Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1906-10-18
THE
| SPENDERS |
A Tale Of the Third Generation
# = 1
BY HARRY LEON WILSON
2 -
Copyright, by Lothrop Publishing Company.
CHAPTER xvIII.-CoSrrNuED.

manded markets to rise and they rose,
or to fail and they fell-Shepler beg
ging, entreating child of his! Despite
the soul-sickening tragedy of it, the
situation was not without it's element
of sublimity
"She will consider; she will reflect?"
you're guessing now, and you're as
keen at that as |. Avice is not only
amazingly self-willed, as you intimated
a moment since, but she is intensely
secretive. When she left me / could
get nothing from her whatever. She
was wretchedly sullen and taciturn."
"But why should she hesitate? Shep-
ler-Rulon Shepler! My God! is the
girl crazy? The very idea of hesita-
tion is preposterous!"
81 can't divine her. You know she
has acted perversely in the past.
used to think she might have some
affair of which we knew nothing
something silly and romantic. But if
she had any such thing Pm sure it
was ended, and she'd have jumped at
this chance a year ago. You know
yourself she was ready to marry young
Bines, and was really disappointed
when he didn't propose"
But this is too serious" He tin
killed. the little silver bell.
Find out if Miss Avice will be down
to breakfast"
eyes, sir"
eff she's not coming down shall go
up" declared Mr.. Milbrey when the
man had gone.
"She's stubborn" cautioned his wife.
Cad! don't I know it?"
Jarvis returned.
"Miss Avice won't be down, sir, and
I'm to fetch her up a pot of coffee,
SIR"
"Take it at once, and tell her shall
be up to see her presently" Jarvis
vanished.
81 think see way to put pressure
on her, that is if the morning hash
already brought her back to her
senses"
At four o'clock that afternoon, Avice
Milbrey's ring brought Mrs. van
Geist's butler to the door.
"Sandon, is Aunt Cornelia at homer"
"Yes, Miss Milbrey, she's confined to
her room h'account hof a cold, miss"
THANK heaven!"
Eyes, miss-certainly! will you go
h'up to herr"
"And Mutterchen, dear, it was a reg
ular bombshell," she concluded after
she had futtered some Of the Novem-
Der freshness into Mrs. Van Geist's
room, and breathlessly related the
facts.
"You demented creatue! I should
say it must have been"
"Now, don't lecture!"
but Shepler is one of the richest
men in New York"
Dad already suspects as much"
"And he's kind, he's a big-hearted
chap, a man of the world, generous
a"
"a woman fancier,' Fidelia Old
aker calls him."
my dear, if he fancies you"
There, you old conservative, I've
heard all his good points, and my duty
has been written before me in letters
of fire. Dad devoted three hours to
writing it this morning, so don't,
please, say over any of the moral
maxims I'm likely to have heard"
'rBut why are you unwilling?"
"Because-because I'm wild. I fancy
just because l don't like the idea of
marrying that man. He's such a big,
funny, round head, and positively no
neck-his head just rolls around on
nj oh
he gets little right at once, tapers right
off to point with those tiny feet"
at isn't easy to have everything"
ut wouldn't be easy to have him,
either"
Mrs. Van Geist fixed her niece with
sudden look of suspicion.
"Has-has that man anything to do
with your refusal?"
"No-not thing-I give you my
word, auntie. If he had been what I
once dreamed he was, no one would
be asking me to marry him now, but
do you know what I've decided?
Why, that he is a joke-that's all
just joke. You needn't think of him,
Mutterchen-I don't, except to think it
was funny that he should have i'm
pressed me so-he's simply joke"
81 could have told you as much long
ago."
TELL me something now. Suppose
Fred marries that Wybert woman"
at will be sorry day for Fred
"Of coursei Nav see how I'm
pinned, Dad and the mater both say
the same now-they're more severe
than l was. Only we were never in
such straits for money. 1t must be
had. SO this is the gist of it: I ought
to marry Rulon Shepler in order to
save Fred from a marriage that might
get us into all sorts of scandal"
'Well?"
well, would do a lot for Fred.
He has faults, but he's always been
good to me-"
Sand so?"
"And so it's question whether he
marries very certain kind of woman
or whether / marry very different
kind of man."
''How do you feel?"
For one thing, Fred sha'n't get into
that kind of muss If can save him
from it."
"Then You'll marry Shepler?"
'T'm still uncertain about Mr.. Shep-
ler."
"But you say"