Licking Valley courier., 1921-12-08
NcoPYRIGHT BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS ~
CHAPTER !.
cousIn Percy,s LlttIa Joke.

perience Of waking In the middle of
the night to find everything perfectly
still and quiet and nermal, 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 1t.
It was some such razlng 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 0
lawyer would say. My father-good,
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 lp his
profession and with fine artistic feel
Ing for the beautiful in buildings, he
earned liberal income-and spent It
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 eI-
ceedingly modest manner. Without
work, L mean. I may as we'll confess,
at once, that had never acquired the
work habit. was always "going to-"
but 1t was so fatally easy to keep ON
postponing the chilling plunge. sup
pose / had been ready on at least half
q dozen occasions to take dive into
some pool with salary attachment; (;
I but always some good friend would
bob up to say, "Oh, come on, Stannie,
old man; we're lacking just one more
to make up the bunch. Don't be q
clam. Time enough to settle down
when you have to-" and then It would
be all of.
Besides, you see, there was always
Grandfather Jasper in the background.
he had money-lashings Of II, % we
all believed, and 1t had been a family
understanding for years that he In
tended splitting the bulk Of It. fifty
fifty, between ml,.cousln Percy and
me. Before we 60 any farther, let me
set 1t down that Cousin Percy was
and is--all the seventeen different
kinds 6f things that I am not, and
never wished to be; smooth, neat, well.
groomed, "grind" In college and @
perfect dear" with the girls, am
bilious as the very devil, and measur'
Ing his friends by the amount Of pull
they might be able to exert in his be
half; there you have him from the
crown of his well-brushed little head
to his patent-leather pumps,
"You're a fright, Stannie," he would
say, In his carefully polished diplo
matte manner-he had billet In the
Department Of State at Washington
and was In training for the legation
service abroad-''you are o perfect
fright. Three whole years out Of col
lege, and you haven't done single
solitary useful thing yet. When are
you going to begin? And, incidental
ly, how long are you going to keel
Llsette waltlngf"
oh, Lord fright there was another
knot In the tangle-I.isette, We hat
agreed to agree-Lisette and I-som,
six months or 30 In advance Of Grand
father Jasper's death, and we wer,
both perfectly well assured. and ha,
assured each other dozen times, tha
my income from Dads estate wasn'
more than half big enough to MARI!
: on. You see, It was this way: Lsett,
was otie Of q family Of four girls In
mighty expensive household, and ther
wasn't anything to lean on on tina
side OF the fence. Though, Of course
we never discussed II brutally In q
many words, we were waiting for tina
flfty-ffty look-ln at the will which fam
, lily tradition declared had already bee
|, drawn up, signed, sealed. witnesses
I and put away in cold storage; other
wise In the safe-keeping of Grandfn
,, ther Jasper's family lawyer.
All Of which may serve to bring u
1 back to that nightmare effect regli
tered at the start. When the Dudle
will was taken out Of the icebox an
read to the assembled members OF IN
family, there were at least two shocl
Ing surprises. Jasper hadn't been an,
:, where near as rich as we had all bee
Z thinking he was; that his modes
manner OF living had been, perhaps, O
much matter Of necessity as {
choice. Bad investments-of whic
| the family had never heard so muc
A as a whlsper-had cut his forum
Y down to something less than half
! million, all told. That was shoe
n Number One; and shock Number Tw
), was stlctly personal to me; Gran,
I father Jasper had left me his love an
r best wishes, and had willed the none
>. and pr6perty-all Of II, mind you-t
Cousin Percy. giving as his reaso
v that he thought Percy would mai
/ better use Of II.
n OF course. I had eyerybody's symp
y thy and condolence-even Percy's, I,
q that matter. My mother wept; an
Il as recall II, Llsette managed to COZ
4 pass tear or so when I told her VIII,
y had happened; or rather what had
Y ANONYMOUSLY failed to happen.
d "Whatever will you dot" she fu
! tered. II suppose you will really hay
i, to 10 to work now, won't you, Sin
II nief"
W. "PeIsh the thought" ! told he
4 then gave the good reasons wi
there was no hope for us In that 4
: rectlon. "A fat. chance I'd have
% earn any real money, can nuvlgn
% q. yacht-a little, xxdrive u motor, rlt
. a polo pony, and play fair hand
/. bridge and the Other great Americ,
q game. think these are the sum tot
,.of my shlnlngs accomplishment
y You needn't return the ring"
grlpned, seeing that she was looklI
s