The Belding banner-news. (Belding, Mich.) 1918-1973, 1920-06-23
CHAPTER !.
The Rosny White Elephant

Town. Small, why, -black-haired,
with an air of unconvincing PLAUSIBLE
ity about him, Monsieur Lamartine
was seated at his desk, drumming his
fingers, staring out of the window. and
turning again to look at letter signed
Hilary Askew, when his boy brought
him card with the same name upon
II. Monsieur Lamartine frowned.
"Tell Monsieur Askew that / am
busy with an important court case"
he said. ASK him to call at this time
tomorrow
"Mr. 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.
as 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
II can't say. haven't seen him
yet" said Monsieur Lamartine. in an
swer But IL can't send him home
with a smile on his lips and a check
In his pocket shall try to keep him
In Quebec until have seen 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 Mr..
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 he appeared more determined, he
looked like one of those uncomfortable
men who have the knack of disentan-
Cling 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. Mr.. Askew," he said.
perhaps you did not get mine, advis-
ing you to wait before coming to Que
beer
NO." said Hilary, but would have
come anyway. 1 want to get this mat
ter settled"
1.-The American haste" said the no
tary looking almost ingenious. "But
the law Is not to be taken by storm,
least of all In Quebec. 1t Is only
month since your uncle died. Perhaps
1t will be months before we can turn
over the property to you. under
stand that you were not in close touch
with your uncle during his latter
yearsT
II hadn't seen him since was boy.
That was what made the Legacy sur
prising one. He had not shown any
interest In me. / had a hard fight to
get through my forestry course. So
when / heard that had become the
owner of a tract of a hundred square
miles II seemed like an Intervention OF
Providence. That Is almost a king
dom, sir"
"Ten miles by ten?' inquired the
notary, smiling. "Well, / suppose 1t
does seem a large territory to you, al
though the Rosny seigniory was one of
the smallest of the old feudal grants.
IL 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 a 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 valueless, be-
cause the wood is principally balsam
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 its 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 limit
on the size of trees. Seven inches for
black, or swamp spruce, 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 I'M
Gle sank half his fortune In 1t. 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 ar is too gum
my to make any but inferior paper. be
low the standard even Of the newspa-
pers. II occupies the greater portion
OF the tract. together with second
prowth birch. which is. Of course, OF
se only for drewood. The expenses