Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1922-07-14

night. and +"
"No, no." interviewed Fell. 8" gave
them to you. my dear-in fact, ]
gave them to you two years ago, and
kept them until now! You have worn
them; they are yours, and you he
come them better than even did poor
Queen Hortensei SO say no more
Lucie leaned forward and imprinted
a kiss upon the cheek Of the little
gray man. There that is all the
thanks ! can give you, dear uncle; the
gift makes me very happy. and I'll
not pretend otherwise. Only, I feel az
though / had no right to wear them
they're so wonderful"
Nonsense! But all this isn't why
you summoned me here, you bundle
Of mysteryl What bothered you last
night. or. rather, wkog'
Lucie laughed. "There was a Fran
ciscan who tried to be very mysteri-
Gus, and TO read my mind. He talked
about oil, about a g~rasping. hard man.
and mentioned you as my friend.
Then he warned me against a pro
posal that Bob might make: and sure
enough, Bob did propose to buy what
land is left to me on Bayou Terre-
bonnie, saying he'd persuade his oil
company that there was oil on II. and
that they'd buy or lease it. ! told him no
The Franciscan. afterward. proved 20
be Henry Gramont l woadered if .ou
had mentioned
Heaven Forbid" exclaimed Mr..
Fell, piously. 81 never even met tira-
mont until last night! Do you like
him?"
very much The girls eyes me
his frankly. do your
Every MUCH" said joachim Fell.
Lucie's gray eyes narrowed. searched
his face. I'm almost able to tell
when you're lying" she observed
calmly. you said that a trifle too
hastily. Uncle joachim. Why don't you
like him?'
Fell laughed, amused. Perhaps l
have a prejudice against foreign
mobiles, Lucie. Our own ~aristocracy
is bad enough. but"
Hes discarded all that. He was
never French except in name"
"You speak as though you'd known
him for some time. Have you had
secrets from me?"
81 have" laughter dimpled in the
girls face. For years and years
When l was in New York with father.
before the war, we met him; he was
Vicifinn In Norrnorf u-tkh oo11nno
friends. Then. you know that father
and l were in France when the war
broke out-father was i'll and almost
helpless at the time, you remember.
Gramont came to Paris to serve with
his regiment, and met us there. He
helped us get away. procured real
money for US, got US passage to New
York. He knows lots of our friends,
and I've always been deeply grateful
to him for his assistance then.
We've correspondent quite frequent
ly during the war;" she pursued. 81
mentioned him several times after we
got home from France, but you prob
ably failed to notice the name. It's
only since he anne to New Orleans
that l really kept any secrets from
you; this time 1 wanted to find out
if you liked him."
joachim nodded slowly. His face was
quite innocent of expression.
Eyes, yes" he said. "Yes-of course
He's a geologist or engineer. l think ~
Both, and a good one. Well, about |
last night-he probably guessed at
some of my private affairs I've writ
ten or spoken rather frankly, perhaps.
Also, Bob may have blabbed to him.
Bob still drinks-prohibition has not
hit him very hard!"
mo" agreed Fell, gravely. "Unfor-
tunately, no. Lucie, I've discovered a
most important fact. Joseph Maillard
did not own any stock in the Bayou
Oil company at the time your land
was sold them by him, and he had no
interest at all in the real estate con-
Germ that bought your st. Landry
swamp lands and made a fortune off
them. We have really blamed him
most ~unjustly. I do not believe that
he has profited in the least from YOU.
His investments in the companies con-
cerned were made a%fterward. and I
am certain he sold the lands inno-
Gently"
Lucie drew a deep breath.
II am glad you have said this" she
returned simply. Its been hard for
me to think that Uncle Joseph had
taken advantage of me; l think that
he honestly likes me, as far as he
permits himself to like anyone"
He'd not loan you money on it."
said Fell. Friendship isn't a tangible
security with him.
We'll, who really did profit by nv
loss? Anyone?"
Felrs pale gray eyes twinkled. then
cleared in their usually wide inno-
renee.
my dear Lucie, is there one person
in this world to whose faults Joseph
Maillard is deliberately blind-one
person to whom he would refuse moth
ing, in whom he would pardon every
fhf1n ~ xrhaD H. ~11 $500