New-York tribune., 1908-11-15
CHAPTER XIII.

NiirNF I'm NIL
THE steamer ON which the Bcaumouts en-
Il barkcd at-kiug-tHu was due ~ New Url
the morning Of the Glv before the one uNcd by
the charter for the annual stockholders meet
ing of the Tropical Products Company But
the ship was puuctually its usual number OF
hours late, and It was seven O'Clock II the
evening before they dockri. IL was eight
when their automobile stopped aJ the carriage
door Of the big stone palace that truwucd across
the avenue at the park. and It Was ten or after
when they quilted the dinner table for the
library.
Here ChristabcI found little stack Of mail
awaiting her. y perfect mountain Of It for her
father had been attacked and hungrilv carried
of to his own quarters 10y Valentine Iwme,il-
atcly on their arrival He w,s ~tiU d,~poSIug
Of It, with incredible speed and IuhuuIn m
fallibiIitv, between the bites of a sandwich.
Valentine, 1T least was glad to be home.
He had had enough Of tropical islands, and gI>o-
leue motors and trIculcnt Young men who
threatened to throw him out Of windows
But down III the library thrI=tahcl laid down
the first of her notes, half read
1T sccuS strange To me She observed,
catching her fathers eve, that SO little q
while ago Was taking all this sort OF thing
for granted"
What sort OF thing?" asked her father
She indicated the stack of notes with -
rather coutcmptuous hand oh. dinners,
dances, and morning musicales, and rides III
the park You know what | mean. The life
We have Just been having glimpse of Is So
different. ! wonder II Mr. Smith would like
this sort of thing as well as | like that2"
oh, We'll" her father protested, mot many
of the men You know give their exclusive
attention TO-" he waved his hand toward the
much dcspised little heap of euvelop~,-'-to -
that sort of thing
NO" ChrstIbcl admitted iudItiercntly.
but they might about as we'll"
Il suppose" said her father, YOU are likely
To- have a chance TO see how well Mr. smith
likes it. There VIII be nothing more tor hum
IL do at Horse Island after Tomorrow 80 ne
hls share of 1t at least, and come to Ne" YORK
on the first boat"
Father" she asked, You do think 1t was
all right, don't You, for me to tell h'm "i'cTe
that treasure waS?
"Yes, l don't see any harm in it some
Young men would take II as a rather pointed
attention though" he concluded.
He's not like that" She said confidently
" He understands things. That's really the
wonderful thing about him: the WAY he doesn't
have To- have things explained He knows
what's in Your mind better than YOU do YOUR
self, sometimes"
Yours. YOU mean2" asked her father, with
Il curious look at her
She coIorcd a little but answered easily
enough Yes, that was what meant, Of course.
couldn't know whether he could do II with
anybody else. But | think it would be the
samc-or nearly
HER father turned away ON the prctcusc of
IL rclightiug his cigar. There would bc 81
-ituatiou ne reflected. That he had never en-
tcrtaIucd 1t seriously before was due, IN q
large measure. to the very tranknrss with
which Christabcl had revealed her liking for
smith. They had had quite a talk about him
ON the way over to kingston talk intro
du,cd 10y her account of the finding ut the
pirates treasure and what she had finally done
with il.
lie had. after a moment of intuitivc alarm,
agreed very cordially that she had done right.
She certainly didn't want the money herself.
nor the notorirtv that would come 10 the
finder OF It To Smith, out of 81 iub and quite
at the beginning of things, II would No doubt
come IN handy. The thought of his having II
would make 1t less dsdgrcclblc to turn him
out, rs Beaumont definitely meant L. do. And
then he doubted whether 1t would turn out To
amount To anything much, after all Chris
labels notion OF the value OF 1t would bc nee
essariIy vague. No, Beaumont was quite clear,
up 10 tins moment III the library, that ne had