Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1914-11-19

|
30 glad. because ! had It made over
four times. and I'm almost satisfied
myself now"
Jane put her arm around her neigh.
boris waist. She looked saucily at
Brand.
"Your wife never lets me forget that
she 10 i've years my junior" she said.
But IT'S sweet Of her just the same"
And with this strictly feminine para
dox the exchange Of suavities ceased.
They heard Bob's step on the stairs.
He shook hands with both.
lawfully sorry to have kept you
waiting" he said, "but with two such
charming ladies guess we won't mind
entering little late, oh. Brandt"
They look good to me-" the million
aire agreed. Let's CO."
Mrs. Brand was, as Jane had said.
1--WE years her junior. Just how this
fact ever came to be openly estab-
lished Is one Of those mysteries that
must 60 unsolved. OF course the one
never referred to It and the other
never forgot It. But It existed and It
served az q sort of balance wheel to
their respective attractions. For Jane
was Of a type to which q few years
one way or the other neither add nor
detract from beauty. II the discrep-
ancy had been the other way 1t might
have been noticeable. Mrs. Brand was
blonde and a beautiful one. She was
nearly as tall as Jane and slightly
more robust. Blue eyed and fair
skinned, with cheeks that drew their
color from a perfect constitution, not
from the embelllshing touch Of rouge.
No lady's maid In all New York had
an easier task than Mrs. Brands and
no modlste's art was better rewarded
than hers. In the clubs where It was
common talk that Brands patroniZing
hand had raised Reynolds out OF OBJ
security, this striking beauty Of the mil
lionaire's wife served as sort Of anti
dote to gossip. At least. men urged,
It was q toss-up. and II Reynolds lost
he was fool. From point Of eye they
were a wonderful pair and In that re-
spect their husbands were not far be-
hind them. At the opera or among
the first nighters there wasn't a quar-
tette In the city that attracted more
attention. Brand was fairly popular
In the clubs, although he spent but
little time in them. Reynolds, the new
conner, was more so. He was nat
ural mixer and. whether he felt 1t or
not, he maintained a cordial attitude
toward new friends that made him
welcome. Time did not press on Bob.
either. He had declined Brand'e offer
to 20 into the millionaire's firm and he
drew his living from the street. Brand
had made good as prognosticator.
Money did make money. From the
time Bob buried his conscience and
hurried over to New York after his
wife and went from her to Brand. he
had had no cause to complain. Forty
thousand dollars was q good grub
stake and with Brands assistance he
had doubled It.
Only one thing worried Reynolds.
His wife's mania for money was insa-
table.
Jane" he had told her few weeks
ago, we've got fortune. Do you
realize It? Eighty thousand dollars.
Eighty thousand dollars and fifteen
thousand dollar home. Let's quit and
go away. With the rent from this
place we'd have an income OF seven or
eight thousand and we could run all
over the world on that. You know
how we used to hope and plan for the
4-day when we could see something OF
other places. Not London and Paris
and Berlin, but something really diff
ferent. I'd like to go down into Al
RIGA and India after some Of that big
game. Why, never shot anything In
my life larger than q rabbit and Id
rather kill a lion than get all the
money in the subtreasury. Come on,
what do you say? You love the out
door life and we'll have the time OF
our lives"
But Jane demurred.
Let's wait q little while. Bob. We've
only just begun. Look what Brands
got and he isn't hunting lions"
mo-" he said resignedly, "he isn't
hunting them and he couldn't hit one
II he did. You got me into Brands
class to some extent, but you'll never
make him my model Of man. ] can
cross his bridges but I've got some
of my own that make him stop and
look. He found that out at school"
He wasn't boasting. There was more
Of sadness than arrogance In his tone,
but Jane noticed 1t; she held her
peace. It was from that day that
the bottle with the silver casing need
ed much refilling in the Reynolds
home.
To BE CoNTINUED)