The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1900-12-25
The ESpeRdO|Q Chest.
How 3 Treasure Was Lost
Through Love and Strategy.

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! How Treasure Was Lost y
q Through Love and Strategy. a
By Marguerite Stabler. q
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"Tom Randolph is such a charming
fellowp' Every girl who knew him and
every girls mamma lifted up her heart
and joined in the universal chorus. He
was the sort of man women love to
love. His patrimony was sufficient to
make him thoroughly worth while, his
mental depth was beyond nobody's
!. fathoming, and even the men who
were inclined to leave him alone ad-
mitted perforce that he was a good
enough fellow. He could do SO many
! useful things, too-wield a chatting dish
or banjo, lead german or sail boat
all with equal grace and skill.
But the measure of his popularity
was the measure of the plumber he ac-
cumulated from year to year. His
apartments might have rivaled a public
exhibition in point of his collection of
photographs. There were girls of all
sorts and conditions of beauty and
style; blond girls and brunette girls,
stately girls and kittenish girls, tall
girls and petite girls and girls in every
variation of habiliment from a bathing
suit to mourning weeds, varying in size
from tiny miniatures, gently limiting
they might be enshrined in the watch
case to the large iridium panels that
lined his walls in tiers, and the sofa
cushions that filed every nook would
have made the fortune of a charity
bazaar. After noting the fact that
about every third girl who gave him
her picture was Industrious enough or
cared enough to make him a cushion,
Randolph, at a rough estimate, had
Every holiday season a new pile was
started, and, as each girl perfumed her
gift with her favorite sachet, nothing
but the most powerful disinfectant
could mitigate the combined odors of
the % % sachet powders. Such it is
But Randolph was grateful. In return
he loved them all collectively His trou-
BILE was that he could not deduce his
ideal from the composite three times
% % to the individual. But Mrs. 7.
Courtney Randolph was to be fiawless
creature who combined every grace of
mind and body, and much time was
spent in diligent search for that not
impossible she." This search, indeed,
threatened to rival the hobby he had
ridden, or, rather, that had ridden him
at a breakneck pace all his life He
had been victim of every collecting
fad people with long pockets and short
wits are heir to. But he was shrewd
in his Judgment, and his insight had
brought him not few treasures from
unsupported sources. The furniture he
had gathered about him evoked asso-
Citations of the first empire, early colo
NAL, old Dutch and French renais-
sance. Once he had set his heart on
piece Of bric-a-brac he could brook no
barrier. But now, for the first time,
Randolph was bafled, and by a woman
at that.
Down in Monterey, in a crumbling
old adobe house that might once have
been the home of some naughty hidal-
go, but which now bore only the pitiful
traces Of it's early pretentions, he dis
covered a great treasured fine old
Spanish chest Of most unique design.
The old adobe house had been burned
out on the inside, leaving the walls
blackened and charred; the floor was
the bare ground, baked almost into &C.
ment from generations of use; the win
dow panes were broken and boarded
over to keep out the rain. In such
rickety little hole stood this regal old
chest that might have held the court
robes of Queen Isabella. Almost black
with the lapse of centuries. large
enough for a whole family's wardrobe.
the massive brass trappings furnished
by the touch of hands long ago erum-
bled to dust, it's every aspect breathed
an atmosphere of romance and tradi-
ton.
The manner of it's discovery was the
merest chance. While taking a short
cut from the bay back to the hotel
Randolph had stopped at house that
looked little less dirty than it's neigh
bors to ask for a drink of water.
While the old sonora had gone to bring
1T ne espied through a crack in the
door this marvel of the metal workers
art. The chest, which stood several
inches froL2 the floor, supported by
lions claws was of cedar or mahog-
any. as nearly as he could tell through
its coating of dust. The edges were
held by heavy, carved brass arabesques,
and inwrought on every lock ana
hinge were the crown and shield of
Spain, the proof of its royal lineage.
When the woman returned with the
cool water, she found the stranger
seated on an upturned whale vertebra
before the chest, pulling al the brass
rings, humping the wood examining
the locks and wondering at its excel
lent preservation. Dropping the glass
and shrieking Rosa Rosa" she ran
to give the alarm to her daughter that
there was a burglar in the house 1t
was several minutes before Randolph
could allay their suspicious sufficiently
to ask them IL they would sell the
chest.
How much?' he asked the older
woman, thinking she would probably
be glad to dispose Of it for a song.
But for answer the mother turned to
the daughter, who had followed at her
III IN Indictment f0nnQ
"Cuanto?" And the daughter, survey
ing the stranger with Mortified eyes,
echoed "Cuanto?
.sYes," answered Randolph, thinking
they had not understood what he
meant. How much would you take
for this chest? Twenty dollarsY'
"veinte pesosp' almost screamed the
woman, turning to her daughter.
"veinte pesosr echoed the daughter
again without taking her scornful
glance from the strangers face.
Eyes, yes; $2Or' repeated Randolph,
not the least disconnected. Would
you take $50 for this chest? 1t is very
much out Of style, you know, but |
might find use for it."
The woman stood back a pace and
surveyed him with an expression that
made even Randolph begin to feel a
trife Ill at ease. The daughter lined
herself up beside her mother and tried
to echo the look, but her glance was
tempered with an admiration she could
not conceal.
AS neither of the women seemed dis
posed to break the silence Randolph
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