The diamond drill., 1921-11-12
cHAPrER I.

still and quiet and normal. and yet
with the impression persisting that
there had been tremendous crash OF
some sort Just before the waking
senses were alive enough to realize It.
II was some such razing Jolt az this
that was given me on the morning
when I was called In, with the other
members OF the family. to listen to the
reading OF my grandfather's will.
But. FIRST, however. to give some
idea Of the conditions precedent, as a
lawyer would say. My father-good.
easy-gofng. comfort-loving Dadl-
never owned what Grandfather Dud-
ley. pursuing his thin lips and swapping
the words out. called "the money
sense" AS an architect high In his
profession and with fne artistic feel
Ing for the beautiful In buildings, be
earned a liberal income--and spent II
or so much OF II that there was barely
enough left after his death to provide
for my mother and sister, and TO keep
me going, as you might say. In an ex-
ceedingly modest manner. Without
work, ! mean. may as well confess.
at once, that had never acquired the
work habit. waSalways "going to-"
but II was so fatally easy to keep on
postponing the chilling plunge. sup
pose hadsbeen- ready on at least half
n dozen occasions TO take dive into
some pool with salary attachment: |:
but always some good friend would
bob up 20 say, "oh. come on. Stannie.
old man; we're lacking just one more
to make up the bunch. Don't be
clam Time enough 10 settle down
when you have to-" and then II would
be oil OF.
Besides. you see. there was always
Grandfather Jasper I'm the background.
He had money-lashings of 1t, so we
all believed; and II had been family
understanding for years that he In
tended splitting the bulk OF II, flfty-
fifty, between my cousin Percy and
me. Before we 30 any farther, let me
set II down that Cousin Percy was
and is-all the seventeen different
kinds of things that / am not. and
never wished to be; smooth, neat, we'll
groomed. a "grInd" in college and a
perfect dear" with the girls, am
bilious as the very devil. and measrr-
Ing his friends by the amount ~ pull"
they might be able TO exert In his be-
half: there you have him from the
crown OF his well-brushed little head
10 his patent-leather pumps.
You're a fright, Stannie." he would
say. In his carefully polished dlplo-
matte manner-he had billet In the
Department of State at Washington,
and was In training for the legation
service abroad-"you are perfect
fright. Three whole years out of col
lege, and you haven't done single.
solitary useful thing yet. When are
you going 10 begin? And. incidental
ly, how long are you going TO keep
Lisette waltingT
oh. Lord fright there was another
knot I'm the tangle-Llsette. We had
agreed 70 agree-Lisette and I--some
six months or so In advance OF Grand
father Jasper's death. and we were
both perfectly well assured. and had
assured each other dozen times, that
my income from Dads estate wasn't
more than half big enough TO marry
on. You see, II was this way: Llsette
was one OF family OF four girls In
mighty expensive household, and there
wasn't anything TO lean on on that
side Of the fence. Though, OF course
we never discussed Il brutally In so
many words, We were waiting for that
ffty-fifty iook-in nj the will which fam
fly tradition declared had already been
drawn up. signed, sealed. Witnessed
and put away In cold storage: other
wise In the safe-keeplng OF GRANDPA
ther Jasper's family lawyer.
All OF which may serve to bring Us
back TO that nightmare effect regis
tered at the start. When the Dudley
will was taken out Of the icebox and
read 10 the assembled members OF the
family, there were at least two shock
ing surprises. Jasper hadn't been any
where near as rich as We had all been
thinking he was: that his modest
manner OF living had been. perhaps. as
much matter OF necessity as of
choice. Bad investments--of which
the family had never heard so much
as whispeS-had cut his fortune
down TO something less than half a
million, all. told. That was shock
Number One; and shock Number Two
was strictly personal to me: Grand.
father Jasper had left me his love and
best wishes. and had willed the money
and propcrty--all Of II, mind you--to
Cousin Percy. giving ms his reason
that he thought Percy would make
better use of IL.
OF course, I had everybody's sympa-
thy and condolence--even. Percy's, for
that matter. Ny mother wept: and,
an recall II. Lisette managed 10 com
pass tear or so when told her, what
had happened; or rather what had 20