The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1920-01-08

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
girlhOOd; 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 of
Coward & Eden; it stood on a prin-
cfpal 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 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.
young man asked courteOusly
what could be done for them.
1--WE want to see the head of the
firm" said Mrs. Hardy 1--WE want to
buy a house."
They were shown into COnward's
office. Coward gave them the well
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 to a
nicely; he discarded his cigarette and
beamed upon them with as great a
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, 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 a 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 fnan-
cial resources of his visitors. The
only thing was to throw out a feeler.
you are wanting a nice home,
take it, that can be bought at favor
able price for cash. You would con-
SluSE dn investment OIL, say
He paused, and Mrs. Hardy supplied
the information for which he was
waiting. about twenty-five thousand
dollars" she said.
''We can hardly invest that much"
Irene interrupted, in a whisper. 'We
must have something to live on"
People here live on the profits of
their investments, do they not, Mr..
Conward?" Mrs. Hardy inquired.
"Oh, certainly" Coward agreed,
and he plunged into a mass of Incl
dents to show how profitable invest
ments had been to other clients of the
firm. Then his mood of elaboration
gave way to one of briskness; he sum-
mOned a car, and in a few minutes his
clients were looking over the property
which he had recommended. Mrs.
Hardy was an amateurfsh buyer, her
tendency being alternately to excess
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
it over with. But he was too shrewd
to appear to encourage a hasty deci-
sion. He did not seize upon Mrs.
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 a feverish haste to make
a deposit lest some other buyer should
fOrestall her.
CTO BE CONTINUED.)