Show T the he recluse of fifth avenue CHAPTER I 1 I 1 tt it was characteristic of peter mil bill ann that he should bear the shock of 0 the second of his fits lifes tragedies with no sible isible symptom of emotion the first of these blows find been bee dealt him twenty alve affie years before ue ile had suffered it in this same richly furnished room of ills his house in lower fifth avenue sneed tile butler who had just handed him tile alie morning papers had brought him fl 11 quarter of a century ngo ago the letter lette in which his wife told him film she had gone cone away and would not return the second blow swept away away his comfortable fortune at fifty with out near re lathes and long ions estranged from old friends peter lallman would be compelled to move from the house bous in which he be had find been borri born the house where lie he hoped to die to mix bilth the world lie had forgotten amour people he had grown to mistrust the three morning papers sneed placed before him although they varied somewhat in their telling of hazen brewers Hr ewers failure had substantially the same account of it it brewers liabilities were fifteen million dollars ills assets were given as less than five fire thousand dollare dollar somewhere sandwiched among these vast debts was peter Mili nans modest million the butler sensing III news from the hastily read captions grew relieved when he saw his employer take out lila ills pocket and begin to clip such extracts front from the papers as interested him later these clippings won be arranged systematically with the thousands of others which during long years blitman had gathered in the library steel lined drawers carefully locked held the harest hanest of these leanings gleanings at throe three peter ellman came down the talas and selected a cane lie he was dressed as though he were coing to pay an afternoon call lie he was one of those slight small honed boned men so often seen in the dwindling families of races near extinction ills smartly cut coat his immaculate silk cat bat and distinguished cane made him from a rear view a boyish it nature it was ns when one saw raw the pale lined face the tired eyes and the thin supercilious mouth that one ten realized this was wag a roan to whom the world has long since seemed empty vanity on the whole peter allman presented the appearance of one to whom familiarity would be distasteful and friendship the slow growth of years ile he was on his way to see ills his lawyer nod and find out how he stood financially ile he felt almost certain that lie he hail fallen with hazen brewer nt not for more than twenty years had peter milican been so much disturbed ruin meant giving up his home the idel idea wits intolerable lie ile entered the private office of her nian man loddon coddon as one assured of his fits position find and certain of hla big welcome assuredly loddon coddon who owed so much maci to the Allf would be able to aup supply him with the information lie he desired sired the first direct intimation of the dIl Terence between a millionaire and a poor man was given him hill ns as lie he eu cn Lod dons room loddon coddon re mulled vented seated hitherto be had risen to hla his feet at sight eight of his di anguished client and with awkward ve pest tures u res motioned him to the seat of u almor and his face had been wreathed bed aith smiles for the first ume time peter Mil milman lilan saw the man hermon herman coddon loddon ns as lie he really was loddon coddon hated him and had bad always hated him there coul I 1 he be no other explanation of halack his lack of courtesy and the sneering smile with which he greeted his client for a quarter barter century he hail had worn a di all I alining smile bazen brewers Pr ewers failure lind away the necessity for using it any more things Ti lings then were desperate mil mans manner was wag bufil as loftily courteous as ever 1 I hope you have been able to anil rm out the extent of 0 mr brewers misfortunes lie said misfortunes Misfortune si 1 loddon coddon cried nis Is boies you mean 1 I am ain not asking you to prejudge ge my iny fri erid peter I 1 allman said alii quietly 1 I want to know if tile the morning papa pape i ore lire correct in stating staling that his entire for fortune turie tins lias disappeared they tire lire coddon loddon answered with tin on appeal anco of batis satisfaction faction and as 2011 take iny illy advice about ybur investments your briney has vone none too I 1 tell tt ll you IN Illman only got what I 1 prophesied a million nill llon times Mil milmaria maril never before had norman loddon Io coddon ildon presumed so much coddou Lod dons father had dad been the mi man coachman coachi at their country place at klabc ine years yearn before when lie had been killed ln in a runaway peter tile elder had taken charge char fcc of the sons education and had even mailly set him up in practice suit ami given elvon blin ti hav brat farst caje TI nothing Is left ullman ticked asked not net a cent youre toure dinckler than frev w r la Is because youve got it a valuable let on fl fifth h avenue and there aro ar fiffy men wuting to niale you IQ an ot of fer for it and put a big building where billit im of yours yourn stands Allilu all said nothing lie allowe allo wei Lod londona Lo ddona dons sneer at his home to pass loddon coddon did not know that when haven brewer incurred the enmity of great finane fill interests and was an pressed for money he ha hal had cowe ly night to and be zed la im utter deaDer atlon for or a loan loaa it by bv WYNDHAM MARTYN in tho the states guf W K N U 1 service was hazen brewer who had arron arranged geI i the he mortgage on the beilman home it was brewer alone who had profited by the affair and this mortgage was shortly to fall due and there was no DO money to pay it peter billman could have sold bold the house and lot and retired to some othor other place lu in relative comfort until the end and ot of ills his life had bad he been less obstinately stina tely desirous of remaining whelp lie he had been born you cant stay there if what you are trying to figure out loddon coddon said brutally the taxes ore heavy it I 1 you have some outstanding debts my account for instance sell it and live in italy Is my adalee ile he dawned yawned rudely reter peter SIll mana question turned his red face a deeper hue billave you always hated me lod don the lawyer lawter did not answer immediately dia tely tills tills hate of ills his was a corn com plex tiling thing less the result of a deep de J iry than of a thousand envies lie ile have hav you always alway hated me lod don 7 had always resented Mil milhans mans discriminations crimi nations when social functions were still a part of his life it Is true that alia t lie he had lined dined many times in the milmon house but his wife had never been asked there lie ile crime to understand in the end that he was asked because peter milman found it a less tedious business than going to lod dons office it was this fancied slight to his wife billeb most angered the lawyer sho she was a social climber and the magic of 0 the mildian man name was a tradition in new kew york her husband as ashamed hametl of ills his obscure origin had claimed to have been at school with peter li milman filman antl sirs loddon coddon felt that were he be to insist she could be a guest in the envied home loddon coddon hated bated ilman because despite ills his unwise boasting he be knew lie he had never convinced allman man of his importance always lie said slowly with a rush of relief at being at last able to voice his er emotions notions yes I 1 hated you when my futher father drove you to school and I 1 get either inside with you or tin on the box with him bilm ive listed hated you for your friends and tile the way youve expected me to come when you felt like calling laddon loddon laughed sneeringly but all done with im on top and only pity you now 1 I think I 1 prefer the former emotion I 1 milman murmured in future loddon coddon gold majestically 1 I shall have too many big tiling things to attend to to have bore time for you ill turn your affairs over to my managing clerk thank you milano said gald rising 1 I shall not come again send in your bill at once you have been loyal to ti t i our interests and that Is a why we employed you peter ieter alliman bussed over the coddou outburst of hate as though it had not interested him hermon laddon loddon watched him depart with wilh the feeling eliat lila ills triumph hail had not hven been as assured us as lie could baa wished hii had won vo BO look of fear ear or apprehension from the man he hated perho i after all there wits wag something about men like allman bill different from him then the thought of his two trai millions reassured hlin him and he be lumbered to the window and watched ills his former client cross tile the rond road the great limousine opposite would presently take herman laddon loddon to his lavishly appointed apartment where he would dine largely he pictured solitary and dismal meal there would not ile be many more for him in the family home on lower fifth avenue the patrician age was gone peter milman reached his home without encountering anyone who knew him fashionable new york with her residences and clubs had long passed on her northward way those few houses house which like his own were still owned by their builders families were mostly unoccupied save for a few weeks in the year with these people billiman had bad now nothing in common ile he had rejected their overtures they spoke of him with pity almost with contempt A legend of eccentricity grew up about him and ami presently gave way to rumors of mental deterioration sneed who concerned himself greatly with will the sudden change in his employers pl habits saw him blin return with obvious relief sneed had read the papers and realized the extent of hazen brewers troubles lie he wished he dared ask mr billman it if he be too were badly hit bit peter 1111 mans face told him nothing nor was his customary manner changed 1 I am going over the upper tipper rooms after luncheon said milman please see that they are in order the upper rooms it was in these spacious chambers that the old furniture was stored about which experts expert raved the six rooms were arranged as a museum hillman moved from piece to piece everything find its it definite association ile he stopped before an eighteenth century card table covered with sealskin on this table in 1745 a peter P eter milman had lost a thousand pounds on a cut of cards with a blue blood of south carolina those six chairs called banister backed by their creator heppel white had been made to order for a bill bellmon mon there was one room devoted to the dutch furniture that had bad come to the from a marriage with a van heiress peter beilman bent down to look at a dutch church stool which a van servant had carried to a place of worship two hundred bundred years before it was black in color and on one side bore a picture of tile the lost last judgment and some appropriate prop pro printe verses 1 I dont read dutch li filman observed but I 1 remembered the translation lation listen sneed it may do you yon good certainly sir said sneed respectfully the judgment of god la Is now prepared there la Is still time leave the th ploua pious will be b separated from the w wicked gods goda wisdom encircles the universe very true sir bir peter sir air said sneed there was a look on his employers pl face that he did not understand something hard and ruthl rut ble elj there fire are some of the wicked I 1 should very much like to separate from the pious without waiting tor for postmortem post mortem I 1 am not sure that such an in act would not be a logical way of acquiring merit I 1 take it sneed that in 7 your ur essence you are law abiding always said sneed with conscious rectitude in that respect mr peter im like you A very admirable frame of mind said billman sneed had rarely known him comment on any of the exhibits beffre to lay day it seemed be had a word for everything on this settle with folden folding candle balck lie he observed Ben jarril milman fell asleep in the revolutionary war and wits was captured by a redcoat red coat coal major who rave gave bilm liberty owing to ills his pretty skill on a six string bass viol the viol Is in the next too these three mallo mahogany garly pieces lie he bald pausing before a six legged filah case of drawers once belonged to the man whom aaron curr burr speaks of as my friend hamilton whom I 1 tilled killed TO BE CONTINUED |