Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1905-12-18

ORLE ANS COUN Y NOElTOR
blame" .ded. "of course Barbara
had a right TO put any one she llkea
next to her. but why she should have !
chosen that silly ass Is more than
know. By Jove, If had been on the I
other side I'll warrant his grace would /
have been lost in the dust"
His brain was whirling. and for the i
fist time he was beginning to feel the i
unpleasant pangs of JEALOUSY. Inc |
Duke of Beauchamp he especially dis |
liked although the poor man had hard /
" spoken during the dinner. But +
Monty could not be reconciled. he +
knew. of course. that Barbara had suit
ors by the dozen. bat it had never oc- /
Cured to him that they were even Sc
rioglslv considered Notwithstanding
the fact that his encounter with The
Censor had brought her into unde-
sirable notice. she forgsxes lin every
thing after moments consideration.
The first few wrenches Of resentment
were overbalanced BY her American
appreciation of chivalry, however IN
snired. The Censor had gone for
years UNPUBLISHED, his coarse wit be-
ing aimed at every one who had come
into social prominence. So pungent
and vindictive was his pen that other
men feared him, and there were many
who lived in glass houses in terror OF
a fusillade. Brewster's prompt ana
sufficient action had checked the per-
| nicious attacks. and he became q hero
| among men and women. After that
night there was no point to The Cen
sor's pen. Monty's first qualms Oh
/ apprehension were swept away when
! Colonel Drew himself hailed him the
morning after the encounter and IN
no unmeasured terms congratulated
| him upon his achievement, assuring
! him that barbara and Mrs Drew ap-
proved. although they might lecture
him as matter of form.
But on this morning as he lay in his
bed Monty was thinking deeply and
painfully. He was confronted by a
most embarrassing condition, and he
was discussing it soberly with him
self. 1--WE never told her," he said to
himself. ''but if she doesn't know my
feeling she is not as clever as | think.
Besides, haven't time to make love to
her now. If it were any other girl L
suppose I'd have to, but Babs-Why,
she must understand. And yet-hang
that duker
In order to woo her properly he
would be compelled to neglect inan-
cial duties that needed every particle
of brain energy at his command. He
found himself opposed at the outset by
startling embarrassment, made aD-
solutely clear by the computations OF
the night before The last four days
of Indifference to finance on one side
and pampering the heart on the other
had proved very costly. To use his
own expression, he had been "sei
back" almost $S000 An average Ike
that would be ruinous.
"Why, think of it." he continued
"For each day sacrificed to Barbara
I must deduct something like $500
A long campaign would put me ire
frievably in the hole; I'd get SO far
behind that a holocaust couldn't put
me even. She can't expect that Of me,
yet girls are such idiots about devotion,
and of course she doesn't know what
, a heavy task 1 am facing. And there
are the others-what will they do while
I am out of the running? | cannot GO
, to her and say: please, may | have
years vacation? I'll come back next
September On the other hand,
| oh hJ1c
she expects me to compete. VIVA
). pleasure shall l get out Of the sever
:. millions if l lose her? l can't afford tt
" take chances. That duke won't hav,
= seven millions next September, it,
true, but he'll have prodigious argu
= ment against me about the 21st or Odd
y Then brilliant thought occurred
= to him which caused him to ring for
" messenger boy with such a show of i'm
patience that Rawles stood aghast
y y The telegram which Monty wrote wa
: as follows:
- Swearengen Jones, Butte, Mont:
= May l marry and turn all property owe
to wife, provided she will have me?
f. MONTGOMERY BREWSTER.
y "Why isn't that reasonableT b
asked himself after the boy had gone
}" Making property over to ones wifi
s. is neither loan nor is it charity. Oh
Jones might call it needless eXtravs
h ! gancG, since he's a bachelor, but it
generally done because it's good bus
)" ness" Monty was hopeful.
er Following his habit in trouble, b
It sought Margaret Gray, to whom b
a could always appeal for advice an
he consolation. She was to come to b
next dinner party, and it was easy
er lead up to the subject in hand by me-
e. tioning the other guests.
+. "And Barbara Drew" he conclude
a after naming all the others. The
te were alone in the library, and she W;
i'd drinking in the details of the dim,
a as he related them.
i'd Wasn't she at your first dinner
be she asked quickly.
u L.