Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1912-08-23
The COrrectOr of DeStinies
Being Tales of Randolph Mason as Related by
His Private Secretary, Courtland Parks
The Burgoyne- Hayes Dinner
BY Melville DAVIDSON Post
Copyright by Edward ]. Clode

tense after the manner Of a woman,
and, likewise, true to the same man.
ner. gave the remainder Of the story
after having asked a decision in the
midst of it.
you remember Beatrix owned sew
eral thousand acres of forest land back
somewhere in the Alleghanies, in some
county Of the virginias. Let-me-see,
she said the name had been q fortu-
nate one for the first Captain Smith in
America, and ought not to fail the sec
ond one."
"Pocahontas," I suggested.
How stupid" she said. "Of course,
Pocahontas. Well. some lumber COM
pany has managed to steal half OF
Beatrix's land, and 1t, and some other
rival companies, now want to buy the
remainder Of her. They will give
$4,000. They have been logging her
footsteps ever since she landed In
New York. But this is only $4,000,
and Beatrix needs 100000. II she
could get back the land which has
been stolen, it would bring the other
$4,000. l don't know how they man
aged to get 1t. Beatrix has the
whole story in detail, with maps
and SO forth. I think she failed
to pay the taxes at some time,
and they stole 1t that way. Now,
Courtlandt, you must induce Mr.. Ma
son to get Beatrix's land for her.
She is stopping with me, you know.
Bring him to my house tomorrow for
dinner. Lieut.. Gordon Smith is going
to Washington tomorrow to call on the
British legation and will not return I'M
til very late; but he knows nothing
about 1t. Beatrix is the business agent
for the pair Of them"
l smiled at the artlessness Of Nine.
Won Hubert. Certainly" l said; but
why not bring the man in the moon,
too, and the Witch Of Endor. Ran
dolph Mason is hardly the sort Of per-
son that goes out to dinner"
Well, then" said Sarah Lemarr,
bring him after dinner. / will write
him a little note"
l could have laughed in the girls
face. What will you say in your lit
tie note?" 1 inquired.
ooh, we'll, what any one would say"
she answered, that l wish to see him
on an important business matter"
And do you know" 1 said, what
would happen to your little note?"s
What would happen to it?" she
said. Her chin went up. She was a
social overload, this Nine. Won Hubert.
Her invitations were commands. The
social aspirant dreamed of their COM
ing, as of that Of Abou ben Adhem's
Angel.
This would happen" I answered.
Randolph Mason would rip open the
envelope with his long finger, fold back
the paper where you creased 1t across
the middle, and drop it into the waste
basket"
A red flush sprang up along her dog
collar of diamonds. l hurried to .ex-
plain. Il beg your pardon" said;
but you must think of Randolph Ma
son as you would of an eccentric scien-
tist-Darwin or Agassiz-an intel
lectual recluse without emotions, a
sort of Hindoo ascetic of a high order.
You could not write any of these such
a note; neither could you write such a
not to him. Now, there is a sort of
note which yousmight write t any of
these, and you might try such a note
on him, although l have little hope
Of it."
Nine. o Hubert's head was still in
the air. you mean," she said, such a
note ought to run: Will the ogre kind
ly meet a kissable fairy on the north
side Of the hawthorn thicket at moon
rise? I believe your scientist, no mat
ter how old, usually m out Of his
shell for this sort OF thing" But she
could not keep her exquisite good ma
ture under a bushel for long. She
began to laugh. Really, Courtlandt,
to be serious, what ought 1 to write
him? We must have his help for
Beatrix."
1.-THE sort Of note," I said, "that you
would write to a famous archaeologist,
If you wished him to call and examine
a rare Egyptian pot, Or to a numis-
matist II you possessed a coin Of the
time Of Cyrus, or to a bacteriologtst II
you had a culture of the bubonic
plague for him. Invite him to the ex-
animation of a case of rare and inter-
esting injustice, at your residence on
Eighty-sixth street at nine o'clock to-
morrow night"
/ was going on to explain about this
note a little in detail, but the impos-
sible German suddenly realized that
he ought to talk. and at once set about
it with the persistence and regularity
Of a man filing a saw. We resisted as
long as we could, and then gave it up
for another Sedan. We were rescued
finally by Nine. Castaigne, who gave
some fragments from Moliere. / tried
to get a further word with Beatrix
Smith, but Mrs. Burgoyne-Hayes de-
scended on me.
II must present you to the prince.
Courtlandt," she said. Your great
grandfather on your mothers side, I
think. was a soldier of our King
George"
yes, madam" I said. but the grand
duke of Hesse-Darmstadt drew his
pay"
1 did not see the note which Nine.
Won Hubert wrote to Randolph Ma
son: but it was effective. He request
ed me 70 return after dinner and &C
company him to Eighty-sixth street.
The Won Huberts have a residence
on Eighty-sixth street. We ar
rived there on the hour and
were shown into the fbrarv Ran.