Evening star., 1913-11-07
THE Evening STORY.
The Graft House.
tcspyrisAt. 1913. hy ". Werner,


She had married at the age of eighteen
married In bewildsred obedience to her
mothers wishes and Fred Grahs persist
ent wooing. Fred Graf was tharty-tWo
and had never worked In has me- Not
that he was proud Of the face or nis
mother. either. II simply wss that ne
had inherited the full accumulation OF the
Graff vices without any Of the Gran en-
ergies. He ioafed day In and day out
smoked cigarettes. played cards and was
tolerated by AL westmore because ne
was a Graf His mother after trying an
means save ono for his salvation decideo
to try that also. She got him married
to little Geneva Burroughs
Very cleveriy did Mrs. Graf manipulate
her scheme She got into the GOOD graces
first Of Oeneva's foolish little mother ana
then into the good graces OF Geneva ner-
self And somehow or other she puiieo
Fred in after her.
eat heart he Is all right" she como :
ed. He is my boy and ! KNOW, cle re :
needs a wife to love and lead him. one
sighed and looked wistfuuy AZ Geneva.
That very night she managed 10 se.
Fred and Geneva together In the moon
light There was the scent OF syrinea VA
the air and above the intermediate lower
roofs rose on the next street the siopns
mansard Of the great Gran no1ss Gsnsva' a
She felt girlish wonder that the heir 20
that magnifcence should be sitting mere
on her mothers front steps beside ner.
And presently she felt q still deeper won
There's the house Geneva. and here
am l. Both are yours for the taxing
Will you have it. and me?'
So Geneva took Fred ana his house,
| which was. indeed. his mothers. ano
held in a rigid grasp. She thought she
loved him. she who knew nothing Of love.
And the moonlight was very kind TO MS
weak, white face. she dreamed that night
Of being very happy. Afterward she
came to wish that dreaming SO she mao
died.
It took her two years to learn the
| full truth. She was old at twenty. Her
| own mother had died suddenly ana sns
| was alone with the Crafts MRS. Gran
had failed to find salvation & Tor her ,s soh ~
Geneva. Between the two they made life
a daily misery for the girl. The money
| was going fast. but the women did not
| spend It: Fred did that. They pincheo
and contrived. Geneva was taught ways
of saving that she never dreamed had
existed even in such poverty AZ she and
| her mother had known at home. She
came to be past mistress In the art oi
! making one penny do the work OF many
I
| that But the faster she saved the faster
Fred spent. In FIVE years more they got
down to almost their last security. And
| then Mrs. Graft fell III.
'Tm worrying myself to death over
| Fred" she told Geneva He - doing
| worse than ever. In a few years more
there'M be nothing left OF all his father
had. I shan't live to see that time. but
F! you will. I made q mistake. Geneva. in
ever letting you marry him. But
| thought 1t might save him. A good girl
| sometimes has untold influence over even
the worst OF men. You have failed. Sc
| have I. I presume I shan't live much
| longer. I don't want to. But there's one
thing I'm going to do this very day. Tn
going to make over this house to you.
Keep 1t. Don't let him coerce You into sell
ing or mortgagfng 1t: He can do what he
| will with so much Of the property az re-
mains. but the house shall be yours. as !,
| is mine. can give you a shelter: That Is
all can do
So In due time the great Graft house
came to be Geneva's. There was a ter
rible time when Fred found out what his
| mother had DONE Again and again he
tried to make Geneva raise money on 1t.