Show E RIAL RY 0 can heir to CJ i 0 ir JL S by br frederick cauther te i the other cian etc B V f 1 I illustrations by ray walters 61 copyright by J 13 lippincott co 4 SYNOPSIS andy meleen aged and eccentric mila millionaire lio leonaire llon alro miner lo Is dying and orders his attorney to draw up a will leaving all his property to the son of a sister from whom be ae was separated years before and of chose name oven even ho he is iq ignorant andy tells the attorney that he was married in his As guth youth hut but left his wife after a acl 1 I in which ho he struck her he learned afterward that she and tits his daughter were dead the scene shifts to new york introducing wiltrid wilfrid stennis who Is telling his sance nance eunice Tre what ho he would do if he were the possessor of twenty or fifty millions in the law office of carboy passavant cobine at for the estate of andy moleen meleen roger boger hews hew reports the result of his bearch in the east for heirs of meleen ile he don conceals beals the fact that a daughter of meleen to Is alive wilfrid sees an ad ement for information concerning martha meleen or descendants he e rec the description as that of his dead mother and decides to answer the advertisement i CHAPTER IV continued she occasionally spoke of an elder brother arother somewhere in this country but she never heard from him that I 1 can remember and we ve always sup s posed he was killed billed in the war and his name surely you have heard her mention his name mr sten als why certainly it was andrew andrew meleen of course the lawyers indifferent manner had disappeared and he had leaned forward anxiously in his chair pending this answer but now he resu resumed ined his former position with as much satis faction action shining in his fat face as the legal proprieties ever permitted well mr stennis Stenn ts I 1 am warranted in going so far as to say that this interview has been eminently satisfactory up to this point and I 1 am delighted to have made your itce I 1 will have those little details to which I 1 alluded looked up and if you will do me the honor to call here at the same hour this day week I 1 may have some interesting news for you isome exceedingly ex cx ly interesting news in fa fact ct but but stammered wilfrid 1 I am not a bit wiser than when I 1 came in youve pumped me dry and I 1 should like to know something about the advertisement what it means and so would my my friends mr passavant looked at the quiver ing wilt wilf compassionately and dispassionately siona tely over his gold rimmed glasses your impatience is quite excusable under the circumstances my iny dear sir but until we have in our hands the collateral proofs of which I 1 have spokes keti it would be manifestly improper for me to commit myself further good morning and so as wilfrid ruefully told eunice that evening 1 I came away like the king of france who marched up the hill and down again and got nothing for my trouble eunice made him tell the story of the interview twice over and then sat lee quietly ruminating her forehead and i eyebrows puckered in a puzzled frown it must be I 1 am jure of it wilf vf at she exclaimed a at length tho the advertisement verti has something to do with that long lost uncle andrew ol of io do you really think so said wilt wilf dubiously why all old Pass avants talk was about mother he only mentioned uncle andrew once you silly boyl boy the girl exclaimed with pretty petulance giving him a little push the very thing that makes ma es me sure lot from which it may be seen that eunice Tre possessed what has been called the leaping mind so there was nothing tor for it but to wait the week out with what patience the trio could muster for eunice and old Tre were equally interested with wilfrid the time passed in all sorts of feverish conjectures and wilt wilf it must be confessed was a somewhat idle and careless apprentice all that week hence it was with a beating heart and all sorts of nameless and formless expectations that stennis presented himself in temple court at the appointed hour one week later this time his reception was cordiality itself tempered with such marked respect an aa to be positively embarrassing barr assing to a youngster so inexperienced perien ced in the ways of the world there was a third person present also introduced as mr phineas carboy the senior member of the firm wilfrid sat on the edge of the proffered seat in some trepidation and found himself by a battery of tour four eyes and two pairs of eyeglasses so sip respectfully solicitous was wao the manner of his reception mr passavant led off in one ond of his pompously rounded per periods it Is in a pleasure to renew the acquaintance of so presentable a young gentleman as yourself mr stennis Stenn ls and to be the bearers of what will I 1 am sure be most grateful tidings not F ama lie in pw rm it was more than poor wilt wilf could comprehend the least item in our gratification consists in the fact that you bear a most moat dignified and euphonious name one eminently fitted to grace the good fortune we are about to announce wi dij frid stennis esquire ali ah lie he rolled out the full title in his best forensic manner and our unsophisticated wilf who was staggered by all this unexpected hornage homage and flattery hardly recognized recognised ed his own fa familiar camillar appellation here mr air carboy with in an impatient fm patient cough took up the tale as though he would say we have had ha I 1 the fancy touches and the flummery now lets t get down to business the facts are briefly as follows mr air stennis this firm for many years past has numbered among its most valued clients your late la ina maternal uncle ml ali andrew meleen whose reputation in the west yeas was largely merged in the town named after him in the state ot of nevada wilfrid could not repress a gesture of surprise at the mention of old andrews name eunice was right after all three months ago mr air stennis your uncle died not very suddenly but full of years and childless he 7 was I 1 ani am happy to say for your sake a very wealthy man I 1 had the honor to draw his last will and testament in which he named mr passavant and myself as co executors the estate will foot up at partly in paying mining proper properties but mainly in cash and available securities besides this principal there is also a yearly income atthe at the present market values of silver and copper of something like your ybur uncles will makes you sole legatee and it becomes our very pleasant duty mr stennis Stenn ls to congratulate you upon your good fortune from what we can learn of you personally I 1 have no hesitation in expressing the opinion that this vast wealth could not have fallen into better hands both partners rose to their feet at this peroration and each grasped h hand of the dumfounded dum founded wilfrid who stood speechless before them saying never a word vainly saying es to moisten kis parched lips then lie he sat down saying piteously tm im afraid I 1 dont quite take it all in gentlemen you must give me time to realize the news oh you will soon get used to the situation my dear sir said the bland and beaming passavant with a return to his fatherly manner surely echoed mr carboy with a compassionate smile you will be one of the ae richest young men of the age twenty five millions in realty and a yearly income of a million besides it was more than poor wilt wilf could comprehend at a moments notice with these words ringing in his oars ears he staggered out of the and gained the street there to walk it off 1 CHAPTER V horatio passavant occupied a residence on park avenue that dullest of new yorks many dull uptown streets the place and its furnishings like their owner were heavy eminently respectable pompous and quite pretentious tent ious lous tb the household consisted of himself his daughter and his spinster sister the latter tolerated chiefly because she made an ail admirable sheep dog for the second being conveniently deaf quite colorless as to opinions and capable ot of complete self effacement upon occasion clara passavant the daughter was commonly accounted a handsome woman of a pale blonde stately type of beauty she w was as thoroughly mercenary brilliant as an ail icicle and nearly as cold heartless vain and ambitious her all consuming aim in life 11 was to contract a splendid marriage in her eyes money was the indispensable pen sable requisite for human happiness and although she probably never shaped the thought in so many words she would undoubtedly sell herself to the highest bidder father and daughter were sitting over their dessert on the evening of the day which brought to wilfrid the tidings of his stupendous change in fortune the scene was far as the antipodes from the humble interior over in Alac macdougal dougal street where another ather and a more inore momentous interview ale was at that very ino moment ment also taking place now ow tell me about this mr stennis of yours papa salt said clara after the servants had retired Is he at all presentable I 1 not halt half bad my dear returned pe the lawyer a trifle raw and unformed lorried lor nied perhaps but under the proper tutelage tut eloge I 1 imagine lie he will become a very valuable adjunct to society ho he Is one of the richest young men in the world world remember how flow rich for example qu queried earled clara absently admiring the hash flash and shimmer of her bracelet his income from his mining properties alone la Is a year and there is a capital nest egg of at least twenty five million back of that A million dollars a year mused clara aloud one could support an establishment anywhere very comfortably fort ably on that her father gave vent to an ercla f mation that was ilko a snort of disgust one year of blis inc dicomo is more than I 1 have ama oed in all my professional life when does doea he como come tato into hig prop erty was the beauty beautha a next buese quese tion 4 I 1 oh practically immediately there are but few legal formalities to ua bo observed 1 I should think be he would feol feel very grateful to you continued clara for rescuing him from poverty and obscurity ity 11 well you see my dear said eald mr ift passavant rubbing his double chin dubiously at this characteristic feminine bit of logic the facts being an a they were we could hardly help finding him there was really no trouble at all any other firm could and would have done as well I 1 do not exactly perceive why he should be especially grateful on that score no doubt tho the young nan man mels feels kindly towards me 4 I 1 have every reason to believe that ho he does in point of fact what has lie he been doing for a living all these years his vocation has been that of a bookkeeper in a large export house downtown 1 I suppose he knows nothing whatever of kocl society ety papa ho he could have no really nice people among his acquaintances quain highly improbable I 1 should say was the rejoinder 1 I was thinking clara that we might do the poor fellow a signal service by taking him up introducing him in the right quarters and all that sort of thing with an airy wave of nf the hand band very likely he gobbles his soup and eats with his knife do you suppose he ever walked through a cotillion in his life said clara with supercilious disdain her father gave a ventral chuckle come come my dear wo we must not be too hard on young stennis Stenn ls ho he has really quite passable manners and impresses me as a man mail who would quickly fall into civilized ways oh you men do that better than women anyway commented this mature girl satirically has he be any drawbacks in the way of detrimental detri relatives any sisters he is absolutely alone in tho world my dear he was the only son bon of his mother and she was a widow his father was a civil engineer by profession fes sion something in his favor admitted the daughter of the house what is his full name papa wilfrid stennis does he be spell it with an T 1 I or with 4 an e with an T wilfrid W i 1 l 1 f r i d rather a well sounding name dont you so 6 oh it will do said clara indifferently suppose wo we invite him to dinne some night suggested mr passavant at length just by ourselves you know then you can take his measure and er er or form your own estimate mate of his possibilities this was precisely what tho the scheming clara had been leading towards although she know knew full well that manlike man like her father would probably abri claim credit for the idea should tho experiment turn out well AH you please papa shall wo we say a keeli wee from next wednesday the sooner the better my dear and so wilfrida Wilf rids social fate was settled in the privacy of her own room that night before she slept clara passavant went to hor her dainty escritoire and taking pen and paper wrote several times in a dashing bold hand tho the words mrs wilfrid stennis scanning the sheet at arms length then she tore the paper into shreds laughed softly to herself and proceeded to nake make her quite elaborate toilet for foi the he night almost at the same hour another squally equally interesting episode of tam tall was waa n progress amid far different surd sur soundings oun roun dings and yet the subject wasal most identically the same the actors aly only being different TO 70 BE CONTINUED |