The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1907-01-23
CHAPTER 1.

Marshall Gl6narm nau uleu III JuHSi
leaving will which gave me his prop.
erty conditionally, Pickering wrote.
and 1t was necessary for me TO return
Immediately to qualify as legatee. 1t
was by the nerest luck that the letter
came to my hands at all, for 1t had
been sent to Constantinople, in care
of the consul-genera1 instead of my
banker there, and it was not Picker
ing's fault that the consul was friend
of mine who kept track Of my wander
ings and was able to hurry the execu.
tors letter after me to Italy, where
had gone to meet an English finan-
cier who had, / was advised, unlimited
money to spend on African railways.
I am an engineer, a graduate of an
American institution Familiarity known
as "The Tech" and as my funds were
running low I naturally turned to my
profession for employment
But this letter changed my plans,
and the following day / cabled Pick
ering of my departure and was out
ward bound on a steamer for New
York Fourteen days later I sat In
chickering's Office in the Alexis Build
ing and listened intently while he
read, with much ponderous emphasis,
| the provisions of my grandfather's
will. When he concluded | laughed
Pickering was a serious man, and
was glad to see that my levity panied
him l had, for that matter, always
been a source of annoyance to him,
and his look Of distrust and rebuke
| did not trouble me In the least.
| | reached across the table for the
paper, and he gave the sealed and be-
ribboned copy of John Marshall Glen
arms will into my hands. l read 1t
through for myself, feeling conscious
meanwhile that chickering's cool gaze
was bent inouiringly upon me. These
are the paragraphs that interested me
most:
81 give and devise unto my said
grandson, John Glenarm, sometime a
resident Of the city and state of New
York, and later vagabond of parts
unknown, certain property known as
Glenarm House, with the lands and
Embellishments thereunto pertaining
and hereinafter more particularly de-
scribed, and all personal effects, goods
and other property that may be
located in the premises and on the
land herein described,-the said realty
| lying in the county of Wabana in the
state of Indiana.-upon this condition,
faithfully and honestly performed:
THAT said John Glenarm shall re-
main an occupant of said Glenarm
House and of my lands appurtenant
thereto, demeaning himself meanwhile
in an orderly and temperate manner
Should he fail at any time during said
year to comply with this provision
said property shall at once revert to
my general estate, shall become, with
out reservation and without necessity
for any process of law the property
absolutely, of Marian Devereux, of the
county and state of New York"
We'll" he demanded, striking his
hands upon the arms of his chair
what do you think of it?''
For the life of me l could not helT
laughing again. There was, in the
first place, a delicious irony in the
fact that l should learn through hin
of my grandfather's wishes with re
spect to myself. Pickering and l ha(
grown up In the same town in Yer
; mont; we had attended the same pre-
paratory school, but there had beer
from boyhood certain antagonist
between US. He had always succeeded
where failed, which is to say, / mus
admit, that he had succeeded prett!
frequently. When I refused to settl'
down to my profession, but chose t
see something of the world first, Pick
ering gave himself seriously to tn
! law, and there was, l knew from tn
: beginning, no manner of chance tina
he would fail.
I am not more or less than human
and l remembered with Joy that one
l had thrashed him soundly at th
prep school for bullying a smaller boy
5 but our score from school days wa
2 not without tallies on his side. H
2 was easily the better scholar gran
him that; and he was shrewd an
plausible. You never quite knew tn
extent OF his powers and resource!
, and he had, | always maintained, tn
most amazing good luck-as witnes
the fact that John Marshall GlenarI
j had taken a friendly interest in hin
5 It was wholly like my grandfathe
$ who was a man of many whims.
give his affairs into chickering's keel
ing: and l could not complain, for
had missed my own chance with hin
1t was, / knew readily enough. part {
my punishment for having succeede
= so signally in mourning my gram
2 fathers displeasure that he had mad
e 1t necessary for me to treat wit
o Arthur Pickering in this matter of til
l. will; and Pickering was enjoying til
situation TO the full
But there was something not who'll
: honest in my mirth, for my condu'
r. during the three preceding years ha
I. been reprehensible. / had used n