiving this favour i calmly, said he wanted to speak tc Mr. Glynn, and took his seat beside the latter, who was his own chaufi feur. > "By the way, as the Castle is now 1 vacant, what has become of Sir Donal O'Donnell?'' asked Anthony.. j as the car started, i "He drank himself to death at

Ast—three months ago," answered ? Mr. Glynn. "His heir doesn't want :he place, now that there is nc istate attached. But it will do yon t admirably." > Ballyran Castle, two miles distant, was visible as soon as they had emerged from the town. For it was on the summit of a low hill, itself conspicuous as the only hill in the locality. When it was reached, a low wall was seen to encircle its base. Above, the hillside was i covered with furze and heather, the I avenue leading from the wide prin- | cipal gateway being lined with sycamores. Somewhat stunted oake r And beeches—for the harsh winds from the Atlantic, but a few miles distant, swept the region—mingled ! with the sycamores in a leafy screen around the mansion, only the roof of which was visible from a distance. Mr. Glynn's car, a good hillcilmber, swiftly mounted the avenue. Arrived at the house, a trap was seen at the hall door. "That's the Colonel's trap—yes, for there are Mr. Gegan and his daughter," said Mr. Glynn. "I noticed them particularly yesterday," said Anthony. "Friends of the Colonel's? T never heard of I them before." J "Friends of an old friend who I gave them a letter of introduction, f and the Colonel took to them, and j has invited them to stay at Rose-

bank," answered Mr. Glynn. "Mr. Gegan, who had an Irish father, is over from the States on a visit to the old country, and it is said he will settle down here." Mr. Gegan, who had handed his daughter into the trap, stood and awaited the motor-car. "You have been through the Castle, T see," said the solicitor, i "What do you think of it?" j "I'd have no use for it," replied j Mr. Gegan. "I knew that when I first saw it, and now my girl thinks so, too. That settles the chance of n deal." I "That's a pity," said Mr. Glynn.' though his face showed relief rather' than regret. "However, I'm going to show Mr. Clair over the place, which it has struck me would suit him." "I guess we'll go through the Castle again, poppa," said Miss; Gegan, jumping down from the trap. When the party went indoors, where they were convoyed by a wild-looking elderly female caretaker, they foiiud their sight-seeing not inspiring. The late Baronet had been a rather wealthy man < rural Ireland, but, a morose, soli-j ( fcary dipsomaniac, he had lived j almost in squalor. The empty i rooms through which the party ' vvere now shown bore dismal evi- ' lence of long neglect. . I To look out gave no relief. The t awn into which the leafy avenue s >pened was like a jungle. From o me set of side windows could be t. een stables and outhouses in ruins.

Meanwhile Anthony Clair hat ,J left Hie highway and turned iut< ' a narrow by-road. He walkec I slowly, his mind full of glowing '■ but confused thoughts, lie founc it difficult to realise even now thai he was no longer poor Anthony Clair, the intellectual gentleman . farmer, dreaming still, but An- ' thony Clair, rich, and with a mission before him that gave promise of a future still more wonderful than the past. He awoke from his day-dream-ing' to find himself at his destination. For, facing him, stood the gateway of Peafield. His heartbeats grew quicker as lie gazed once more at his old home, and he stood for some moments filled

with, the emotion thai the sigh brought to a nature always sensi tive to the appeal of old associations. Then lie passed throng']; the gate and walked quickly ur. the hedge-lined pathway that led to the housiAs lie approached it, he noted that great changes had taken place since he left. The house a lime-washed building of moderate size, with stabling on one side and an orchard on the other—which he had always-kept so neat, looked weather-beaten and neglected, lie missed an iron railing which had enclosed a flower garden in front, and the flowers had been banished with it. Now rough pasture grass spread up to the hall door. Part of the orchard had been cleared, and there had been erected an iron hay-shed, which was painted a garish red. Beside it was an extensive piggery, where naked-looking pork-j )i's ran about nosing the ground. (To be Continued.)

CHAPTER V. Mr. Glynn's return journey lfd him through Ballyran. But the car had not got half way to the town when Anthony Clair asked to be set down. ''Going to take a look at Peafield?" asked Mr. Glynn, after an invitation to lunch had been refused. "Yes,' replied Anthony. "I'm longing to see the old home again." "Naturally." said Mr. Glynn. "But I don't think you'll consider it changed for the belter." "Oh, I can change it again to suit my tastes now," said Anthony, "for I'll get Christy to sell it hack to me.' ' "Humph! Perhaps he won't," you'll surely buy Ballyran Castle, commented Mr. Glynn. "But won't you? I can get it for you for a mere song." "If the Colonel wajits it. I'll buy it for him," replied Anthony. "I'll see him on the matter in a day or two."

"Very well," said the solicitor, cheerfully, too astute to press the ' matter further just then. 'l'll • mention it to him if I see him be- , fore you; but, remember, he expects you to slay with him until ; you are suitably settled down. [ Take my advice and go to him at j once. Tumpane's is no place for » you. Besides, life will be made i unbearable for you there as soon as your good fortune leaks out." "I'll go to the Colonel's on [ Monday for ;i short stay, as we ■j must be in close consultation , about all the arrangements that i will have to be made," conceded , Ant lion v. i "What an extraordinary crea- -, tare!" laughed Mrs. Glynn to her s husband, as the car resumed its journey, after she had waved Ani thony a regretful farewell, accompanied by her most fascinating ; J smile. "What a wonderful stroke i! of luck to come to such a simpleton !" "I'm not so sure he's such a simpleton as he may appear at first sight," said Mr. Glynn. "Perhaps he is not,' 'admitted his wife. "In the past, when I knew him only by sight, it is j true, I always regarded him as a mere hog-trotter. But I see he is not quite that. With nil his slowness and simplicity, he has a kind of underlying manner—well, I don't know how to describe it. He astonished me by some of the things he said at liosebank yes-| terday." "He gave us a few neat rubs inj his quiet way," laughed her lius-jj baud. "Take my word for it J Pet, Anthony Clair will give usi plenty of surprises yet." "Let him. The thing that interests me in him, after all, is that he is to make our fortunes," returned Mrs. Glynn, eagerly. "Brian, how much should I get? As the Colonel's niece, and a near

relation of Anthony's, I should] 5 receive a good share of that mil- { •jlion." j "You will net just whatever lie !" likes to give vou," said her hus[jband, dryly. "That's all." ;! "Then we must make ourselves r . very agreeable to him,*' said Mrs j Glynn, in a disappointed tone. \i "We must, for on that our chances solely depend," said Mr. • Glynn, laughing again. "However, we wont' worry, even if you ' don't get much. For I'm sure to have a few good pickings in acting professionally for him—and there'll be the carriage of sale of the Castle, which he must buy. But, at the same time, I'll do my best for his interests, for I rather like the man."