Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1932-05-26
Chapter 81
THE STORY OF A BRIDE

0OH. are they for me?" said Jenny.
" Grafton Matching nodded.
IAN Of them? All these heavenly
flowers"
Every one. Here, pick 'em up.
The fools sent me red roses at first,
but sent EN- back. White rose for
little Miss Jenny, eh? Pity there
aren't blue roses, to match your
gown. Blue and white, you're all blue
and white to-day And last night you
were all silver
Jenny sat again beside the huge
bed but 1t was now afternoon and
she could see her strange old friend
more clearly.
q told you I'd have something you
like waiting for you next time you
came" he rasped, with an almost
childish satisfaction in the armful of
flowers he HAD given her. "And | was
right, wasn't 1? No chocolates and
ices and fans for you, little Miss Jen-
ny? flowers every time. And | knew
you'd come too. | knew you'd come"
Il began to be afraid this was the
wrong time of day, tho. | had such
trouble in inducing your servants to
let me see you.'
The rasping voice rose to squeal.
"rll dismiss the lot of them, the
idle, incompetent houndsl I'll no,
wait maybe they didn't get my mes
sage that you were to be admitted
at any time, at oncel 1t was that
valet fellow | gave it to, and then
later on in the night ! sent him
packing. You said you didn't trust
him. Remember"
But you didn't dimiss him because
of anything | saiG?"
'Td had my suspicious of him for
long time. 1t was he, | don't doubt,
who sold the Mexican estimates to
the Gortenz group. You don't follow
that, eh? Never mind your cousin
will, no doubt You can tell her If
you like"
Jenny pondered. All she could gath
er was that there was something
about estimates that he wanted Geo
rgie to know ana that he was shirk-
ing the job of telling her himself.
She shook her head at him, dim
pling. He really was so absurdly like
grandfather
'If there's dirty work to be done
you should do it yourself"
You pretty, pert thing! There's
spirit in youl"
ed him. 1t had struck her before as
inhuman the way he never mentioned
eyes, stuff of kind in her. too"
| he agreed. He gave his familiar wrig-
gle and lay fiat. He looked more
than ever like long gray slate
pencil. "She showed 1t all right the
other night, didn't she? You know
about that. of course, the little trap
we laid for her, my young nephew
| and To-
tell met
Nothing very important. Just a
| little trap we laid to see If she would
sell my nephew a business secret.
And she wouldn't"
"You mean,' stammered Jenny,
"that before she knew he was your
nephew he tried to bribe her? tt
it was a business matter? = Oh, why
didn't I think of that explanation for
myself?"
"You modern young people," grum-
bled the ugly old voice from the bed,
| you never think of anything for
| yourselves that / can discover! You
have to be told the simplest truths
ana then you don't believe them. He
raped her hand smartly to recall her
attention. You don't believe what
have just said, / suppose, do you
now?"
Yes. Jenny believed him. It was al
ready difficult to understand how she
had come to believe anything else:
She must have what Ryder Vale had
called an "inferiority complex" A
profound conviction that no one who
knew George could ever possibly
have eyes for Georgle's cousin. Even
| now
"when your nephew spoke to you
about me-he did speak to you about
me?-are you sure that he meant
me, really? You see, it's so much
more likely that he would be-woulc
be interested in Georgie."
Much, much more likely! Jeerec
Grafton Matching. He raped hei
hand again. "Now, you'll have C
run away; I've got a lot of people
coming to see me. Two doctors anc
a lawyer" The blank eyes that were
yet so bright searched hers, but sh,
could not read their riddle. "Youl
come again tomorrow and therell b.
blue flowers for you"
mo, tomorrow its my turn to give
you something insisted Jenny. Sh'
had In her minds eye the jars o
sticky sweets In Mrs. Bgger's wind
ow: probably he would like thOs'
round brown ones with blue and rec
bands. She rose, gathering up he
flowers, and smiled at him.
Hhe didn't smile back. He just la.