THE MILLIONAIRES.

Thames Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 17844, 20 March 1930, Page 3

THE MILLIONAIRES.

fffl OUR SERIAL STORY |'ii

CHARTER X. "That's the point," said George Drummond. "I wonder if I'm quite in touch with the people who do me the honour to be en terms, of intimacy with me here." "What people specially?" ■ "Well, let us say our sinter. Lady Glenmirk, and might"! say -the Mer-r touns? What I am not sure of is if the courteous manner—the instinct or courtesy which they possess 1 ,. extends t'< mo only as it does to some one v. : o. they know, is not .in their own sjhere-V-do they look upon me as tHey look upon a distinguished negro, » v a distinguished actor, or <a clis tinguished novel-writer, or a distinguished anarchist, for that ■matter:' When meet those people -they place them* entirely at .their ease, so admirable are their manner's,; but any one can see—at least, 1 can seethat they are generous to them with a sort of reserve—that they do not look upon them as if they were inhabitiants of the same world. I have been wondering if the courtesy winch they show me—which you are showing to me at the present moment —is or this type. Do people simply tolerate me because I happen to be called by that hateful name, a millionaire?'" /'What on earth has put all this into your head? Perhaps I should ask who has put 'all this into your head? . By the powers; you've been listening to one of those loafer-lead- i ers, who call themselves labour lead- J era—some of those infernal Radical i who talk about unearned increment. | I shouldn't wonder if your friend with the steam yacht imported that notion from the States, though he looks something above that line." "No, no; he • has never troubled himself about social distinctions'. The fact is, I had the notion some time ago myself, and latterly—since 1 came here and have being going about a good deal, with —well, with Miss JMertoun and Miss Brown, and others—l have had it suggested to mo that I would be making a very great mistake indeed, if I were to assume that you, the people whom 1 have tbeefq. mingjlmgf with here apparently on terms of equality, regard me ay their social equal. I have been told that 1 am admitted into, their circle —your circle—only as a negro, or a, »ovel|st is iadmitted." "Some man has been hoaxing you—no, by the Lord, it was some girl, not Angela; though she is up to a great many larks, sihe knows where to draw the line; no, it must have keen —now. who the mischief could it have been? Not Gwen; by the Bog of Allen, it w'a s Gwen Cardew —and no one else—l see it in your face;

By FRANK FRAN KFORT MOORE, Author of "I Forbid the Banns;" "The Jessamy Bride," "Fanny's First Novel," etc.

, -»nd you believed Gwen. Ah, you ' admitted that you knew nothing of women. /If you knew 'as little of men as you have shown j'ou do of women by believing Gwen Cardew, you'd be as poor to-day as I ..am, and that's going far." "It waJ Miss Chrdew who made the suggestion ,to me, 1 admit; 1 daresay she did it out of kindness." ''Very likely—kindness to Mis§ Cardew." "But you haven't given me your opinion on the s.tobject. You needn't think I'll resent it; and you may—you may—save" me from making a fool of myself one day. I can have my anchor up in half an hour." "My dear Drummond, you are, .you know, la bit of a curiosity after all," said Lord Ballyseedy. "A millionaire with some modesty is a curiosity tlierta days. Millionaires and modesty are not often found associated. Where the mischief have 3 r ou been ; . living that you should such a notion as that there i s still any exclusiveness? in any rank of life except among shopkeepers? You must have been living in another planet! Exclusiveness! My dear fellow, take a. look around you. See who the really great people of to-day are. Well, the people who have" power are the great people and alwaya have been so. Long ago the landowners - were the ones, and the v called themselves the artistocracy. They sing very small now, poor deviis! The man who is -the head of the place where they turn out pig iron is the great man of to-day. The great soldier ha s a vogue of a year or two after a campaign which lie has personally conducted ; but the greatest of them . all is the millionaire. "\Ve tolerate the millionaire even when lie* |s a cad, which really seldom " happens; out when he is ano-iier sort of maa he become_ s a lasting sc-ial success.'. .Why. on earth should people like Mertouns and the Glen.niri- S make friends with you if it wasn't you are a decent sort? Do you think that they v.ant to borrow money from you? "No, no; that never occurred to me."

"Has any one i,f the same tet wanted you to lend money or to back any of their bills? I think not. Do they go aboard ; r ouv boat because you give them an exceptionally good dinner? These people would sooner have a properly cooked steak and a bottle of stout than all your cook could provide. Only one can't get a first class steak nowadays unless it's American, and a conscientious butcher won't guarantee that what he sells you is American. Oh, no! The people who like you on account of your mjoney are the tradesmen and the clergymen. You can hand it over to

them without hurting their feelings. But should you ever be in want of money, I wouldn'.t advise you to go to them for relief. Now, don't be so gauche as to believe anything • that Gwen Cardew tell s you about society; in fact, the less you believe of what girls tell you, the safer you'll be. Gwen's a young woman of scrupulous* l inaccuracy. I wouldn't give you this advice except for the fact that you have shown me that you have been living, all your life in places as remote from the world as scruples are from—let us s'a, v Gwen Cardew. Here wo are at the hotel." ~■.'" "One word more—only one, Lord Ballyseedy. She told me last evening just before the steam yacht came up, that you—you—no, on second thoughts I won't tell you what she told me; though what object she could have—oh, never mind." "I won't mind, you may depend on that. I'm not particularly curious in regard to" what some people tell other people regarding mysielf. But I know that you might as well look for holy water i n an ©range Lodge as expect that Gwen Cardew would say the truth unless it suited her to do so. We men don't understand women very well; but there are some women —and Gwen is one of them —who understand men extremely well. They make it science, .you see." They entered the salle-a-manger together. At one of the little tables Angela was busily engaged choosing a breakfast for Mr. Isaac.P. Newton, taking advice from the Swiss', waiter regarding the omelette, in. the French tongue, with which" Mr. .Newton was quite unacquainted. (To be continued.)