The Adair County news., 1921-12-20

Whatever VIII you dO! she fall
tered. II suppose you will really have
to go to work now, won't you,, STAN
nie?"
Perish the thought" l told her !;
then l gave the good reasons why
there was no hope for us in that di-
rectiOn. "A fat chance I'd have to
earn any real money. 1 can navigate
yacht-a little,-drive a motor, ride
a polo pony, and play fair hand at
bridge and the other great American
game. l think these are the sum total
of my shining accomplishments.
You needn't return the ring"
grinned, seeing that she was looking
at 1t rather regretfully. "YOu can wear
1t on some other finger, you know"
"Yes; 1 suppose I could do that"
she agreed; and I'm blest II she didn't
shift 1t TO a finger of the other hand
right there and then!
1t was less than a week after this
little fade-out scene with Lisette that
Percy's letter came. This Is what 1t
said:
Dear Stannie:
Il know just about how you felt
last week when you heard Grandfa-
ther Jasper's will read, and it isn't
going to make you feel any better now
when tell you that knew Of its pro-
visions more than a year ago. When
the will was drawn, grandfather
Shnrod it IN mo oud 0ova mo q saolod
envelope, which I was to open after
his death. That envelope, as I knew
at the time, contained, among other
things, a codicll to the will. By its
provisions you are to receive a legacy
under certain conditions which were
to be revealed to you at such time as
might think best.
"YoUr portion Of Grandfather Jas
per's property was worth, at its latest
valuation, something like $4,000. II
lies in perfectly safe repository, stu
ated between the 105th and 10th de-
grees of longitude west from Green
wich, and the 35th and 10th degrees
north latitude. When you find it, you
will be able to identify il by the pres
ence of a girl with brown hair and
blue eyes and small mole on her left
shoulder. n piebald horse which the
girl rides, and dog with a split face
half black and half white. You will
be more than likely to find the three
together; and if you make the ac-
quaintancc of the girl, you1l be on the
trail Of your legacy.
$50 there you are. Stannie, old boy {:
there's your fortune. All you've got
TO do iS to go to work and find it. Per
haps by that time you will have ac-
quired the working habit-whiCh is
what Grandfather Jasper hoped might
prove 70 be the case.
wishing you great Joy in your
search. I am.
"YOur affectiOnatc cousin.
PERCY"
Naturally, l had a quiet little laugh
over this Screed of Percy's, taking it
for joke; a poor joke and in rather
bad taste, l thought. In that mood
handed the letter to LiSette for her to
read. She didn't laugh, but she did
look a bit ScOrnful and put about, If
you know what | mean.
Il don't suppose the blUe-eyed girl
would appeal to you," she said,
though the horse and the dog might.
When do you start?"
We discovered that Meridian 1O5
west Of Greenwich split the state OF
Colorado just beyond Denver, Colorado
Springs and Pueblo, and the hunting
ground plotted out for me took in
three-fOurths of the remainder of the
state, a slice of Utah, a good bit bigger
slice of New Mexico, with a bite out
of the northeastern corner of Arizona.
just for good measure.
ME for the wild and woolIy!" l
brayed. Don't you see me rigged out
in a nice, hairy pair of 'shaps' and
riding hell-bent-for-leather-I believe
that's the phrase-over the snow
capped peaks or the boundless prairies.
as the case may be? But Just imagine
Percy the immaculate pulling a bone
head joke like this p
you are taking it for a joker" she
questioned.
Sure am; and it's rather rotten
one at that, should say-considering
the source"
''Then you won't go to look for the
blue-eyed girl with nut-brown hair and
the cunning little mole? Think of what
you may be missingr"
For just one crazy minute had a
hunch, or a premonition, or whatever
you like to call 1t, that the letter might
not be a joke. Grandfather Jasper had
always been a bit eccentric-a rich
mans privilege and a rich old mans
incontestable right. What If he had
actually done this thing to me?-a
thing scarcely less devastating than
cutting me off without q penny? On
the spur Of the moment l said:
''If should go, would you wait for
me, Lisette?"
She took, her time about answering
"a good and sufficient plenty Of II.
81 think perhaps I'd better not
change the ring back, Stannie," she
said, sort Of wintrily. "If there is any