The Irish standard., 1908-12-19

"Have you, by chance, any cousin.
near or far. named Mercer?"
Resting her flnger.tips on the cards,
Aunt Rebecca seemed to let her mind
search amid Virginian and Massachu-
sets genealogical tables. why. Ger.
tainly." she answered after . pause,
"there was Gen. Philemon Mercer
confederate army. you know-and his
son, Sam Nelson; Phil was my own
cousin and Sam Nelson my second,
and Sam Nelson's sons would be my
third, wouldn't they? Phil and Sam
are both dead, and Winnie Lee, the
daughter, is dead. and poor Phil-the
grandson, you know-poor boy, he
shot himself while at Harvard; but
his brother Cary is alive"
do you know him?"
Never saw him but once or twice.
He has very good manners"
"1s he rich?"
"He was, but after he had spent his
youth working with Incredible indus
try and q great deal Of ability to build
up steel business and had put 1t INTO
little combination-not big trust.
just a genuine corporation-some Of
the financial princes wanted 1t for .
club-to knock down bigger game. I
reckon-and proceeded to cheaper the
stock in order to control 1t. Cary held
on desperately, bought moro than he
could hold, mortgaged everything
else; but they we're too big for him to
fight. 1t was in 1908. you know. when
they had an alleged financial panic.
and scared the banks. Cary went to
the wall, and Phil with him, and poor
Phil killed himself. Afterward Cary's
wife died; he surely did have a mean
time. And, to tell you the truth. Ber-
tie, think there has been a little
kink in Cary's mind ever since"
"Did you hold any Of Cary's stock?"
He was piecing his puzzle together.
Eyes; but my stock was all paid for.
and held on to It; now it is over par
and paying dividends. oh, the prop
erty was all right, had 1t been kept in
honest hands and run for itself. The
trouble with Cary was that In order
to keep control Of the property he
bought lot of shares on margins. and
when they began to run downhill, he
was obliged to borrow money on his
actual holdings to protect his fictitious
ones. The stock went so low that ho
was wiped out. He wouldn't take my
advice earlier in the game; and / knew
that 1t would only be losing money to
lend 1t to him, later-still. sometimes
I have been rather sorry I didn't
Would better try the spade. BERTHE.
or the diamond"
The colonel advised the spade. He
wondered whether he should repeat to
his aunt the few sentences which No
had overheard from Mercer and his
companion; but belief that old ago
worries easily. added to his natural
mans lisinclination to attack the fem
inine nerves. tipped the scales against
frankness. So, instead. he began to
talk about Archie; what was he like?
was he fond Of athletics? or was he
a bookish lad? Aunt Rebecca reported
that he liked riding and golf; but he
was not very rugged, and since his
fathers death he had seemed listless
to a degree. "But he Is better now" !"
she added, with trace Of eagerness
quite foreign to her usual manner.
"Janet Smith has reused him up; and
what do you suppose she has done!
But really, you are the cause"
I?" queried the colonel.
"Just you. Archie, Janet argued. is
the kind Of nature that must have
some one to be devoted to-"
"And has he taken q fancy to her!
Or to you?"
Aunt Rebecca's eyes dulled little
and her delicate lips were twisted by
q smile which had more wistfulness
than humor in 1t. I'm not lovable
person: anyhow, he does not love cas-
ily. We are on terms Of the highest
respect, even admiration, but we
haven't got so far as friendship. far
less comradeship. Janet Is different
But don't mean Janet; she has grown
absurdly fond Of him: and think
he's fond of her; but what she did waa
to make him fond Of you. You. Gen
Rupert Winter; why, that boy could
pass an examination on your exploits
and not miss a question. Janet and hi
have a scrap-book with every printed
word about you. do believe. And
she has been amazingly shrewd. W.
didn't know how to get the youngste1
back to his sports while he was ou
Of school; and, in fact, an old woman
like me is rather bewildered by suct
a young creature, anyhow; but Jane
rode with him; you are a remarkable
rider; I helped there. because re
membered some anecdotes about 70,
at West Point"
"But, my dear aunt"
Don't interrupt me. BERTHE. It's
distinctly American habit. And VI
read in the papers that you ha'
learned that Japanese trick fighting
-jiu.jitsu-and were wonder"
I'm not. I assure you; that beast o
. newspaper man"
"Never mind. II you are not wor