Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1908-05-29

SEVEN
THE days of the house party at
i Shotover were numbered. A
l fresh relay Of guests was TO

covert and blind, or motoring madly
over the state or riding ip parties TO
yermillion Light. Tennis AID lawn
bowls came into fashion. Even water
polo and squash alternated on days toe
raw for more rugged sport.
And during all these days Beverly
Plank appeared with unfagging per
eistence and assiduity. until his IA
millar. big, round head and patient
delft blue, Dutch eyes became mat
ter of course at Shotover.. indoors and
I out.
The accomplished establishment OF
Beverly Plank was probably due as
much to his own obstinate and gooo
! tempered persistence as to Mrs. Morti.
mer. He was Harvard graduate
| there are all kinds of them enormous.
ly wealthy. and though he had no par
ticular personal tastes to crafty. he
was willing and able to crafty the
tastes of others. He did whatever
ANYBODY else did and did 1t well
| enough to be amusing, and as lack OF
! intellectual development never barred
anybody from any section Of the fash
ionable world. it seemed fair to infer
that he would land where he wanted
to sooner or later.
Meanwhile Mrs. Mortimer led him
about with the confidence that was
her perquisite, and the chances were
that in due time he would have house
parties of his own at Black Fells-not
the kind he had wisely denied himself
the pleasure of giving. with such
neighbors as the Ferralls to observe,
but the sort he desired. However,
there were many things to be accom-
plished for him and by him before he
could expect to use his great yacht
and his estates and his shooting boxes
and the vast granite mansion recently
completed and facing Central park
just north of the new palaces built on
the edges of the outer desert where
Fifth avenue fringes the hundreds.
Meanwhile he had become in a meas
ure domesticated at Shotover, and
'Shotover people gradually came to
ride, drive and motor over the Fells,
which was good beginning, though
not necessarily a promise for anything
definite in the future.
Mortimer, riding huge chestnut
he could still wedge himself into a
saddle-had now made it regular
M 10 of ot.tU
bird squire and drag Plank out of bed.
Plank's acquaintance among people
who knew Mortimer being limited, he
had no means of determining the lat
ter's social value except through hear
say and toadying newspaper or two.
Therefore he was not yet aware Of
Mortimer's perennial need Of money.
and when Mortimer laughingly allud-
ed to his poverty Plank accepted the
proposition in purely comparativt
sense and laughed. too, his thrifty
Dutch soul untroubled by misgivings.
Meanwhile Mortimer had come,
among other things, on information;
how much, and precisely of what ma
ture, he was almost too much ashamed
to admit definitely, even to himself.
There was much about Plank that
was unaffected, genuine, even simple,
in one sense lie cared for people for
their own sakes and only stubborn ad-
herence to logged ambition had en-
abled him to dispense with the society
Of many people he might easily have
cultivated and liked-people nearer his
own sort and that, perhaps, was the
reason he so readily liked Mortimer,
whose coarse fiber soon wore through
the polish when rubbed against by
closer, finer fiber. And Plank liked
him aside from gratitude, and they got
on famously on the basis of such mu-
tual recognition. Then, one day, very
suddenly, Mortimer stumbled on some
thing valuable-a thread, mere clew.
so astonishing that for an instant 1t alb
solutely upset all his unadmitted the
cries and calculations
1t was nOtbing-a vague word or two
"a forced augh-and the scared 81.
lence of this man Plank, who had blum
dered on the verge Of confidence to
a man he liked.
A moment of amazemeDt, or half in
credulous suspicion, of certainty, and
Mortimer pounced playfully upon him
like tiger-a big. fat. friendly, jocose
tiger:
"Plank, is that what you're up to-"
,"Up to. Why, ] never thought of
such a.
"Haw, haw!" roared Mortimer. "If
you could only see your face!"
And Beverly Plank. red as beet,
comfortably suffused with reinsurance
under the reaction from his scare, at.
tempted to refute the others conclu-
slons: at doesn't mean anything. Nor.
timer. She's just the handsomest girl
ever saw. know she's engaged. ]
only admired her lot"
you're not the only man." said Nor
timer blandly, still striving to recon.
cile his preconceived theories with the
awkward half confession of this great,
red fisted hulking horseman riding at
his stirrup
81 wouldn't have her dream" STAN
mered Plank, that had ever thought
of such "a
"Why not? 1t would only fatter
her"
"Flatter woman who is engaged to
marry another man" gasped Plank.
Certainly Do you think any wom-
an ever had enough admiration In this
world?" asked Mortimer coolly.-s"'And
as for Sylvia lands, she'd be ticfled
to death If anybody limited that you
4 ii