The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-01
Our Daily $bcrt Story


 tious marriageabie daughters. who had no mothers, in the social set The ele-1 ment of doubt in his financial pros poets made him a quandry to them They tolerated, often encouraged him. but it was only upto certain point When an amiableS friendship with a young lady threatened anything more serious on his part there was sud- den scampering of tiny feet. possibly upon the scene. possibly because. of the maidens own intuitive sense of prac- tical things.
 Not that Harmon wasn't an attrac- tive chap, for he was one of the hand some young men about town, nor was he stupid. either. as his small talk was as clever as the best. but the thing was what did that sealed document say that lay in the old lawyers vault. Until this was known Harmon was too much of a speculation, And co, de- cent average well-meaning fellow that he was, his life grew into one aim less suspense. spending his income and waiting--waiting for the New Years day to come that would make him really a factor in the set in which he lived, or cast him out altogether.
 This waiting became more and more fntolerable. nothing else seemed to be on his mind, until at a friends house one evening, he met a girl, girl that seemed to arouse another interest than he had known before.
 Margaret Bayne was not exactly g. girI-she was twenty-three, and she was different, so different. he thought than the frivolous butterflies every where about him. She was as pretty. too, as the butterflies, but there was something more in the clear cut arch ed lips, the great, serious blue eyes that the others had not got. She seemed to take fancy to Harmon at once and he felt something strange going on in his heart when she first spoke to him.
 As she said, sweetly: "oh, yes. Mir. Carlton, I know all about you," a trifle disconcerted, but succeeded In passing a delightful evening with her. On his departure she invited him to call. That night he slept little, he even forgot the provisions of his uncle's will. Two big, serious blue eyes how | cred over him continually in the dark ness. When he arose in the morning he knew what was the matteS--he was in love.
 more about Margaret Bayne. She was dtOHe III tHS WOTlQ llhS nIHSelI, had a well do aunt, with whom she made her home. Money she possessed but little. just enough to keep her from | being dependent. Her connections were all the proper thing. and her | lineage of the best, but still she was regarded different from the rest of the girls, noe eccentric, and how different. no one just seemed to know. Of course Harmon called at the first opportu- nifty. What did a man of his tempera- | ment care, after all. whether she had money or not when his heart was af- fected? She received him most gra- ciously, and he came away more pro- foundly smitten than before. Everything else was now forgotten and he laid seize to her heart with all the fervor that heretofore had lain sleeping in his being. He apparently got on famously. While not encourag- ing him. she could not help but re- pons in many instances to the ardency of his emotions. He detected the warmth in her heart. felt sure that she more than liked him and one night he proposed.
 When she. refused him he was stun ned.
 He returned to his lorgings over whelmed. her soft, but earnest words | stinging in his ears; "I must have a man who is a part of the real world" In his anguish he cried out: She's | only another heartless coQuetter but then he remembered her eyes and they gave the thought the lie Suddenly he saw it all. He was yet poor. Nothing sure, no position, no wealth. She. was like the rest. She wanted position. wealth. It was only human, natural. ' Why had he not thought of 1t before. 1 T will have her yet! I will have her yet! He rose exultant Uncle is going to make good"
 |
 New Years day dawned crisp and clear, the most portentous day in the life of Harmon Carlton. At 10 o'clock he sat in the dingy office of Lawyer Calhoun. Intense suppressed anxiety was stamped upon his face. For hope and despair he was a plaything. No miser ever viewed the prospects of wealth or ruin with greated tension. But 1t was not gold. 1t was Margaret 1 only Margaret, the stake now to be decided for Harmon.
 A side door opened and the old law yer entered, tearing open an envelope containing a legal looking document. spreading 1t out before him In a slow. monotonous voice he commenced to read:
 T. stephen Carlton, being of sound | mind, declare this to be the ultima te disposal of my estate. If my nephew. Harmon Carlton, can prove at the time this paper is read, that he is possessed of in his own right $12,5O0-i e. one- half of the entire annuity received by him from me, the same to have been the result of his prudence and fore- sight, then my entire estate Is to be given to him as his own. Per Con- tra, if the said Harmon Carlton cam not meet this condition my entire es- tate Is to go to trustees for the estab-
 istm of a home for aged men,"
 Then followed wordy specific pro- visions as to how this was to be &C., complished.
 Long before the lawyer ceased read ing Harmon had escaped to the open air. It was all over for him. The