The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-19
N THE ADVERTISERS .s = M " = .s DAILY SHORT STORMY
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eep and betokened the ravages ef

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 Seated in the paIatfaT office of Felix Gregory the two men talked over the days when youth was king and the future fosy with hope and promise.
 And how has the w0rid uzed you. John?" asked Gregory. "Indifferentfy, indiferently, Felix" replied the other. "It has been q good deal of q struggle to make both ends meet. Still I don't know as I have anw right to complain. have had a good home and my children hare turned out weH stfff, would have liked to have had 1t so the wife would have had an easier time of it. and the children have had a. little better chance i'm the way of educatton and . better start in the world"
 How many children have you?" asked Felix Gregory in an unsteady voire.
 Three" replied Treat, two boys and one girl. John, the eldest, has fine position in a mercantile house and has been steadily promoted Jimmie won a scholarship in Law school and is to be admitted to the bar next fall. Susie is a fine girl and great help to her mother. Have you a family. Fe- 1fx2"
 "No-yes-no," replied Gregory. Then he broke down and in a voice full of broken sobs poured out his story. Treat listened sympathetieally and endeavor- ed in a manly way to cheer him.
 Gregory said You are morbid about it. Tn tell you what to do. Come up and take dinner with us tomorrow. We won't serve a banquet. but know it will do you good to talk to Mary. She lightens every ones burdens. You remember Mary? Mary Fuller, you know. who was i'm our class in school We all thought yeu were sweet on her
 What. Mary FulIers' cried the other. 'T didn't know you had mar ried her.
 After Treat had gone with his friends promise to dine with him on the following day. Gregory went into & long reverie. Remember Mary Full Ter. indeed. She had been the one sentiment of his life. It had cost him terrific struggle to put her out of his life in obedience to his relentless determination to become rich. After all,'' he thought bitterly. "I am not sure but John solved the problem better than r. what good has all my money done me? I have worked as hard as any slave driven by necessity and have had none of the joys of life"
 That dinner the next day was a rev. efatton to Gregory. Never in all his life had he been in such an atmosphere of free hearted conradeship. of unaf- fected affection and consideration and keen mutual interst. John, the elder son was there with his young wife. and was full of enthusiasm for his work and his heuse-a clean. disnbted-
 h.,- vivr1- mic, full of healthy spirits and of wit. talked confidently of the boundfess f,1ture-the future which held for bfrn nothing less than a United States Senatorship he was sure.
 But it was the daughter who charmed him the most. She was picture of her mother in the old days. when he had heen her lover. Her soft brown eyes stIone with friendly inter est in everybody's plans and their well fare She was absorbed with the household cares, of the greater part of which she relieved her mother. but she did everything so unohtrusiVeY that one forgot she was doing avSnt but carry her part of the conversation.
 The dinner made Gregory forget his troubles for the time and the good-feE Ioyship warmed him. He became fre0ueIlI VLSlL0E dI IHG AMO4GSS hoe OAA Eighty-seventh Street, and once he en- tertained the Treats at a solemn din ner in his, gloomy and stately home. brrt it was all SO set and formal and The butler was SO awesome that n put a restraint on the party and Gregory did not repeat it-even joked about It with Susie the next time he called at the Treat home Susie was the only person who had joked with Felix Gre gory since his boyhood- That young woman had not the slightest awe of him from the first and constantly iabbed through his crust of dignity greatly to the concern of her brother John, who was deeply cognizant of Felix Gregory's position in the busi- ness world and therefore worshiped him from afar.
 After this Gregory repaid the hos pftaIfty of his friends with theater tickets and excursions to the beach. and his carriage was at the disposal of Mrs. Treat and Susie more often than at his own.
 One day Treat told him he had ac- cepted an offer to go to Denver. and the family would move the following month. The prospect of losing the companionship he had enjoyed so keenly and which was about the only friendly companionship he had ever known, filled Gregory with alarm. He spent a busy day thinking and that night called at the Treat home. He asked to see Susie. and there was a conference in the little parfor. After wards there was a conference between Gregory and Treat.
 When the Treats moved to Denver the next month Susie did not go with them. For before that time there was a new mistress in the stately home of Felix Gregory, which stately home speedily lost it's gloom.