The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1921-12-02
CHAPTER /.

Cousin perey's Little Joke.

suppose every one has had the ex-
Deriencet of waking In the middle of
the night to find everything perfectly
still and quiet and normal. and yet
with the impression perslsting that
there had been tremendous crash OF
some sort just before the waking
senses were alive enough TO realize 1t.
IL was some such razing jolt as this
that was given me on the morning
when | 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 fathergood.
easy-going, comfort-loving Dad -
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 fine artistic feel
ing for the beautiful In buildings. he
earned a liberal incomeand spent 1t
or SO much OF 1t 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-
eeedlngly modest manner. without
work. mean. may as well confess.
Mt once that had never acquired the
work habit. was always going to"
but II was so fatally easy to keep on
postponing the chilling plunge l sup
pose had been ready on at least half
a dozen occasions to take a dive into
some pool with salary attachment;
but always some good friend would
bob up TO say. aOh, come on. Stannie,
old man: we're lacking just one more
90 make up the bunch. Don't be
clam. Time enough to settle down
when you have to-" and then II would
be all of.
Besides. you see. there was always
Grandfather Jasper In the background.
He had money-iashings Of It. 80 we
all believed: and 1t had been a family
understanding for years that he In
tended splitting the bulk OF It, fifty
ffty. between my cousin Percy and
me. Before we go any farther, let me
set II down that Cousin Percy was
and is--ail the seventeen different
kinds of things that l am not. and
never wished TO be: smooth, neat, we'll.
groomed. GRIND In college and
perfect dear" with the girls, am
bilious as the very devil. and measur-
Eng bis friends by the amount OF pull"
they might be able to exert In bis be-
half; there you have him from the
crown OF his well-brushed little head
60 his patent-ieather pumps.
you're a fright. StannIe." he would
say. IN his carefully polished dlpio.
matte mannerhe had a 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
iege, and you haven't done a single,
solitary useful thing yet. When are
you going to begin2 And, incidental-
by, how long are you going to keep
Lisette waitlng7'
Oh, Lord fright there was another
knot In the tangle-Lisette. We had
agreed to agree-Lisette and I-some
SAX months VI 80 IA huFahSe VI 1Iuhu
father Jasper's death. and we Were
both perfectly well assured, and haC
assured each other a dozen times. that
INV income from Dads estate wasn,i
more than half big enough to marry
on. You see. 1t was this way Lisetts
was one of family of four girls In ,
mighty expensive household, and Their,
wasn't anything to lean on on tina
side of the fence. Though, of course
we never discussed It brutaily in s.
many words, we were waiting for tina
ffty-fifty loolk-ln at the will which fam
aiy tradition declared had already beel
drawn up, signed, sealed. witnesses
and put away In cold storage; other
wise In the safe-keeping OF Grandfa
eher Jasper's family lawyer.
All of which may serve to bring o