Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1905-03-08
Observation-Disclosures
SIMPLICITY OF MY
COUSIN RANDOLPH.
i15l51SRS5251S15SSi

There is no greatness like sim
plicity,' quoth my Cousin Randolph,
beaming and complacent.
agreed. IT'S an excellent card at
times" said.
Its the ace of trumps," said he,
when hearts lead" For ease, he
dangled his leg over the arm of his
chair. Il tell you a simple mind may
conceive a scheme that's triumph
OF finance. and if one can only man
age to look simple"
l glanced at his fair fat face, with
its pale prominent eyes and shy lit
tie mustache. and wondered-silent
and waiting.
Its Aunt" he explained, vaguely,
Aunt and those COMPOUNDED Medusas.
I'm in the throes of a crisis"
Still | waited, unwilling to dam the
dow of possible confession.
"Medusas are down. he went on,
down, confoundedly down, and Aunt
$50 to speak-up. Shes staying
1t the Grand. 1t occurred to me that
soaethipgsaight be made of the COM
binatton. Dear soul, she's perfect
stranger to he-the-higher forms OF
finance. Does all her business
through some girl my man calls the
Lady Seckerty.'"
"Ah!" l scented revelation
Not that would take any sort OF
advantage Of her ignorance, you un-
derStand," he mounted moral pedes-
tai for an instant, "and if those beast
ly Medusas had gone up instead of
down--its run me into four figures.'
Il don't see the greatness of this
simplicity" observed.
1T follows in due course" he as.
sured me. THE difficulty, of course
lies in the four figures, which, by the
way. hadn't got. No. And in such
circumstances the broker chap is apt
to get unpleasant and invoke the
what-d'ye-call-'ems of the law. That S
what my broker chap did, and now
he's talking of some beastly things
he calls distraint. Know what that
Isl"
enlightened him to the best of my
ability.
England ISN'T what it was" he
complained bitterly. In the good old
days an Englishman's home was his
castle-now, it's the place where PEG.
pie take inventories of your things
and hold auction sales. When there's
anything at all to SELL he added as
an after thought.
must nave expressed some little
increduality. My COUSIN Randolph
was the reputed owner of very neat
little property. and, SO far as knew,
1t had never changed hands.
Because, by rather complicated
arrangement, directly l had heard
from the broker chap interviewed
dear Aunt. with the result that Size
now believes herself to be the pro-
prietor of all my little household
goods in exchange for her little
check" He carefully selected and
lighted a fresh cigarette. Il didn't
think 1t was necessary to tell 1ler
they were ali covered with bill of
sale some two years ago-to begin
with, the poor dear wouldn't nave un-
derstood what that meant"
Hearts led?"
Il didn't ask for money. | only ask
ed her to let me have check for,
say. two thousand pounds-properly
crossed and SO on, you knoH--just
to show the people who came to make
an auction of my poor things. /
should nj, tl,t
at all-that I'd sold them to dear
Aunt, anu ! should show the check in
proof-in most conclusive proof-that
she'd bought and paid for them. Sim
pie, isn't it?"
began to laugh; this commercial
innocence was novel.
And then, of course, they'd go
away-and | return the check to dear
Aunt, and all is well. That's how it
looks to her."
and you actually got it?"
He took slip OF pink paper from
his pocket-book, and regarded it af.
fectionately. Yes. actually got it.
But seeing that t..e banks all close
30 early on Saturdays"
He signed and returned 1t to its
cover.
Its playing it rather low down On
dear Aunt, admit" he said, sorrow
fully, especially as she had crossed
the thing to make it safe. She thinks
she has just lent me her signature
for few days. But suppose hap
pened to lose 1t, and somebody else
found 1t and discounted it-wlth a
little hard swearing thrown in
what? And that's where you come
I'm
"And she'll believe all that-that
cootls,"