Show MONEY TO E BURN THE STORY hiram butterworth Butterwort li miser decide to leave his hi fortune to elmer clarks clarke a poor young neph ow he H tells telle abolon Mc reake his hie lawyer of ft del deal forty years yearn ako age la in which be h swindled a man and arrange for or out of payment with interest Int erett butter worth die atom suddenly lud denly through a gossiping telegraph operator the th town of 0 hear bears of elmerl fortune before h he does doe nellie cathcart elmers elmer sweetheart tells telli him his hi inheritance in ie more than a million colorado charley and hla his partner mae decide to pluck elmer nellie in late that elmer sea c more of 0 the n w world orld before their marriage marr lafe un unknown k to elmer nellie 11 la 1 heiress of the tbt man butterworth Dutter worth swindled ja CHAPTER V continued 6 she sat eat down at her typewriter and rattled off a letter of thanks to ab incidentally she informed him that her mother had been dead ead five years and seven months and that her estate had bad never dever been probated for two very sufficient Buffi clent reasons one because she had nothing to probate and two because she had bad taken the precaution some two years before her demise from a lingering illness formally to give assign transfer and set et over unto her daughter nellie catheron cathcart all of the right title and interest which the she had inherited lie from her father in and to that certain mortgage and deficiency judgment et cetera nellie opined opened that the statute of limitations in her case was i in perfect working order and that even the wolves at washington could not mot by any possible interpretation of the federal income tax or federal inheritance teri tance tax laws construe a gift as an n inheritance under a will nellie now figured the interest at 6 8 per cent annually compounded feml annually on from augus allgus 10 ISS to august 10 1921 1924 having completed her computations the was aware that in forty two years her ber mot herg gift had bad grown to be oh masterpiece of manipulation I 1 exactly the author of this tale has figured ids his sum twice so lie he knows the figures ere are correct nellie knew that her fig were not the product of a disordered imagination she knew that it if hiram Butter estate could afford to pay her that sum it would under the definite terms of the will ill have to pay her there was room for neither legal quibble nor compromise upon completing her computation nellie INel lle went into the vault ostensibly to put her cash away but in reali 0 tiled shed a few briny tears of sympathy for elmer butterworth clarke presently she bucked up and her practical mind leaped to the problem ot of ascertaining approximately the sum that a rapacious and predatory government would bite out of elmers share of the estate when she had bad made a fairly accurate it if rough estimate of this she wept again upon recovering her ber emotions she deducted a further sum urn which might reasonably include the funeral expenses of uncle hiram the probate fees the appraisers fees and executors fee the specific bequest of ten thousand dollars state and county taxes and ordinary debts of the estate she was still further appalled at this total and wept a third time poor elmer she sobbed ato to think that he was shot twice and gassed once fighting for his country and now look what his country does to him oh darling darling your poor dear lead head Is going to be all bloody but it if only keep it unbowed bow much more inore your sweetheart Is going to love acu before she emerged from the vault she elie remembered the joke which fate in her case bad played on the wolves ft washington she at least was go I 1 gsg ng to get out of the wreck lond land the howls of the wolves would be tweet music to her ears they touch her with a buggy whip ins ins elmer would have expressed it ilet IX et fate do its worst to elmer clarke I 1 what hat did nellie cathcart care when the tumult and the shouting died when the smoke of battle drifted from the scene it would reveal little faithful smiling happy and confident the possessor of elmer clarke and a bank roll that a greyhound jump over CHAPTER VI meanwhile elmer Cl arkes final pe of service at the smoke was drawing to a close during that two weeks one incident alone itself in elmers eimers consciousness as a pleasant plea gant variation from the orderly of morning noon and night on the third day following the great news the editor of the clarion fathered a thought truly bucolic remorse for the light manner in which ille ahe had bad once offended elmer clarke la in his local brevities brevi ties column now overtook overlook um him what it if elmer should take a notion to back some smart metropolitan journalist in a new and run the clarion out ot of business essl I 1 horrible A vacancy occurring on an the board of trub trustees tees ot of the union high school at this fils time the clarion came out with an editorial blast to in bold brevier with a three column head suggesting vie election to the board fit that sterling and distinguished catl ten len lamer elmer butterworth clarne clarke the proponents of 0 another candidate to the liebich alch was without alary I 1 ejoy by peter B kyne it by b peter B km promptly pointed out the inadvisability of shattering on an ancient and welles well es e custom of electing to th the school board only those men and worn en who had bad demonstrated their fitness to superintend the education of th the young by providing the community with young to educate in an fil indefinite definite and roundabout way elmer sensed a covert slam in I 1 n this at any rate it aroused all of his newborn antagonism to egged on by ills his friends lie decided to demonstrate to that a young yot in U unmarried man should and would function on that board or know the reason why eliy immediately lie a announced u himself as a candidate candidate for the office nellie was delighted because tills this evidenced on elmers part a subconscious decision to continue to live in rilar eltos and grow up with the town she advised him to conduct a furious campaign against the mossbacks moss backs of 0 oh masterpiece of Manipulation I exactly the community to prove that he had its interests at heart as truly as did his opponent henry tichenor who was the father of twelve children indeed in the midst of her subtle blandishments blandish ments she suddenly conceived the idea of making elmer the leading citizen of the county it if not of the state in one illuminating instant she caught a vision that caused her to tremble As the sole proprietor of elmers place she knew her man be elected town dog catcher but as president of the Pilar eltos commercial trust and savings bank she could elect him mayor at the primary election from mayor to the state legislature from the state legislature to lieutenant governor from that to governor to congressman to L united states senator to the vice presidency to the white house I 1 its a big dream she reflected but only those who have the ability to dream big dreams ever amount to anything just as easy to dream big dreams as little ones and ansel P moody bloody has battened on this community long enough elmer Is right lies hes a pawnbroker not a banker and a banker should be the big man in any community ile he should know better than any other man its needs its aspirations pi rations and his big duty toward it when the time comes ill tell ansel P moody bloody where he gets off hell sell his controlling interest in that bank to me at a fair price or ill start a new bank and run him and his big competitor out of business in ten years with difficulty she repressed a cheer ill open roy my bank with a hundred thousand dollars capital fully paid up ill start with my own deposit of at least four hundred thousand dollars and ill become a member of the federal reserve bank which no DO banker in this town has sense enough to become ill take over every loan anse moody bloody has as it falls due ill cut the interest rate on those two bloodsuckers blood suckers and ill lend money on honesty ability and industry in the long run ill consolidate the other two banks in this town with mine I 1 mean elmers and mine oh elmer darling youre playing into my hand band and that means wear out your life not drag it out and rot it outa out and nobody shall eer know who put up the money at their next meeting after incel eating cating in elmer such a sense of power as he be had never known before nellie kellie adroitly shifted the conversation to a subject which Is never very far from pleasing to nine men out of 0 ten to wit alt himself dearle dearie she charged suddenly do you know that suit youre wearing is beginning to look just a little dit bit shabby I 1 dont like to see my elmer letting ting himself go live like this you should be the best dressed man in town and usually you are im IB afraid youve been trying too hard to save money to equip elmers place lie ile squeezed her hand gratefully the idea of that business of my own obsessed me nellie he admitted 1 I have been scrimping more than usual lately I 1 wanted to get going to be independent and mal make ce enough money to enable me to marry you and give you everything you desired but darling I 1 would have married you on far less I 1 would have been a help to you not a source of expense pensel 1 I know it old lovable but you were doing as well in your job as I 1 was doing in mine and it a particularly ticul arly striking evidence of unselfishness when hen a roan man asks a woman to give up tip financial independence to scrimp and save and sacrifice flee with him I 1 want you to do that my mother had to do that all her life find and it hurt me I 1 swore that when I 1 married my wife should never have to say to me elmer dear anny I 1 have a dollar and a half to pay the rag gas biair or kimer elmer id like eight dollars to buy a 8 new list hat No nellie illie vint sort of tiling thing Is disgraceful I 1 want you to have your own private checking account and I 1 never dever want vant to know what you do with the money nellie no now w squeezed his big hand baud never fear elmer ill have my own checking account and nobody shall ever know what I 1 do with the money I 1 agree with you thoroughly there but elmer were off our subject I 1 want you to go up to san francisco and get yourself a complete wardrobe you must take inke a vacation elmer 1 I will if take it with me 1 I shall not on it a vacation id be a nuisance ile be working hard just trying to in assure yourself that your aslie was haing a wonderful time and im not rendy ready to marry you yet dear really you must not bother yourself with a wife and her trunks and bags not to mention your own sure you cant be persuaded to change your mind and marry me before I 1 go nellie elmer clarke im not even engaged to you yet remember that I 1 have already explained to you why lie surrendered youre a mean woman but I 1 love you so I 1 suppose all of my life ill he be giving you your own way shout every everything thina the only comfort ill draw out of that will be the knowledge that youre wiser than a tree full of owls and probably know more about everything than I 1 do omit the compliments mr clarke please pleam are you yon going on that vacation r yes after ive cleaned up lap henry Tic Tl chenor in this school election by the way nellie ive made one new resolution since that lawyer wired me I 1 was a millionaire ive decided not to cook my own breakfast hereafter and to refrain from eating my luncheons and dinners in restaurants tau rants ive engaged a smart gentleman of color to look after me and the dogs ills name Is jasper and he be swings a mean skillet he can buttle drive a acar car and play the banjo good I 1 elmer I 1 think you ought to buy yourself another nice present youve youre been good for ever so long and you deserve it want a new house of course if you intend to remain in Illar eltos lon long enough to complete your term of office as chairman and member of the board of trustees of the union high school what do you want for your bungalow and lot ten thousand dollars got a customer for me Nellie Ne lliel 7 yes but im afraid my customer cannot meet your terms I 1 know a party who might be induced to buy your house if you will accept two thousand dollars down with a first mortgage for two years on the remainder at seven per cent sold I 1 the word popped out of elmers mouth in much the same manner he formerly employed when giving orders to his big patron 1 I suppose want a commission nellie he suggested with what anse moody bloody would have termed ill concealed hu not from you she replied breathlessly they were lunching at the time in a booth at the palace grill nellie glanced around saw that for the moment they were unobserved kiss me she commanded fiercely elmer dutifully obeyed now go forth and make your fight for school chool trustee nellie ordered see to it that you win if youre defeated ill cry CHAPTER VII having nothing else to do that afternoon elmer concluded to kill two birds with one tone stone do be resola resolved ed to t go 10 fishing en ell route to the tream stream and nd back he planned to visit halt half a dozen farmers and solicit their support at the coming school election lie ile received assurances ot of support froni from every voter upon whom he called and lour four out ot of the six expressed profound satisfaction lit at tills this signal evidence of elmers intention despite hla his recently acquired million to remain in rilar eltos take an active interest in civic cirle affairs and grow up with the county in fact one of them went so BO far as to lilt hit liim him a hearty swat on an the bnell and say elmer youre all right no swelled lead head about you im for you all the way I 1 youre just plain folks like the lie rest of us an your money spoiled you a mite tile the accolade brought on a coughing fit but elmer did riot not mind ile he w wa as beginning to discover in these piping times of peace the true inwardness of something lie he had bad gone to war to fight for and that was the gentle art ot of making the world safe for democracy in that moment lie he caught a glimpse of the class consciousness SS and class resentment sent ment sleeping perhaps but never lead dead even in a free republic lle he knew he must be careful not to appear any different hereafter from what he had always been that jealous minds in back bach of keen eyes would be quick to attribute to him now nov the ideals and impulses which would tie be their own did they but stand in his bis shoes ne ile was thoughtful and subdued as he droe into his garage late that evening ills ilia newly acquired person of color jasper came out of the kitchen and met elmer as the latter was locking the garage door deys a young lady waltin walten ton fob you suh sub in tie de parlor he confided she done don call about toll foli an when I 1 told her you all had gone nshon the she said shed set aroun an wait twell you got back who Is she jasper jasper handed him a card which read miss doris DOI IB gatewood special correspondent the american weekly new york city rampart boulevard los lo angeles calif telephone 07 oh lord elmer groaned so im still news I 1 what sort ot of person Is she jasper jasper grinned shuan aint hard to look at mintah clarke well you yon tell the lady I 1 have just returned and will see her as soon as I 1 have had an opportunity to clean up some ten minutes later elmer entered his little parlor in which no woman had sat since ills his mothers funeral he found miss doris gatewood seated at the ancient square piano softly playing 0 a strauss straus waltz at his approach she turned gracefully on the revolving stool and advanced to greet him with outstretched hand and a shy embarrassed smile there was about her a charming combination of frankness and shyness which quite robbed the friendliness of her glance her smile emile |