The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1908-01-28
mir. FOLlNBEE'S CHOICE.
By MAUD SHIELDS.

stood his faithful attendant, John,
friend and servant for over thirty
years. a shrewd, hard-headed man
like his master.
John" said the dying man, 8 am
what is called self-made man; I've
worked hard all my life to amass
may pass into the hands Of fool!
] have striven to live honestly, to do
right as far as lay in me, and my re-
ward is to have bred an only son who
is a fool 2
Here he paused for want Of breath
and the servant did not contradict
him.
Promise me that you will never
leave him, John, or he will fall among
thieves.
AS long as Live | will bide with
Master Lancelot," John said. SOL
EMMY.
Martin Folinbee groaned.
His mother couldn't even give him
mans name, he said, irritably
aLancelot! A son Of mine
Lancelot!"
The light faded in the west, and
the old shipowner's spirit passed with
it through the golden gates.
John pondered on these things as
he counted the forks. The scene had
( changed to Lancelot Folinbees fiat
in the Oriental, where John had
taken up his residence as butler-valet
to the young man who, rightly or
wrongly, had been pronounced fool
by the person most capable of judg-
ing.
There had been a dinner party the
night before, and John was cleaning
F. the silver ere replacing it on the side
board
Mrs Lomax. called Familiarity
@Daisy very Familiarity, John
thought and her companion, Miss
Winter, had been of the party Now,
Mrs. Lomax was a prepossessing
widow of some thirty years, and
widows-on the undoubted authority
of the immortal Mr.. Weller-are
dangerous; one Of them being, on the
same authority, equal to five-and-
twenty "ord nary women in pint o.
comm over you" John had never
heard of Mr.. Weller, but he regarded
widows--or Mrs. Lomax in particu-
lar-from similar standpoint. To
Miss Winter he had no objection; she
was Quiet-looking girl of some
three or four and twenty years, who
dressed becomingly- had his
own ideas on the propriety of decol-
lete gowns such as Mrs. Lomax af-
fected-but there was look some
times in the girls eyes that discon-
certed him--so clear and blue and
childlike one minute, and the next
brimming over with the very spirit
of mirth. Mrs. Lomax had adopted
Mr.. Folinbee-that is to say, she had
pitchforked him into her set-the set
that is called smart in return for
which she allowed him to pay for
luncheons, dinners, theatre seats in
Vulnerable, sat on the box seat of his
drag, invited her friends to parties
on his launch, called him Lance, and
allowed him to. call her Daisy-some-
times. A ring reused John from his
meditations, and told him his master
wished to rise. At breakfast Mr..
Folinbee opened his letters, and John,
passing from sideboard to table, had
ample time to study the contents of
one; it was jewelers. bill for dia-
mond star.
When are we going to Ashcroft,
Mr.. Lancelot?" he inquired Ashcroft
was the parental roof-tree--a gloomy
mansion in well-wooded park; and
Mr.. Folinbee knew that when John
suggested an adjournment thither
there was thunder in the air.
II shall run down presently for
day or two" he replied, absently.
Yes give me poached egg. I-er
dare say things want seeing tor
@Dootless the folksd be glad to see
their master bit more than they
do John said, severely.
"D'you think they'd like to see a
mistress?n Mr.. Folinbee asked, cas-
ually, with very slight click in
his throat. John laid the knife and
fork down with the air of a man who
knows the worst and is armed
II don't think they'd take kindly to
yon woman he said.
Meaning"
"Ye ken who mean right weel;
the old master I'D turn in his grave.
do believe, il yon Mrs. Lomax was
mistress of Ashcroft /"
think you're becoming too free,
don't you know Mr.. Folinbee said.
sits time some one spoke to We;
we've neighter kith nor kin to advise
nor blame, an promised the old
master I'd look after we"
He didn't say was to remain
bachelor all my life, did her,
THE man wasna a fule; hope me-
self timell see We the father OF as
bonny a family o BARNS as ever man
had, but I'm not thinkin yon wom-
ans the mother for them"
Again came the click in Mr.. Folin-
bees throat, but his face was per-
fectly serious as he said:
you think might marry. then?"
II think it's your duty, when the
right woman comes along, but not
before.
Mr. Folinbee inspected his food
carefully. with the assistance OF his
eyegIass, and the conversation Jagged
Mrs. Lomax rented little house on
the seashore. a charming cottage.
covered with roses and vine, with a
-