Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1914-08-21
H.M.EGBERT
Z O.IRNIN MYERS
(CoPYRleHT 1919
WG.CHAPMAN)

hardly more than a boy, he quarreled
with grandfather, who turned him out.
Father came to Canada to make his
fortune, drifted to the coast, and final
ly married an American girl in San
Francisco. l was born there, my moth
er dying when ! was only baby, and
my father when was seventeen. Aft
er that came to Winnipeg and taught
for a living. OF course, things were
hard sometimes, but father had a
worse time than !, and for his sake |
never could forgive grandfather for
turning him out of doors.
Some day, Anne" my father used
to say laughingly, you'll go back to
France and be adopted and become
heiress of Clichy."
Il guess the rest of them won't
leave much for me to be heiress Of"
answered usually, and the subject
dropped. Save for fluent knowledge
of French l had nothing about me to
betray the fact of my foreign extrac-
ton, and l never wished to meet any
of my fathers relatives-never! Some
times my father would speak about
the property in the strong box 1t was
all in bonds-worthles ones, too
which had been left my father by his
mother, whose dowry had been invest
ed in the old Panama canal, that glori-
GUS enterprise that went down to ruin
twenty odd years ago, carrying with it
thousands of prosperous families in a
general wreck. My grandmother had
always had pathetic belief that some
day the bonds would be worth some.
thing. She left them to my father,
placing them in the strong box which
she held in the vaults of Magniff &
Co., bankers, of Paris and London.
When she was dying she sent him the
key.
We'll, Anne, they won't do any harm
where they are" my father would say.
Some day, when we're all rich, we'll
go to Paris and take them out and sell
them for old paper"
So now think l have explained how
came to sail for England on the
thirty-first of May, with five 500 and
one $50 bill in my purse and the key
to the ancestral strong box. Mary
wanted me to sew by bills into the
lining of my dress. But l felt safer
with the money in my purse, for, as |
told her, I'd either have to wear the
same dress all the time or keep run
ming into my room to see whether it
had been ripped open or not. If | had
taken her advice should never have
had my adventure with the Man in the
Buff Boots-but that comes later.
Mary, of course, was at the train in
tears, waiting to bid me adieu. And
who else should be there but that
odious Mr.. Spratt, who had once been
enamored of me, half hidden behind an
enormous bouquet. I've heard that
his boys call him "The Sprat," which
isn't nice name to give a professor
of civic and international law. He
pressed the bouquet into one of my
hands and then put something else in
to the other in a mysterious and por.
tentous manner.
"My volume Of the Code Napoleon
Miss Ives" he said, whispering eau
tiously. THE only complete English
commentary on modern French law
| I've written your name on the tiy-leaf
Don't lose it; you'll need it when you
get to Paris!"
could not but feel affected by the
little mans kindness in presenting me
with a copy of his epoch-making work
introduced him to Mary, and we
three chatted for few moments until
the conductor called "All aboard"
stayed day or two in Montreal, sight
seeing, and finally, owing to last min
ute excursion to Mount Royal, nearly
missed the steamer. But just as the
whistles blew, plunged hastily up the
gangway, colliding at the top with &
couple of foreign-looking men who
stared at me for several minutes, ap
parently deeply interested.
I am usually quick to form m!
judgments of people. / did not like
either of these fellow passengers at all
In very short time / had discovered
that they were master and servant, O,
stood in some such relation. The ont
bore the hall-marks of wealth withou
refinement; the other was a coarse
and Misunderstanding Greek or Arme
Man, as l judged. l was relieved wheI
| saw him betake himself to the steer
age. But judge my disgust when
discovered that had been seated mex
to his master at the dinner table!
He did not lose any time striking
up an acquaintance with me. May
pass you the mustard, Miss Howard?
we're his first words. He had evident
) ly been looking me up and made mis-
take in the name. ! was about to dis
illusion him when his next word
checked the words on my lips.
: ALLOW me to introduce myself, sine
, we are to see so much of each othe
! during our VOYAGE" he continued, wit
an odious smirk. "My name is Mas
niff-Leopold Magniff-a name tolel
ably we'll known in Paris and elst
t where"
: "The--the banker?" l managed t
gasp.