The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-28
SECOND EPISODE.
The House of Unhappiness

The House of Unhappiness. ERNoCH GOLDEN, with all his
 millions, was a hard man.
 Those closest to him con-
 gl tended that he had experi- enced much to make him hard. With out friends or family, he faced that twofold isolation which involved both the loneliness of the fighter who has given all his time and thought to suc- cess, and the even more poignant loneliness of luxurious home with no one to share in it's nagni1cence. Through this home Golden stalked, a grim and embittered man of 50, drugging his advancing years with an ever-fiercer struggle for wealth.
 Those closest to him, again, even whispered that Golden's feverish &C., tivities in the world of finance were not without we'll defined motive. For it had been said that this silent man could not afford to remember the past.
 But fate, for some tragic req son, had wrested both wife and daughter from him, and the broken man, afraid of his memories, had im- mured himself in the feverish dust Of finance.
 The one person who stood in any way intimately and personally con- nected with Golden was his young private secretary, David Manley. For young Manley, often enough known to his associates as "Davie," was both incorrigibly youthful and engagingly irresponsible. Golden, oddly enough, secretly liked this youth for his foolishness.
 This youth was too much of an easy going idiot, Golden held, ever to think seriously of his own self interest. He was indolent and his office hours were cratic. He was brazen in his re- torts, and often enough laugh-pro- voking in his antics. His demeanor, in fact, was more that of a high-spir- tied schoolboy than a confidential sec- retary to gray-haired millionaire.
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 Manley, however, was something more than a court jester. When need be, he had his lucid intervals. There were, in fact, rare occasions when Golden even wondered if his young associates antics were not a mask shrouding some ulterior and sterner design in life. But all such momen- tary suspicious seemed more and more without reason, and Golden found himself conferring more and more often with this youth who ac- cepted business so lightheartedly and the millionaire himself so offhandedly. ''For the boys fool! There's no doubt of that. And if don't look after him, heaven knows what may become of hin!"
 So Golden smiled a little as he stepped into his massively furnished library and found young Manley curled up in one of the great leather chairs intently working over pocket camera and quite oblivious of the telephone bell shrilling from the rose- wood desk beside him. Golden, as he seated himself at this desk and curtly answered the phone call. blinked with mock disapproval at the youth bent over the camera. Then he turned to the mail laid neatly out on the desk before him and proceeded to go through it.
 It was not until he heard Golden's great fist smite the rosewood desk top that Manley looked up. The man of millions was drowning over the letter still held in his hand.
 The condition of these tene.
 ments is shameful. Times are hard, and many, we find, are
 out of work. If you insist on
 raising the rents, as you threat
 on, our settlement workers
 claim that hundreds of the pocr
 will have to leave their homes.
 So, for the sake of the mothers
 and children alone. ! implore
 you to reconsider your earlier
 decision. Sincerely,
 AMOS SCHOFIELD, D. D.
 'The fools!" said Golden aloud. "They know as much about business. Manley, as you know about bond issue! Their inspectors come and or der me to put up fire escapes and build wider light wells, and while they stand ready to split profits with the very ironworker who sticks up those fire escapes they expect me me. and it's always me-to take $100,- 900 out of my own pocket and spend It Read IT