Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-05-23
CHAPTER |.


living a will which gave me his pron
ty conditionally, Pickering wrote
id it was necessary for me to return
Immediately to qualify as legatee. 1t
as by the mercst luck that the letter
me to my hands at all, for 1t had |
len sent to stantinople, in care
the consul-general instead of my |
gs fault that the consul was friend |
mine who kept track Of my wander |
gs and was able to hurry the eXecu-
hrs letter after me to Italy, where |
lhad gone to meet an English finan
Ter who had, | was advised, unlimited
oney to spend on African railways. !
am an engineer a graduate Of an
merican institution familiarly known
"The Tech and as my funds were
Inning low | naturally turned to my
rofession for employment.
But this letter changed my plans,
md the following day l cabled Pick
ring of my departure and was out
lard bound on steamer for New
Fork. Fourteen DAYS later I sat in
Chickering's Office in the Alexis Build
hg and listened intently while he
cad with much ponderous emphasis
he provisions of my grandfather's
I'LL. When he concluded | laughed.
Pickering was a serious man, and |
vas glad to see that my levity painnd
i'm. ! had, for that matter, always
cen a source of annoyance to him,
nd his look of distrust and rebuke
id not trouble me in the least.
I reached across the table for the
Baper, and he gave the sealed and be
ibboned copy Of John Marshall Glen
rms will into my hands. | read it
through for myself. feeling conscious
Meanwhile that Pickering's cool gaze
vas bent inquirngly upon me. These
re the paragraphs that interested me
most:
IT give and devise unto my said
Grandson, John Glenarm, sometime
resident OF The city and state of New
York, and later a vagabond of parts
unknown, certain property known as
{Slenarm House, with the lands and
heredtaments thereunto pertaining
Ind hereinafter more particularly de-
4cribcd. and all personal effects, goods
! Ind other property that may be
located in the premises and on the
land herein described the said realty
' ying in the county of Wahana in the
state Of Indiana,- Upon this condition.
Faithfully and honestly performed:
o;I Ia1,r Cln,, chon a.
main an occupant OF said Glenarm
House and Of my lands appurtenant
thereto, demeanins himself meanwhile
In an orderly and temperate manner.
Should he fail at any time during said
Eear to comply with this provision,
said property shall at once revert to
my general estate, shall become, with
but reservation and without necessity
Nor any process of law the property
|absoluto oily. of Marian Devereux, Of the
bounty and state of New York"
We'll" he demanded striking his
hands upon the arms of his chair,
f'what do you think of it,
For the life of me could not help
tIaughing again. There was, in the
first place. a delicious irony in the
Eact that I should learn through him
| of my grandfather's wishes with re-
)spect to myself Pickering and | had
|grown up in the same town in Yer
mont; We had attended the same pre-
paratorv school, but there had been
from boyhood A certain antagonism
between us. He had always succeeded
where l failed, which is to say, ] must
|admit, that he had succeeded pretty
frequently. Wien ! refused to settle
down to my profession, but chose 10
see something of the world first. Pick
ering gave himself seriously to the
law, and there was. knew from the
beginning. no manner of chance that
he would fail.
am not more or less than human
and ] remembered with Joy that once
I had thrashed him soundly at the
prep school for bullying smaller boy
but our score from school days was
not without talies on his side. He
was easily the better scholar gran
him that; and he was shrewd an(
plausible. You never quite knew tht
extent of his powers and resources
and he had, ! always maintained, thC
most amazing good luck,-as witness
the fact that John Marshall Glenarn
had taken friendly interest in him
II was wholly like my grandfather
who was q man of many whims, Il
give his affairs into Pickering's keep
ing; and I could not complain, for
had missed my own chance with him
II was, I knew readily enough, part o
my punishment for having succeeded
so signally in mourning my grand
fathers displeasUre that he had mad
II necessary for mo 10 treat will
Arthur Pickering in this matter Of tn
will; and Pickering was enjoying tn
situation to the full,
But there was something not who'll
honest in my mirth, for my conduc
during the three preceding years ha
been prehorsible ! had used m
grandfather shabbily. MY parents die
when I was a child, and he had care
for me as far back as my memory RAJ
He had suffered me to spend the 70
tune left by my father without r.
straint; he had expected much Of M
and had grievOusly disappointed hin
1t was hts hope that | should dovot
myself to architecture, a professiO