The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-11-13
By ". B. MAXWELL, Author of "The Guarded Flame, = The Ragged Messenger,s
 "vfvan,s Etc.

dazxled,~fabulous wealth seemed neces- sary.
 Sir John himself shed forth dignity and importance. His admirers--and they were the entire peignborhood- said he was the very type and pattern of well-bred English country gem tieman. He always did the right thing, said the right thing, without apparent thought or effort-Just natur- ally. He was an ideal chairman of the bench of magistrates. of political meet ings. Of hospital boards--on all public occasions he handsomely filled the most prominent post you could put him in.
 He was tall, thin and erect, with neatly clipped grey hair, we'll trimmed grey moustache, a fresh healthy com plexion and he looked so much young CT than his age that he might well have been taken for his sons brother. He was like Jack Vincent except as to the eyes. Mir. Jack had his mothers blue eyes and the eyes of Sir John were brown. Lady Vincent was placid in temperament, and Sir John was full of restless activity. Born to great ness. doomed by his rank to elegant a busy idler.
 He was In truth quite free from side" or swagger, and yet you could not talk to him for five minutes with out understanding that he was pleased. enormously pleased, to be Sir John Vim cent, Baronet, of Hill House. In the privacy of the home circle he would sometimes with openness speak of "the necessity of keeping up one's position" of the things expected of one," etc. He would pish and pshaw when he read a birth day list of honours, and found to his disgust that they had again been making baronets. A pity. that. Too many of us already. He loved his order; never failed to join so- cieties for the protection of the privi- leges of the baronetage, for the ex- posture and punishment of spurious baronets, etc. He was firmly of opin- ion that a light should be made for the ancient or pretended custom. by virtue of which the eldest son of baronet might assume the style of a knight as soon as he was twenty-one.
 "Eh, Jack? You might be Sir John now. What do you say to that?"
 "Oh, say one Sir John is enough in family"
 MT. Vincent and his father were the best of friends, although the father de- plored the sons lack of interest in im- portant matters. Very small things sometimes interested the good baronet, and evoked immense energy and ac- tivity. MT. Vincent was inclined to a sort of languid facetiousness of man ner when speaking of, or talking to, the Guv'nor." He addressed him oft en as Sir John, with a quite arniable but a mocking deference; and this sometimes caused annoyance. Sir John was averse from making fun of serious things.
 Halo, Sir John.'' Mir. Jack would say. coming upon his father busy in the garden with squad of labourers. What are you up to now?"
 "I want to cut away that bank and fill up the ground to the same level as far as the railings."
 What a lark"
 Jack, this isn't a chafing matter. have started. so suppose I must go on with it-but it's more than bar gained for; it'll be a deucedly expensive iob.'
 Sir John. however rich he might be, certainly never said he was rich. In- deed. he bewailed himself because of the continual drain on his resources, each new goYernment' the enhanced cost of living, the steady increase of wages. and the depreciation in value of the safest investments. T don't know what the worlds coming to. l am not chaffing, Jack. Standing expenses-of our position and so forth-are always going up, and can't keep them down."
 
 form of lamentation--so common with even the richest men-he nearly always passed, by a natural sequence of ideas. to the health or rather ill-health of his afflicted old cousin. Miss Vincent poor dear cousin Harriet-lived at Bournemouth. surrounded with nurses, doctors. and faithful maids. The ac- counts of her state were more and more distressing. All her sense were failing cone had to feed her like a baby. and her appetite was voracious. though she could not enjoy what she ate. When the end came, all her money must go to Sir John. But the end was such a plaguey long time in coming.
 Tt would" said Sir John solemn Iy be a relief to her-and I don't mind owning 1t would be relief to me"
 Poor dear" said Lady Vincent com passionately.
 forbid I should wish to shorten any one's days if 1t wouldn't be happy escape"
 How old is she now?' asked MT Jack.
 Cousin Harriet must be seventy at least"
 "oh that's nothing" said Jack. She'll do another twenty years if sha goes slow and steady"
 T wish" said Sir John irritably, you'd understand that this isn't chaffing matter"
 Mir. Jack laughed good-humoredly. So far as he was concerned. the old cousin might live to a hundred-to a hundred and fifty. They had more than enough already-why wish for more? Neither he nor his mamma troubled about money or the managed ment of the money, Sir John was purse bearer, manager. controller of the household. He acted as steward for Lady Vincent. who had a private in- come of seven hundred a year. She was well content to hand this over to Sir John, and be saved all further wor- ry. He acted also as steward for Jack, who had no regular allowance. Sir John paid Jacks bills, provided horses, saddlery. etc. and supplied pocket money. Mir. Jack was, moreover, a sort of floating charge on the buffers book. appeared amidst candles, plate-paste. odd jobs. and sundries in Shorts weekly records. ''To Bates repairs to liveries, twenty seven shil- lings; to elegrams-eighteen pence; to parcels-three shillings; to Mir. John-one pound ten" If the total of shorts book was heavy, one knew on" would see frequent entries of MT. John." Is was an old childish arrange nent but it suited Mir. John, who was not oppressed by a heavy sense of per sonaI dignity. And the fact was: when you gave him a regular allowance, he always exceeded it and you could not keep him out of the book.
 In Sir Johns own room there were black tin boxes, shabby old desks, and cupboards below the book cases all full