Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1891-09-13
lleye bis father makes hlm very small

| and the subject OF her remarks Wnlcn
he CHANGED at that moment quite acct
dentally to catch sight of, caused the
wealthy and benevolent Australian to
suspect the existence of an incipient
romance. "Well, WE'LL" thought he to
himself, ''if the young man is decent
sort OF young men the money difficulty
| can be surmounted, dare say"
He watched Mr.. Luscombe more
closely after this and upon the whole
liked the look of him, though he could
not quite approve OF the manner
in which Helen and he were enter
tanning ono another. 1t cannot be neces-
sary for woman Of forty-three to put
up her fan and whisper behind it to boy
of scarcely over twenty. That sort OF
behavior is-well 10 put things plainly,
little silly, and people who know no
better might even have accused Lady
Strettell of trying tosget up Irritation
with her juvenile guest. Very likely
it may be all right over here though"
thought honest Richard Best. "What
do l know about the manners and Gus
toms of fashionable society?"
After dinner he had short talk with
Mr.. Luscombe, whom he found TO be
pleasant, manly fellow Of the usual
sporting Anglo-Saxon type, and when
he joined the ladies in the drawing room
he made point of telling Lady STREET
tell how favOrably he had been i'm
presses with the young sprIg Of nobility,
$50 glad you like him." answered her
ladyship. Harry Luscombe is dear
boyl Quite one of our intimates, in fact.
You will generally find him here when
you come down to see us, which l hope
will be very often"
SHE isn't too we'll provided with this
worlds goods, hear"
mo, indeed, he isn't, poor fellow!
But that is no fault Of his, you know.
Now tell me what you think OF dear
Milly"
He was glad to be able to say with
truth that he thought Milly an extreme
ly fascinating young lady, but he was
sorry that no opportunity was given
him of mentioning what he believed 10
have been one of the results OF her fa'-
cinations. Lady Strettell was appa'-
emily satisfied with the bare statement
that he liked her step-daughter, and as
she had other guests besides himself ID
entertain, he obtained little fnrthe
speech Of her that evening.
Nor, for that matter, did he Obtain
much speech of her during the ensuing
ten days, although it was his privilege
70 spend a good part Of each and all Of
them in her company. He was made very
welcome at the Wimbledon villa: he was
invited TO play lawn tennis; he was
treated as friend OF the house and he
was permitted on two occasions to es-
| cort the ladies TO the theatre and to en-
tertain them at dinner beforehand; but
he made no progress with his suit, nor
did it seem to have occurred to Helen
that he could. have suit to urge. The
funny thing-or at least what seemed
to him the funny thlng-was that,
whether he was playing lawn tennis,
or making conversation, or watching
from the stalls the unfolding
of drama which did not partic-
ularly amuse him, the COM
pauion assigned to him was invariably
Milly. Young Luscombe (for yonng
Luscombe was always Of the party was
monopolized by his potential mother-in
law, who evidently enjoyed chatting
with him, though it was difficult to be-
lieve that she could be blind TO the i'm
prudence of giving so much encograge-
ment to a man who had neither means
nor profession. AS for Milly, her reserve
and timidity were not TO be overcome.
She was civil and amiable to Mr.. Best;
but, for some reason or other, she APP
peared TO De rather frightened of him,
and his tentative efforts to gain her con-
fidence met with no success at all.
At the end OF ten days the Australian
took leave of his friends for time. He
had to go down to the country on busi-
ness. be said to them, and he did not
specify the nature Of his business,
which was nothing less than the fulfill
ment Of one of the dreams OF his life.
During the whole time that he had been
laboriously heaping up riches in the
Southern Hemisphere he had had be-
fore his minds eye two powerful, albeit
somewhat vague, incentives in exertion.
The first had, of course, been the
ultimate winning Of his only love; the
second had been the repurchasing
of that estate in Berkshire which
had once belonged TO his father, and
which was associated in his memory not
only with the irresponsible happiness OF
boyhood, but with all the hopes and fears
and lows which had attended his WOO
ing of Helen Lawford. And now, by
| the luckiest of lucky chances, that es-
tate was In the market. He was bust
ness man and knew very well what the
property was worth, but rather than
! lose It he would cheerfully have paid
three times it's value, so that he did not
40 badly when he concluded transaction
at figure which was as satisfactory to
the vendor as it was to the buyer.
Superstition, as everybody must have
| observed, is not incompatible with haro-
medicines. Into Richard Best's head,
which was considerably harder than his
heart, there had found its way an IRA
tional notion that If he could go to
Helen Strettell and say, 81 have bought
| back the old place, l am richer than
ever should have been in the old days
and I have not for one moment faltered
! in nv allegiance to the old compact"
she mpst straightway fall into his arms.
Then he could explain how he pro-
nosed to conhde the management OF
! his Australian affairs to Mr.. Luscombe
and thus to secure the future bliss Of
MiIly and her handsome young lover.
| II was with a view to the carrying out
| of this promising programme that he be-
took himself to Wimbledon after max
| ing his escape from the lawyers, and a
sanqnine man was he when he found
Lady Strettell and Milly and young
Luscombe sitting on the lawn, just as
he had expected to find them, beneath
the shade of large Japanese umbrella.
$50 you have got through your bust
ness?" Lady Strettell said, smiling very