The Connecticut labor press., 1919-12-27
CHAPTER l.
The Rosnv White Elephant.

Ino once III N{uCDSS HIAANA Lamartine, the notary, occupied was located incOnspicuously in small building in an old part of the Lower Town. Small, wiry, biack-halred' with an air of uncOnvincing plauslbll- ity about him, Monsieur Lamartlne was seated at his desk, drumming hls fingers, staring out of the window, and turning again to look at a letter signed Hilary AskeU, when his boy brought him a card with the same name upon It. Monsieur Lamartine frowned.
 ''Ten Monsieur Askew that l am busy with an important court case" he said. Ask him to call at this time tomorrow"
 ''ir. Askew says he's busy, too, and he'll wait," announced the boy, return ing.
 The notary considered. well, tell him I'll see him in few minutes" he answered.
 When the boy was gone he took down the telephone receiver and gave a number.
 ''Is that you, Brousseau?" he asked. Monsieur Hilary Askew has turned up"
 There was a sputtering at the other end of the line which made the notary smile.
 q can't say. I haven't seen him yet" said Monsieur Lamartine, in an- swer. But if I can't send him home with a smile on his lips and a check in his pocket I shall try to keep him in Quebec until 1 have occr, you And you'd better try to get Morris by long distance and warn him. Good-by."
 He hung up the receiver, rang for the boy and told him to admit Mir. Askew. Then he rose to receive his visitor.
 He looked at Hilary keenly as he shook hands with him. The young man was different from what he had ex- pected. He was about as big, and he had the same air of American energy; but lie appeared more determined, he looked like one of those uncomfortable men who have the knack of disentan- gling themselves from sOphistries. However, Hilary looked good-natured. And he was certainly inexperienced. Monsieur Lamartine gave him a chair and looked very plausible indeed.
 Your visit has followed very close upon your letter, MT. Askew," he said. Perhaps you did not get mine, advis- ing you to wait before coming to Que becY
 "NO,'' said Hilary, "but I would have come anyway. 1 want to get this mat ter settled"
 "Thn American haste" said the no- tary, looking almost ingenious. But the law is not to be taken by storm, least of all in Quebec. It is only a month since your uncle died. Perhaps it will be months before we can turn over the property to you. l under stand that you were not in close touch with your uncle during his latter years?"
 "I hadn't seen him since I was boy. That was what made the legacy a sur prising one. He had not shown any interest in me. I had hard fight to get through my forestry course. So when I heard that I had become the owner of a tract of hundred square miles it seemed like an intervention of Providence. That is almost a king dom, sir"
 "Ten miles by ten?" inquired the notary, smiling. "Well, I suppose it does seem a large territory to you, al- though the ROsny SeigniOry was one of the smallest of the old feudal grants. It is almost the last on the north shore of the St. Lawrence that remains in the hands of the original family"
 -Four hundred thousand dollars seems big sum for my uncle to have paid for it, said Hilary.
 Your uncle," said Monsieur Lamar tine, beginning to drum softly, made this investment against the advice of a good many people. The Rosny tim Der rights are practically valueIess. be- cause the wood is principally baIsam fir instead of pine and spruce"
 He noted that Hilary only watched him instead of answering, and he be- gan to feel that he would not be dis posed of as easily as he had antici- pated.
 ''The property has never begun to pay it's way" continued Monsieur La maritime. Your uncle paid three hun dred and fifty thousand for the cutting rights alone. He found himself up against the law which places a limit on the size of trees. Seven inches for black, or swamp spruce, I believe; twelve for white spruce twelve or thirteen for pine. And nearly all the trees on the Rosny limits that aren't fir are under the legal size. Your un- cle sank half his fortune in it. He was-excuse me-eccentric. This is the case: the timber cannot be cut except at loss, on account of its sparseness and the high cost of trans portatiOn. The balsam fir is too gum my to make any but inferior paper, be- low the standard even of the newspa- Pers. It occupies the greater portion of the tract, together with second growth birch, which is, of course, of use only for firewood. The expenses are vrrv crrsidersh'e In short, MT.