Middletown transcript., 1914-07-11

occur. 1 had set out from Winnipeg
filed with hatred toward those kins-
folk who had disowned my father and
left him to die in need In a far coun-
try. And here l was, the guest Of
my grandfather and his widowed
daughter, and engaged to my half
cousin, Charles.
But for the present the engagement
was to be kept secret. That / in
sisted upon. / determined that would
win the hearts Of his relatives also be-
fore allowing him to present me to
them as his future bride. could not
| but fear that the old comte might treat
him as he had treated my father.
On the third morning after my AZ
rival wrote to Mary Jenner, my
roommate in Winnipeg, for the first
! time since my departure.
s . 'ssgsF that l am actually
Inn. : s. $ g s. - wrote,
you will open yo6T 8, = y -
taking way you have. and be glau---1
l am not there to say, I told you So
For were you not the ringleader in the
conspiracy to keep me at home till the
close Of the school year, when we
were to make up a party to see Eu-
rope? And, Mary dear. do hope that
scheme has not fallen through. Come
to France. and royal welcome awaits
you.
Have you pursued your acquaint-
ance with little Mr.. Spratt? Poor lit
tie man! 1 have not yet glanced in
side the covers of the monumental
work of his upon the Code Napoleon,
which he presented to me so proudly
at the moment Of my departure. Be
good to him, Mary, and make man
of him. He's timid with ladies. SO
don't be afraid to give him encour-
agement.
And now you'll want to know about
Castle Clichy, Mary. 1t is the very
quaintest place-all early Norman,
with bastions and moats and battle
ments, set in the midst of an enor-
nous park, and most delightfully."- feud-
al. But by the time you receive this
it won't be in the possession Of our
family any longer. Fancy being turned
out Of your home after you have in
habited It for eight hundred years!
But we're wretchedly poor and in the
hands of an unscrupulous banker, one
Magnifr by name, who owns a mort
gage on US, and unless we can obtain
twelve thousand francs-$2, ,400-with-
in few days, to meet the interest,
Clichy passes out of our hands forever.
This Magniff is the most avaricious
scoundrel imaginable, except his son.
who's worse. Mary, he's agreed to pay
me. $4,000 for those bonds of mine
you always laughed about, when the
safe is opened next week. And so /
thought l might just as well pay OF
the interest on the mortgage out of it.
wrote to him, asking him to advance
me $2,400, and he curtly refused. He
has a grudge against my grandfather
and means to turn him out of his
home. l went to Paris to plead with
him, and he sent out word he would
not see me. Think Of it; my grandfa-
ther must lose his property when, less
than a week afterward, shall receive
enough money to have saved it many
times over! Well, I've done my best
and there's no use crying over it now.
Come to France, Mary, and all Of
you, right soon. l embrace you and
salute you, as we French say.
"P. 8. I'm quite French now!"
did not convey in this letter the
sense of impotence, the burning anger
with which the bankers conduct had
inspired me. When had proposed to
my grandfather that he let me meet
the interest due out of the proceeds
from the bonds, he seemed to realize
the futility of the attempt.
TITS no use, my little Anne" he said.
'I thank you from the depths of my
heart But you will be beating against
granite wall Magniff means to have
Clichy, and he won't advance you q
penny until the vault Is opened. Then.
nothing can be done"
And, as l have described in my let
ter to Mary, beat in vain against the
granite wall of Magnifffs vindictiVe
hatred. Now we were already setting
our affairs in order, packing our few
cherished mementoes, ready to leave.
There was pitifully little that we
could take with u.s. The castle was in
deed, as Magni1 had so graphically
portrayed it, "ss bare as a hounds
tooth" All the furnishings of it's sew
en- and forty rooms had long since dis
appeared. save those Of the half dozen
in the right wing where we lived, at
tended only by old servants who would
not be dismissed. Costly pictures, tap
estries, armor whole sets of Sevres,
had gone into the nav of Magniff, be-
ing sacrificed to meet the ever-recur-
ring Indebtedness. For twenty years
ever since the failure of the original
Panama company had ruined the comte
this process Of depletion had been
continued. Now our sparse furniture
would barely have accommodated
family in a six-room fiat.
But they shall never take our mono
plane" said the chevalier, as we stood
within the hangar and looked at the
gigantic, graceful bird, which seemed
to float airily upon the planking that
supported it. 81 would rather burn it,
give it the baptism of death in that
fiery element toward which we ascend
ed together on that first day of our
meeting, sun-goddess."
The memory brought tears to my
eyes.
Charles" said, they shall never
take Clichy from you'll"
mot IL your wishes were dollars,