Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1920-05-01

or she should WISH 10 marry nova.
she had never allowed herself 70 dorh,
that Dave would wish to marry nor
Secretly. she had expected IN ro,hor
dazzle him with her ten years devo,.
opment-with the culture and krowt-
edge which study and travel and NO
had added to the charm of her Young
girlhood; and suddenly she realized
that her luster would shine but d,mlv
in the greater glory Of his own
1t was easy to locate the office ~
Coward Il Eden; II stood on 4 nr,n.
cipal corner Of a principal street
Thence she led her mother. and found
herself treading on the marble floors
of the richly appointed waiting room
In a secret excitement which she could
with difficulty conceal. She WAS in.
deed, very uncertain about the next
development. Her mother had
10 he reckOned with.
A young man asked courteously
what could be done for them,
I'VE want to see the head of the
firm" said Mrs. Hardy. 1--WE want to
buy house"
They were shown into ConwardS
Office. Coward gave them the wei
come of a man who expects to make
money out of his visitors. He placed
very comfortable chair for Mrs.
Hardy; he adjusted the blinds 10 n
nicely; he discarded his cigarette and
beamed upon them with as great a
show of cordially as his somewhat
beefy appearance would permit. Mrs.
Hardy outlined her life history with
considerable detail and ended with the
confession that the West was not as
bad as she had feared and. anyway. it
was case of living here or dying else
where, so she would have to make the
best of it. And here they were. And
might they see house?
Coward appeared to be rejecting.
As a matter of fact, he saw in this in
experienced buyer an opportunity to
reduce his holdings In anticipation Of
the impending crash. His difficulty
was that he had no key to the finan,
cial resources Of bis visitors. The
only thing was to throw out feeler.
you are wanting nice home. ]
take 1t. that can be bought at favor
able price for cash. You would con-
slider an Investment Of, say"
He paused. and Ms. Hardy supplied
he information ~ which he was
waiting. About twenty-five thousand
dollars" she said.
I'VE can hardly invest that much
Irene interrupted, IN whisper. ave
must have sonethins to live on
people hec live on the profits oil
their invssts ~ 20 they not Mr.
conwaFd7 II inquirer
"oh, cert vi onward agreed
and he plungd Into mass Of Incl
dents to shos. how profitable invest
ments had bees to other clients Of tn
firm. Then hi8r God of deliberatioI
gave way to oRt briskness; he sum
moned a car. az. In few minutes hi
clients were loolSiag over the propert.
which he had recommended. Mrs
Hardy was an ,amateurish buyer, he
tendency being alternately to exces
Of caution on one side and reckless
ness on the other. Conward's manne
pleased her; the house he showe'
pleased her, and she was eager to hav
it over with. But he was too shrew'
to appear to encourage a hasty dec
sion. He did not seize upon Mrs
Hardy's remark that the house seeme
perfectly satisfactory; on the cor
trary, he insisted on showing othe
houses, which he quoted at such I'm
possible figures that presently the oil
lady was in feverish haste to max
a deposit lest some other buyer shout
forestall her.
(TO BE CONT1NUED.)