Show DINSMORES DINSMORE'S FOLLY CHAPTER I 1 1 1 Of Ot course now that Its It's all over o and done Its It's cas easy v to be wise and say that It was all nil my my fault faulL Maybe It was but butwell butwell butwell well well I dont don't see that there was much fault tault about It Everybody seems to be satisfied and though as ns somebody some body says s 's about marriages Its It's rather rath er early for congratulations I think everybody body Is going to stay satisfied And Im I'm mighty sure that Mr BraXton Braston Bras Bras- ton for one wouldn't have been heen satisfied sat at all aU if I 1 hadn't er hadn't er butted in Iii A girl must butt In lu sometimes and this was one of the times Ill I'll admit too that 1 I acted without due due knowledge of the facts But nut whose fault was It that I 1 IlUS was lUS Ignorant of them It certainly wasn't mine Fa Fa- thor could have told toll me some of them and Fred could have told me more I and even Josephine could hn have e told me something that could COUll have helped They had weeks and und weeks weel s In which they could have hare lold 1011 olt me And none Done of them said a R word Well then N. N B. B They all nil claim of course that they thought 1 was too young and Innocent to be told Pime I This Tills isn't the tle Eighteenth century Its It's the and women arent aren't as ns innocent as ns they used to he be In the days when Hector Hec tiec- tor was a pup After Atter all now that hut I 1 have ha argued the thing out I am beginning to believe he- he lieve Ue that the tile blame if blame if blame there thele was was for for what happened really lies at ot Mr Pauls Paul's door This hadn't occurred to me before but Inc more I think of It the more mOle evident it becomes Why I It was even eyen Mr Poul who who but but that comes later Anyway Ive I've got to get on un with m my story Great Grandpa Dinsmore built DInsmores Dins Dins- mores more's Folly the fact was too notorious ous to leave eare any chance for fur the family to deny It And now of course since er e everything has hus turned out so well none aone of the family wants to deny It Of course I 1 have hn no personal knowledge know knowl edge of the fact that the world ever scoffed at grandpas grandpa's bouse the house the modern modern mod mod- ern era world worl Indeed has has' always been t to o polite to scoff where I 1 could hear tear it It- It but 1 I am convinced cOD that it did No self respecting world could possibly refrain from at nt that amazing medley of all nil styles of all ages that aggregation of Greek Crock temple Eg Egypti p tl ti lion u ti Moorish entrance feudal castle Elizabethan manor house Swiss chalet French chateau not to speak of other units concerning whose ancestry no archItect architect archi arch can cun speak without blu blushing all jumbled together with a 8 beautiful American disregard of European dIdo dicta and plastered Into a self satisfied whole by American mortar overrun O h by English Ivy And yet el behold how low wisdom Is justified of her children I 1 Today Today To To- day Dinsmore's Dinsmores Folly brings me a 0 fabulous Income while other nearby houses more modern equally large larg In better repair and apparently lu lz finitely more desirable go begging However this tills delightful state t 1 affairs Is very recent Until yester yester- day that Is to say until the lie day I dragged Josephine forty five ve minutes utes from Broadway and dropped her down Into Dinsmores Dinsmore's Folly I had steadily avoided all mention of the place and had done my ray best hest to conceal from my friends the dreadful fact that lInt any lineal Uneal ancestor f r Pt f mine had perpetrated such a monstrosity What made It worse WOl's so I 1 thought fi those early days s 's was that the tile place was mine my mine my very own Grandpa Grand Grand- pa Dinsmore had 1101 wished It onto me meIn meIn meIn In his will an and had given me no chance to discover what he had done to me until It was too tuo late to stop him Moreover Moreo he had ailed added a proviso that 1 I should neither sell nor radically alter niter the place until I was Vent t twenty one one that is to say not flot for two years ears more that I J should see that It ft was always occupied at least east by a caretaker caretaker care taker and that I should live In It for forat Qt ot least four weeks In every year He tie e also left a note addressed to me personally per In which he requested that I should keep Sandy Perkins on us as gardener or caretaker as ns long as ns he t. t n t nn n Mt I. A u iu LV LuJ I J g-J ui CJ tU bJUS OUS LIUS lOt Uj been very ery pleasant to deal den I with since III wife ian inn away he wrote But nul Buthe Buthe he ba has been heen a faithful servant to me for many years and 1 I should not nut like him hin to he be turned out Moreover he hopes hOlIes and believes helle that lint some day tile the woman will vIll come corne hack back to him at nt Dinsmore Dins Dins- more and aud I feel that It would suld he cruel to destroy this hope hOle hy by him awu away Of course e I 1 had 1100 been to tu often to see dear old win wh was nice enough to make me get forget the awful house in tiP tie II lived ved a and 1 of if course se I 1 knew Ins as ns well as anyone annne could o know v the sour old body But until I read grandpas grandpa's note i J had md never known that Perkins' Perkins wife had run rim away 1 Cl I suppose everybody e cu considered that I Iwas Iwas Iwas was too young to be tell told d In tact fact I scarcely remembered hilt hi tie he had u IJ wife at nt all I 1 suppose I had seen her tier hut I 1 could not recall what she looked like Uke 1 I asked Jather about It and und he said that he lie understood that she situ wu was much younger than Perkins and aud that the two had not gotten along ulong together at nt all She had disappeared three turee or four tour y years before and had never been heen heard of tf f since SO Sot L afterward 1 I motored out to tu look at nt the place I thought It would look hook di different J t 1 I hoped J I It If t would would now now that I owned It Of Ot course r o e. e I saw Perkins Perkin too ton am ani If it t course l I c surveyed ed lii him ill with vit ii Interest t. t h by his hism m itry ry a mil u-i u ti II i tic the t fw t rha t hp hc vi WI now IU III Ii WM 11 t f fn n n ii i. J II n n. n old lIlt codger el 9 0 By Crittenden Illustrations by Irwin Myers Copyright Service swarthy ss with sun and wrinkled with years ears who vho carried his head thrust forward from his lean shoulders as ns asif asif if perpetually watching for something or some sonic one Now that I J knew about his its wife I J could of course understand and pity but I 1 felt hat hut I really couldn't blame her for running away aw Id I'd have buve run away too tou All the sympathy sym pathy and pity In the couldn't prevent my feeling creepy as os I looked at ot him If I had But of course I didn't know I plunged at ut once Into Inquiries about the place ploce Perkins Perkins' answers were not enthusiastic Grandpa he said had bad let things un down n a good deal and Perkins thought that the tile executors would find that flint It lr would cost ost a u lot of money to set It to rights I went back bick home disgusted I Idid Idid Idid did not know where the money for tor repairs was to come front from Grandpa Dinsmore had fid not had hae much of his own Fattier Father was the moneymaker moneyS money maker of the family and timi had hue thud nad nothing but the place to leave and andI I certainly had no Intention of spend i h 1 4 I I- I Ii tl n 1 I I tr JJ U n liP liPf f. J t I r J 1 I 4 11 f 1 J J vP P tn i 1 M f tJ J tt A I r rm 1 t tr m r 4 I t 1 3 r J II y I f A t I rJ tr B. B O DrS II 4 1 ih 4 ll i tn J l wN S fJ Dad Threw Down His Napkin and Got Up Confound Your Artistic Nature Na ture Lure Ing tug my allowance in repairs on a monstrosity like Dinsmores Dinsmore's Folly I Imade Imade made up ui tn my mind hind to tn let the lie year go gu goby goby guby by without fulfilling the conditions of the will wIl C I was sas an awful little fool lii in n some sume wa ways s 's in those fura faraway way dU days 8 two wo years ago ngo and to let the lie r re reversionary legatee the legatee the Society for Homeless Alley Cuts Cats Cutsor or something something- thlu- thlu claim laim the tle place But Just five the ks Ift LI me we ursi year up Lip re reo minded me f f the dale date nail and asked me nie when 1 I was going Iowa down I stared stored at him reproachfully Pardon Purdon Par Pur don doil me tile lue dad lad I 1 said hut but you for ol that hat I 1 requested you 1 0 never er to mention Dinsmore's Dinsmores FolI Folly to me a arnin uin Never Nev r mention mention- mention i Did Dail broke u 1 then hen forged ahead full speed Look here lere Edith he tie demanded What blamed nonsense are you talking if It you ou dont don't go down there Lucre In a U week week eel In n six da days days you'll s 's you'll forfeit the place to 0 the tue Society for for for- Precisely Dad 1 I 1 Interrupted I 1 know It is s an Inhuman thing to 0 do But Its It's me rue or them and the tue home home- less ess cats can stand Dinmore's Folly better than I can can can- Wh t Vh t a-t l 1 mean to forfeit the rhe place dad 1 I answered lustily hastily I I. I can cun usually manage dad clad hut but I know V when to quit fooling and tills this us one of the lie times imes You mean to to- to 1 J You Yuu mean meun to tu- tu Are you ou crazy Edith h The rue place will willbe willbe willbe be worth wurth a 0 million dollars when the rhe n. n I city 14 UI 41 U 1 I Once more 1 I tried to tu be he a 1111 million I I ion dolla dollars s i-s compared sa sato to the wrecking ot of f my lily whole artistic ti nature I 1 demanded Dal threw down his and got gut up Confound on found your sour artistic nature lie he roared If you'd oud ever learned how hard It Ir is to make lUuke a u million mills is you bin I 1 tal talk tu L so su Idiotically lint lea I I You Yuu and JOH Josephine get ready leady to tu go to W I roll Folly tomorrow v A And Ill I'll go gu iI with Ii h you OU nu and see set r hl t yon go n go-n gU nil stu stay miss sta stay for fur the lip full I thirty lays But BUl On Dud fl 1 J cried cricO despairingly driven to tu U my n lust defense e But Bill I Imd nd the place Isn't habitable It t needs thousands of dollars dollars' worth of ot re reo pairs Dad hesitated Who sn says s 's so sol he demanded Perkins the the caretaker Oh well I 1 Ill I'll look 1001 Into It and make what repairs are arc necessary But understand un me we once for all Edith youre you're going down IOWa there wh whether ther the place Is In repair or not and youre you're going to stay and fulfill every Jot and title of your grandfathers grandfather's will vilI And I dont don't propose to have nay any nonsense about It It IL either Dad strode oil off hotly leu leaving ring me In III much flInch the same state of mind us as a u prisoner to whom the tile judge has Just said Thirty dollars or thirty days However Howe there was no use In talking When hen lad dad Inlet 1011 down the how V In thin tone I 1 didn't waste time I 1 just obeyed Anyway ny lie he liens was ns as going lIing to pay for tilt the repairs and I 1 wasn't was some thing So Sn we WC went went Josephine lad dad and I. I The house wasn't so bad after utter nIland nil and the place ilace was WIlS really bearable after we got used to It It was rather try trying lug ing nt at first to walk through h a u loony Moorish doorway Into a n dig dis- Egyptian hull hall I. I which opened Into 1110 a Louis Quatorze drawing room roum hut but after u a week weel I got so Unit that I could do 10 doft doit ft it without u a shudder And after two weeks eels Fred Fl-ed turned up LII und and that made maden n a difference Fred Fled was Fred James the only SODot son SOD ot ut his mother raid she slie was us n a widow who lived half u a mile vu n from froll Dins Dins- more inure Fred was twenty-one twenty years old and was a n reporter on the New York York- Star for fifty weeks In the year sear For fur Forthe Forthe the other two t weeks he lIe was mothers mother's Joy boy Josephine knew mother and 1101 met DIet him him lIim nt tut her house and brought him home Jollie with her and after that hint he lie wn was mothers mother's boy hoy only at meals The Flie rt rest t of the time lie he spent with us except us-except except when rind dad tolled him off and tall talked ed politics and finance with him tim Dad said once considering that Fred was a college boy and a newspaper ne man mall he was unusually Intelligent Daul Dati was ns always sn saying ing sarcastic thin things lungs s like that Fred Frell helped to pass the time tune fur for ten days lays when the lie twenty eight n I of A August u dawned Apparently there wu wasn't ut anything particularly pai fateful about the dawn lawn lawn- except that lint It was hot und and that tYtIS scarcely fateful or fateful or distinctive for distinctive for foran an un August lay day Still Im I'm sure I did dirt feel real enl that morning Later when Mr Paul called to see dad I remembered how I had felt and said scat Ab omen umen In real Va Vassar sr Latin But it ir was too late then The mills of the gods Imf hurl begun heun to grind grin Mr Paul was Fathers Father's lawyer and father put Implicit trust In lu hl his judg ment meat so much so that Fred's Freds newspaper news news- paper paper paper-l 1 mean menn of course the newspaper newspaper news paper that Fred Free reported for for hat hart once asserted hunt Father never planned to rob roh a n widow wilow or pr r an orphan without n asking king Mr Ir advice as ns to the best way to do It This Tills was a n of course hilt but it wasn't a n to I h I t UI i nit lilt s mm me tile used to say It of Father 1 I used to keep kel u It scrapbook of If clippings of their remarks remarks remarks re re- re- re marks when Father didn't behave i iU U us I him to I used to get U II out lilt 1111 real read them aloud to lii him iii t till rill II I he duly humble If Er course Father hud had neve nev rub rubbed elJ lIu anybody hody But he tIe was the tile head Ileac of tIn the Consolidated Trust company and rg g every other year when the tile elections elections elections elec elec- came caine around he lie held up to tu the Intelligent voters as ns nn an enem enemy of lUan mankind nd As a matter of fact lie he u a bully good old scout and a n regular pal Of course I 1 can cun understand he might be Just a little overpowering o to one who didn't know him wellAnd well vell wellAnd And u a us tot Mr Paul lilli well I Both Josephine 11 I had always s 's thought though that Mr was u IJ dear Ilear Only well Only-well well 0 of I late lite he tie had hac tIlL taken to following me tilt round HI III staring nt at me rue in II n mushy way way you know kiin I And Anil as much Il as I liked him m I 1 never rievel funded fancied hIm him in n a mix JIll 01 other tier r rapacity i pact ty t than a n sort of nn un nn 1111 ll uncle Not Nut that flint tie he was us ver very 01 old d he Just sl seemed 01 old II u and nfl when liiri lie he insisted on tin ll h lib bored ll me InC Ii to fI u a frazzle ii e-ii mirt 1 that rha ha something I hili I that luau I mighty few of lie he ll wearing trouper ea ring halt Ia I I ot ol creation r ion hal hail ii ever r heen been able tc to do ulo I 1 was is siu silting I lilg on ou fill for tur Fred FId ro TO 1 come Ille and take ul e me inc riding I when Mr ir aul walked Into lito Fathers Father's den UCIl Inside the rIle window lit ut luI luIla m la hark bark ek and I tWill kepi my lilY sea sent t mo iii mostly ly he e It didn't occur to me tu to move HUe and a U little because I wn was afraid ilmi IT to tel move would cull cal I Mr 1 lr r. r I Paul's Pauls uIs uI's a f I I II to rl rue flit Dud Dad knew kaev I II was t there anyhow though he lie hurl f If gotten It he wouldn't tui vu III minded anyway UY |