Show MONEY M 0 i N ey TO BURN bura V 1 1 CHAPTER XIII 13 mr absolom came into ills oillie find handed banded him the card of mr nimer elmer butterworth clarke Fin and employee gazed at each other humorously oil oh what a fall was there my countrymen try meril men murmured SIc Peake its much too had bad lila its secretary declared such a nice looking young man too 11 D does 0 Ps lie bear it family reni resemblance blance to that terrible old uncle of lila lit about ns as much as a hunting watch resembles a grandfathers clock shall I 1 show him in 1 I suppose so lets have it over with A moment later inter elmer haq ans ir hered red in greeted him cordially and after a few minutes spent in polite amenities 1 imer elmer ventured ventu to inquire in what condition tile estate be lit in very excellent shape indeed clarice all of the minor hills bills of ali the estate have been pill paid with the lie tion of current monthly charges tile alio appraisers have completed their table their report lias has boen been filed and about nebout nil all that remains to be done Is to pay the lie federal and state income and inheritance taxes the cost of if probate afe my lay fee as executor nil and attorney for the estate tile few specific be bequests illets contained hi your bour uncles will and that old mortgage 1 I 1 supposed you had paid the fill mortgage to avoid interest barges elmer remarked not set byet there motley money it in tile lie estate to py pay it stran St el I 1 gathered from your our first ild advises advices vices to in me that there was quite it a sum bum on liend in cah and also a couple of hundred thousia thousand nd dollars worth of marketable securities I 1 also understood tood that this mort mortgage gaze vins for a sum gum of forty tiou thousand and dollars that Is the principal suin simi perhaps jd better start in nt at the beginning and tell yon sou the story ns as your our uncle told it to me the lay lie brinde ills will perhaps that would be better elmer suggested thereupon permitted the mow blow to fall for about ten tell seconds elmer stared at him elored then a s slow ow abill amused ed s smile a life up its hla face so forty thousand dollars at eight per cent compounded semiannually for forty two years sears amounts to all that eh suffering wildcats I 1 should bave known there was a catch in this will somewhere hei e and lie he laughed gently im sorry sir air clarke but theres no way out for us the record speaks for itself your sour uncles will shea gives us its no alternative and the next of un kin to benedict Catli erton h has been discovered as and lias has proved tier her case looked ills visitor over humorously 1 I could furnish you ou with tier her name and address lie he suggested then you ou might hunt bunt tier her up court her marry tier her and get the money back into the family thanks not interested theres a girl back in Illar eltos calif who claims nil all of my sentimental attention I 1 hope to tell you jou I 1 lose her for a sum equal to the national debt bully for you mr air clarkel 1 and by the way I 1 roust must say I 1 have never seen a man mail take such a loss with a smile before ill say youre game cant lose what I 1 never had mr air me reake by the way was the record 1 I of this old mortgage among my uncles papers oil oh yest yes I 1 your uncle never destroyed anything well if I 1 had found it I 1 would have suspected that the mortgage had not been en paid otherwise othen vise there would have been a copy of the release among 11 ills Is papers so I 1 would have run the record ecord down and paid it myself uncle hiram worried unnecessarily you would have paid it yourself with interest compounded certainly A note Is a note just as a bet Is a bet but I 1 well mr air clarke I 1 was going to suggest to you that we might get together with the present holder of that mortgage and effect a settled settle merit the he deficiency judgment Is outlawed and if we made a poor mouth and told her that it a large portion of the estate consisted of real estate not readily sti salable lable we might get tier lier to abate the compounded interest or we vic might induce tier her to accept it a lot int of nt lead real estate nt at inflated values fix fl it with tile the appraisers of the estate to reappraise the property eimer raised his hand youre proposing something dirty in mister ister lie said evenly get fet tills this my friend all tile dirt rights of the butterworth butter ter worth tribe stood in the of my late uncle and im not going to join with you or anybody else to take hike advantage of a woman A contracts a contract find if I 1 lost aery every dollar of the he million dollars I 1 thought I 1 tin biad my funeral and I 1 refuse to attend it Mcle ako was embarrassed well dont think any tile the less of me ine for sug bug gesting besting it lie he pleaded some day you will think more of me for suggesting it ile he smiled smugly after the fashion of one whose head is 3 quite filled with valuable secrets 1 I suppose its a lawyers duty to protect ills his clients interests and I 1 suppose too it Is natural that folks fiks should bould disagree as to what constitutes sporty porty treatment elmer replied grudgingly so ill forget your suggestion just dont make another one like it fair enough ill make ono the by peter be M by pet peter r B D kyn service very ery reverse of it mr clarice Clarl te tor for more e than a quarter of a century your uncle had it a very confidential employee a sort of chief clerk manager and nifty one bunker beuker Is one of those thoi e mousy little men who are whipped shipped in the battle of life the day they tome come into info it A retiring timid falth faithful ful olied lent it liard a rd g brabay efficient enit lent ot of a man ills job with your jour uncle will as the farst job lie ever eer bad and lie Is still on the estate pity pi roll helping me close up ui odds and ends of business matters mattera 1 very uri early in life he made a take lie he and hall children gave hostages to fortune foi tune ns as it were so its ills jot job was brealand arnd brea dand and hatter and lie he never neer lind had file courage to quit and seek another I 1 think it must mui t have bae occurred to your jour uncle from time to time that tile liepo isable might happen all I 1 ile he would lose hunkers bunkers seril ces 0 no o lie promised bunker ISun lier lie would leave leae lafin one hundred bundred thousand dol lars in ills will tills this promis lie rec reiterated iterated froin time to time imp hut but when it came to making in aking ills ids will ft ill lie betrayed ultra ed axy A you give me that ninety thousand dollars or something heavy Is a going to drop on you bunker cut him olt with ten thousand collat s all and it if I 1 lind had not fought him all over oer the office lie he would ime have let hunker bunker down don with the live t thousand lio usand poor ioor bunker Is beart broleen ot of course couise Mc leake paused full and I 1 looked joked at E elmer meaning ly and you ion are about to propose that I 1 make up the deficit elit ilmer elmer sug 1 I factly well ell irois cross that bridge when no come to it and first we will ascertain whether or not we ve liae have a bridge to cross I 1 urn am a boung man but I 1 imp made this discovery the ilie bunkers bankers of this world receive from tile world exactly what they merit nobody but a fool and a particularly dumb sort of fool could work for my uncle hiram for more than a quarter of a century and not know that lie be was inhuman that lie would lie and take brutal all ad vantage of people I 1 dare say bunker was important to him because bunker was so weak le ite would do the dirty little deeds ills his master ordered him to do Is that not so sol well ell im I 1 m afraid that in a certain sense sense you jou are right mr air clarke you bet im right I 1 do not have hae to see bunker to know the sort of man mail lie Is I 1 have haie little pity pit and little love for such men and it Is a question in my mv mind whether by fulfilling my mi uncles insincere unmeant promise I 1 would ile be doing bunker a real kindness the money would probably probable turn ills his liend hend well ill I 1 II 11 let bunker argue its ills own ca case se Ale Peake decided now then our principal debtor Is insistent on having the cash and the only way any tilt lie cash can be secured Is to sell oft off the real estate belonging to the estate the properties are covered with old buildings in a bad state of repair but the income from rents Is excellent are the properties salable at a price yes well if we filing on until they are salable liable s at a fair price we may be years closing tilt this estate and in the that mortgage will continue to draw eight per rent cent compounded semiannually semi annually no business sir air SIc Mc get tin an order of r court to sell that property at public auction ily aly idea exactly mr air Cl clarl arle e your decision does credit to your common sense and business instincts what have hae you sou done with that little br hanking inking hu huil siness ness or was it a pawn broking establishment tie ive sold it at a very good figure find and the probate court has bas approved th lie sale when the estate Is finally settled w alint hat do you think my share will amount to oh I 1 should say offhand olT liand a quarter of a million dollars well ill always be a millionaire in Illar eltos ive been duly advertised as such and while I 1 continue to pay fly my bills ill have the credit rating of it a millionaire that will help I 1 run call go just jait t as far on credit as I 1 can on oil 1 cash I just wont go so fast nil all lie he rose to go think ill go on oil to new york and see some good hows lie informed Mcl McI cake leake despite tile the walloping youve handed roe me I 1 think I 1 can afford it month or two of Bron duny after all a quarter of a i million Is better than a poke in tile the eye with alth a sharp stick ril ill hang around around it few days and sign any papers you may require lie ile took a cheerful clie erful departure the instant the lie door closet closed behind him film melleane Mc Mel leake rang for ills secretary ive ie always heard that out in they grow things big lie informed tier lier nig illig potatoes bis big pumpkins pumpkin 1 bis big cattle and big boost lint but if miner elmer B clarke Is a sample of tier lier manhood ballf enla grows the biggest men I 1 ever eer hope to see that boy certainly can take it licking standing up take a letter to miss nellie neille cath curt cart care Illar eltos commercial trust tin and samps s hank Illar eltos calif miss your sweetie arrived today and without any prelim inary warning I 1 slipped him the fatal tydings hut but withholding your identity of ca course urse lie ile can lose a million dollars and put ills his bright daydreams behind hill him ham mill as much grace and limmor or as if lie he reckoned his loss lit in depreciated depreciate nerman clerman marks instead of good red 17 S gold coin im for him all the way iles hes a man tin and should you ou permit him to escape you will suffer an irreparable loss ile he uses his head entirely for thinking Pilar eltos Is luck lucky to have him for its mayor elect please see to it that politics dont spoil him yours sincerely now make out a petition to the probate court for the sale of all ali the real estate of the butterworth estate and ill have mr air clarke and bunker sign it then make out an order of sule sale for tilt court to sign find and in about a month from now well distribute the estate and send bend rimer elmer harke clarke back to win the aly capital prize in in the hie best little love lo 10 lottery you ever heard of ile he won only to lose and lie will lose only to win will that nellie i cathcart must he be a verb very unusual woman she had a curlo curiosity sity to discover whet lier or not elmer clarice c could 0 uld fit killings Kip Mp lings recipe for manhood remember the lines it if you can meet with triumph and disaster s er and treat those two impostors both the same well im fin banking on elmer CHAPTER XIV the following afternoon a when elmer again called at t Mc Peakes office lie he found bunker there the lawyer introduced them elmer greeted the old clerk pleasantly but without enthusiasm thusia sm and saw by his quick appraising glance that lie he was wai striving to find in bunkers personality a reason reasonable atile excuse to be decent to the old fellow they chatted clint ted together for an hour and then bunker banker withdrew well what to do you ou think of bunker now that youve youe met and talked to him iles hes a furtive little old of rat elmer declared promptly ile he took on the protective coloration of lit ahli surroundings roun dings like all weak men he could I 1 think be very cruel ye ive been thinking over oer ills his ame and iv ive e decided not to make him it a gift of ninety thousand dollars I 1 cannot afford the philanthropy and whenever 1 I turn philanthropist bunker the sort id select as tile object of m my y solicitude ile he tells me the old man paid him fifty dollars a month to tart start s and after ten en years lie he was ear earning ning two hundred not so bad the federal government do half it a if so well by its employees empl ive slav slaved c d t ten e is years and when I 1 quit I 1 e earning a r two hundred a month for ten tei years sears before he died uncle hiram was paying him tour four In hundred Andred dollars a month As clerks are paid bunker aker has fared far far better than the majority and I 1 fall to see where lie he has tiny any kick coming 1 I had an idea hed broach the sub hub jete to you mr clarice probably afraid to do so wanted to size me up first and decide whether I 1 was hard or easy hell 1101 think it over tonight and call to see fee me at my hotel tomorrow what makes you think hell do thail oh I 1 noted a speculative gleam in his byest eyes I 1 and its what id do it if I 1 were bunker elmer was right shortly after he had bad breakfasted next morning bunker called his room from the hotel lobby and a asked s ked fiertl permission cislon to come up tip for a conference elmer readily granted it and a few minutes later bunker hat in land hand and nervously shifting from one foot to the other was standing before him elmer permitted him to stand for two minutes then he decided that the habit of a lifetime Is not readily broken and that bunker was waiting lot for permission to sit down please be seated lie he told the old clerk 1 I see you ou have something on your our mind you lou appear to be somewhat embarrassed 1 I nm am sir air clarice there Is a littile matter perhaps sir air spoke to vou you about it lie ile did elmer interrupted you refer to my uncles broken promise to leave you iou a hundred thousand dollars for the honest find faithful service you accorded him tor for more than a quarter of a century I 1 understand he let you vou down with a bequest for ten thousand find and that you are grievously disappointed I 1 would be too under the circumstances I 1 can very erv well understand your jour disappointment its been heartbreaking heart breaking bunker quavered after all these years and my wife building hopes hope on oil it sir the blow well nigh killed tier her rimer elmer nodded still uncle hiram pay you vou a niggardly salary mr air bunker many men in your our position earn much less and do not con consider themselves ill treated they dont do the work I 1 had to do bunker protested with sudden vehemence its worth north four hundred dollars a month to lie and bully and evade and scheme and of people what I 1 had to do to earn my m four hundred dollars a month it wils was worth w 01 th four thousand a month to have to spend ten tell hours a day in ills his society 1 I suppose you knew from years of experience exactly the sort of man my uncle was 11 oil yes es Inde indeed edl 1 then why did you vou believe him |