Show ENE e ally G 0 0 my service the bobbs merrill company CHAPTER VI 7 from that point the narrative to which saif was giving a breathless at grew more involved and ram bling even after a lapse of years it was painful for johnstone nesbit to recall what he had then suffered reassembled the tale ran as follows john nesbit was as good as his word tie ile came at once to see his big young cousin lie he was a tall texan with a gentle voice and a charming mile he ile talked little made quick searching ear ching inquiries and left hurriedly announcing that he would return in a few days he went at once to paris and by a lavish misuse of tips managed to walk in on jasper unannounced 1 I don t know what I 1 meant to do to him he acknowledged in recount ing the story of that interview but when I 1 set get eyes on that miserable lump of blubber quaking in his chair et try ing to pretend my visit was a pleasant surprise I 1 pledge you my word that I 1 couldn coulden t touch him I 1 I 1 remembered him at the timp timi of your mother s mar ariage as a rather attractive ani dapper young man with very smooth manners too smooth to suit me now he seems one of the obscene creatures of a dream whom you hit only to find your fist embedded in stuff ike 1 ke wet cob webs but much nastier that s what he was III e to me stone and I 1 never couched him after all although gh I 1 got all I 1 demanded by threats of what I 1 would do to him unless he came across I 1 didn dian t take long to settle the matter either because what I 1 really wanted was you I 1 d taken a lawyer with me and left him down stairs the moment id brought tas per to my way of thinking he grinne I 1 at the recollection I 1 sent for the man to come up he ile had the papers ready prepared and your father signed away all parental rights without a murmur also he handed over your mother a money to me shed she d left you all she possessed he ile could have con tested the will but that would have given kiven away what she thought of him and I 1 judge he Is too rich to care about the mere money probably he was glad to be rid of me so cheaply anyway he signed up and I 1 in your guardian stone now wh whit whits its s your idea of what you d like to do I 1 where are you going stone asked back to texas the quickest way I 1 can ive interests there that need a man on the job for the present can I 1 go with you I 1 im in an ameri amerl can and I 1 ve never seen america cousin looked worried it in t that I 1 wouldn t I 1 ke to take you he said at last I 1 im in looking forward to the time when we can be together at present my part of texas Is no place for you weve we ve struck oil on my ranch which means that the country Is spoiled or will be when tl ti fa news gets out its going to be rough and tough out there no place for a young boy take you over and put you in an american school up north somewhere it if you prefer it if you re not happy I 1 lere ere I 1 mean I 1 really believe it would be better if you finished your education where you are if you can etick stick it you 11 II have ample spend n money you 11 hive have your 1 loli holidays days I 1 hope be able to come over and spend some of them with you stone decided to stay in figland Flig land since he could no longer hope to see his mother and could not be with cousin john it mattered very I 1 atle to him one request however he made of his guard an lie ile wanted his name changed to I 1 Is mother mothers s maiden name cousin john cocked an eye at him speculatively then rather diffidently advanced a proposition what about my adopting you he asked I 1 in a bachelor all of forty five years old and not I 1 kely to mirry marry I 1 d kind of cotton to the I 1 lei lea of hav bay ing in a son gon of my own and that said stone 1 19 why my name Is johnstone ohn lohn stone nesb esh t instead of jasper stone bockwell Poc kwell jr I 1 ft want ant ed cousin john s name only hut but I 1 d always been cabled called stone gand nd he said s ild bed lied a it e namos na mos or hair THE STORI FROM THE OPENING CHAPTER follow ng the th ng of her a ece cintra mat ida smith lovely sm sin I 1 by her own hs ins stence stance youngest and phys cally the weight est of the four lovely listers sisters finds herself in dec deadly stra bened c but has her own plans for the future wh ch she refuses to divulge to her a prom nent figures in new york soc ety the fain am ly estate Love lylea in virg n a Is owned by sm sin Ps brother bill lee who lives in chia ch ie smas sm f s dearest is to own lovelli a it is rented to a mr johnstone nesb t under the name madame sm sin f lishes holies herself as a little sister of the R ch a cons bitant she has a cl ent a it man who des res to evade the love lover ruice like pursuit of an dina rily stout lady h a neighbor whom he refers to as mercy later the lady in quest on M ss so martha washington mercedes comes her story is that because of her excess she has lost her lover johnny sm sin I 1 recognizing the ident ty of her caller advises her to det clet I 1 the she has reduced mercy proposes that sm sin f should try the cure and if the results are sat mercy will follow her example for a generous fee consents johnny discovers sm sin I 1 s ident ry ty and is h insela recognized by emif as the tenant of Love lylea john stone nesb t sm sin f feels she must know more of nesb t and asks h m to on her that evening at her apartment he tells her a pathetic story 0 his unhappy childhood ch barted 1 arted in fie vie middle so we dropped the cisper and the rockwell and by act of congress or something imbres sive I 1 was legally renamed johnstone nesbit emif gathered that his later years at school in n angland had not been un on happy cousin john whom he now called dad had gone over frequent ly as he had promised they had many plans for the future when stone s education had finally been declared sat comple ed stone stones s idea of happiness was to be with dad who gave him the affection he had craved his ills favorite dream was that they should establish themselves on an es tate in america on the subject of where it sl be his suggestions re vigue vague texas to john nes es bita bit thinking was spoiled for sports men when unsuspected oil wells might be discovered in your tamed ate vicin ity over overnight d intent always on pleas ing his bo boy y he had looked the country over far and wide and finally decide that for climate sport and congenial society virginia probably had more to offer them than any other locality we won t tie ourselves up too tight at first he said with his endearing endear an 9 twinkle were young fellows yet and once we get going there theres s no telling where well we 11 stop we might buy a yacht if you re inclined that way stone voted against a yacht horses and dogs are the things I 1 hanker banker after virginia sounds good to me dad that s all right with me nesbit agreed heartily heir tily I 1 II 11 set an agent searching for something really desirable stone was counting the weeks until he could leave school mr nesbit had offered to come over and loin join him for a tour of europe but the boy was on fire to reach america home as he called it his americanism was al at ways subject to attack in one way or other but he nursed it sedulously reminding himself constantly of his mother s words amer cans are the bravest the best the kindest modest people in the whole world tl TI e time was corn com ing when he would live amon them no need to say how his heart bounded at the prospect and when the day came he was in need of their kindness john nesbit his dearly loved dad was dead operated on hastily for append bitis he had never come out of the ether his will left everything of which he qt he produced a leather case and held it out to her died possessed to ay n y beloved adopted son who has been a real son to me and has given me the truest I 1 api apt iness of my life stone had sailed for america the day after he received tl e 4 able telling him of mr nebb t s death this was ras not the joyous passage he hid had for so ion looke I 1 forward for ard to and once landed he q kiil liil ly found that great veath br aught cor or d n i I 1 miles the agent engaged by mr nl nesbit to find a su tible estate in virg nia ilia ar rived with an enthusiastic endorse nent ent of Love lylea IN hen he reached this i tart art of hia his nari namathe ath e S one I 1 iaiser a abed tu ablin in to an inner pocket and emif ca ial ii t a glint of green pim plot pd ed far ba k on ahls his waistcoat oat plainly the emeril I 1 horse shoe was a fetah with him he ile finally pi pt deuced a leather hather i ase and ing the catch he held it out to her open within athin it restito on a bed of velvet lay an ivory miniature mounted in gold emif tool it from his hand with in terest how beautiful full I 1 she said what ex i its te w akl she examined it carefully caie fully taking it from the case and tl ti e chiffra engraved on tl it e gold of the I 1 ack I 1 I 1 L she ree rea I 1 that a really curious because I 1 can see a vague resemblance to all my sisters and they are all L I 1 lovelys as tradition and superstition in our family ordain I 1 don it know about your sisters I 1 do know its it s exactly I 1 ke you stone made the assertion positively you laughed at me when I 1 said so before now oaf if you ve ne a tool 1001 ing glass handy 0 o and ionic for your yourself elf self got up obediently and went rent to the minor of the care fu ful comparison convinced her of the truth of his assertion an abing as it seemed to her the original of of the portrait portra I 1 t had not he been e n S so 0 heavy vy a as s she but it was the p ct 1 ire re of a young woman of fine and poise dignity was there and a sense of rac race e anyone ml ht be proud to re s ich a lady don t you want to know who she Is isa stone In inquire 1 emif st ired at him in gur surprise but I 1 do know she asserted the costume gave that am away ay ashes your grandmother yo ir great grandmother I 1 to mean can yes stone nodded that s who it Is have lave you guessed her name too you don t mean you can t mean stuff stuttered her name was lorraine Lorr alne lovely the plot of this story said emif after a ll ie pause Is becoming too complicated for my simple mind to fathom do you wint me to believe that this handsome creature is one of our lovely ladles ladies of Love lylei lylea sure enough I 1 found her on the family tree that hangs in the little room at the right of the back door I 1 can show her to you stone asserted my aly mother was mined after her she was her grandmother you know then were cousins cousing welcome to the family cousin stone instead of the swift response she expected stones face darkened azain int I 1 m aar id i d its it s rather distant and at any rate you wont won t claim me when you ve heard the rest of my story nonsense I 1 stuff spoke rob estly in virginia once a cousin always a t cousin I 1 I 1 refuse to be rep im I 1 in your cousin it its s a silly name but its it s the only one I 1 answer to I 1 dont fancy mitilda it sounds too meek could it be possible that she saw a smile twitch at the corners of stone stones s mouth if so it was gone la ili an instant he apol e promptly I 1 in to understand that meekness Is t your ng characteristic I 1 chats hat s such a surl sunrise ribe and disappoint nent emif the prod prediction of tte tt e miniature minia tire ire hid had een a climax and it was with some thing of an effort that stone resumed h s narrative knowing himself po pos hessed of a strain of I 1 dively blood nhen he heard beard tl ti at I 1 ove lylea was in the marl et for rent he hid had taken it without a n ament s hesitation 11 had he felt an interest in the welfare of the plantation that thit another tenant would not bring to it and it meant hornet ing to him that no other place could in a apis ire he who had rever had a home was no v ing go n ng home he wa was s at the tin e only eighteen he was wag very sad very I 1 r ely verv very aline alme and it must he b rne rue in mind tl it at he vis almost in re I 1 11 I 1 vlen v isn rant of the living lhing ond t ns in A erica in general and in V r fa ta in i artic ilir flir all he tid t id t live on verc ere h s g n nem em ries of did an fin I 1 his in the q oft re leate I 1 eaic I 1 i v r rl I 1 A meric ins ing arp are rf it e best the h b ave ane t it tie e kindest pent 4 in the whole worl wort I 1 TI ere s a t f fodat acl ipa lea st t ne toll tol her in fact there are I 1 ts of sni sh ts in ml other tl ti in ings b I 1 im in s I 1 rl rise I 1 yo I 1 left behl nd it BIS as in fn tie lonely veirs after I 1 was wag settle I 1 at lovel I 1 tilt tiit I 1 mile a study f the fam ram ly IV I 1 it I 1 in it s q gr A ving ing lite into and I 1 N ve e a lot to tell you yet I 1 don I 1 under stai I 1 emif arini IP I 1 her br w why were 3 vo 0 I 1 I 1 nely 7 vir ginia ginta Is the most hosp dif ie le place in thin worl wort I 1 not to nt n E st i x e interposed t alls Is face race acet et in it its kimn pst est III 11 e X t ti 11 me I 1 isten nten H 11 iving n tl ti in pise else to clin to I 1 hel hell I 1 tight to ta tie e plina 1 pil 11 and I 1 hid h id out nut t gether until everything was ras reila ret iv I 1 did not go near I 1 oi 0 eNlea eh lea don dont t bom forget ge t thit that my g ing there wis was the fulfillment of a it lifelong felot g wish at last I 1 was to be with real ameri amerl a s q of p ie ip stock 1 ah I h SP my in ther hid had aillet among other th the I 1 in IP ie t i eople in the world I 1 id d I 1 irrel P I 1 s i etl tang ing of h th hunting and rd ra ing in and I 1 d imi lint arted a 1 ack ak of I 1 na sh fox hounds and I 1 tl it em at I 1 ve lylea one of the first thins I 1 I 1 d there was to begin to go ait with them once q pak bit there Is IR a hunt club I 1 s tone was and stone smiled without mirth tt ere sp ke the virginian I 1 I 1 know there s nothing you can tell me that I 1 1 don t know now about the hoxton hunt it was established before the th evolution revolution if it not before the flood ceorge washington rode with itt it sc so did Te fferson its it s the pet and pride of half halt a dozen counties and theli their ma nates at that time I 1 was entirely ignorant of all this and when I 1 got a letter from a man I 1 had nevel never heard of telling me rather stiffly that th hoxton hunt regarded girded re my private hunt bunt as undesirable I 1 simply tore it 11 up and paid no attention to it 1 it I 1 seemed to me too silly for words rut but you should have havel I 1 cried emif stone offered no reply I 1 was ras next accosted in the main street of the town by a not very tidy and very obese man how I 1 hate fat people 1 who asked me if my name was nesbit something about him put my hackles up at once I 1 answered tn in no very conciliatory mood that I 1 was not ashamed of my name then you ought to be sir he fumed at me a bloody en englishman coming here and trying to run things aside from anything else this country cant can t afford to support two packs oh said I 1 if money moneys s your real li it terest III send you a check tomor row and I 1 left him standing in the middle of the street purple in the face and sputtering emif could not help laughing the scene was clear before her ees and she recognized recognised the pe other actor that must ibave nave been cousin kit she said aid I 1 wonder he didn dian t ex alde he ile looked as if he might stone confessed well I 1 sent a check to the hunt club but I 1 couldn coulden t bring myse myself if to write a civil letter to go with jib it so I 1 enclosed it in an en delope with a sheet of blank piper paper and let it go at that about four days later I 1 was told that three gentlemen wished to see me I 1 took it for a fr endly call from some of my neigh bors hors those kind people upon whom I 1 had counted it didn dian t take long for me to learn better one of them held out my check we have come to return this the gentleman said I 1 looked |