Show n eoseeecoseea sesese ss s sesesee ea Uncle Timothys Million By CLARENCE MANSFIELD LINDSAY e s ssu es oses e s Copyright Tom I Why Dolly Is that you Well this Is hick And Tom Duryea dropped his tray cling bag on the station platform and hurried to greet Miss Vane who seated In a trim automobile runabout smiled her welcome And BO you know mol she exclaimed ex-claimed letting him seize both her hands In his Know you Well I should say I did Four years havent changed you much still the same lovely and rncll lint Dolly And I sea that you are still the samo old Tom nnd have grown confirmed con-firmed In the habit of flattery But tell me what brings you to Wacas sot Why Im going to spend a week or I two at The Willows Then get your bag and well spin down together Its better than going In tho bus When bag and owner were both safely disposed In the runabout Dolly put her hand to the lever and away i thoy sped When Tom questioned her as to how she had happened to be at the depot she said she had Just taken her friend Alice Van lirugh In as she had been suddenly called to tho city But now tell mo about yourself youre not looking altogether well Result of overwork And then too thuros a certain mnttorlhat worries wor-ries me not a little Tell me your troubles Im wonderfully wonder-fully clever at helping people out I suppose youve heard of my Uncle Toothy Yes rather eccentric Isnt ho Exactlyand rich To minim a long story short ho has always been benton bent-on seeing mo married und settled down as ho puts It Not long since ho delivered an ultimatum to tho effect that If I wasnt married within six months hed mako a new will and cut mo off without a cent Tho Idea exclaimed Dolly You are surely Joking Far from Itl said Tom gloomily When utter n most delightful oven Ing Tom stood alone In hip room he declared very solemnly addressing his reflection In the mirror Tom Duryea for tho second time In your life youvo fallen In love And Its with Dolly Vano both times During the next few days Toms attendance at-tendance on Dolly was unceasing At the end of a week the gossips who relieve re-lieve the monotony of life on a hotel piazza by discussing other peoples nf fairs had all pronounced It a case Then Dolly who was neither blind nor deaf began to reflect I hope Tom hasnt told any one else hero about his Uncle Timothys million mil-lion Theyd set me down at once as a designing creature though Im sure that I dont want tho money And as for Tom well I wonder does he really llko me as much as he used to when we were boy and girl together orIs he thinking of the million The second Saturday of his stay there was a hop at The Willows1 Tho first part of tho evening passed happily enough In spite of tho severe attacks of jealousy which he expert enced when forced to look on while some other fellow waltzed with Dolly and whispered soft nothings In her earAt At length by n little maneuvering he found himself alone with her In a cozy nook where ho fancied they would bo safe from prying eyes Ac cording to the program there was yet one dance to como and he knew that on his companions card It was credited cred-ited to Maj Burton a guest who had cut quite a swath at Tho Willows because he was a military man Under his breath Tom expressed a hope that that pompous ass Burton would be unable to find his partner They talked of the past for a time Now lets talk of tho prosaic present she said smiling The prosaic present That phrase brings my Uncle Timothy to mind Tho smllo faded from Dollys lips And his million sho added ironically Ironic-ally And his million ho repeated heedlessly heed-lessly It seems to mo that you might forget for-get that for a while I cant forget It he went on What a Jolly time a person no two persons could have with n million Then with sudden resolution ho leaned forward and seized Dollys handDolly Dolly couldnt you consent to be my partner in spending that million She snatched her hand away and rose from tho fauteull No I dont think I could was her cold reply Tom was completely taken aback by the curtness of her words and manner He had been fearful of being too precipitate pre-cipitate but ho certainly had not expected ex-pected to be turned down In this fashIon fash-Ion And ere ho could utter a word of remonstrance the tall form of Maj Burton appeared before them Ah Miss Vane so Ive found you at last Ive been hunting all over my dance you know And BO saying the major led Dolly away leaving Tom In a state of mingled min-gled rage and mortification quite Impossible Im-possible to describe As for Dolly she lingered for ue time amid tho gay throng In tho parlors and tried to Imagine that she was having n good time But when at length she was alone with her thoughts all her assumed gayety van u lulled and sho felt quite ready to cry I was fool enough to Imagine that ho loved mo plio said to herself Hut It seems Its his Uncle Timothys million libs been thinking of all tho t time How sordid men can become I 1 Four years ago when we were boy and girl and ho called mo sweetheart I could believe him but now And two bit tears which sho couldnt wink back fell upon tho Immaculate white gown site was putting away Tom at first made up his mind to shako the dust of Wacassot from off h his feet and return to the city Tho Idea of going away and never seeing Dolly any more was ono which he thought had much to commend It And yet It will bo much bettor after y nil ho reflected to remain hero for y a while Just what tile trouble Is with Dolly I dont know but 1 do believe she cares for mo Just a little bit And If she doesIll make her Jealous and seo what effect that will have Accordingly he began a systematic flirtation with Miss Van Brugh Dollys friend who had returned Then Tom received a telegram note tying him of his uncles death and telling tell-ing him to return to Chicago Immediately Imme-diately While packing up he decided to have ono more talk with Doll He found Dolly seated upon a hunch at the other end of tho lawn with the affable Burton at her elbow Just us ho spied them the innjol S i 9n r fly F r U I r a II ul l 1 o Dolly Im Afraid Weve Ml sunder stood Each Otherl rose listened attentively to something y his fair companion was saying and then started toward the hotel Tom crossed the lawn quickly and stopped In front of Dolly who looked up In mild surprise Good afternoon Mr Duryoa sho saidTom Tom winced her formality was really real-ly distressing However ho continued bravely Ive something very particular particu-lar I want to say to you Wont you walk down the road with me a little There was something compelling In his manner and Dolly lose and wont with him without further demur Neither spoke again until they were well away from time hotel grounds Finally ho exclaimed desperately Dolly Im afraid weve misunderstood each other And youre Just finding It out You neednt be so cutting I wanted to tell youto explain that when I asked you time other night Dolly Interrupted him If Its about that you wish to talk I cant listen to you Dolly you dont know what Ive suffered during the last two weeks You seem to have found consolation consola-tion enough It was nil makobollovc Ive never cared for any ono but you Dolly No not since the days when wo were playmates together And when after four years we met again hero nt Wacasset I fell more deeply In love with you than ever And well I was beginning to think that perhaps you cared for me Just a little bit you know And then ho continued everything every-thing went to pieces I didnt understand under-stand why you wouldnt listen to mo the other night but now 1 know And I seo It was all my fault or rather Its Uncle Timothys fault Of source he wont mind being blamed for Itnow hes dead Dead 7 Yes happened yesterday And the time limit which ho placed for my nun tlals expired the day beforo yesterday yester-day Then you dont know No broke In Tom I dont know whether I get the million or whether it goes to the Old Ladles home and whats more I dont carol And Dolly dear I never did caro In the way you thought What I want Is you You You Wont you understand And ho would have knelt right therein there-in tho dust and dirt of the highway had not Dolly suddenly turned toward him with such a molting tenderness in her eyes as made Tom catch her to hie breast breasDolly Dolly ho cried It is true thenl You do love mo By way of assent she whispered hit name In a tono that more than made up to him for all that ha had sufficed liii |