The Southern herald., 1920-03-12

our own home. You must look up a
responsible dealer whose adTieelCve
can trust in a matter of this kind" ".yop
and was it remarkable that Irene
Hardy should think at once Of the arm
Of Coward & Eden? II was not. She
had, indeed, been thinking Of meInk
Der of that firm ever since the decision
to move to the West. The fact is
Irene had not been at all sure that she
wanted to marry Dave Eden. She
wanted very much to meet him again:
she was curious to know how the years
had Jared with him, and her curiosity
was not unmixed with finer sentl-
ment; but she was not at all sure that
She sh0ulG marry him.
"What, Dave Eden, the million
aire?" Bert Morrison had said. "Eyery-
body knows him" And then the news
paper woman had gone on to tell what
a figure Dave was in the business life
Of the city. zone of our biggest young
men," Bert Morrison had said "Re+
served, a little; likes his own company
best; but absolutely white."' '7I
That gave a new turn to the situa'
tion. Irene had always wanted Dave
to be Il success suddenly she doubted
whether she had wanted him to be so
big a success. She had doubted Wheth-
er she should wish to marry Dave;
she had never allowed herself to doubt
that Dave would wish to marry her.
Secretly, she had expected to rather
dazzle him with her ten years devel'
opment-With the culture and knowl'
edge which study and travel and life
had added to the charm Of her young
g!rlhood; and suddenly she realized
that her luster would shine but dimly
in the greater glory of his own. =,
1t was easy to locate the Office o.
Coward & Eden; it stood on a prln'
! cipal corner Of principal street
Thence she led her mother, and found
| herself treading on the marble floors
Of the richly appointed waiting room
in n secret excitement which she could
with difficulty conceal. She was, in
deed, very uncertain about the next
development. Her mother had
to be reckoned with.
A young man asked courteously
what could be done for them.
1--WE want to see the head of the
firm" said Mrs. Hardy. "We want to
buy house."
They were shown into Conward'i
office. Coward gave them the well
come of man who expects to make
money out of his visitors. He placed
very comfortable chair for Mrs
Hardy; he adjusted the blinds to
nicely; he discarded his cigarette and
beamed upon them with as great
show of cordiality 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, 1t
was a 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 a house? |..
Coward appeared to be rejecting
AS 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,
Sal resources OF his visitors. This
only thing was to throw out q feeler.
you are wanting 4 nice home, /
take it, that can be bought at a favor,
able price for cash. You would com
slider an investment of, say"
He paused, and Mrs. Hardy supplied
the information for which he vaa
waiting. about twenty-five thousand
dollars she said.
I'VE can hardly invest that muth,N
Irene interrupted, in a whisper "W
must have something to live on"
people here live on the profits O!
their investments, do they not, Mr..
Conwardf" Mrs. Hardy inquired.
ooh, certainly" Coward agreed,
and he plunged into a mass of inci.
dents to show how profitable in5est,
ments had been to other clients oil che
firm. Then his mood Of deliberailon
gave way to one of briskness; he sam,
moned car, and in a few minutes his
clients were looking over the property
which he had recommended. Mrs
Hardy was an amateurish buyer, her
tendency being alternately to excest
Of caution on one side and reckless,
ness on the other. Conward's manner
pleased her; the house he showed
pleased her, and she was eager to have
1t over with. But he was too shrewd
to appear to encourage a hasty decl.
sion. He did not seize upon NM
Hardy's remark that the house seemed
perfectly satisfactory; on the con.
trary, he insisted on showing other
houses, which he quoted at such i'm.
possible figures that presently the old
lady was in feverish haste to make
a deposit lest some other buyer should
fOrestall her. ........
(To BE CoNTINUED.)