Evening star., 1904-03-26

the moment when I said goodbye to the
school In the gray mist Of a December
morning twenty years ago. he was a noy
of fourteen then, but nevertheless recog-
niZed him His face was bronZed and good
looking his features refined. AS boy
Selby had been noted for his grace, his
well-shaped head, his clean-cut features;
these characteristics still were his. and al
though he was now slightly past his first
youth he was decidedly handsome. He gave
me a quick sketch of his history.
My father left me plenty of money" he
said. "and the Meadows. our old family
place. is now NINE / have a taste for nat
ural history; that taste took me two years
ago to South America. 1 have had my
share of strange adventures and have col
1ected valuable specimens and trophies. l
am now on my way home from Para on
the Amazon But why all this talk about
myself?" he added. bringing his deck chair
little nearer to mine. What about your
history, old chap? Are you settled down
with a wife and kiddies of your own. or is
that dream of your school days fulfilled
and are you the owner of the best private
laboratory in London?'
"As to the laboratory" I said, with a
smile. you must come and see 1t. For the
rest, am unmarried. Are your
II was marie d the day before l left
Para and my wife Is on board with me-
Capital" 1 answered. Let me hear all
about 1t"
"You shall Her maiden name was Dal-
las; Beatrice Dallas. She is just twenty
her mother a Spaniard; neither parent is
living. She has an elder sister Edith,
nearly thirty years of age, unmarried, who
Is on board with us. There is also a step
brother, considerably older than either
Edith or Beatrice. l met my wife last year
in Paris and once fell in love. l am the
happiest man on earth. 1t goes without
saying that i think her beautiful, and she
is also very we'll Off The story of her
wealth is curious one. Her uncle on the
mothers side was an extremely wealthy
Spaniard, who made an enormous fortune
In Brazil out of diamonds and minerals; he
owned several mines. But ii is suspected
that his wealth turned his BRAIN At any
rate, IL seems to have done so as far as the
disposal of his money went. He divided
the yearly profits and interest between his
nephew and two nieces. but declared that
the property itself should never be split up.
He has left the whole of it to that one of
the three who should survive the others.
A perfectly insane arrangement. but not.
believe. unprecedented in Brazil.
Every insane | echoed. What was he
worth?'
"Over two million sterling"
by Jove. / cried what a sum, But
what about the half-brother?"
He must be over forty years of age and
IS evidently a bad lot. / have never seen
him His sisters won't speak to him or
have anything to do with him. | under
stand that he is great gambler; 1 am
further told that he is at present in Eng
land. and. as there are certain technieali-
ties to be gone through before the girls can
fully enjoy their incomes, one of the first
things l must do when / get home is to
find him out. He has to sign certain pa
pers. for shan't be able to put thirgs
straight until get his whereabouts.
Some time ago my wife and Edith heard
that he was i'll. but dead or alive we must
know all about him and as quickly as pos
sible."
made no answer and he continued
"I'll introduce you to my wife and sister
in-law tomorrow. Beatrice is quite a child
compared to Edith. who acts toward her
almost like a mother. Bee is little beauty,
so fresh and round and young looking. But
Edith is handsome. too, although / some
times think she is vain a peacock
BY the way, Druce. this brings me to an
other part of the story. The sisters have
an acquaintance on board. one of the most
remarkable women / have ever met. She
goes by the name of Nine. Sara and knows
London well. In fact. she confesses to
having a shop In the Strand. What she
for she keeps all her affairs strictly pri-
vate. But you will be amazed when tell
you what her calling is.''
"What?' l asked.
"a professional beautitier She claims
the privilege OF restoring youth to those
who consult her. She also declares that
she can make quite ugly people handsome.
There Is no doubt that she is very clever.
She knows little bit of everything and has
wonderful recipes with regard to medi-
cires. surgery and dentistry. She is a
most lovely woman herself. very fair with
blue eyes innocent. childlike manner
and quantities of rippling gold hair She
openly confesses that she is very much
older than she appears. She looks about
Ave and twenty. She seems to have tray-
sled all over the world, and says that by