The Raymer enterprise., 1914-12-03
CHAPTER vi.
Southlook.

Southlook.
Sara Wrandall's house In the coun,
try stood on q wooded knoll overlook
Ing the sound. 1t was rather remotely
located, so far as neighbors were con.
cerned. Her father, Sebastian Gooch.
shrewdly foresaw the day when land
In this particular section Of the sub
urban world would return dollars TOR
pennies. and wisely bought thousands
Of acres: woodland, meadowland,
beachland and hills, inserted between
the environs Of New York city and
the rich towns up the coast. Years
afterward he puf1t a commodious sum
mer home on the choicest point that
his property afforded, named 1t South.
look. and transformed that particular
part Of his wilderness into a million
aires paradise. where he could dawdls
and putter to his hearts content,
where he could spend his time and his
money with a prodigality that came 20
late In life to him that he made waste
Of both In his haste to live down .
rather parsimonious past.
Two miles and half away, in the
heart Of scattered colony Of parse
proud New Yorkers. was the country
home Of the Wrandalls, an imposing
place and older by far than South
look. 1t had descended from we'll
worn and time-stained ancestors Il
Redmond Wrandall, and, with Others
Of Its kind, looked with no little scoru
upon the modern. mushroom struo
lures that sprouted from the seeds o.
trade. There was no friendship be
tween the old and the new. Each had
recourse to bitter contempt for tho
other. though consolation was small
In comparison.
1t was in the wooded by-ways Of this
despised domain that Challis Wran.
dali and Sara. the earthly daughter Of
Midas, met and loved and defled all
things supernal, for matches ara
made In heaven. Their marriage did
not open the gates Of Nineveh. Sebas.
dan Goochs paradise was more com.
pletely ostracised than 1t was before
the disaster. The Wrandalls spoke OF
1t as a disaster.
Clearly the old merchant was not
over-pleased with his daughters
choice, conclusion permanently ca.
tablished by the alteration he made
In his will year or two after the mar.
riage. True, he left the vast estate to
his beloved daughter Sara, but he fast,
ened stout string to It, and with
this string her hands were tied. II
must have occurred to him that Chal.
lis was profligate In more ways than
one, for he deliberately stipulated In
his will that Sara was not to sell q
foot Of the ground until a period Of
twenty years had elapsed. A very
polite way. It would seem, Of making
his investment safe in the face of con.
siderable odds.
He lived long enough after the max.
ing OF his will. am happy to relate,
to find that he had made no mistake.
As he preceded his son-in-law into the
great beyond by q scant three Year,,
1t readily may be seen that he wrought
too well by far. Seventeen unneces-
sary years Of prescription remained,
and he had not intended them for
Sara alone. He was not afraid III
Sara. but for her. Y
When the will was read and the con-
dition revealed, Challis Wrandall took
1t In perfect good humor. He had the
grace to proclaim In the bosom Of his
fathers family that the old gentleman
was q father-in-law to be proud Of. "A
canny old boy" he had announced
with his most engaging smile, quite
free from rancor or resentment Chal.
lis was well acquainted with himself.
And 30 the acres were strapped TO-
gether snugly and firmly, without 10
much as a town lot protruding.
30 impressed was Challis by the far.
sightedness Of his fathsr-in-law that
he forthwith sat him down and made
a will Of his own. He would not have
It said that Sara's father did q whit
better by her than he would do. He
left everything he possessed to his
wife. but put no string to II, blandly
Implying that all danger would be-
past when she came into possession.
There was q sort Of grim humor In
the way be managed to present him
self to view as the real and rsady
source Of peril.
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