Show MONEY TO BY PETER B KYNE alf THE STORY butterworth miser de aldes to leave his fortune to elmer charke a poor young nephew he tells absolom his lawer of deal forty years ago in which be swindled a man out of 0 and arrange tor payment with interest CHAPTER I 1 continued J old butterworth nodded and handed 2 him a fat envelope this contains all the information he explained anything ele ng absolom except that lvell I 1 reckon its usual to have the executor give a bond so you d better stipulate in my will that the customary bond shall be filed with the couff by the executor old safety first re heated pea ted ill have your will ready in an hour stay where you are the hour hiram butterworth Dutter worth tad signed his last will and testament he carried a copy of the document away with him and left the original his lawyer on the first of the yellowing month he received from ab bolom a bill for fifty dollars or professional services drawing will the dirty cheap two for a cent egal jackal he raved to his ann bunker sending me a bill for drawing my will after all ive done for bilm lie immediately to absolom and told the latter ha lurid language exactly what he thought of him you re a dirty robber the old man shrieked ill change my will hils very day ill learn you estlle was terribly angry so angry in that he quite forgot the advice dor which he had paid so heavily to fax heart specialists lie mumbled Sn coherently into the transmitter then ct it tall with a crash which was not ost on the lawyer at his end of the ine then cry faintly aard him say 0 god forgive im dying dy when reached his clients ilace of business he found stretched out on the his private falce he was quite dead bunker a ray haired gray faced meek cowed poking little man was sitting in a hair across the room watching the lead man lie looked up as entered ind a smile illumined bis gray face or he was free at last the old mans heart went back on urn bunker explained hes dead tind although I 1 e worked for him near ely thirty years I 1 cant say I 1 m sorry lou ought to be glad bunker in you will be glad when I 1 tell you o ahat his will which I 1 drew two weeks provides a specific bequest to you of ten thousand dollars ten thousand ten thousand the old clerk repeated la crescendo lie he be promised me for isears that bed leave me a hundred ive devoted my life to that man and all I 1 ever got for it was labose and a hire living and now lie hes betrayed me M bunkers fonn quivered and two g tears coursed slowly down his lined checks my wife will feel badly about this be quavered she was fiort of figuring on it well what tant be cured must be endured I 1 suppose B went back to hla office wo hours later in calif urner charke receded the following telegram muscatine Muscat lne iowa august 1 1024 your uncle hiram butterworth died suddenly here today please wire disposition of body I 1 was sour uncles attorney during lifetime and am named executor of ills estate federal brust this information was received by llmer charke isalt an hour before his departure for the home of bis heart a desire whom he planned to escort that evening to the municipal band concert in the plaza to thlu young lady fl mer disclosed the contents of the telegram what disposition are you going to make of the body llmer she inquired 1 I feel like wiring to scud the old mans carcass toa medical col ajege for dissection in order tint at yuie finish it might be said of him that he accomplished something con something for the benefit f the world in which he had his being oh please dont do that flierl oh of courno not nellie he w as imy mothers brother even if he was a Hi eartless old skinflint I 1 suppose he lec penniless for all his miserly thrift fm Us lawyer would not have wired me as he did send a night letter and instruct him to give the old man a plain decent christian burial the expense of which shall not exceed one hundred and fifty dollars and to draw on me at eight for the cabie I 1 or mother s sake I 1 can t have the old man burled in potter s field nellie patted elmer charke s hand 1 I m glad youre colne to do the right ia thing by him even U he deserve it they went to the band concert and when they parted at nellies front gate elmer held her hand longer than seemed necessary nellie my dear you re a great corn fort to me he said very seriously apropos of nothing like to that some day when my ship comes in lie checked himself and after a pause added but then it will never come in until I 1 sail in it so the use dreaming until I 1 know av arc ims ann cnn come true elmer the girl replied within a week your ship Is going to come in I 1 feel it in my bones somewhat after the fashion of old men who have id get into business for myself of course he replied rheumatic just beffie the first rains it bo wonderful H roer if your uncle ihra died just scads of money and left it all to sou you hae never met him have sou elmer 0 o and I 1 have acer desired to elmer if the unexpected should happen and you should receive a sub stant lal sum from your estate what would you do lie looked dobo at her very sob isly and seemed about to answer her ques alon without the hesitation which almost instantly be developed he bit his lip and sighed I 1 d get into business for myself of course he replied the girl nodded soberly and he had a vague suspicion that bis answer had been a disappointment tor she with drew lier hand and said good night CHAPTER II 11 mrs matilda bray familiarly known in as old lady bray who came on duty at seen 0 clock a m to handle the night letters arriving at the telegraph closed her key sat back and lead with in terest the message she had just re calved tor elmer clarke will wonders neier cease the good soul murmured and reached for the telephone when it responded she asked to have miss nellie cathcart called to the telephone A long wait then miss nellie said hello hell lel what do you suppose has happened this Is mrs baj of the telegraph office speaking elmer Cl arkes uncle butterworth died back in ioa yesterday you knew that dlan t you yes mrs bray well just this minute I 1 took a night letter from a lawyer directed to elmer of course and will has been opened and elmers been left a million dollars 1 do sou hear me nellie A million dollar sl it wonderful ellec ell lc lea er hippy at dimeis good fortune mrs bray liners good fortune 1 old lady bray shrieked the words what about our good fortune icae ou just received the roes sage over ane wire mrs bra elble Cath carts voice was calm 1 I his ery minute well then mrs bra why not send the telegram to immell abely and permit him to be the one to tell the world of ills good fortune but I 1 thought w hi I 1 I 1 thought aoud want to know it first 1 I fear you think too much about other peoples business acir mrs alray the telephone clicked nellie Cathca it biad hung up ungrateful little cat snarled old lud abny and immediately called alev mr claude good fellow pastor of the I 1 arst christian church of alch flmer clarke s moth pr now deceased had been a mem her to mr goodfellow old lady baayin confidence this time related the newa of what the termed elmer clarke s windfall mr goodfellow Good tellow promised to respect her confidence and immediately returned to the breakfast table and told his wife and eldest daughter five minutes later his eldeon daughter alice telephoned ansel moody president and sole owner of the commercial trust av togs bank mr moody was the treas aj aurer of her fathers church and as a banker he would naturally be inter ested in the prospect of a new account of such magnitude moreover miss alice was ansal moody s housekeeper and was aware that some months previous elmer clarke had approached her employer with a proposition to lend him fire thousand dol lars on his house and lot in 0 street at the time old bad turned a cold ear to the request and elmer bad left the bank disappointed and angry old ansel told alice she was a sharp girl and as she hung up the receiver she was aflutter with the prospect of a salary raise immediately upon hearing from mice goodfellow anel moody tele to old lady pray and or tiered her to withhold delivery of the telegram to llmer blaike for one hour the banker was the telegraph com banys customer and old lady bray would have trembled for her position ind she failed to obey bis order at half past seven 0 clock that morning rimer clerke left his home and bt B t forth to the locus of his labors in sam smoke at the corner of main and F elmer clarke avis sim principal assistant and for ills services drew a stipend of forty dollars a week a sum regarded in as truly princely at the corner of 0 and main streets elmer paused before a vacant store above the portal i faded blue and gold sign informed whoever might have been interested sufficiently to wonder whit docil industry had on this spot tal en root withered and died that once upon a time II 11 was ser had here dispensed choice stall I 1 ed meats ayery morning of his life en route to the smoke elmer clarke was wont to pause before this dusty and forlorn arena of II 11 Vasser vogel s and in his mind s eye make it over into llmer charkes clarkes Cl arkes the sanitary barbar shop and the billiard and pool parlor llmer knew to the last ten penny nail exactly how it could be done provided he could borrow five thousand dollars on the lot and bunga low he had inherited from his mother five thousand together with Ms siv ings would enable him to transform the deserted butcher shop into some tiling thit would draw trade from sam smoke so fafa that within a year th latter place would resemble the of one of those maya cities in the jungles of jucatan the trouble with II 11 was that he had too much overhead ove rheid he could have got along with half the spice and sub leased the other half if I 1 morning I 1 imer a cheerful voice hailed he turned and gazed anto a countenance that somehow appeared vaguely familiar after the second look he recognized ansel whom he had seen every day for five years why I 1 recognize you moody llmer replied flippantly and disrespectfully to the banker lie had been the first man in to call old ansel to ills face anything but mr moody 0 o sir I 1 dlan t reco alze you at you were smiling 1 bahal iia iiama old ansel barked mirthlessly still boldan your little grudge eh dimir I 1 baill feel the old pain elmer replied candidly loure a pawnbroker not a banker most bankers lend some money on ability and integrity but you want collateral worth fully CO per cent more alian the loan and even then i 01 require a responsible indorse genf ell 1 y know llmer us bankers aint got all the say bout that old ansel soothed him e got to be careful however I 1 been 5 our proposition over since you was in the bank last an I 1 ve about come to the conclusion take a chance on vou wh mr the great man rumbled on ive come to the conclusion that if you was to get set up in a swell place of your own sam trade would follow you elmer like drunkards to a wrecked rum ship whenever youre I 1 imer come down to the bank an see me give you a loan of five thousand on your property in 0 street an er old aksels face took on a harried questing look you pretty sure you can git by on five thousand flmer I 1 bite off moron I 1 could chew if I 1 was you starten ln out but er atell I 1 really ought to have ten thousand I 1 have twenty five hundred in your savings department if you 11 put that twenty five hundred into the venture by gravy show confidence in your enterprise elmer an I 1 II 11 give you an open credit of twenty five hundred more fair aint it more than fair mr moody im afraid I 1 was a little hast with you that dai and thas morning but then old ansel raised a deprecating hand don t mention it elmer A feller s bound to male mistakes ive made cm myself come see me when youre ready to dehoot and with a friendly of his hand he was off to open his little fredbrick redbrick red brick bank for the bust ns of the day at the corner of main and D streets rev claude goodfellow Good tellow met with a broad smile of brotherly love and appreciation axe cut around reverend and continued on his way before he had reached B street he had been accosted by four men and two women with whom he was not particularly well acquainted certainly not friendly and he could not help noticing that they had gone out of their way to speak to him kindly and shake hands they had never done that before so elmer wondered what he had that they wanted and eventually came to the conclusion that it must be his lawn mower elmer was the only householder in his block who owned a lawn mower which was kept in ex cellena running order CHAPTER III 0 llmer reached the smoke fifteen minutes late heretofore feam haskens had never failed to mark his assistants rarely committed crime of tardiness on such occasions mr has uns was wont to cough loudly and look at rimer then he would look at the clock cough again and look back at elmer tills morning however he varied his custom by crying joyous li ell hov s hicls with the old soldier this morning sleep well last night must have or yon be fifteen minutes late well reckon you earn it llmer it anybody does and he dealt elmer a hearty and at blow between the shoulder blades rimer sighed lie wished that sam had not done that ne had planned to say well sam take i good long satisfying look because its the last in your I 1 m giving you two weeks notice sam im going into this business for in self if you will kindly step aside sam ril phone for the ambulance I 1 in sorry mr haskens that im late he mumbled confusedly 1 I started in time but all the people in town that never come to the smoke had to stop me and talk a minute anything new ot a thing mr lied blithely from under lie counter elmer produced ai bundle of clean cheesecloth one by one he took boxes of cigars from the shelves dusted them carefully and replaced them pausing from time to time to greet a customer and serve him presently looking up aiom his task he saw nellie cathcart standing on the edge of the sidewalk in front of the smoke looking in at him in a minner that brought a warm comfortable glow to his heart lie came out of the smoke and greeted her with a cheery hello sellie old dear how are you this rooming lou look won darful cethcart wis a golden blond a real blond it you know what la meant by that and she had very dark eyebrows and wide beautiful dark blue eyes beneath a wide beautiful white brow overlooking a sweetly wistful patrician face iier fine even teeth were exposed as she carelessly favored llmer with a million dollar smile TO BC |