The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-01-05
BY FRANCIS n


Percy the immaculate pulling q bone
head joke like this! r.
tYYou are taking 1t for q joker" she
questioned. s55
Sure / am ; and It's a rather rotten,
one at that. / should say-considering
the source mo-
Then you won't 60 to look for the
blue.eyed girl with nut-brown hair and
the cunning little mole? Think Of what
you may be missing vi
For just one crazy minute / had a
hunch, or a premonition, or whatever
you like to call II, that the letter might
not he a joke. Grandfather Jasper had
always been a bit eccentric rich
mans privilege and a rich old mans
incontestable right. What II he had
actually done this thing to me?-a
thing scarcely less devastating than
cutting me Off without a penny? On
the spur of the moment I said: ~
If / should go, would you wait for
me, Lisette !" tz+1 =
She took her time about answering
la good and sufficient plenty Of it.
II think perhaps I'd better not
change the ring back, Stannie," she
said, sort OF wintrily. IF there Is any
money and you should happen to find
II, you would probably fling 1t all
away before you could get back to Bos-
ton. Besides, there is the blue-eyed
girl If she should bring you a fortune,
you'd have to marry her, wouldn't you?
You are big and strong, and-well--er
nice in a good many ways, Stannie,
and much too g~ood-looking for your
own good; but when you marry-if
you do marry-you'd better be sure
that the girl has money enough to buy
her own hats. I haven't. enough, as
you know" ..' @ t-
II Know. only too well that the love
i~n-a-cottage idea has never appealed
to you,"" I said, with the regretful stop
pulled all the way out in Difference to
the sentimental d~ecencies.
"Not in the least, Stannie, dear; not
in the littlest least" T.
This appeared to be the end of our
rather lukewarm ~love-dream, and to
be really honest and aboveboard about
1t, 1 am obliged to confess that 1t
didn't break as many bones for me as
/ suppose it should have. Anyway, q
half-hour or g after I had said good.
by to Lisette I met Jack, Downing
and when he asked me If / didn't want
to go with him and a bunch Of the
fellows for a little spin down the coast
OF Maine in his motor cruiser, / fell
for the invitation 10 suddenly that he
hadn't a ghost of a chance to back out
If he had wanted to. E
So, a few hours beyond that touch.
ing little scene at 1.-THE Rockerie," you
may figure me, If you please. spinning
the wheel of IN of the nattiest little
boats On the North shore, with a fresh
nor'easter blowing and the sea gertins
up to give me the time of my young
life to hold the Guinevere TO hen
course, nor nor'east, half a point east
as we lifted the Shoals On u port
bow. : .. rs. = 49,
In such jolly good company as we
had aboard the stout ship Guinevere
three full days elapsed before a
thought of Percy or his joke ever en-.
tered my. head again; and it's a ten
to-one shot that I wouldn't have
thought of him, OF it, during the re.
mainder of the cruise Ii We hadn't
been obliged to tie up at Rockiand for
motor repairs. This, as / recall it
was on the fourth day. and it was a
dog that made me remember; a mon.
grel cur that followed the motor re.
pairman down to the wharf; a most
disreputable looking mongrel, at that,
but---by Jove he had the magic mark.
ings Halt OF his face, measuring from
a line drawn straight down over the
tip OF his nose, was black, and the 9th.
er half was a dingy. dirty white.
So then ! did a little rapid figuring
on train schedules. If Percy had left
Washington as / knew he was plan.
ming to, my diplomatic, cousin should