Grand Forks herald., 1917-02-05
CHAPTER I.
I Become a House-Agcnt.


Algernon Garthoyle. built them tri-
angle Of twenty-one houses in the
heart Of Mayfair. and called them af-
ter himself. When after the poor old
chaps funeral. his will was read. and
found that he had left them to me.
was indeed surprised. 1 had always
taken 1t for granted that he would
leave them to that strenuous politi-
clan, my cousin. Herbert Polkington.
So had Herbert: and he did look dis
gusted. should have thought myself
deucedly lucky IL my uncle had left
me half OF the hundred thousand
pounds he had invested outside the
Gardens: the Gardens themselves.
twenty-five thousand q year, sounded
too good to be true.
But there Is always 'ny in the
ointment; and the clause in the will
in which the Gardens were left to me.
ended with the words: Certain con-
ditions are attached to this beQuest
which will be communicated to Lord
Garthoyle by my solicitors" All that
evening I wondered what those con-
they robbed that twenty-five thousand
q year: and very soon after breakfast
1 motored round to the offices Of
Messrs. Brayley and Wills. my uncle's
lawyers. to hear the worst.
Old Brayley. the head Of the firm,
received me: and I told him why l
had come.
Yes, yes: was expecting you.
Lord Garthoyle," he said. Il have the
papers here. You know that Gar
thoyle Gardens were. IL may say so.
the apple Of Mr.. Algernon Garthoyle's
eye Originally they were an invest
mont. He sank four hundred thousand
pounds in them. Then he grew inter-
eetsd in them; and they became his
hobby
well. should have called them
his passiqn-they were more than
hobby" said l HE was even keener
on them than he was on his spooks-
psychical research"
Yes, should say that that was SO"
said Brayley.
at was. why. when Number is re-
worried him that he began to lose
weight. I'm told he broke UP a most
importance seance when word was
brought him that Number was on
nre," said.
Il see you know all about it. Lord
Garthoyle. Well. your uncle's idea
seems to have been to bequeath to
keen interest in them. The conditions
attached to the bequest are that you
should manage the Gardens yourself"
Manage them?" I cried.
Yes; that you should become your
own house agent, deal with all mat
ters connected with the letting Of
tho houses their upkeep and repairs"
said Braylsy.
But I've no experience whatever.
not only Of the work Of house-agent,
but Of any kind of business"
"Oh, you'll soon gain 1t. The prop
erty is in excellent order at present
Every house is let to a good tenant.
And II you do make few mistakes
at the beginning, the property can
stand it,
But it must mean work. lot of
work." said.
"oh, yes. There are thousand de-
tails connected with q large property
like that; and they would need per-
petual attention. But Of course you
would have assistance-a clerk-two
clerks"
considered while; the matter
was beginning to look more serious
than I had feared. had never done
any work: and 1t might be dangerous
to begin SO late in life-at twenty
eight. Besides, did not see how
was going to find time to do any work:
my life was already arranged and
full up.
Then I said: II suppose If don't
fulfill these conditions, 1 lose the Car
dens."
No" said Brayley. That is the
curious thing about It, I suggested
such clause, Of course; but YOUR
uncle would not have it inserted. It
rests entirely with yourself to fulfill
the conditions. But here IL the con.
ditions in detail" And he handed me
some sheets OF typewriter paper.
said good morning to him and mo-
tored back to my fat in Mount Street
There I read over the conditions; and
as 1 expected. I found that 1t dii
mean lot Of work. Well, there wss
no help for it. I must buckle to. TIE
nrst thing to do was to get help. AS
motored down to the Temple and
climbed the stairs to Jack Thurman 3
rooms in the Kings Bench Walk,
Garthoyle Gardens-all the twenty
one houses-weighed heavily on my
mind
Jack opened his door to me: I
greeted him gloomily; and we went
into his sitting room.
lack. I said sadly. within the
las. two hours I've become one Of the
workers Of the world"
Never!" cried Jack "well, am
glad to hear 1t! I've always been
worrying you to stop leading your
idle. rackety life and use those brains
Of yours.''
I eaid reproachfully
Well, you have brains. you know:
happaned?" ''N'' .
I've become the owner Of Gar
thoyle Gardens."
Well. but-but that only means
you've thirty thousand year to spend
said Jack, with perplexed air.
mo, 1t means that shall boya on
time to racket about You didn't
know my Uncle Algernon: Garthoyle
Gardens were his pnssion They were
almost his monomaniA. dined with
MIN once every month. a family din
ner: don.t you know-just he and L.
mo to death with his talk about those
Gardens. didn't let him see It. Of
course; for was fond Of the old
chap. He knew everything about the
Gardens-the history Of every tenant
in every house. how he made his
money: II he hadn't inherited 1t. how
many sons and daughters he had. how
man servants-male and female-he
Kept. how many horses. carriages and
motorcars."
"He must have had a capaciou.
brain" said Jack
"Oh. he kept a record Of all these
things in q big book. like a ledger.
Z AAV SvSA 0nS0Icu III IL all the births.
deaths and marriages which took
place In the Gardens. At one time
when dfned with him I used to
ask him how many babies had been
vaccinated IN the Gardens during the
month. But gave that up. It set
htm talking about the Garden. At
once: and was the sooner bored.
IhoSe Gardens were the apple Of his
b sye-yes, the apple of his eye"
Then wonder he left them to
& v0u" aafd Jack fra nLIv