OCR Text |
Show i BEAVER PRESS married Lola she would cut me hen my divorce became she was off neces-sar- toanshe hadbeen tothePmarr.a J Can you beat that for I ve always had a inconsistency' hunch that the a.rne,man and wife wh0 have and worked Mary forked years might hypnotize her into leaving all her property to them --1 warned her against them and somehow they found out and have hated me ever since-- but I didn't think she would leave it to a com- 4v 1 fT" ' I fel Vs-- "' " " i bition and lethargy; each unit moving in its own orbit and each thinking itself of supreme importance in the complicated pattern of the business world. She had been buffeting her way in it for five years. "Miss Reyburn ought to be here, Mark, but I suppose like the majority of women she has no idea of the value of a man's time." The annoyed comment in the room behind her snapped Brooke out of her reflections. How like a man to assume that she was at fault. She would make a dramatic entrance, and then "Glad she is late. I told you, Jed, that I didn't want to meet her. It was a beau geste for her to offer me half of the money, all of which should be mine by inheritance. I'll make my before she comes. Let her move into Lookout House pronto. I'm the only person in the world with the right to contest Aunt Mary Amanda Dane's will, and, much as I would like to own the family heirlooms and add her part of the house to mine, I won't do that. I would have to prove 'undue influence' or 'unsound mind,' wouldn't I? How could I do that when under oath I would have to acknowledge that my aunt had said she would cut me out of her will? The fact that I didn't believe she would do it wouldn't cut any ice with the court. Nothing doing. I've had publicity enough over my domestic casualty to last the rest of my life." Brooke's hand dropped from the That must be Mark hanging. Trent's deep voice tinged with anger. By "her" did he mean herself? So he thought her offer to share with him merely a beau geste. Should she have refused to take any of the legacy? This was hardly the tactful moment to make her entrance. He was going. As soon as the door closed, she would appear and explain to Mr. Stewart why she had been at the window; meantime she would be strictly honorable and not listen. She stuffed her fingers into her ears. At the same moment on the other side of the hangings, Jed Stewart was saying: "I never did understand why Lookout House was cut in two, Mark." "It wasn't. Grandfather Trent had two houses built exactly alike, one for his daughter, Mary Amanda, and one for his son, my father; the Other House, the family called ours. Not satisfied with that, he had them set side by side on a rocky promontoryhe intended them for summer homes only with doors through the library downstairs and the hall on the second floor and connecting balconies; he was a glutton for balconies. Aunt Mary Amanda recently has lived there the year round. I inherited Father's house, but I haven't lived there since well, for three years. It has been closed. I haven't rented it because I thought it might be unpleasant for my aunt to have strangers near when she was wheeled into the garden which serves for both places. Now, see what she does to me. She picks up this girl and later, while I'm startAmering a branch office in South ica, leaves her her half of the real estate and all her money. Well, I'll be off. I have a date." "Don't go, Mark. I asked Miss afterReyburn to come here this arfinancial what her tell to noon for rangements have been made two her, but principally to get youcould face to face so that we the straighten out this mess about house." the in personal property un"Mess! Do you call a sound, Aunt Mary mess? breakable will a if I Amanda Dane warned me that ' CHAPTER I J -l- - 1 IL sense of dramatic . heel of Brooke Rey-she as turned sharply cw 1 . ti,P street. She went nn i one knee just as the traffic framed green. She had a con-- i bear- sense of an automobile ' nice o the on her, the screech of of panting cars, of arms s, to the siaewam. g her nwn T,,t?" voice demanded. In riffht. really I am. It L. LIU a mv silly heel that threw me, csiired breathlessly, eve,n as moved her knee experimentalit worked. It wasn t DroKen. heels? If ffhy wear such fool a-not hurt, why did you "B- --' man's voice was husky; his je J TS only she knew who he was she but he might tjBld write him, been a stranger passing Chough the city whom she never In that case she $uld see again. tiuld have to bear always this licking sense of being ashamed of tfrself, it would bring her sitting tre tf it i bed when she thought at night. !$ he stopped at a flower shop. Its ejor and beauty were like a sooth-fa- g her smarting conair had but a hint of tkt crispness of early October. pverhead a steeple clock chimed. ike sound reminded Brooke of her $0Tagement. She winced as she hand cern. on The Bcved. After a furtive look about, she itamined her knee. Skinned. She fed known it. Shreds of her silk locking clung to the raw flesh. She faced as her lowered skirt scraped Her unknown rescuer need not far that she would forget that les-- n in a hurry, she thought as she fitered the office of the junior part-- : r of Stewart and Stewart Where was Mr. Jed Stewart? There was an open book on his rge fiat desk. The title fairly Jimped at her. i , J UNDERWOOD ON WILLS ! Brooke's heart did a nose-divP'd that particular book on that j particular desk mean that Stewart ted Stewart were preparing to cont, est the will in which famed residuary she had been legatee? .! Silly, she derided herself, wasn't J firm executor of the estate of Amanda Dane? Hadn't Mr. hry Ved Stewart notified her that the fill had been allowed, that she had Required a fortune, hadn't he asked be at his office today at four? ,l was her late shake-uand this "..S'Oomy room which had started her pagination on the rampage. Where sn'1 kn"tty Pine it was walled 'th books impressively, if mustily, .bound in ; ii get-awa- y intentness demon of option. Brooke retorted crisply: Jf you insist upon probing the I think jfrets of my young life, skinned my knee." j4 sle thought the man spoke as M merged in the stream of pass-ofcShe passed the building to had been hurrying to she tch when she tjp anthe appointment street. She wouldn't go ttmsei feet, she'd better wait till her thumping heart quieted be-- J I s she entered the offices of Stew-c- j and Stewart, Attorneys at Law, '4 had too much pride to appear tttfe breathless and shaken. That been a narrow escape, not only her, tf but for the man who had f Itched her from the path of that ijeding car, and horrible thought -- he hadn't even said "Thank third-degre- e j had a Jth roused a little tf aight up in ; p ; calf. 0utside came 'a'" distant m the ;"CIS corridor; footsteps "Ming, scuffing, springing past; incessant clang of elevator Insif!o"Tick-tock- ! Tick- i tariff LFrm -- parative stranger. In my opinion, Clotilde and Henri Jacques are no better than a couple of bandits; they 11 bear watching. I don't trust the Reyburn female either, her fine Italian hand crops up all throh that will, but I don't like the idea of a girl living in the same house with them. However, she'd probably think I had an axe to grind if I warned her." "Yellow journals and hectic fiction to the contrary, lawyers don't talk about the affairs of a client, even to their best friend, fella." "Don't blow up like a pouter pigeon, Jed. Of course I didn't expect you to tell me; equally, of course, I wouldn't try to upset that will. My aunt's High Church convictions wouldn't permit her to approve of my separation from a wife who had been sordidly unfaithful. I thought she might soften toward me when Lola married the third time, but evidently not. If she wanted to bequeath her house, her money, and her jewels to a girl she had picked up via radio, okay. But why didn't she tell me about the Reyburn female? Why not ask me to meet her before I went to South America? That's what makes me The secrecy of their suspicious. friendship. Was the girl afraid that if I knew I would try to influence 4 far ih jJ utej J a,r'd Jong. inurni-- qU'tk tho proccssin ot the !'irt Mr. of Roofs w Inrar, l f 1 o o d She WITH m a bright blue! P .he pattern of gray clouds, V'""'S r,ointpd the north, cWebs'f ttehcd 8'gantic j i,l ";,mstthesky- Skylights!' s,,rcU of mo1'" brass as U ff rcr''" the sun. Her in.,,, '"W'fci on the roofs E.np,,u ousHiPss units were H!tn.j . J. Virtue and Honesty and vice; ups and "'; '"ncy and stupidity; am- - j hone - j , MCL V? V7a mf ""'!' IXaM 0 A delightful new romantic serial . . . romance, adventure, I Tin,. r:"chcs V"'reS if" f"" Stewart? ll'h-j- You" Wil l - legal procedure to l( n!s I '" The sec-- I susP?nse? ' "'r outur t,m''c had shown h ,y,m ,lns room, had said that she "i Pxp"''. that the junior part- q dI at udV"C"nf,'rence but would be y in a ft w s moments. h I" crossed to the win- i hare ns s,'l'l''d behind one of the to shut off the electric light f t urn hr.u ; i k you? ' minutes were marching wi!(.re was "Marry her yourself, Mark, and keep the fortune in the family." "I! Marry that girl who hypnotized an old woman into leaving her a fortune! You're crazy. Besides, I am married." "You haven't caught your aunt's ideas on divorce, have you? You don't feel tied to that woman who ran away with that French count, do you? You divorced her, didn't &wfJ lime rnin- her?" "Hold everything! We were talking of the Reyburn girl. You have nerve to make the suggestion that I marry her. Men have been put on the spot for less. I wouldn't marry that schemer Brooke flung back the hanging In a passion of rage. "Nobody asked you to!" She cleared her voice of hoarseness, and flamed: "Has It never occurred to you, Mark Trent" She stopped, her eyes wide with amazement. Was this really the man who had pulled her from in front of that speeding car? After the first flash there was no recognition in his eyes, nor any concern, rather a quiet mockery, which, she felt, at the first word of hers would turn into active dislike. "You! You" Her breath caught in a laugh that was half sob. "What a mean break for you that you didn't know who I was, that you didn't let that car hit me! Then you would have had the money." She had never seen a face so colorless as Mark Trent's as his eyes met hers steadily. "Lucky I didn't know who you were, wasn't it? I might have been tempted. Schemers somehow lead I ... charmed lives." For a split second Brooke thought that fury had paralyzed her tongue. She made two attempts to speak before she protested angrily: "I'm not a schemer! I suppose it never has occurred to you that the 'Reyburn girl' may have loved Amanda Dane? May have Didn't I That Mary "I Told You, Jed, been glad to spend one evening a Want to Meet Her." week in a homey old house away so was from her whole 'darn family' in a I If her? aunt against my dense, how do you suppose she got crowded city apartment?" (TO UE COSTIM ED) wise to Mary Amanda's fortune? I understand that she had supper and spent a night with her once a week, Tsao Tsao, Chinese War had the night the companion-nurs- e ChieftfIn, Had 72 Graves off. She must have had a strong nn it Chinese history records a war mues uuci motive to commute of some time ago who had no lord adfashion a She's business hours. less than seventy-twgraves and viser in one of the big shops, isn't tombs. has never been deterIt she?" which one of these many model. mined just "Yep. Worked up from a the body of the decontains graves in on Mary Amanda Dane tuned ceased person. as the radio one morning just This chieftain known as Tsao Tsao Brooke Reyburn was giving her was in his day one of the most powwith love in fell fashion talk. She the provincial war lords, of all erful askher voice, and wrote to the girl and also a government official of invalid ing what the note during the Three Empire days. tied to a wheel chair was wearing. It was this same Tsao Tsao who Miss Reyburn answered with such had paved the way for his son to that understanding sympathetic the Han emperor and to to Lookout dethrone her invited aunt your establish a new dynasty known as House." the Wei dynasty with the son at "It's a fairy story brought up to the helm. a date. Only, for the spell of When Tsao Tsao died he was of a broadcast the substitute witch, afraid that his son might fail to schemer got girl's voice. The little carry out his plans and that the not only the money but Mary Amanmight be given the supreme body da's jewels, many of which were penalty of dismemberment. Conseo my grandmother's." quently he ordered that seventy-twfrom seventy-twhands and that her be dug graves Brooke dropped her cars after what seemed hours. tombs be placed over them at the Still talking? Perhaps Jed Stewart time of his death. Only his closest She relatives were to know just where was talking to the office boy. the body would be buried. Many him say: heard even to this day have heard reChinese will, "Your aunt said in her concerning Tsao Tsao, and the left legends she jewels if that member, wondered often if there have Miss that they ell, to you, you might-wseventy-thira grave and was them. Reyburn would appreciate ex tomb. to the toward you relented - u tent of naming you legatee should the girl die without children; she was canny enough to prevent her fortune from falling into the hands of her family. You wouldn't think Brooke Reyburn a schemer if you saw her; you'd know that she had a background of cultivated living. She has a vivid face with a deep dimple at one corner of her lovely mouth; her voice is sweet, spiced with daring. She came out of college to carry her whole darn family when her father died he was one of th. tragic twenty-niner- s whose investments were wiped out now, I suppose, her brother, who is acting in a stock company, and her sister will chuck their jobs and settle down on her. Her hair is like copper with the sun on it; her eyes change from brown to amber, and when she smiles at me I feel as cocky as a drum major at the head of a regiment." "Help! You're raving, Jed. Perhaps you're thinking of marrying by gaiety! Share the experiences 01 Brooke Reyburn, lovely girl who inherited both fortune and EMILIE LORING misfortune from a doting old lady. Read the first installment in today's issue . . . and don't miss the succeeding chapters! Washington, Two actions of secof the congress lately deserve more than nary attention. was Mahes News One of these coupiobably as rageous a position as any group of senators ever has taken. The other action by majority of the house-w- as shot through with the utmost cowardice and selfishness. tion Lately, a group of senators, nearly all Democrats, took their political lives in their hands and delivered to the senate a report from its judiciary committee advising defeat of President Roosevelt's proposal to add six new justices of his own choosing to the Supreme court of the United States. In my time in Washington, I believe I can say without qualifica-tithere never has been a committee action in the house or senate in which the President, as the leader of the dominant party, re ceived such a castigation on a legislative proposal as was given Mr. Roosevelt by Democrats who con stituted the majority of the senate judiciary committee. They did not mince words in any respect. What ever may be the merit of Mr. Roos evelt's proposal to add six justices of his own choosing to the highest court, the majority report of the judiciary committee left no stone unturned in disclosing objections to the proposal as opponents of the court reorganization scheme see them. Almost on the same day that senate Democrats were, in effect, breaking or revolting from the President's leadership, the Democratic majority in the house killed off a proposal for new taxes In the District of Columbia that would have resulted in taxing tho salaries of and senators and representatives their office staffs. They were brazen about it. They were not going to vote an income tax upon themselves and they made no effort to conceal their reasons for refusing to accept the recommendations of a special tax subcommittee which was acting for the permanent committee in the house on the District of Columbia. The District of Columbia committee, examining the budget for the seat of the federal government, was confronted with a deficit in the district finances and instructed its tax subcommittee to develop new sources of revenue in order that the District of Columbia might not get into debt. Among the taxes proposed was a tax on income of residents of the District of Columbia, which is synonymous with Washington, and it provided for taxing earnings here whether the person who earned the income was a resident of the capital city or not. That was too much. The majority in the house of representatives just could not take it. They voiced their objections openly and, being superior in numbers to those who believed that income in the District of Columbia should be taxed, they forced the tax bill back to the District of Columbia committee for revision. Indeed, they went further. The line of criticism of an income tax that would touch the sacred salaries of congressmen and senators was such as to have the effect of forcing the committee to bring in a tax bill that would increase the tax on property in the federal area. Now, it is a fact that few members of the house and a very small number of senators have bought residences in Washington. They usually live in apartments or hotels or lease homes for the period that congress is in session. Consequently, a real estate tax will not concern most of the representatives and senators. o' The indictment brought against the President's court plan by the s e n a t e judiciary Court Plan committee was Quite unusual in Report many respects. In the first instance, it was approximately fifteen thousand words in length; being in that regard probably the longest and most comprehensive analysis that any conever has gressional committee made of a piece of legislation. Certainly, it is the most extensive examination to be included in a committee report in the last quarter of a century. Every argument advanced by the in support of the administration plan was picked to pieces and held up to public gaze; every possible reason for expansion of the court by the addition of six new justices was scrutinized and denounced and. than, the committee put forth some of its own ideas. "It npplies force to the Judiciary," the committee said in a sentence that constituted one paragraph and thereby was emphasized. "The only argument for the increase which survives analysis," the report added, "is that congress should enlarge the court so as to make the policies of this administration effective." The bill was found by the seven Democrats and three Republicans who constituted a majority of the senate judiciary committee, to be "a needless, futile and utterly dangerous abandonment of constitutional principle." It charged that the "American system" of Independence of the courts would be violated and that if the bill were to be enacted into law, "political control" over the Judiciary branch of the government would pass into the hands of the President. With the presentation of this terrific attack on the bill to the senate, a second unusual circumstance developed. Those Democrats who were opposed to the President's proposal decided to go about the job of fighting the measure on the floor in a manner seldom seen in the congress. These opponents from tha Democratic ranks got together and chose Senator Wheeler of Montana as leader of the Dembcratic opposition to the Democratic President's court revision program. They gave him full authority to act, including the selection of a steering committee, a committee on strategy, to aid him. Thus, In the senate now we have three major leaders. Senator Wheeler will speak for the court opposition; Senator Robinson of Arkansas as the leader of the Democratic party in the senate will lead the fight for passage of the court bill; and Senator McNary of Oregon will head up the Republicans as usual. Since all of the Republicans and Independents excepting only Senator La Follette, Progressive, of Wisconsin, are opposed to the court revision plan, Senator McNary and Senator Wheeler are working hand in glove against the regular Demo headed by Senator cratic line-uRobinson. It appears that the President is going to be badly defeated on this piece of legislation, but it is too early to be sure. Mr. Roosevelt is a powerful figure and he has political knowledge that must be described as remarkable. He has with him in the senate some exceedingly able political strategists. It is thus a battle of wits. Mr. Roosevelt has said several times that he will accept no compromises. There is a very definite feeling at the Capitol, however, that the President will be glad to have a compromise if he can get one and save the bill from complete wreckage. On the other hand, Senator Wheeler and his strategy committee have announced in no uncertain terms that they will defeat the bill or any compromise that is offered. Time alone can answer the question of what will come out of the President's proposal. At this writing, the odds certainly are on the the President against Imposition. p Speaking of taxes and the selfishness that was evident in the house action, as men-Hu- Tax Evaders tioned earlier. calls to mind the by investigation the joint house and senate committee that is now under way. This committee, made up of five representatives and five senators has begun a search to find out how taxpayers avoid taxes or reduce the amounts they would otherwise have to pay by various trick schemes. The committee has been given fifty thousand dollars with which to make the investigation and it is receiving able assistance from Under Secretary Roswell Magill and other Treasury experts on taxation. Contrary to the outlook when Mr. Roosevelt released a vicious attack on tax dodgers and tax avoldcrs, this committee is getting down to real business and there is every reason to believe it will be able to recommend to congress changes in the law that will step some of the schemes and tricks to which large taxpayers have resorted. I have sat In on a number of the hearings thus far, including the opening session when Secretary Morgenthau made the opening statement and disclosed to the satisfaction of everyone that he was not conversant with the problem at hand. Like the President, Mr. Morgenthau attempted to place the tax problem confronting the government on moral grounds. His statement did mot click with the committee at all. With two or three exceptions, the committee members recognized the problem as purely a question of law and Senator Pat Harrison, Democrat of Mississippi, vice chairman, said that there was no point in making the investigation "a Roman holiday." Therefore, the thing settled down very quickly to an earnest study of cases where men have resorted to various kinds of subterfuges of law, to reduce their tax liability. In this connection, it seemed to me that too much credit cannot be given Under Secretary Magill who apparently is anxious to get to the bottom of the problem. t, Western Newspaper Union. |