The Coolidge examiner., 1936-08-07
CHAPTER l-Continued

1T was mere lndC MT. Ldrneu
showed that his unhappy expert
Snce had not gone for nothing. He
was determined to leave nothing to
chance. He was determined that
everything should contribute to-
ward making the young people will
ting to marry each other. He made
his will, and it was a model Of in
genuity. In it he said that his
granddaughter Deborah should in
herit the large part of his fortune,
amounting to something over mil
lion dollars in government bonds, if
and only if she married Stuart Gra-
ham on or before her twenty-first
birthday. On her twenty-frst birth
day her grandfather, if he were
alive, would be eighty-five years of
age. 1t was not likely that he would
live long after that date, so the old
man faced the situation squarely ::
If he should die before her twen-
ty-tirst birthday, she and her grand
from a selected list of more profit
able securities chosen by him with
great care; and If anything hap
pened to prevent Deborah from
marrying young Graham, then the
f0tune was to go to charities, but
she was to have the income from
the securities for life. The latter
was sufficient to make her comfort
able and keep her from want or
poverty; but 1t was not sufficient
20 attract the attention of scoun-
drelly fortune hunter such as her
'ather had been.
The will was carefully planned
snd executed, and Grandfather
smiled and nodded to himself when
ever he thought of it. An absolute
loOI-prOOf and rogue-proof plan, he
said to his wife over and over.
Grandfather had died when Debo-
rah was just past fifteen; and
shings had gone quite smoothly for
uearly three years longer, with
Gary managing everything, the
house, the business letters, the mon
ey matters. But then something
strange and unexpected had hap
pened out in the world, and Gary
began to go about with a worried
frOwn. Finally-and Deborah was
eighteen then-she had made him
telI her the truth.
There was something about a
crash in New York-sOmething had
koppled and fallen, and their care
ful list of securities had collapsed
into careless heap which was
bringing them scarcely enough to
live on. Grandmother didn't know.
of course. Grandmother couldn't
be told anything like that. Gary
alad been most relieved to tell Debo-
rah, and it had been good fun at
first, to think of themselves as
poor. OF course it would be only
until Deborah was twenty-One, and
then they would be wealthier than
ever. Until Deborah was twenty
One-it had run like a thread of
song through everything they did.
through all the little subterfuges
10 keep Grandmother from know
ing, through the hard work, the
gardening, the building of the
smoke house to cure venison and
fish for the larder.
And then, suddenly, Deborah was
twenty and a half.
Twenty and a half, and marriage
was something unknown and fright
ening. What was marriage? Why
did girl have to marry a man, a
young man she had never seen, and
. well, when she did marry him.
what happened? Grandmother
wouldn't explain. She said Stuart
was a gentleman, and anything
Deborah didn't quite understand, he
would explain to her. But it wasn't
enough. And, for the first time in
her life, Deborah couldn't ask Gary.
They talked about love. Well, that
was easy. Deborah loved Grand
mother dearly, her sweet, fragile
old face, her tender hands, her soft
gentle smile. She would have done
anything for Grandmother. But 1t