The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-11-20
By ". B. MAXWELL, Author of -The Guarded Flame = The Ragged Messenger,s
 "Viyan,n Etc.
co,y-.sa. -ss,, D, w. p. Maxwell. rishs. reserved

worst comes to the worst. and the land Is to be built over--" pie" Well. I should" said MT. Bowling. laughing. Good bye. Very sorry Miss Crunden's stiil poorly. But you can't do better than Dr. Blake. Hope he'll soon bring her up to the mark Good bye"
 MT. Crunden walked about the room til the parlor door opened and pr. Rlake reappeared.
 "Weu?"
 pr Blake carefully closed the door before he spoke. MT. Crunden. YOU tell me vou arc anxious. think YOU are right to pc anxious. .... Miss Crunden Is far What is it? Not--not consumption what they call--a decline?", 2 | on good gracious. no! Oh. my dear sir. nothing of that kind"
 What is 1t then7" and Mir. Crun. | den sat down by the bureau and win. ed his head with his bandana hand. kerchief.
 Dr. Blake shrugged his shoulders and opened his hands.
 Lassitude-weariness. A little run down. shall we say? This hot weather has been trying. It has
 
 have no wish to alarm you. l only thought it right to say, in my ooinion. that your daughter does need care and attention"
 Then let her have care-alI the attention YOU can give her."
 My dear sir. think YOU may trust me not to overdo it. will not come more often than think necessa- ry."
 "No.Y said old Crunden, rising from his chair. don't go off shirty like that mean. if said anything wrong in etiouette. I'm sorry. I was not thinking what I said. But I ask you now to come as often as you like" :"
 "Oh. nay dear sir" and Dr. Blake shrugged his shoulders But his tone was quite bland. He could relish such very plain talk now better that there was no third person present. Come every day." said MT Cruuden, escorting the doctor to the outer door. If YOU judge bv tho signs it's neces- sary. Goodbye. sir" And then he called after the doctor: Come twice day--and won't grudge it." CHAPTER TX
 When fellow citizens, after the town fashion. told Mir Crunden that 1t was very warm" they were much near CT the mark than was usual with them when paying similar compli- ments. Messrs. Holland and Bowling had Indeed, one might say. scored bulls eyes when they had said that Crun- deen was rich without show--his money solid and yet liquid--safely put by, yet easy to get at.
 Old Crunden loved his garnered hoard: not as a miser. for love of the hoard itself. but because it represent ed his life's work. There was an honest wfH Ha A,. 4lo lk builder by instinct and by habit. and he might think of his fortune as the unseen monument that he had built slowly up. Money, too. is power. Here all his energy was stored-his life's energy converted into another form It was latent energy now, but at any moment he could release it and Say: This Is the power that lay in me, Dick Crunden." He hated to see investments dwin- dle. Though he never intended to sell he hated to see good stocks and shares go down in value. He felt as 1 if the shrinkage was in himself. With each lowered quotation in the stock | list, little strength had gone from him. And he regretted the slight loss | of power as strong man regrets the 1 least atrophy of his muscles or the waning of his nerve force. But such dimlnutions were rare. On balance they vanished. one sound St0ck went down. but another sound stock went up The only real depreciation of mar ket value was In the ground-rents originally created by him and still re- tained. Ground rents as a premier security. had steadily dropped in price in recent years. Good provincial ground rents once fetched nearly as much as metropolitan ground rents In Medtord thev had brought over lthir- ty years purchase; then, dropping and dropping, twenty-five years oceanic the usual figure; now 1t was twenty-threo years. or even less. So long as you hold them. the sell ing price is of no consequence to you, MT. Crunden. said the bank manager.
 old Crunden loved the deference and consideration that he was always sure of the managers room of the Medford District nfon Bank. He might walk in whenever he pleased, and the mana