The broad ax., 1926-06-19
The Money and
the Girl
BY III. IRVING KING


wealthy aunt and a wealthy uncle.
both ENDLESS, who hated each other
but dotted on Gordon. Both Aunt Go
dlda and Uncle James wanted their
nephew to make his home with them,
but to have taken up his abode with
either one would have been tanta-
mount to resigning all expectation Of
being the heir Of the other, SO Gordon
kept bachelor apartments and pre-
served a difficult neutrality. When
Aunt Gotilda arrived at the conviction
that Gordon was old enough to be
married she picked out girl for him.
Uncle James heard of 1t and promptly
picked out another girl.
You marry Emily Sellinger," said
the aunt, "and when l die every cent
have shall be yours. II you marry
that Caroline Branxome that disrepu-
table old uncle Of yours has picked
out for you, you shall never have q
penny of mine"
"When i die" said the uncle, "all
my property-and that's no inconsid-
cradle fortune, ] can tell you-will be
yours. Gordon, IL you marry to suit
me. II you marry the girl that
grabbed old maid of an aunt of yours
has picked out, you need expect moth
ing from me-" And there Gordon
was! Obviously he could not marry
both the girls and, even If polygamy
had been allowable, he would have
been no better off. for the one mar
riage would have offset the other and
he would have lost both the fortunes,
which, since the death Of his parents
when he was boy, he had been
brought up to expect one day to be
his.
He must choose, but to do SO would
he knew, MORALLY offend one Of his
relatives. Then, again, he did not
want to marry either Emily or Caro-
line. Good enough, girls, but not the
sort he would have chosen had he
been free. So he temporized, and
both the aunt and the uncle increased
their cash bonuses to him In the hopes
Of winning him to their side-and
their girl. Which enabled Gordon to
enjoy life immensely for awhile, al \
though he knew that at the end Of
the primrose path was awaiting the
fatal decision which he must make at
last. Then what did he do but 60
and complicate matters still more by
falling In love with Rosa Moorefeld.
But when 1t "came down to cases"
Rosa hesitated- s. knew all the cir
cumstances and felt that she had no
right to accept from the man she
loved sacrifice Of all his worldly ex-
pectations. Gordon raved. He felt
that Rosa didn't really love him or
she would not act so contrary. Let
Aunt Clotilda and Uncle James keep
their old mOney-he guessed he was
young enough, and had brains enough
to make his own way in the world and
support a wife in the making Of it.
If Rosa wouldn't have him he would
go away and enlist In the Foreign Lee
gion or go out as a missionary to IT.
bet, or turn monk and end his life
amid the SHOWS of the Great Saint
Bernard-or do something else that
would make Rosa regret her cruelty
all the rest of her days. Rosa wept
copiously, but remained obdurate. Her
conduct so aroused Gordon that he
proclaimed publicly that he would
marry her in spite of herself and In
defiance of all the uncles and aunts
in Christendom Mrs. Potter, who
just revefed in mixing herself up In
other peoples affairs, went Off to Aunt
Clotilda the minute she heard the
news.
YES" said Miss Clotilda, very pale
and very frigid, Il heard Of 1t this
morning. Gordon Is an ungrateful
boy. We viii not discuss the matter
further"
"Oh. certainly not" replied Mrs
Potter; IT only mentioned II because
hear that his Uncle James is simply
furious-is going to cut Gordon of
without a cent. Good morning; L must
be going" And she hurried right off
to Uncle James. This promised to be
a perfect day. with her. Uncle
James looked like a thunder-cloud I'm
a frock coat. He had heard the news
some hours before and was consid-
ering what he could say most scath-
ing to his nephew in the letter by
which he proposed to cast him of.
81 have just come from Miss Clio
tilda's," said Mrs. Potter Il am
afraid the shock Of Gordon's conduct
is going to be too much for her. She
looked awfully upset. She's mad
clear through and Is going to disown
him"
Hum. hum said Uncle James,
"Gordon's conduct has been-er-
most reprehensible."
OF trotted Mrs. Potter to retail her
news at somebody's five O'Clock"
$50 James IL going to cut Gordon
of. is he? The old brute; that's just
like him." thought Miss Clotilda.
"well. TIL put a spoke in his wheel.
Won't he be raving when he Ands
have taken Gordon's part%
And when Mrs Potter had vanished
from before Uncle James that pluto
cratic person thought: $50 old Tidy
is furious. is she? Going to disown
the boy. Well. just to plague the
woman. I'll tell Gordon It's all right
And thus II came about that Cor
don received two letters by the eve
ming mail approving Of his choice OF
Rosa and urging an early marriage.