The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-02-10
TIE EVENING STORY
securlne a mac.

by Wendell c. MLafn.1
II no use, Pete; father is inmov-
able. He wants me to marry some dis
slhsulshed parsonage. He has always
Deeh sensitive about our family name
better one
Brown is better than Skrable."
he doesn' think so. Mrs. Peter
Brown would be but little Improvement
on Miss Alice Skrable''
Inc lover went away sorrowful.
one DAY Browns eye fell on a para
gIapn IN a newspaper that set him
thinking. He thought all day and most
OF the night. When he aWoke in the
morning his thoughts went right on
IKE an automobile in which the stop
ping apparatus has become unmanage-
apte- tie thought a whole week, at the
end OF which he brought his fist down
on table and exclaimed:
I'll do iti'
From that time Browns law partner
noticed that he was paying very little
attention to business He seemed to
be spending all his time searching for
something It was not a legal matter
Tor no legally drawn papers appeared
to be passing through his hands. He
received great many letters, but never
spoke OF the contents of any one of
them Indeed, whatever was his pur-
pose he kept it a profound secret
- Ihen suddenly Brown announced
that he was going abroad. His part
ler, astoniShed and dissatisfied threat
ened 70 dissolve the firm, complaining
that Brown would leave him to do ali
the work-it was not onerous-and
was keeping important matters from
him. Brown told him just enough to
satisfy him, then suddenly disap-
peared.
Six months passed. The skrabIe
FAMILY, Alice excepted, had forgotten
MI. Brown and were greatly pleased
to have an opportunit-- to forget him.
His intimate friends wondered where
he was and how he obtained re means
to spend so much time away from
| home Some one said that an uncle.
| MS mothers brother, was furnishing
him with money. This was true The
uncle supplied him with barely enough
TOR his purpose. Browns partner sat
in his office waiting for clients who did
not come and wished for Brown. who
was a pushing fellow and had MANY
ingenious methods of securing bust
ness. Have you heard from Brown %
everybody asked of everybody. and
everybody replied: mo. Have YOU %
NO l wonder where he is and what
he's up to-" sOh. he's got some VIII
scheme on hand. But no matter how
via BFoWn schemes, he has a way
OF carrying them out. He's probably
getting contract for REPLACING the
street cars in some foreign CITY with
american flying machines But he'll
do It. You bet, he'll work if through. .
There was good deal of such talk
and the uncle who was grub stalking
Brown looked very knowing whenever
| approached on the subject, but said
nothing. All this increased the curl
oslty Of Browns friends and acquaint-
ances.
One day steamer arrived and in
the passenger list published was the
name of Sir Peter Brown. The name.
IN the minds of Browns friends had
no connection with him whatever. Some
or them saw it, but went on with their
daily aVOcatiCnS Just the same It Oc-
easioned not the slightest ruffle among
them, but the next morning a para
graph in newspaper let out the secret
/ of Browns absence, and none of his
/ friends did anything during the day OK
: cept visit one another and gossip 9Th
mouth and eyes wide open upon this
exploit. This was the paragraph .efer-
red to-
our fellow citizen, Peter Brown. has
Just returned from a trip TO England,
where he has established his right to
the baronetcy granted in 1852 to Hugh
Brown, after the restoration of Charles
IL, for loyalty to the house Of Stuart,
dormant since 1783.''
These few lines were quite enough to
stir every one who had ever heard of
Peter Brown. For a week nothing else
was talked of. and every one wondered
that Brown had never been heard to
! claim any relationship whatever with
/ any baronet. Meanwhile invitations
were showered upon Sir Peter, and
cards came from the SkrabIe family for
a musicale. Sir Peter accepted, and
I during the evening he and the smiling
Alice vanished into corner by them
selves.
Come, tell me all about it," she
/ asked. How did you ever do it?''
! lone morning I read a paragraph in
a newspaper stating that as the law of
/ England now stands any man can as
sumo with impunity some presumably
! extinct or dormant baronetcy prior to
! 1888. A recent work called Extinct
and Dormant Baronetcies, says that a
| thousand of these titles have lapsed be-
tween the original creation and the
present day. OF these the majority be-
! came extinct or dormant before 1888.
Armed with as much information
about my family as 1 could collect 7
/ Brown baronetcy. I lighted on the one
granted Hugh Brown. I proved that
I my ancestors came from the same
/ county and before I got through made
| the discovery that am really Sir Peter
Brown"
Alice SkrabIe clapped her hands,
then threw her arms around her lovers
neck.
Peter Brown and Alice Skrable was
announced, and they were married in
with money by her father to buy the
4 original Brown property. and the pres
ent Sir Peter Brown and his family
live in England.
WiIIie's First Pockets.
Willie is a bright five-year-old boy,
4 who in his first trousers, could only
thrust his hands through his belt hav-
( ing no pockets He had his heart re-