The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-15
CHAPTER VIII. Alban Kennedy Dimes.

markable and the building one that had cost many thousands Of pounds. be signed, as all that Richard Gessner touched, to attract the wonder of the common people and to defy the derision of the connoisseur. this immense garden had been the subject of articles innumer- able and of pictures abundant Vast n size, classic in form, it served many pur- poses, but chiefly as a gallery for the safe custody Of a collection of oriental china which had no rival in Europe.
 It is our patrons hobby, said the eurate, mincinsly as he indicated the treasures of cloisonne and of porcclaini he does not frivol away his money as so many do. on ldle dissipations and ephermeral pleasures. On the contrary, he devotes it to the beautiful objects
 Do you call them beautiful. sir2" Al ban asked ingeniously. They seem to me quite ugly. 1 don't think that if 1 had money I should spend it on plates and jars which nobody uses. l would much sooner buy 8 battleshp and give it 10 the nation" And then he asked, Did MT. Gessner put up all this glass To keep our the fresh air2 Does he like being In a hot-house2 ] should have thought garden would have been better
 Silas Geary could make nothing of such criticism as this.
 My dear lad he protested, you are very young and probably don't know what sclatica means. When l was your age, l could have slept upon q board and risen therefrom refreshed. At fifty it is otherwise We study the barometer then and dust before we sit. This great glass house is MT. Gessner's winter temple. Ii Is here that he plans and conceiYes so many of those vast schemes by which the world is astOnished.'
 Alban looked at him curiously.
 'Is the world really astonished by rich men he asked
 MT. Geary stood stin in amazement at the question.
 Rank and birth rule the nation, he declared vehemently; it is fit and proper that it should be so. Our aristocracy Is rightly recruited from those who have ac- cumulated the wealth necessary to such a position. Riches, Kennedy, mean power. You will know that some day when you are the master of riches
 Alban walked on a little way without saying anything Then almost as com pelled to reply he exclaimed:
 Tn the East End. they don't speak of money like that. 1 suppose 1t is their ignorance-and after all it is a very great thing to be able 10 compel other people To starve for you. Some day. I'll take you down to the sweatlng-shops, MT. Geary You'll see q lot of old china there. but l don't think it would be worth much. And all our flowers are for sale poor devils. we get little enough for sup per if we don't sell them"
 The curate expressed no profound de- sire to accept ths promising invitation, and desiring to change so thorny a subb- jeet entered delightful old world garden and invited Albans attention to a superb view of Harrow and the Welsh Harp. In the hall to which at last they re- turned, he spoke of that more substantial reality, dinner.
 T am sorry to say that l have a Dor cas meeting tonight and cannot possibly dine with you" he explained to the as- tonished lad. T shall return at o'clock however, to see that all is as MT. Cess ner wishes. The servants have told you perhaps, that Miss Anna Is in the coun- try and does not return until tomorrow. This old house is very dull without her, Kennedy. It Is astonishing how much difference a pretty face makes to any house."
 "Is that Miss Anna's portrait over tho fireplace. sir?" a
 You know her. KennedyY"
 "I have seen her once on the balcony of a house In St James Square. That was last night when l was on my way to sleep in & cellar"
 My poor. poor boy. and tonight you will sleep fin one of the most beautiful rooms In England How wonderful is fortune, how amazing -er-how Very-ls not that o'cloc? l think that 1t is, and here is Fellows come to show you your room. You will find that we have done our best for you in the matter of clothes guesswork, l fear Kennedy, but still our best, Tomorrow Westman, the tailor, Is to come-I think and hope you will put up with borrowed plumos until he can fit you up. In the meantime Fellows has charge of your needs. 1 am sure that he will do nls very best for you" The young butler said that he would his voice was still raised to a little Just dignity, and he, in company with Silas Geary, the housek eeper and the servants had; bad already put the worst construction possible upon AL bans reception into the house. His determination to patronize the young man." however, received an abrupt check when Alban suddenly ordered him to show the way upstairs. He spoke like duke" Fellows said in the kitchen afterwards 9Th ere l was run ming up the stairs Just as though the Cuy'ner were behind me. Don't you think that you can come 1t easy with hin-he aint the sort by a long way. l tell you, l never was so astonished since the Guv-ner raised my wages"
 Alban. of course was sublimely un- conscious of this. He had been con ducted to an enormous bedroom on the first floor, superbly furnished with old Chippendale and excellent modern Sevres-and there he had been left to realize for the first time that he was alone and that all which had hap pened since yesterday was not a dream but a hard invincibe truth so full of meaning, so wonderful so sure that the eyes of his brain did not dare to look at 1t unflinchingly. Boyishly and with a boys gesture he had thrown himself upon the bed and hidden his face from the light though the very atmosphere of this wonder world were insupportable. Good God that it should have happened to him, Alban Kennedy; that 1t should have been spoken of as his just right that he should have been told that he had a claim which none might refute! A hundred guesses afforded no clue to the solution of the mystery. He could not tell himself that he was in some way related to Richard Gessner, the banker; he could not believe that his dead parents had any claim upon this foreigner who re- ceived him coldly and yet would hear nothing of his departure. Pride had little share in this, for the issues were momentous. It was sufficient to know that a hand had suddenly drawn him from the abyss. had put him on this .pinnacle-beyond all, had placedl him in Anna Gessner's home as the first horn. there to embark upon career whose goal lay beyond the City Beauu- tul of his dreams.
 He rose from the bed at length, and irving to put every thought but that of inc moment from his head. he re- ncmbered that he was expected to dine aione in the great room below, and to a.o.. bir,self for such an ordeal in tn C