The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-21

can tell you now On8ko v INV. " short on some of that stuff that I sold | today"
 At this point he caught Miss Graydon's sad, reprovfng glance. l q beg your pardon, Lucy" he said. "I won't do it again, surely not after to- morrow I'm going to lead a new life, Morton. beginning with the new year, as I've already told you"
 Since MT. Ladd began to make money" said Lucy, "his work has detsrioriated. but he will soon be himself again." l I promise you that l wih.' he said | earnestly as he took her hand. And now come," he continued, addressing me. and with his free hand he drew away 1 the curtain from before the arched door way.
 We passed into c small, purposeless | apartment that might have been a snoE- l ing room. except that everything was a smoking room in the quarter. Upon an end wall was hung a small canvas, for which the lighting of the room was clev- | erly adapted.
 | have no technical knowledge of paint ings and shall not attempt any descrip- ton of this picture beyond the mere statement that it was a window into l Switzerland. One saw . 'xNe shoulder | Of mountain with c background of per- | fectay clear sky. The atmospheric depth was beyond belief. There were no tower ing peaks labeled Alps" The thing was alpine simply because 1t was, but l can't l tell why."
 "Ladd." said I. did you do thatf' l He nodded.
 ip the other room,' he said, with sob in his throat.
 You've done 1t encs." said I. and | you'll do again."
 That's what live for" said he. that and"
 He didn't finish the sentence. but he | put his hand gently on Miss Graydon's s shoulder. Then he looked up at the pie ture.
 Tt was found under the tree." he con- tnved. They brought 1t to me as soon e my eyes could bear looking ct 1t, and then for days used to lie and dream of l the time when I could begin to paint again. And when I began l knew that it was all over. was another man."
 If you should savs up this luxury and go and live in poverty" I began. He laughed bitterly. q can no more be poor" said he. than drunkard can quit drinking. But sup pose should give myself up to it sup pose I should Lay aside painting for | awhile and make a barrel of money
  | be myself aGain?'
 Don't you try it," said Miss Gray don.
 "I love painting just as much as ever." protested Ladd; more. indeed, am sure. | T."
 If you did'' rejoined Miss Graydon, you'd paint. You wouldn't go running down to the bourse."
 Jadd rubbed his smooth, firm chin and eyed me.
 what do you think of Uhat?' he queried.
 I'm afraid there's something in it." replied. 'As the hart panteth after the water brooks-because it's a water | drinking animal
 Why is it? Why Is Hr" he cried. | Why, with the capacity in me for such work as that must run money huntingH Heaven knows. And yet there rises in me now and then a wild desire to go ! out and skin somebody alive" He caught Lucy's mortified glance.
 "Of course I mean it in . financial sense," said he. The way to get money is to take 1t away from somebody who has 1t or to levy . general contribution, which is the same thing slightly diluted. However that's all over when the clock strikes IF tonight. But, say, Lucy, wouldn't 1t be possible for Mir. Morton, If he has nothing better to do, to act under my advice in certain matters. We could make a httls partnership on | liberal arrangement" he added, turning to me. 'Ill furnish capital, plan, every thing--but the time. And I can give all my energies to painting while you run l the little game on the outside" | I laughed
 "Laddie," said Miss Graydon. taking him by what she would probably have called tine revers of his evening coat, sometimes you discourage me. What Is the matter with you here?'
 And she tapped him gently over the | region of his heart. He shook his head dolefully.
 Where your treasure Is. there will your heart be also, I quoted.
 "I would not tamper with holy writ" l said LAdd seriously, yet I sometimes think the message In those words would | be clearer to men If they read, Where your heart Is, there will your treasure be-. It Is the impulse of the heart that makes the value of the treasure. And I love that" he added, pointing upward | to the picture. ''I love It and aspire to it. Yet 1 am what I am.''
 There's some one knocking at the | outer door," said l.
 I.add recovered suddenly from the rev erie into which he had fallen.
 You stay here" said he. Its one of | my detectives. I'll send him away" He passed behind the heavy curtains, and we heard his steps on the polished l floor of the studio. murmur of voices reached us, broken suddenly by a crash | ing faN.
 Miss Graydon flashed away from my | side like a startled bird. Before l had fairly set foot In the studio l heard her by the door crying out: What have you doneH What have you dons?"
 Ladd lay on the floor mid the ruins | of & chair. Beside him httie gray | Frenchman with face like a rat was dancing with excitement and trying to talk tn both English and hds native Ian guage with one breath. RelapsIng finally into French, he became inteligrole.
 Tt was the good news" he yelped. ''IHsten. He asked me to trace for him some old pictures, and what do 1 find? A fortune! I have told him gently as l could, but he was unable to bear it.
 1 caught him by the arm and shook him.
 Speak out plainly" I exclaimed.
 He fs not that poor devil of paint er." ne made answer He is q rich American, only son and heir of a what you call it?-a trust magnate. The father Is dead some years. This young man irhsrits everything. It was hs that found this Warrington Lae- starving in Paris and fed him full to tho guAet. Three tdpaaa daU Ina fed him had not ha