Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-01-26

room, where, after dismissing his man.
he settled down at his desk, with q
pencil and a pad Of paper. Lighting
the candles, which were more easily
managed, he found, than lamps and
much more costly, he thoughtfully and
religiously calculated his expenses for
the day. hopper Harrison and Elon
Gardner had the receipts for all mon
eys spent, and Joe BragdOn was keep
ing an official report, but the chief,
as they called him, could not go to
sleep until he was satisfied in his own
mind that he was keeping up the aver
age For the first two weeks it had
been easy-in fact. he seemed to have
quite a comfortable lead in the race.
He had spent almost 100000 in the
fortnight, but he realized that the
greater part of it had gone into the
yearly and not the daily expense ac-
count. He kept a profit and loss"
entry in his little private ledger, but 1t
was not like any other account of the
kind in the world. What the ordinary
merchant would have charged to loss
he jotted down on the profit" side,
and he was continually looking for
opportunities to swell the total.
Rawles, who had been his grand
fathers butler since the day after he
landed in New York, came over to the
grandson's establishment, greatly TO
the wrath and confusion of the latter's
Aunt Emmeline. The chef came from
Paris, and his name was Detuit. Ellis,
the footman, also found a much better
berth with Monty than he had had in
the house on the avenue. Aunt En-
incline never forgave her nephew for
these base and disturbing acts OF
treachery, as she called them.
One of Montys most extraordinary
financial feats grew out of the pur-
chase of a $4,000 automobile. He
blandly admitted to Hopper Harrison
and the two secretaries that he intend
ed To use it to practice with only, and
that as soon as he learned how to run
an auto" as ii should be run he eX-
pected to buy good. sensible, durable
machine for $1,000.
His staff officers frequently put their
heads together TO devise ways and
means of curbing Monty's reckless eX-
travagance. They were worried.
Hes like a sailor in port" protest
ed Harrison. Money is no object if
he wants a thing, and-hang it-he
seems to want everything he sees"
1T won't last long" Gardner said
reassuringly. Like his namesake,
Monte Christie, the world is his just
now, and he wants to enjoy it,"
He wants to get rid of it, it seems
t. me-"
Whenever they reproached Brewster
about the matter he disarmed them
by saying: Now that I've got money
1 mean TO give my friends a good time.
Just what you'd do if you were in my
place. What's money for, anyway"
But this $4,000 a plate dinner
I'm going TO give a dozen Of them,
and even then l can't pay my just
debts For years I've been entertained
at peoples houses and have been
taken cruising on their yachts. They
have always been bully To me, and
what have ever done for them? Moth
ing. Now that l can afford it, l am
going to return some of these favors
and square myself. Doesn't it sound
reaSOnable?"
And so preparations for MOnty's din
ner went on. In addition to what he
called his efficient corps of gentle
manly aids" he had secured the serv-
ices of Mrs. Dan DeMille as social
mentor and utility chaperOn.' Mrs.
DeMille was known in the papers as
the leader of the fast young married
set. She was one of the cleverest and
best looking young women in town,
and her husband was one of those who
did not have to be invited too" Mr..
DeMille lived at the club and visited
his home. Some one said that he was
so slow and his wife so fast that when
she invited him To dinner he was usu-
ally two or three days late. Alto
gether Mrs DeMille was decided
acquisition to Brewster'S campaign
committee. 1t required just her touch
to make his parties fun instead of
funny.
1t was on oct. Is that the dinner was
given. With the skill Of a general Mrs.
Dan had seated the guests in such 4
way that from the beginning things
went off with zeSt. Colonel Drew took
in Mrs. Valentine, and his content was
assured Mr.. Van Wrinkle and the
beautiful Miss Valentine were side by
side. and no one could say ne looked
unhappy. Mr.. Cromwell went in with
Mrs. Savage. and the same delicate
tact-in some cases it was almost in
delcate-was displayed in the DISPOSE
ton of other guests.
Somehow they had come with the eX-
pectatiun of being bored. Curiosity
prompted them To accept, but it did not
prevent the subsequent inevitable las
situde. Socially, Monty Brewster had
vet to make himself felt He and his
dinners were something to talk about,
but they were accepted hesitatingly,
haltingly. People wondered how he
had secured the corporation Of Mrs.
Dan, but then Mrs. Dan always did go
in for a new toy. To her was inevita-
bly, attributed whatever success the
dinner achieved. and it was no small
measure Yet there was nothing start
ling about the affair Monty had de-
cided to begin conservatively. He did
the conventional thing, but he did ii
well. He added q touch or two of lux
urv, the fainteSt aroma of SplendOr.
Pettingill had designed the curiOusly
wayward table. with its comfortable
atmosphere of companionShip, and ar
ranged its decoration of great lavender
orchids and lacy butterfly feStoOnS Of
white ones touched with yellow. He
had wanted To use dahliaS in their
many rich shades, from pale yellow
TO orange and deep red, but Monty held
out for orchids 1t was the artist. too.
who had found in rare and happy
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