Mexico Missouri message., 1906-09-27
CHAPTER XVIII.
CHAPTER XVIII,
A SENSATIONAL TURN IN THE MIL
BREY FORTUNES,

A SENSATIONAL TURN IN THE MIL
BREY FORTUNES.
It was a morning early in Novem-
Der. In the sedate Milbrey dining-room |
brisk wood fire dulled the edge Of the
first autumn chill At the breakfast |
table, comfortably near the hearth, sat |
Horace Milbrey. With pointed spoon |
he had daintily scooped the golden |
pulp from a Florida orange, touched |
the tips of his slender white fingers to
the surface of the water in the bowl, |
and was now glancing leisurely at the
headlines Of his paper, while his break
fast appetite gained agreeable zest
from the acid fruit.
On the second page Of the paper the
names in a brief item arrested his err
rant glance. 1t disclosed that Mr.. Per-
cival Bines had left New York the day
before with a party of guests on his
special car, to shoot quail in North
Carolina. Mr.. Milbrey glanced at the
two shells of the orange which the
butler was then removing.
What hopeless brute that fellow
vast" he reflected. He was recalling
a dictum once pronounced by Mr..
Bines Oranges should never be eaten
in public" he had said with that lord
ly air of dogmatism characteristic of
him. "The only right way to eat
juicy orange is to disrobe, grasp the
fruit firmly in both hands and climb
into a bathtub half full of water"
The finished epicure shuddered at the
| N
saw were being filed in the next room.
Mrs. Milbrey entered, news Of i'm
portance visibly animating her. Her
husband arose mechanically, placed the
; chair for her, and resumed his fork in
an ecstasy Of concentration.
"You really must talk to Avlce," his
wife said.
} Mr.. Milbrey sighed, deprecatingly.
He could remember no time within FIVE
, years when that necessity had not
t weighed upon his fathers sense Of duty
like a vast bowlder of granite. He
4 turned to welcome the diversion pro-
vided by the rognons sautees which
|, Jarvis at that moment uncovered be-
Q fore him with discreet flourish.
Now you really must" continued
his wife, land you'll agree with me
when tell you why"
g But, my dear, I've already talked
n to the girl exhaustively. I've pointed
out that her treatment of Mrs. Wybert
:, her perVerse refusal to meet the lady
4 at all, is quite as absurd as 1t is rude
/, and that If Fred chooses to marry Mrs
Wybert it is her duty, to act the part
), of sister even II she cannot bring
herself to feel it. I've assured her thai
Mrs Wybert's antecedents are all they
:, should be; not illustrious, perhaps, bu
eminently respectable. Indeed, quite
approve of the southern aristocracy
But she constantly recalls what tina
snobbish Bines was unfair enoNsh Il
tell her. I've done my utmost to con
. vince her that Bines spoke in the wa!
he did about Mrs. Wybert because h
knew she was aware Of those ridicu
lous tales of his mothers illiteracy
But Avice is-er-my dear, she is Xix
her mother in more ways than one
Assuredly she. doesn't take it fro1
me-"
: He became interested in the kidneys
''If Marie had been a man." he n
\ marked, feelingly, Il often suspect ths
: her fame as a chef would have bee
? second to none. Really, the suavity {
her sauces is a never-ending deligl
to me-"
IL haven't told you yet the reason
new reason-why you must talk
Avice"
: THE money-yes, yes, my dear,
know, we all know. Indeed, I've put
to her plainly. She knows how sore
Fred needs it. She knows how thI
beast OF tailor is threatening to
nasty-and I've explained how inva
liable Mrs. Wybert would be, remin
ing her of that lady's generous hi
about the rise in Federal Steel, viii,
ht enabled me TO net the neat little pro
he of $4,000 a month ago, and how, b
for that, we might have been acute
~ distressed. Yet she stubbornly elm
re to the notion that this marriage won
be q mesalliance for the Milbreys."
M Il agree with her" replied his wi
bIt tersely.
BY Mr.. Mllbrey looked Derplexed, B
polite.
~ Il quite agree with Avice," c0ntinu
a. the lady. THAT woman hasn't be
"a fright, Horace, and she isn't rig
"a Young Bines knew what he was tai
ling about. haven't lived my ye.
~ without being able 10 tell that AZ
ave minutes with her, clever as she
a. / can read her. Like 80 many Of ths
women. abe mas a. intense pnsslon