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Show The Recluse of Fifth Avenue CHAPTER I It was characteristic of Peter Mil-ninn Mil-ninn that he should liear the shock of tl,e seeoud of his life's trngedles with no visible symptom of emotion. The first of these blows had been dealt him twenty-five years before He had suffered It In this same rich ly furnished room of his house In Lower Fifth avenue. iSneecl, the but-lor, but-lor, who had Just handed him the morning papers, had brought him n quarter of a century ago the letter In which Ids wife told hlin she had fone away and would not return. The second blow swept away his comfortable fortune. At fifty, without with-out near relatives and Inn? estranged from old friends, Peter Milman would be compelled to move from the house in which he had been born the house where he hoped to die to mix with the world he had forgotten, among people he had grown to mistrust. The three morning papers Sneed placed before him, although they varied somewhat in their telling of Hazen Brewer's failure, had substantially substan-tially the same account of it. Brewer's liabilities were fifteen million mil-lion dollars.- His assets were given as less than five thousand dollars. Somewhere, sandwiched among these vast debts, was Peter Milman's modest million. The butler, sensing 111 news from the hastily read captions, grew relieved re-lieved when he saw his employer take out his pocket-scissors and begin to clip such extracts from the papers ns interested him. Later these clippings would be arranged systematically with the thousands of others which during long years Milman had gathered. In the library, steel-lined drawers, carefully care-fully locked, held the harvest of these gleanings. At three o'clock Peter Milman came down the stairs and selected a cane. He was dressed as though he were going to pay an afternoon call. He was one of those slight, small-boned men so often seen In the dwindling families of races near extinction. His smartly cut coat, his Immaculate silk hat -and distinguished cane. made him eeehi, from a rear view, a boyish figure. fig-ure. It was when one saw the pale, lined face, the tired eyes, and the thin supercilious' mouth, that one realized real-ized this was a man to whom the world has long 6lnce seemed empty vanity. On the whole, Peter Milman presented the appearance of one to whom familiarity would be distasteful end friendship the slow growth of years. He was on his way to see his lawyer law-yer and find out how he stood financially. finan-cially. He felt almost certain that he had fallen with Hazen Brewer. Not for more than twenty years had Peter Milman been so much disturbed. Ruin meant giving up his home. The idea was intolerable. - He enlered the private office of Herman Her-man I.oddon as one 'assured of his position and certain of his welcome. Assuredly Lodtlon, who owed so much to the Milmims, would be able to supply sup-ply him with the information he desired. de-sired. The first direct Intimation of the 'i!ferenee between a millionaire and ii poor man was given him as he entered en-tered Loddon'a room. Loddon remained re-mained seated. Hitherto he had risen clumsily to his feet at sight of Ills distinguished client and with awkward natures motioned him to the seat of l: nor. And his face had been wreathed iih smiles. For the first time Peter Milman saw the man Herman Loddon . ns he really was. Loddon hated him, "ml had always hated hi nit There could he no other explanation of his lack of courtesy and the sneering smile with which he greeted his client. For a U'laiter-century he had worn a disuniting dis-uniting smile. Hazen Brewer's failure hart swept away the necessity for us-lK us-lK it any more.' Things, then, were desperate. Milmun's manner was still as loftily courteous as ever. "1 hope you have been able to find "lit the exlent of Mr. Brewer's misfortunes," mis-fortunes," he said. "Misforl uncs !" Loddon cried. "His crimes, yon menn." "I mil not asking yon to prejudge my friend;" Peter Milman said quietly. ' I want to know if the morning' papers ure correct In stating that his entire fortune has disappeared." "They are," Loddon answered with mi appearance of satisfart ion, "and n .v"ii wouldn't take my advice about our investments, your money has K""e too. tell yon, Milman, you've only got what I prophesied u million limes." Milman I " Never before had Herman 1-niiiUin presumed so much. Loddon's father had been the Milman coachman coach-man nt tlu-lr counlry place at Ilasr-h:i;s Ilasr-h:i;s years before. When lie had been Hied In a runaway accident, Peter Jillman. (ho elder, had taken charge "f the son's education and had eventually even-tually set him up In practice aihl Riven him Ids first ca.se. "Tiien nolliing Is left?" Militmn nsfced. "Not a cent. You're luckier than llrov,- because you've g'it a vniu-;,le vniu-;,le let on Fifth avenue, and there are ''f'-.v men wa'tlng to make you an offer of-fer for It and put a big building where l,it mausoleum of yours stands." Milman said nothing. lie nllowe.l-Loildon's nllowe.l-Loildon's sneer at his home to pass. I.oddon did not know that, when Ihiiien Brewer incurred the enmity of Rreal financial interests, and was so hardly pressed for money, lie had eouie by night to Milman and hezged la utter desperation for a loan. It By WYNDHAM MARTYN OoPTTttht tn the Cnltm Stauii W N U Berrlc. was Huzen Brewer who had nrranged I he mortgage on the MMmnn home rt was Brewer alone who had profited by the affair. And this mortgage was shortly to full due. and there was no money to pay It. Peter Milman could have sold the house and lot and retired to some other oth-er place In relative comfort until the end of his life had he been less obstinately ob-stinately desirous of remaining whete he had been born. "You can't stay there, if that's what you are trying to figure out," Loddon said brutally. "The taxes are heavy and you have some outstanding debts. My account, for Instance. Sell It anil live in Italy Is my advice." He yawned rudely. ; - - Peter Milman's question turned his red face a deeper hue. "Have you always hated me, Loddon Lod-don 7" The "lawyer did not answer immediately. imme-diately. This hate of his was a complex com-plex thing, less the result of a deep Injury than of a thousand envies. Ho 01 "Havo You Always Hated Me, Loddon?" had always resented Milman's discriminations dis-criminations when social functions were still a part of his life. It is true that he had dined many times in the Milman house, but his wife had never been asked there. He came to understand under-stand In the end that he was asked because be-cause Peter Milman found It a less tedious business than going to Loddon's Lod-don's office. It was this fancied slight to his wife which most angered the lawyer. She was n social climber, and the magic of the Milman name was a tradition in New York. Her husband, ashamed of his obscure origin, had claimed to have been at school with Peter Milman, and Mrs. Loddon felt that, were he to insist, in-sist, she could be a guest In the envied en-vied home. Loddon hated Milman because, despite de-spite his unwise boasting, he knew he had never convinced Milman of his importance. "Always," he said slowly, with a rush of relief at being at last able to voice his emotions. "Y'cs, I hated you when my father drove you to school und I couldn't get either Inside with you or on the box with him. I've hated yon for your friends nnd the way you've expected me to come when you felt like calling." Loddon laughed sneeringl.v. "But that's all done with. I'm on top and only pity you now." "I think I prefer the former emotion," emo-tion," Milman murmured. "in future," Loddon said majestically, majestical-ly, "I shall have too many big things to attend to to have time for you. I'll turn your affairs over to my managing clerk." "Thank you," Milman said, rising. "I shall not come again. Send In your bill nt once. You have been loyal to our interests, and that is why we employed em-ployed you." Peter Milman passed over the Loddon outburst of hate as though It had not Interested him. Herman Loddon watched him depart with the feeling that ills triumph had not been us assured as ho could hav wished." He hud won no look of fear or apprehension from the man he hated. Perlm t. after all, there was something about men like Milman different from him. Then the thought of his two millions reassured him and he lumbered to the window and watched his former client cross the road. The great limousine opposite would presently take Herman Loddon to his lavishly appointed apartment, where he would dine largely. He pictured pic-tured Milman's solitary and dismal meal. There would not be many more for him in the family home on Lower Fifth avenue. The Patrician uge was gone. - Peter Milman readied 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 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 Milman had now nothing In common. He had rejected their overtures. They spoke of him witli pity, almost with contempt. A legend of eccentricity grew up about him and presently gave way to rumors of mental men-tal deterioration. Sneed, who. concerned himself greatly great-ly with the sudden change in his employer's em-ployer's habits, saw him return with obvious relief. ' Sneed had read, the papers and realized the extent of Hazen Brewer's troubles. He wished he dared ask Mr. Milman If he, too, were badly hit. Peter Milman's face told him nothing. Nor was his customary cus-tomary manner changed. "I am going over the upper rooms after luncheon," sa-ld Milman. "Please see that they are In order." The upper rooms. It 'was In these spacious chambers- that the old furniture fur-niture was stored about which experts raved. The six rooms were arranged as a museum. Milman moved from piece to piece. Everything had Its definite association. He stopped before be-fore an Eighteenth century card table covered with sealskin. On this table. In 1745, a Peter Milman had lost a thousand pounds on a cut of cards with a blue-blood of South Carolina. Those six chairs, called "banister-backed "banister-backed by their creator, Heppet-whlte, Heppet-whlte, had been made to order for a Milman. There, was one room devoted to the' Dutch furniture that had come to the Milmans from a marriage with a Van Sluyter heiress. Peter Milman bent down to look at a Dutch church stool which a Van Sluyter servant hnd carried car-ried to a place of worship two hundred hun-dred years before. It was black In color, and on one side bore a picture of the Last Judgment and some appropriate ap-propriate verses. "I don't read Dutch," Milman observed, ob-served, "but I remembered the translation. trans-lation. Listen, Sneed-, It may do yon good." "Certainly, sir," said Sneed respectfully. respect-fully. "The Judgment of God Is row prepared; there is still time, leave unwisdom. unwis-dom. The pious will he separated from the wicked. God's wisdom encircles the Universe." "Very true, Mr. Peter, sir," said Sneed. There was a look on his employer's em-ployer's face that he did not understand, under-stand, something hnrd and rnthlefj. "There are some of the wicked I should very much like to separate from the pious without waiting for post-mortem judgments. I am not sure that such an act would not be a logical way of acquiring merit. I take It, Sneed, that in your essence you are law-abiding?" "Always," said Sneed with conscious con-scious rectitude.' "In that respect, Mr. Peter, I'm like you." "A very admirable frame of mind," said Milman. Sneed had rarely known him comment com-ment on any of the exhibits before. To day It seemed he had a word for everything. "On this settle with folding candlestick," candle-stick," he observed, "Benjamin Mil-man Mil-man fell asleep In the Revolutionary war nnd was. captured by a red-coat major, who gave him liberty owing to his pretty skill on a six-string bass viol. The viol Is In the next room. These three mahogany pieces," lie said, pausing before a six-legged high case of drawers, "once belonged to the man whom Aaron Burr speaks of 'ns my friend Hamilton whom I killed.' 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