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Show I THE FORTUNE 1 HUNTER Novelized by Louis Joseph Vance From the Play of the Same Name by WINCHELL SMITH tfy Cepyrltfht. 1910. by Wtnchell Snltli and LouU Joseph Vance CHAPTER XVII. wasatKOBAOLY nothing ctcr gave B,j rise to moro comment Id Rnd-W Rnd-W vllle than Hetty Graham's departure de-parture to spend the winter at n boarding school near Philadelphia. Hardly nny one Unew anything about it In fact, the rumor of It was Just being noised about nnd contemptuously contemptuous-ly discredited on nil hnnds when Tra-ecy Tra-ecy galloped down Main street Monday morning with the news that she had left on the early train. ftadvlllc was nt first stupefied, then clamorous, but there was little Information Infor-mation to be got out of old Sam. Duucau himself refused to be Interviewed. Inter-viewed. IIo told everybody who had the Impudence to mention the matier to him that It was Mr. Graham's affair. af-fair. Mr. Graham wns n substantial business man, he said, and If he ch03e to send his daughter away to school he had a perfect right to do so One direct result of It all was to hasten Josle's own leave taking, It Would never do to let the Grahams eclipse the Lockwoods, you see, Josle had been talking of going to a school In Maryland, but Hetty's move to a I '!'$ -, 3rfc Mp ? s2BBtJBK&SBF-Bif? 'vvt 1 "i BBBBbI SHBBiBEBBBrBBBBE ' V SEfi BBBJIVSjBiSBrlH' jw" J -i 9HM A PA1ITV OOWN KOI! STATE OCCASIONS. faRhlouiihlf center like l'hllndilihiii made lior cIimiiki her mind, and nr-ratigcliiculH nr-ratigcliiculH were made by which Jusle was able to go Hetty one belter A young ladle' seminary In New nrk city Itself received .losle. She left in bereaved uboiii a week aftei Hetty vanlHhed from our ken. but promised to bu back for the Christmas holiday. Betty wan happy, she protested lit every cominuulcatlon. and wholly eon. tent. She was getting along The nHmi. i.lrln llliwl her II lilt HtlO liked other girls liked her. ami she liked them, thesa statements being made In the order of their relative Importance LoU of them, of course, were frightfully fright-fully swell (FJetty annexed "frightful ly" nt school, by the byei and had all sorts of clothes. The drug store, not to bo outdouo, supplied her with a party gown for state occasions. Joslo kept her promise and came home for Christmas. She was reticent as to her impressions of the Now York seminary, but Beouied extremely glad r to bo home, notwithstanding the fact LjL that Nut had apparently contracted no Mr disturbing alliances with the other I belles of our village. And Roland re- I malncd true a rcllablo second string I to Josle's bow. Roland was working I bard at tho bank, with an application that onrnedr lllnky Lockwood's regard I and outspoken approbation, and his I Christmas raiment proved the sensv tlou of the season. H In passing I should mention that H Hetty dldu'l come home once through' H out tho entire school term. The Christ- mas and Enster holidays sho spent with rlri friend at her Philadelphia ! H home. H Uean while life In our town slm- H mersd gently. Duncan coetluu4 t H nk progress. For thing re- tan that he put In hot trlti whip- xd ctnm, which. hWcM . . j5Tnr:,-BrKv . " m IvMVJVJBHVJHKVJVHHVJsiBHI the trade regain t In the summer from Sothcrn tt l.ee. Occasionally Duncan visited some of the towns In the county to develop the mall order business which he had ue-cossfully ue-cossfully Inaugurated and which In-creased In-creased materially the profits of the Arm. There was fl ccrlalti night along to- : ward the 1st of January when trade was dull, as It always Is after Christmas, Christ-mas, and there was nobody In the store save Not nnd Tracey Knch had their task, whatever It may hare been, and each wan busied with It, but of the two Tracey seemed the more restless. Ounenn broke a long silence In tho store. "What's the trouble, Tracey?" Tracey pulled up with a stare of confusion. con-fusion. "I 1 dunno. Mr. Dunconj I was thlnkln', I guess." "Anything gone wrong?" "Not yet." "Somebody been demonstrating that your doll's stuffed with sawdust, Tra cey?" "No-o; but. say. Mr. Duncan" Tr.t cey's confusion became (errllle. "Sny on. Mr. Tanner" Tracey slruggjed perceptibly. The 'words .when they came were blurted, "Ah, I was only thlnkln' 'bout Angle." "Do you over think about anything else?" - "No," Tra.'ey admitted honestly, "not much, Hut I was wouderln' " i "Well?" "Are you stuck on Angle, Mr. Duncan?" Dun-can?" demanded Tracey desperately. "Great miakes! 1 hope not!" The boy sighed "Thank you, Mr. -.sbHHHbHL HsW jhhhhBh- $ryIjHHn. Xmi MWBk W r "ifDB B ' IB! ssKfnif U tsssPll-i hNsPIm timMBB HSHir 'l 1 PuHy PSsfclS 1 1 fssVMHsff WV-sibbbHK 't ? mM H) if H WW ouncan TnAvniiHD to Tun NniannoiiiNa TOWMS TO UCVl'XOI UUBMESS. I Duucau. 1 was only worryln' because you aud Angle Is slngln' together in thi; choir now Joslo Lockwood's gona to school un' un' Anglo's tho purtlcst girl in town nn I was 'frnld 't yon niight liko her best when Josle's uwny. An' I wnuted to nsk you to pick out s'mother girl." Duncan chuckled silently. "Tracey," he said presently, "it strikes mo you must bo In love with Anglo." The boy gulped. "1 I am." "And I think she's rather partial to you." "Do you, really. Mr. Duncan?" , "1 do Do you want to tuairy her?" "Uee" I can't hardly wait J Only." Tracey continued, disconsolate, "It Uln't no use, really. She's so jnirty an' swell an' old man Tut hill's so rich not like the Luck woods, but rich all the samce-an' I'm only the son of the livery stable man an' fat nn' nil that an' "- "Nonsense. Tracey!" Nat Interrupted il mi iy "If you really waut her aud will follow the rules 1 giro you it's n cinch." "Honest. Mr. Duncan?" "I guarantee It, Tracey. Listou to me." And Duncan expounded ICel-loggV ICel-loggV rules athlngtb, "idaptlng them to Trncey's circumstances, f course, aud throughout maintained the gravity grav-ity of a groveo Image. "You try and you'll see If I'm not right," he concluded. conclud-ed. "aosh, I b'lleve you are!" TraOT cried admiringly. "I'm Just gain" V see bow It works." "Do, If you'd favor we. Trace." "Say, Mist-Nat, you've treated me sontrthln' Immense." "Your mistake, Tracey. I haven't treated anylwdy since I've beeu here I'm ou the wagon " "1 mean Just now, when wo wai talkln' 'bout me an' Angle. I'd-I'i like to help you tho samo way If I could." "You would I" Duncan eyed the boj apprehensively, wondering what wi coming. "Yes, Inileedy, I would. An' p'rhapj I kin tell you somethln' that will." "Speak. 1 beg." ' "You er-)ou'ro tryin' to court Joslt Lockwood, ain't you?" I "Ohl" said Nat. "So that was it! That's a ici ret, Tracey." he averred. "Ail rlgln Only If you are"sb'i your'n." "Just how do you ftcu.ro Uiat out?" "Oh. I klu tell. She was ta here t algkt with Itolaad." I ssssBBBsMim ' r f ' j Bshf SiBBBBBBBBBBBm- JM SSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSBBbA ;1IMbiiiiiiiiiBb3 .ibbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbHibbIbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbI lW-wWpislpiiy "I WAS ONLY THI.NKIN' ABOUT ANOIU. ' 'Tonight ?" "Yes, Just afore you come home from "trnyer nieetlu'. She wns lookln' fot you, nn' when she been you wasn't here sho wouldn't wait for no soda not JBF .BBBBkk BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBaW'BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB sbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbVbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbA KsBiBBfcsSBiBBBBBBBBlSBBBBBBBBP -18gffSR!iiSay I he BTiurr-KD orr this Tor onb. . uothln'; said sho had u hcadacho nn' wns golu' home. -Roland went with her, but she didn't want him to. You , Just missed seejn' her." I "Ilcavcns, what a blowl" "Hut Roland's takln' her homa I needn't upset you none." I "Thank you for those kind words, ! Tracey." Nat sighed nnd passed a I troubled hand across his brow. "You're I n true friend." . "I'm tryln' to be, Nat. same's you are to me." Tracey thought this over. I "Hut you ain't foolln' me, are you?" he asked presently. "I menu 'bout beln' ' a true friend?" "Why should I?" "Ah, I dunno. You're so cur'ns sometimes. I nln't never sure whether you mean what you're snyln' or not" "Oh. don't sny that." "Well. I alu't the only one. Everybody Every-body In town says they don't understand under-stand you half the time." Duncan mined over to Tracey. Ills fuco was enHrelr serious. ,'Tracey," he said, dropplne a hand on the boy's shoulder, "do you know, nothing in life is harder to bear than not to be understood?" Tracey wrestled with this for a mo-i mo-i ment. but It was beyond hi in "Theu why the dickens dou't you talk so's folks 'II know what It's about?" he demanded lieittedl). "IJecause dm!" Duucan besltuttd, with his enigmatic smile. "Well, because be-cause the rules don't require it." "What d' you mean by that?" Tracey exploded. Nat couldn't explain, so he countered counter-ed neatly. "This Is one of your An gte evenings. Isu't It. Tracey?" "Yep. but"- I "Well, you hurry along. I'll close up tho shop." To Duncan, uow seated on the edge of an upturued box In u corner of tbo( store, came an Idea, ne drew a roll of bills from bis pocket and stripped off the top one. " "Here's $5," ho said to Tracey. "Girls can usually bo captured by Judicious exendU ires. I wish you luck." "Ah, thanks. Mr. Duncan." ."But. Tracey" The boy paused at the door. "What?" "Remember what I told you. Don't i you make too much love. Lt Angle do that." ' "Gosh, that HI be the hardest rule of all for me!" A shadow clouded Tra-I Tra-I cey's Uonesl eyes. "But I got to do it that way, anyway. I can't k her to rnarry ju ylt. I can't affcrtl to get mardtd." "If a coutrry world, Tracey, a eoa-tgeur eoa-tgeur fj" aUthnl Nat In a leii of ncc pent melancholy, "What mokes you say that? You klu git married 's soon 's you wnnt to." "You think so. Tracey?" "All ,uil got to do 's nsk .loslc" "I'm almost ufrnld you're right." "Why? Don't you want to git married mar-ried ?" "WeH"-.'fit atnllcd "no. Don't believe be-lieve 1 do, not Just now, nt nny rote." "Well, ypu don't havo to if you don't wont to. G'd ulght." "Yes. I do," Nnt told Trncey's back. "The rules say so. If the girl asks mo I must." IIo grimaced ruefully beneath his wisp of a mustache. "Anyhow, I've got a few months left." So tho winter wore away, and as spring drew nigh upon our valley Dun-enn Dun-enn seemed to grow perturbed, even as ho had been In tho autumn before Ilctty went away. Duncan urged Sam to more his household house-hold from over the store to n house ilvi pointed tun that a separate rcbldcuiM . distincti) beiitied the dignity of a man who was ai oiii e a prominent Inventor and one of ltiulvlllo's lending mcr chants tilde a "Personal" In the late Issue of the Itadvlllc Cllhecm, to say nothing of the social position of hla daughter inclining Hetty. And the house Duucau had his metaphorical I eye upon was large enough to shelter Nat himself In addition to the lira ham fninil.v Graham fell In with the scheme with out n iiiiinnur of dubiety or dissent Whatever Nat propositi In Sam's Understanding Un-derstanding was right and feasible, and ovcu If It wasn't really" so Nat would make It so They engaged tho house aud moved. Miss Ann Sophrou-slba Sophrou-slba Whltmnrsh, a maiden lady of for-ty-Dvo or thereabouts, pqpulnrly known ns "Phrony," had beeu coming In by tho day to "do for" old Sam In tho rooms above the shop. She was engaged as resident housekeeper for the new establishment es-tablishment nnd entered upon her duties du-ties with all the discreet Joy of one whose maternal lustlucts hnvc been suppressed throughout her life. Sho mothered Sam, and she mothered Nat, nnd she panted In expectation of the day wheu she would have Ile'tty to mother (To bo Continued.) |