, 1905-10-18

some day he would come into IA mil
lion or two. He had realized" as
Oliver Harrison would have put it.
Two days after his grandfather's flu
neral a ina will and testament was
read, and, as was expected, the old
banker atoned for the hardships Rob-
ert Brewster and his wife had endured
by bequeathing 81, 900, 600 to their son
Montgomery. 1t was his without a ie-
striction, without an admonition, with
out an incumbrance. There was not a
suggestion as to how it should be ham
died by the heir. The business training
the old man had given him was synon-
ymous with conditions not expressed
IN the will. The dead man believed
that he had drilled into the youth all
unmistakable conception of what was
e expected of him in life. If he failed in
these expectations the misfortune
would be his alone to bear. A road
had been carved out for him, and be-
hind him stretched a long line of guide
posts whose laeonic instructions might
be ignored, but never forgotten. Ed win
Peter Brewster evidently made his
"hA ~ N@0 ioA ia ~ tA'N-
it was necessary for him to die before
anybody else could possess his money
and that once dead 1t would be folly
for him to worry over the way in
which beneficiaries might choose to
manage their own affairs.
The house in Fifth venue went to a
sister, together with II million or two,
m the residue of the estate found
kindly disposed relatives who were
willing to keep it from going to the
Home For Friendless Fortunes. Old
Mr.. Brewster left his affairs in order.
The will nominated jerome Buskirk as
executor, and he was instructed, in con-
clusion, to turn over to Montgomery
Brewster the day after the will vas
probated securities to the amount of
81, 100000, provided for in clause 4
of the instrument. And so it was that
on the Goth of September young Mr..
Brewster had an unconditional fortune
thrust upon him, weighted only with
the suggestion of Grape hat chung to it.
Since his grandfather's death be had
been staying at the gloomy old Brew
ster house In Fifth avenue, paying but
two or three hurried visits to the rooms
at Mrs. Gray's where he lac made his
home. The gloom of death still darken-
ed the Fifth avenue place, and there
was a stiffness, a gentle stealthiness,
about the house that made him long
for more cheerful companionship. He
wondered dimly if a fortune always
carried the suggestion of tuberoses.
III richness and strangeness of it all
hung about him ~unpleasantly. He had
had no eXtravagant affection for the
grim old dictator who was dead, yet
his grandfather was a man and had
commanded his respect. 1t seemed
brutal to leave him out of the reckoning
to dance on the grave of the mentor
who had treated him SO well. The at
titude of the friends who clapped him
on the back, of the newspapers which
congratulated him, of the crowd that
expected him to rejoice, repealed him.
1t seemed a tragic comedy, haunted,
too, by memories and by sharp regret
for his own foolish thoughtlessness.
Even the fortune itself weighed upon
him at moments with q half defined
melancholy.
Yet the situation was not without
its compensations. For several days
when Ellis called him at 7 he would
answer him and thank fortune that
he was not required at the bank that
morning. The luxury of another hour
of sleep seemed TIE greatest perquisite
of wealth. His morning mail amused
him at first. for since the ewSnaDp
had published his prosperity to the
world he was deluged with letters. Re
quests for public or private charity
were abundant, but most of his cor
respondents were generous and thought
only of his own good.
For three days he was in a hopeless
state of bewilderment. He was visit
ed by reporters, photographers and in
genious strangers, who benevolently
offered TO invest his money in enter
prises with certified futures. When he
was not engaged In declining a gold
mine in Colorado, worth $5,000,0 900,
marked down to $3.50, he was avoiding
a guileless inventor who offered to sac
rifice the secrets of a marvellous de-
vice for $500 or denying the report that
he had been rendered the presidency
of the First National bank.
Oliver Harrison stirred him out early
n morning and, while the sleepy mil
lionaire was rubbing his eyes and still
lodging the bombshell that a dream
anarchist had hurled from the pima
Gle of Il bedpost, urged him in excited,
Rnnfidanfial fnnnc 70 folio fipn0 hU tho