The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-06-19

POAAOA &AA SA0 AASCAV oS RoA0 w AA ~
quarterly" the ferocious old fellow
had written. And to my niece, Lucy
Stokes, the sum of thirty thousand
dollars, to be held in trust for her for
twenty years following my death, and
the interest to be paid to the said
Lucy Stokes quarterly, contingent
upon her not marrying the said Ar
thur Bowen. And should the afore-
said legatees marry during that period
the capital and property aforemen-
toned shall revert to the person
whose name is in the possession Of
my lawyer. Mr.. Griffis Coleworth."
1t did not run exactly in that way,
but that was the sum and substance
of it. And the point was that Lucy
and I had never wanted to marry
each other.
II congratulate you both heartily"
said Mr.. Coleworth, when he had
finished reading the will. He shook
hands with US. II presume that the
contingency is not likely to press un-
duly hard upon either Of you," he. in.
quired blandly.
"No. indeed no." said Lucy Taught.
lily. 81 assure you that Mr. Bowen
and I have always felt quite an aver.
sion toward each other"
"Ye-es, indeed" I stammered. "The
thought of q union has never entered
our minds at ALL"
quite so-quite so," said Mr.. Cole
worth, rubbing his hands. And Lucy
turned away and began talking to
Mr.. Jabez Stokes's housekeeper, who,
attired in deepest mourning, was
contentedly meditating upon her own
ample legacy Of fifteen thousand dol.
lars.
AS I have said. I had never given
thought to Lucy. My revered uncle
Our revered uncle-had been q sus-
picious old man. and what is popu-
larly known as a "killjoy." II he
thought he had done US an i'll turn
he was grossly self-deceived. And
yet-well. I had never noticed it be-
fore, strangely enough, but the way
Lucy turned her head away was quite
, fascinating. Her dress became her
remarkably, and she was-yes, posi-
lively pretty. II only Uncle Jabez
| had made our marriage conditional
upon our inheriting the legacy. what
/, would-what would Lucy have done
She answered that very question.
Aren't you glad, Arthur. that II
wasn't the other way round?" she
asked. Suppose he had insisted
upon our being married-why, that
would have been dreadful. would't
it,"
'Horrible!" agreed.
"And poor Mr.. Richardson would
have been Just crazy" said Lucy
mot that that would have made any
difference. though. I mean % far a
We are concerned"
Mr.. Richardson! Why, he had beer
hanging round Lucy for flve years a
least. Then she must have been %
cretly engaged to him! Her furtive
mesa In not telling me aroused thu
bitterest anger In me. I am afraid
that We did not part good friends.
It must have been three months
later. about the time when I received
the first quarterly installment, that
read the account Of Mr. Richardson'l
marriage to Miss Bunting. Oddly
enough, I experienced a sudden light
ening Of my emotions, as though
had been relieved of some dreadful
burden. And then understood. Al
though I had not been aware Of It
had actually been Jealous of Mr.. Rich
ardson! Yet Lucy and l were utterl,
The Greatest River.
The Amazon is the worlds greatest
river. The Nile. Mississippi and
Gauges are mighty streams. but in
length. probably. and in breadth,
depth. volume of water and reach OF
clear sailing the South American river
leads them all.