Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1914-01-16
Mrs.
Meriweather
By SADIE

residence. went up to the front door
and rang the bell. His summons was
answered by a maid. who took his
card on a salver and ushered him
into a drawing room. Presently a
young woman several years his Junior,
in plain apparel. anne down the broad.
winding staircase and advanced to re-
ceive him.
81 have called. he said, las a neigh
Dor. own the property adjoining this
and have learned that a Mrs. Meri-
weather during my .~sojourn abroad
has bought this property, and | would
like to welcome her into the neigh
borhood. Is she at homer
Now, the properties of Mrs. Meri-
weather and her caller, Mr.. Hinchel-
wood, had originally been n tract Of
land. A lawsuit had arisen between
Mr.. Hinchelwood's father and Mrs.
Meriweather's uncle involving the
title to Mrs. Meriweather's part OF
the estate, which had become so for
midable that it threatened to swamp
both sections under a load of court
costs and lawyers fees. Finally the
two lawyers representing the Meri-
weather and the Hinchelwood inter
ests got together, and after a confer
ence 1t was intimated to Mrs. Meri-
weather, a widow, and Mr.. Hinchel-
wood, a bachelor. that il a match
could be made between them it would
make two defective titles perfect. end
litigation and save two valuable prop
critics.
Hinchelwood. who had been sent to
England to be educated and had re
manned there ave- since, concluded
to come home and look into the mat
ter. He arrived when his attorney
happened to be out of town and. with
out waiting to learn anything of the
widow and other features pertaining
borly call with a view to informing
himself.
'She is ~indisposed this morning" the
girl finally replied. 81 shall tell her
of the object of your call, and | am
sure she will appreciate your motive.
Won't you be seated?v she added, since
the gentleman remained standing.
; THANK you; q few minutes. Will
you convey to Mrs. Meriweather my
regrets at not seeing her and tell her
that 1t will give me pleasure to call
another time"
{ MRS. M~eriweather would be disap-
pointed If you did not" was the reply.
tTc hfrc M atv1.%Ec ~ III
erly LADY,"
"She Is not young"
"Um. She has been described to me
as a remarkably fine woman"
This was for pumping purposes. The
lady had not been described to him
at all.
''She has friends" was the senten-
tious reply.
THAT is true of all of u.s."
'Quite So"
I'm very ignorant" MIR. Hinchel-
wood proceeded in this unanimated
dialogue, "of everything that has been
going on about here. l haven't been
here for a matter of ten years."
That's a long while for one to be
away from home"
Now, 1t must not be inferred because
the two confined themselves to these
commonplace remarks that they were
bored with each other. Mr.. Hlnehel-
wood gathered from the young wo-
mans quiet though impressive de-
meanor that she was a person of char
acter, and, though he smacked of Rot
ten row and Piccadilly. she gathered
that he was nobody's fool. After some
ten or fifteen minutes of these prelim-
inaries they fell to chatting about
places abroad, and the lady showed
herself as familiar with them as the
man. The ice at last broken. they
enjoyed a that which Mr.. Hinchel-
wood was surprised to notice by his
watch after leaving had occupied more
than an hour. He would have liked
to ask the lady's position In the house
hold, but was too well bred to do SO.
Later a meeting was arranged be-
tween Mr.. Hinchelwood and Mrs.
Meriweather to occur in the Office of
her attorney, ostensibly with a view
to making some mutual concessions
that would better the situation as to
their properties. But the real object
was, and was so understood by both
parties, to give them IN opportunity
to have a look at each other to deter
mine whether the difficulties might not
be overcome by a union OF interests by
marriage.
: Mr.. Hinchelwood, remembering the
few words he had heard about Mrs,
Meriweather from the person who had
received him at her house, was indif-
fefent, but consented to the meeting.
When he was confronted by the young
woman he had met before he supposed
she had come TO represent her princi-
pal. When he was introduced to her
as Mrs. Meriweather he stood gaping
at her.
"You are Mrs. MeriweatherY" he