, 1905-11-22
Brewster's Millions


prospect of letting himself go unlcr
the mask without responsibility. But
it took on Il different color when the
butler handed him Il card which signi-
fed that he was to take Miss Drew in
to dinner. Hastily seeking out the host
ess, he e~ndc8vored to convey to her
the impossibility of the situation.
81 hope you won't misunderstood
me-" he said. But is it too late to
change my place at the table?'
1T isn't conventional, l know, Mon
ty. Society's chief aim is to separate
engaged couples at dinner" said Mrs.
Dan, with a laugh. ut would be pos
itively compromising If a man and his
wife sat together
Dinner was announced before Monty
could utter another word, and as she
led him over to Barbara she said: BE
hold a generous hostess who gives up
the best man in the crowd so that he
and some one else may have a happy
time. / leave it to you, Barbara, if
that isn't the test of friendship"
For a moment The two riveted their
eyes OH IHe uOOT, lueu ult HuLlOI VI
the situation came to Monty.
81 did not know that we were sup
posed to do Gibson tableauX tonight,
he said dryly as he proffered his arm.
81 don't understand" And Barba-
ra's curiosity overcame her determina-
ton not to speak.
Don't you remember the picture of
IL 800, x,lo -,,. oo1lol ,,,Non tn talya
his late fancee out to dinner?'
The awful silence with which this
remark was received put an end to
further efforts at humor.
The dinner was probably he most
painful experience in their lives. Bar
para had come to it softened and ready
to meet him halfway. The right kind
of humility in Monty would have found
her plastic. But she had very definite
and rigid ideas of his duty In the
premises, and Monty was too simple
minded to seem to suffer and much too
fippant to understand. 1t was plain to
each that the other did not expect to
talk, but they both realized that they
owed a duty to appearances and to
their hostess. Through two courses at
least there was dead silence between
them. 1t seemed as though every eye
in the room were on them and every
mind were specializing. At last in
sheer desperation Barbara turned to
him with the first smile he had seen on
her face in days. There was no smile
in her eyes, however, and Monty I'M
derstood.
"We might at least give out the i'm
preston that we are friends" she said
quietly.
"More easily said than DONE" he
responded gloomily.
"They are all looking at us and won
dering."
81 don't blame Them"
we owe something to Mrs. Dan, I
think"
Il know"
Barbara uttered some inanity when
ever she caught any II looking in
their direction, but Brewster seemed
not to hear. At length he cut short
some remark of hers about the
weather.
"What nonsense this is, Barbara" he
said. "NNith any II else | would
chuck the whole game, but with you
it is different. | don't know what !
you'll forgive me-"
Your assurance is amusing, to say
the least"
But am sure-I know this quar-
rel is something we'll laugh over. You
keep forgetting that we are going to
be married some day"
A new light came into Barbara's
eyes. "You forget that my consent
may be necessary she said.
"You will be perfectly willing when
the time m l am still in the fight
and eventually you will come to my
way of thinking"
ooh! l see it now" said Barbara,
and her blood was up. You meal to
force me to it. What you did for ia
ther'-
Brewster glowered at her, thinking
that he had misunderstood. "What do
you mean?" he said.
"He has told me all about that
wretched bank business. But poor
father thought you quite disinterested.
He did not see the little game behind
your melodrama. He would have torn
I'D your check on the instant if he had
suspected you were trying to buy his
daughter"
"Does your father believe that?"
asked Brewster.
mo, but l see it all now. His per-
sistenee and yours-you were not slow
to grasp the opportunity he offered"
''Stop. Miss Drew" Monty com