The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-10-25
FORBIDDEN
FRUIT
By WILLARD BRAKEMAN

My father died when was twelve
years old, leaving me Il good property
In the care Of my uncle, John Brough
His name should have begun with a
&c" for he was the gruffest spoken
man | ever knew. l was sent to
boarding school till was seventeen
and then to college. Upon graduating
l received letter from my guardian
uncle to come to hts house.
When l re-. hsl il, leaving the auto
in which I arrived with my hand bag
gage, l saw looking at me through an
upper window young girl evidently
about seventeen, the sweetest face I
had ever seen. was thrilled at the
idea of being in house with such a
lovely creature, being Of an age to be
easily struck by L pretty girl.
On entering HE house saw another
face. the antipOdes of the first. 1t was
that Of my uncle. His face was
square, his mouth curved down at the
corners. his eyes set deep in his head
and overhung by beetling brows.
How old are your" was his first
remark to me.
II will be twenty-five next Septem-
ber."
by the term Of your fathers will
you are to have $4,000 the day you
are twenty-five years old; $4,000 the
day you are twenty-five and the bal
anee when you are thirty. In the mat
ter of marriage, you can't take wife
Of whom do not approve. You may
live In this house with me as long as
you like, but l have warning for
you. have a ward who has been left
in my care by her father who was a
bosom friend of mine. He left her a
fortune with the provision that she
should not inherit 1t If she married
without nay consent, and her father
charged me to bring about, If posi-
BILE. marriage with young man who
Is part owner in certain property which
will fall to her. l care nothing about
the wife you select except this girl.
In her case it is hands Off"
With the last words my uncle looked
at me so savagely that I believed If
married his ward there would be in
finite trouble. This gave me deep con-
Germ, for 1t struck me that the girl /
had seen at the window was this same
ward, by whom l was already stricken.
My uncle's bark proved worse than
his bite-that Is, on all subjects except
my interfering with the plans laid
down for his ward. OF course the for
hidden fruit was altogether too tempt
ing for me, and soon learned that
she had received a warning similar to
mine. which had like effect on her.
Bat our guardian seemed singularly
obtuse to the interest with which
and Edith Sterling inspired each 9th
er. At any rate, he made no effort to
prevent our being much together We
drove, played tennis and rode on horse
back together without a word of re-
monstrance from him. Edith and |
talked over his action. or. rather,
want of action, and came to the con-
clusion that since by the terms of our
inheritances he held the whip hand of
us he did not propose to interfere
with our temporary relations. When
the time for action came we would
feel his power.
When September came and with it
legal age for me l received $4,000 of
my estate. Nothing could have been
more adverse to the plans laid down
for me and Edith Sterling. The pos
session of this money brought with 1t
an added temptation. l sounded Edith
to learn If she would give up her for
tune for me and this first payment of
my patrimony, which, If l defled my
guardian. was all / could hope for.
She was not only willing, but eager
to do 60 I should not have permitted