Evening star., 1935-02-24


of the Order of the Eastern Star. She
represented Music, Literature, Schol-
arship. and Respectability and. what
made her most esteemed of all, she
had family income of twelve hundred
dollars a year. She came from Hart
ford, Connecticut. and it was fire.
quently stated in Jackrabbit that she
was related to all the aristocracy of
Hartford and Pennington.
Mrs. Maybelle Benner's lips were a
little thin, but she had perfect teeth
and behind the glare of her eyeglasses
her eyes were cheerful.
Cordwood McCash regarded her as
a combination of Queen Mary and
a lady baseball player. He admired
her as he admired the North Pole or
the international credit system. rever-
emily but platonically.
Mrs. Benner firmly called upon him
at Mrs. Tinkerbun's and observed,
"Mr. McCash -" Only twenty-six
persons in Jackrabbit called him any
thing but "Cordwood." and the other
twenty-five were infants under two
years of age. ''Mr. McGash. feel it
my duty as fellow citizen to warn
you that this Willoughby fellow is
going to lead you into ways Of reck.
lessness - not that, / imagine. you
need much leading. He is taking you
to Minneapolis with all its dens Of
vice and pool rooms. You will return
carrying cane. and maybe silk hat"
Then all the manhood of Jack
rabbits best wrestler and horseshoe
pitcher arose within him. "Ma'am.
Perce is my friend. as I hope you are,
too. and l don't never let nobody
jump on none of my friends, never"
He looked at her coldly. and for the
first time Maybelle seemed to dis.
cover that he was something more
than a case history. She actually
blushed little, and her voice was
considerably softer as she murmured.
well, l just wanted to warn you
You know We all look up to you as
our leader here"
For hours COrdwOod went around
swelling at the totally new notion that
he was the leader of the community.
And now that it had been suggested
to him, by golly. he would come back
with cane and a silk hat!
But in Minneapolis Percy vii.
loughby wouldn't let him. He also
forbade spats. mOnocle. and stock.
"I." said Percy. can wear all the
agony | want to. I'm nothing but
secretary. But you're man Of prop
erty and you've got to look conserv-
ative - and then you won't have to
worry about being conservative"
Between spasms of buying furniture
for the McMullen Mansion. he led
Cordwood to tailor and had made for
him four suits Of soft greys and browns
and blues.
me with seven millions, and
neither Maybelle or Perce will let me
wear anything really nice and SWELL"
lamented Cordwood.
But Cordwood admitted that Percy
made over the McMullen house into
the pleasantest house he had ever
seen. He particularly liked the private
bar and the electric range, though he
continued to be jumpy in his bath
room. which had a pink marble tub
with gilded taps, black marble floors
and walls, a gilt ceiling. and an
enormous full length mirror. which
caused Cordwood to blush and itch
every time he saw the immodest
spectacle of himself with a bath
towel.
And the bills came to $4,000.
One of the smaller downstairs rooms
Percy had made into an Office for him.
self. 1t was so much simpler than the
rest of the house that Cordwood liked
to hang out there, though he felt guilty
about it "a bum like himself inter.
rupting a business man like Percy
Willoughby. While Percy was out in.
terviewing bootleggers one day just
after the house was furnished, Cord
wood sat in the Office admiringly
leafinR through the bills for the house
And among them he found a letter for
Percy stating that Messrs. Wombat
were pleased to send Percy herewith
their check for his commission of ten
per cent on his purchases for S. G.
McGash. Esq.
1t wasn't that he had been cheated