Show TIRE LEF abu xi W WS una 31 alla PARA brimi ja X BY ELIZABETH JORDAN 0 D App appletoft letort wenhuy co inc service I 1 CHAPTER I 1 I 1 hale settled deeper into the office chair and kept his brown eyes on casper Kne elands face kneeland had been uncle cass the last time they met that was 18 years ago out in the northwest when hale himself had been a boy of ten knee mn gg yas was not uncle cass now he san impressive successful mid dle clie aged new york business man he had made a fortune by inventing a simple article widely known as Kne elands safety catch he was busy preoccupied and rather short of memory concerning ten year olds he had welcomed hale into the office suite of his factory with a handshake and a businesslike business like smile now he was making talk and hale resented it kneeland might have to fo gotten a ten year old godchild the caller told himself he should not have forgotten that goodchilds god childs father hale senior had bad been Kne elands first partner and the closest friend of his youth it had been a fine friendship it had impressed the little boy yet here 18 years later was a 41 casper s er kneeland ee I 1 an d equally vague ue in vp a ory of the hales father and x and talking too smugly the young man thought about his interests te rests listening to him as the man sat at his handsome flattop flat top desk and poured out his trickle of small talk hale realized that uncle cass had bad not yet wearied of the flavor flavo of his success he rolled it on his tongue he betrayed a tendency to enumerate his various possessions were at our camp now but of course I 1 keep my town house open all summer kneeland was saying apropos of the unseasonable june heat joan my niece is always running into new york for a day or two even in the hottest weather and hosanna my sister who joined my family after we came east would live in new york 12 months a year if id let her she care much for seashore life it suits me down to the ground id like nothing better than to put up at halcyon camp the first of june and stay there till the first of november cant quite manage that of course but I 1 come as near it as I 1 can 1 I can usually get away from here friday night and stay at the camp till monday he went on as hale merely nodded and I 1 always put in all of august there greatest place in the world to sleep pines and spruces spruced around and behind you the whole atlantic in front of you good boating fishing swimming weve got a modest place but plenty of room say by jove he stopped short under the impact of an idea that had just hit bit him and stared at his caller why dont you get out of this oven and make the camp a visit he rushed on after a seconds hesitation the newspapers say this will be the hottest june weve ever pa V ILI it will do you no end of good awhile you say you had gad just had a stiff bout of pneumonia in spain that pneumonia is ancient history now young rex assured kneeland 1 I was all right again a week before I 1 sailed for home landed this morning you yes sir and im hustling out to chicago but I 1 once promised dad id never go through new york without looking hyou up a glad you did my boy kneeland spoke absently his mind full of the sudden idea that had bad come to him what are you going to do in chicago he be added in the same tone get a lob job I 1 hope june is no time to make a start imsand and 1 pointed out in chicago LL L b L anywhere else by the way your line he eva even remember that rex reflected though hale senior had bad written him about it some years yeara before with paternal pride civil engineering kneeland nodded no use trying to find a job now he underlined it cant be done Every things dead till fall anyway ill tell you the thing to do youre a bi big athletic chap but you need building up youre too thin for your six feet and your color right come down to halcyon camp and spend the summer there it will buck you up I 1 call it halcyon camp he added complacently because I 1 want it to be a serene and happy place I 1 want everyone to be comfortable there hale was surprised and showed it oh thanks awfully he said but I 1 do that why not the question was sharply imperative evidently kneeland was not a man who liked opposition its awfully kind of you sir it takes my breath away but I 1 cant unload myself on your household the women of your family might not like it the women of my family are my sister hosanna who is fifty and my niece joan who is twenty one they realize that im boss of the house julia my wife died 10 years ago your mothers dead too she he broke off to ask yes sir she died very suddenly just after I 1 entered college I 1 even get home in time to see her any brothers and sisters P no sir 1 I remember rex writing that your mother was gone it was the same year my wife died that young hale reflected was why he remembered it Kne Me elands memory would not long hold anything not directly connected with his own interests i you ought to remember my wife he brought out yes sir I 1 remember her well she was mighty good to me rex grinned she was always filling me up with cookies and a kind of raisin bread ive never forgotten Kne elands round smooth face shadowed she was a fine woman he testified her last year was very tragic I 1 dont know whether I 1 wrote your father about it but she had lost her mind rex shook his head we know that he said sympathetically at least I 1 father may have but he never spoke of it he was awfully cut up by mothers death about that time kneeland sighed and dismissed both dead women from his mind with an abruptness hale knew now was characteristic lie he returned to the congenial topic of his camp hosanna and joan both realize that the camp is mine not theirs he continued as if there had been no interruption 1 I invite any friends I 1 want to visit it so do they we have three house guests there now joan usually has some girl friends there but ashes out of sorts this summer and seem to want them ive plenty of servants to look after everybody the unctuous note crept back into his voice theres a cook and a good one if I 1 do say it it theres a maid a but ler valet and a handy man were besides kneeland interrupted you can make yourself useful supposed to be living a primitive life were off the main line and away from the social set but we have all the comforts good plumbing plenty of bathrooms big fireplaces for cool days you can take the train and be there in time for dinner tonight I 1 cant go till friday or id drive you down thanks again but I 1 really dont think besides kneeland interrupted you can make yourself useful oh different how kneeland smiled at the change in the youngsters face the smile was more likable than the first glimpse of it had been it banished the expression press ibn of anxiety that sat so oddly on the manufacturers round disc he was suddenly a good looking man in the early fifties plump slightly bald pleasant featured human and engaging five minutes before he had seemed a harassed and nerve worn man in the sixties rex did not know that a change had wrought its miracle in his own face he waited eagerly for his bis hosts reply in lots of ways for one thing ive no secretary at the camp my son herbert twenty two now was supposed to do that job but hes no good this summer always 10 miles away when I 1 want him he seem to be interested flocks by himself and that sort ot of thing he even much use to joan hes off on his own affairs whatever they are another young man around the place will be a godsend to the girl garl his smile widened ill pay you a salary of course just thought ot of it it he added candidly hale shook his head we wont talk about salary till I 1 find out whether theres really anything for me to do ill go and make myself useful if I 1 can but I 1 wont go tonight thanks ill stay over tomorrow and get a few things ill need for camp life naturally I 1 bring much in the line of clothes back from spain then settled go any time you like ill telephone hosanna that youre coming wait ill give you a check for expenses nothing doing thank you ill pay my own way till I 1 see how much bluff youre giving me about this job I 1 suspect that youre putting over good deed nothing like it there will be work tor for you all right the haggard look abruptly returned to Kne elands face for an instant he seemed old again and very tired there was something pathetic in the eyes he fixed on hale then he suddenly recalled that the good looking young giant before him had been a darned nice kid 1 I cant thank you enough mr kneeland hale got up uncle cass my boy what it used to be a thousand years ago he had remembered his godson at last thank you sir by the way where is the camp down on long island kneeland laughed and wrote the address tor for him hale left the office with springing steps it was incredible luck to have found a berth for the summer even if it proved only a shelter but of course he impose on kneeland very long it he found that he make himself useful there was something odd about the old boy something was worrying him was fighting down his natural optimism his smug complacency hale recognized this but gave the matter only passing thought he was too much elated by the unexpected turn in his fortunes to consider problems hale put in the next day shopping the exper experience ence decreased his supply of ready cash but increasingly raised his spirits he was not an economical young man and even before the prospect of a camp visit he had realized that he be must start his bis new life with a suitable american wardrobe there were not many temptations to be sartorially dashing in spain there were plenty today and he yielded to them with an abandon that endeared him to clerks moreover it was a pleasure to salesmen to fit him they let him grasp their impression that he would do credit to the suits and shirts and ties and shoes and knickerbockers he be was buying his figure was excellent and his copper colored hair and brown eyes would set off the heather mixtures he selected for outdoor wear he would look wen well in his white flannels flaim els too he was fussy about shirts and ties and the clerks who w 0 served him in those departments respected his knowledge this young man knew what went with his coloring hale explained his satisfaction is in hi his s new purchases with an engaging edgail ing grin TO BE CONTINUED |