A FOOL AND HIS MONEY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15438, 17 October 1913, Page 3

A FOOL AND HIS MONEY.

PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.

BY GEORGE BARB McCUTCHEON. Author of " Graustark," " Brewster's Millions," '* Beverley of Graustark," " The Man from Brodney's," " Truiton King," " The Butterfly Man," " The Rose in the Ring." j j ! | i i

COPYRIGHT. CHAPTER IX. I AM INVITED OUT TO DINNER. I sometimes wonder what would happen if I really hfid a mind of my own. Would 1 be content to exercise it capably? Would I ceaso to be putty in the hands of other people? I doubt it. Even a strong, obdurate mind is liable to connect with conditions that render it weak and pliable for the simple reason that it is sometimes easier to put up with a thing than to try to put it down. An exacting, arbitrary mind perhaps might evolve a set of resolutions that even the most intolerant would hesitate to violate, but for an easy-going, trouble-dodging brain like my own there is no such thing as tenacity of purpose, unless it be in the direction of an obfuscated tendencj to maintain its own pitiful equilibrium. I try to keep an even ballast in my dome of thought &nd to steer straight through the sea of circumstance, a very difficult undertaking and sometimes hazardous. A man with a firm, resolute grip on himself would have checked Mr. Pless and Baron Umovitch at the outset of their campaign to acquire undisputed possession of ail the comforts and conveniences that the castle afforded. He would have said no to their demands that all work about the place should je regulated according to th<3r own life-long habits, which, among other things, included lying in bed till noon, going back to bed at three for a quiet nap, and staying up all night so that they might be adequately worn out by tie time they went to bed in the 'first, place. I mention this as a single instance of their power to over-ride me. It got to be so that when a carpenter wanted to drive a nail he had to substitute a screw and use a screw-driver, a noiseless process, but an insufferable waste of time and money. Lathers worked four days on a job that should have been accomplished in as many hours. Can you imagine these expert, able-bodied men putting laths on a wall with screw-drivers? When Elsie Hazzard, painfully aware of my annoyance, asked the two noblemen why on earth they couldn't get up for breakfaet, they coldly informed her that they were civilised human beings and not larks. They used my study for purposes of their own, and glared at me when I presumed to intrude upon their privacy. Mr. Pless took possession of this room, and here received all sorts of secret operatives engaged in the task of unearthing the former Mrs. Pless. Here he had as manv as '15 reports a day by messenger from all parts of the land, and her© ho discussed every new feature of the chase as ifc presented itself, coolly barring me out of my sanctum sanctorum with the impassive command to knock before attempting to enter. In spite of their acrimonious tilts over the card-table, he and the baron were as thick as could be when it came to the question of the derelict countess. They maintained the strictest privacy and resented even the polite interest of their four American friends Finding Mr. Poopendyke at work over some typing one day, Mr. Pless peremptorily ordered him out of the study, and subsequently complained to me about the infernal racket the fellow made with his typewriter. Just as I was on the point of tilling him to go to the devil, he smilingly called my attention to a complete plan for the restoration of tha two great halls as he had worked it out on paper. He had also written a personal letter, commanding the Munich firm to send their most competent expert to Schloss Rothhoefen without delay, to go over the plains with him. As I recall it, he merely referred to me as a rich American who needed advice. , They cursed my servants, drank my wines, complained of the food, and had everybody about the place doing' errands for them. My butler and footman-threat-ened to leave if they were compelled to continue to serve drinks until four in the morning; but. were somewhat appeased when I raised their wages. Britton surreptitiously thrashed the French valet, aid then had to serve Mr. Pless (to my despair) for two days while Francois took his time recovering. The motor-boat was operated as a ferry after the third day, hustling detectives, lawyers, messengers and newspaper correspondent's back and forth across the much ' be-sung Danube. Time and again I shivered in my boots when these sly-faced detectives appeared and made their reports behind closed doors. When would they strike the trail? To my surprise the Hazzards and the Smiths were as much, in the dark as I concerning development in the great kidnapping case. The wily Mr. Pless suddenly ceased delivering his confidences to outsiders. Evidently he had been cautioned by those in charge of his affairs. He be came as uncommunicative as the Sphinx. I had the somewhat valueless satisfaction of knowing a blessed sight more about the matter than he and all of his bloodhounds put together. I could well afford to laugh, but under the extremely harassing conditions it was far from possible for me to get fat. As a matter of fact, it seemed to me that I was growing thinner. Mrs. Betty Billy Smith, toward the end of her visit, dolefully— tearfully—remarked upon my haggard appearance. She was very nice about it, too. I liked her immensely. It did not require half an eye to see that she was thoroughly sick of the baron Mid Mr. Pless. She was really quite uncivil to them toward the end. At last there came a day of deliverance. The guests were departing and I can truthfully say that I was speeding them. Elsie Hazzard took me off to a remote corner, where a little later on Betty Billy and the two husbands found us. " John, will you ever forgive me ?" she said very soberly. "I swear to you I hadn't the faintest idea what —" "Please, please, Elsie," I broke in warmly; "don't abuse yourself in mv presence. I fully understand everything. 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 are?" "Alas, John," said 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 awful week, John. We've' talked it all over among ourselves. We are ashamed— so terribly ashamed. If you can ever like us again after—" " Like you!" I cried, taking her by the shoulders. " Why, Elsie Hazzard, I have never liked you and George half so much as I like you now. You two and the Smiths stand out like Gibraltars in my esteem. I adore all of you. I sha'n't be happy again until I know that you four and no —are coming back to Schloss Rothhoefen for an indefinite stay. Good Lord, how happy we shall be!"I said it with a great deal of feeling. The tears rushed into her eyes. "You are a dear, John," she sighed. " You'll come?" " In a minute," said she with vehemence, a genuine American girl once more. "Just as soon as these pesky workmen are out of the place, I'll drop you a line," said I, immeasurably 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 missionary work. Very pointedly I said to herj "I

fancy you axe willing to admit now that she wasn't such a simpleton tor leaving' him." t She went so far as to shudder, all the time regarding me with dilated eyes. "I ' • can't imagine anything more dreadful than * - being the man's wife, John." " Then why don't you admit that you a,re sorry for he;? Why won't you be a little just to her?" She looked at me sharply. "Do you know her?" " Not by a long shot," 1 replied hastily, and with considerable truthfulness. " Why are you so. keen to have me take sides 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." " I can't forgive her for marrying him in the first place," she said stubhornlv. But I think she was justified in leaving him. As 1 know him now, 1 don't see how she endured it as long as she, did. Yes, I am sorry for her. She is a deaf girl and she has had a-—" " I'll say it, my dear: a of a time.'* "Thank you." "And I daresay you now think she did right in taking the child, too," I persisted. " I—l hope she gets safely away with little Rosemary, back to God's country as we are prone to call it. Oh, by tho way, John, I don't see why I should feel bound to keep that wretch's secret any longer. He has treated us like dogs. He doesn't deserve— "Hold an! You're not thinking of telling me his name, are you?" " Don't you want to know ii? Don't you care to hear that you've been entertaining the most talked of, the most interesting—" " No, I don't!" "Don't you care to hear who it was that he married ,and how many millions he got from—-" " No, I don't." "And why not?" Well," said I, judicially, "in the first place I like the mystery of it all. In tho second place, I don't want to know anything more about this fellow than I already know. He is enough of a horror to me, as it is, God knows, without giving a name to him. I prefer to think of him as Mr. Pless. If you don't mind, Elsie, I'll try to eradicate him thoroughly from my system as Pless before I take him, on in any other form of evil. No, I don't want to know his name at present, nor do I care a hang who it was he married. Silly notion, I suppose, but I mean what I say." She looked at me in wonder for a moment and then shook her head as if considering me quite hopeless. "You are an odd thing, John. God left something out when He fashioned you. I'm just dying to tell you all about them, and you won't let me." "Is she pretty?" I asked, yielding a little. ■'-• . " She is lovely. We've been really, quite hateful about her, Betty and I. . . Down in our hearts we like her. She was a spoiled child, of course, and all that sort of thing, but heaven knows she's been - - pretty thoroughly made over in a new crucible. We used to feel terribly sorry for her, even -while we were deriding her for the fool she had made of herself -in marrying him. I've seen her hundreds of times driving about alone in Vienna, where they spent two winters, a really pathetic figure, scorned not only by. her husband but by everyone else. He never was to be seen in public with her. Hp - made it clear to his world that she was no* • to be inflicted upon it by any unnecessary act of his. She came to see Betty and me . - occasionally; always bright and proud and 1L full Of spirit, but we could see the Wounds in her poor little heart no matter how • -■ hard she tried to hide them. tell yon, John, they like us as women but they despise us as wives. It • will always be ■» the same with them. They won't let -us into their charmed circle. Thank God, lam married to an American. He must respect 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 she has paid i well for it." "If her stingy old father, who permitted her to get into the scrape, would . come up like a man and pay what ho . ought to pay, there would be no more bother, about this business. He hasn't lived up to his bargain. The—Mr." Pirns''"' 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 ; i open, and I haven't an atom of sympathy for him. You have read that'book of Mrs. Burnett's, haven't you ' the Shut-' tle?' Well, there you are. This is but another example of .what fools American parents can be when they get bees in 4 s their bonnets." *'yr\r\' '. She seemed to be accusing me!*' "I hope she gets away safety; with -.'Hthe kiddie," said I, non-committally. *' Heaven knows where she is. Maybe she's as' safe as a bug in a rug." . "I shouldn't be surprised,?,' said ;I. v » -' The Billy Smiths and George Hazzard came up at this juncture. Elsie at once proceeded to go into a long series of con- • . jectures as to the probable whereabouts of Mr. Pless'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 the missing countess. I gathered from their remarks that the - young woman's mother and brothers were still •■ in Paris, where their every move- - - ment was being watched by secret agents. They were awaiting the arrival from New , York of the father- of the countess, after • < which they were to come to Vienna for ' the purpose of making a determined fight " for the daughter's absolute freedom and the custody of the child. Somehow this news gave me a strange * ; feeling of apprehension, a sensation that 1 later on was to be amply justified. (To be continued daily.) '