Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1909-12-31

to his family were due wholly TO self
fish ambitions and not at all to graft
tude or love to his b~enefactor. As for
Pinckney to fool her; good looking.
manly in appearance and with his in
gratiating manners. he had completely
and easily won the heart of the wom-
an. Like many other busy men. Du-
rant depended to a great extent upon
his wife's opinions of young people,
so when she declared: Edward is abb
s~olutely the finest boy | have ever
known. He is just the sort of fellow
that l should love to nave Frances
marry when she grows up" Durant
had taken the boys character for
granted. AS for Frances, it would
have been hard for her to tell just
what she did think of Edward Pinck-
ney.
She was a baby when he first anne
to the house, so she could not remem-
Der the time when she had not known
him. AT first she had looked on him
as sort of a big brother. Pinckney
himself had been the one to undeceive
her on this point. Even as a boy he
had outlined his plan in life. His
future was too obvious for him not to
see the plain and easy way. He would
enter the steel works, apply himself
to business, earn the commentator
and Their the respect and confidence
of his employer and so finally pave
the way for marrying Frances and in
heriting the business through her.
To the scheming boy this seemed a
simple plan. especially as he had so
easily and quickly won Mrs. Durant
over to his side. Frances he did not
look on as a serious obstacle. for he
was shrewd enough to know that with
his splendid start and opportunity for
working on her sympathies he had
everything In his favor. The big
brother attitude he knew was fatal.
She must not look on him in that light.
He must be the confidant. the friend.
the guide. but not the big brother in
any sense. This attitude he had care
fully established while she was yet a
child. He was always ready to go to
any lengths to please her. and at first,
with the trrstfulness of a young girl.
she took everything he did at its face
value. Her mother, too, worked per-
haps unconsciously in Pinckney's
favor. She made Frances believe that
e~s'erything Edward did was right and
15eAlA~oRthe tire -Whe7 be sh0-1ld nan
age the Durant steel works as a matter
of course. Frances from her father
had inherited a strong mechanical bent,
so there was that additional bond of
sympathy between them.
So matters had drifted along through
her school days and Pinckney's college
course until, when he came back from
college to take up his life's work in
the steel plant. the train was all aid
and the odds were 100 to l In favor of
the schemer coming off victorious. mar
rying the daughter of his benefactor
and settling down as the right and
man of the steel magnate and the ul-
innate owner of the great plant.
Frances was barely fourteen when
he entered the works. and he at once
began to make her confidant OF his
plans and aspirations for the good of
her fathers business. The eagerness
and enthusiasm Of the young maj
quite won the heart of the steel mag
nate.
edward is a WONDER" he was &C.
customed to say. "Never saw such a
hard worker. l thought l was a hus-
tier. but that boy will sooner or later
be showing me tricks"
VT--.. nal 49, YaIIfnnnfrA Hnnlfnnd
the truth of what he was saying so
proudly! Such energy and enthusiasm
as Pinckney displayed must have
brought his advancement In any busi-
ness. and when his benefactor was
also his chief and he lived in the house
success was necessarily rapid. In
three years he had worked up from a
place in the draughting to the
post of nag In each new position
he made good. and Durant more than
ever congratulated himself on his fore
sight In taking up the orphan son of
his friend.
But Pinckney's love affair had not
progressed SO rapidly. Frances was
glad of his success, but somehow she
had ceased to be so interested II
the man as she had been when a girl.
BY the time she was seventeen all the
glamour had worn off. Instead of tax
ing him in a sentimental way she had
begun in her own mind to look on him
as a sort of big brother. Pinckney di'
not know this. He felt that he was
not coming ahead as fast as he had
hoped, but he felt that there was time.
especially as his hold on the rest of
TIE family increased daily.
Ourant himself now looked Onward
to the time when his daughter and the
protege whom he had come to regard
az a son should decide to marry. He
trusted P~inckney more than ever. and
he rubbed his hands with satisfaction
at the thought that some day both
Rropcas and tho Dl1rant works wOuld