K
By Edborft Wo Qnmdbein
O you desire me to marry
him? asked Miss Castle,
"Lot nic finish," paid her
uncle. "Jane," he added, turning on
his sister, "if you roulil avoid sneezing
for a few moments, I should he indebted
(o you."
Miss Jane Garcide, a sallow lady of
forty, who suffered with colds all
winter and hay-fever all summer,
meekly left the room.
Miss Castle herself leaned on the
piano, tearing the pink pet als from a
half-withered rose, while her guard
ian, the Hon. John Garcide, finished
what he bad to say and pulled out
his cigar-case with derision.
"I have only to aid," be said,
"that James J. Crawford is one
man in a million."
Her youthful adoration of Garcide
had changed within a few years to a
sweet-tempered indifference. He
was aware of this; be was anxious
to learn whether the change had
also affected her inherited passion
for truth fulness.
"Do you remember a promise you
once made?" lie inquired, lighting his
cigar with care.
"Yes," she said, calmly.
"When was it?"
"On my tenth birthday."
Ho looked out of the heavily cur
tained window.
"Of courseyou could not be held
to such a promise," he remarked.
"There is no need to bold me to it,"
she answered, flushing up.
Her delicate sense of honor amused
him; be lay back in his arm
chair, enjoying his cigar.
"It is curioits," be ssid, "that you
cannot recall meeting Mr. Craw
ford last winter.
"A girl has an opportunity to
forget hundreds of faces after her
first season , " she said.
There was another pause; then
Garcide went on: "I am going to ask
you to marry him."
Her face paled a trifle;; she bent
her head in acquiescence. Garcide
smiled. It hail always been that
way with the Castles. Their word,
once given, ended all matters. And
now Garcide was gratified to learn
the valueof a promise by a child often.
"I wonder," said Garcide, plaintively,
"why you never open your heart to
me, Hilda?"
"I wonder, too," she said; "mv
father did."
Garcide turned his flushed face to the
window.
Years before, when the firm of Gar
cide & Castle went to pieces, Peter
Castle stood by the wreck to the end,
patching it with his last dollar. Hut
the wreck broke up, and be drifted
piteously with the debris until a kindly
current carried him into the last harbor
of all the port of human derelicts.
Garcide, however, contrived to cling
to some valuable flotsam and paddle
into calm water, and anchor.
After a few years be built a hand
some house above Fiftieth Street;
after a few more years be built a new
Andkwr off "AftkoDk," ""Hi ConmoiOfli Law,'
"TDD FngMiml domic," Eta.
tuft 'oQSek .
Are You Mr. Crawford?
wing for Saint lierold's Hospital; and
after a few more years he did other
things equally edifying, but which,
if mentioned, might identify him.
Church work had always interested
him. As a speculation in moral obliga
tion, be adopted Peter Castle's orphan,
who turned to him in a passion of
gratitude and blind devotion. And as
she bade fair to rival her dead mother
in beauty, and as rich men marry
beauty when it is in the market, the
Hon. John Garcide decided to control
the child's future. A promise at ten
years is quickly made, but he had
never forgotten it, and she could not
forget.
And now Garcide needed her as he
needed mercy from Ophir Steel, which
was slowly crushing his own steel
syndicate to powder.
The struggle between Steel Plank
and James J. Crawford's Ophir Steel
is hwtoi ical. The pure love of fighting
was in Crawford; he fought Garcide to
a standstill anil then kicked him, filling
Garcide with a mixture of terror and
painful admiration.
But sheer luck caught at Garcide's
coat-tails and hung there. Crawford,
prowling in the purlieus of society, had
seen Miss Castle.
The next day Crawford came into
Garcide's office and accepted a chair
with such a humble and uneasy smile
that Garcide mistook his conciliatory
demeanor and attempted to bully him.
But when he found out what Crawford
wanted, he nearly fainted in an attempt
to conceal his astonishment and delight.
"Do you think I'd buy you off with
an innocent child?" he said, lashing
himself into a good imitation of an in
sulted gentleman.
Crawford looked out of the window,
then rose and walked towards the
door."
"Do you think you can bribe me?"
shouted Garcide after him. Crawford
hesitated.
"Come back here," said Garcide,
firmly; "I want you to explain your
self." "I can't," muttered Crawford.
"Well try, anyway," said Garcide,
more amiably.
And now this was the result of that
explanation, at least one of the results;
and Miss Castle had promised to wed
a gentleman in Ophir Steel named
Crawford, at the convenience of the
Hon. John Garcide.
The early morning sunshine fell
across the rugs in the music room,
filling the gloom with golden lights.
It touched a strand of hair on Miss
Castle's bent head.
"You'll like him," said Garcide,
guiltily.
Her hand hung heavily on the piano
keys.
"You have no other man in mind?"
he asked.
"No, ... no man."
Garcide chewed the end of his cigar.
"Crawford's a bashful man. Don't
make it hard for him," he said.
She swung around on the gilded
music-stool, one white hand lying
among the ivory keys.
"I shall spare us both," she said:
"1 shall tell him that it is settled."
Garcide rose; she received his caress
with composure. He made an
other grateful peck at her chin.
"Why don't you take a quiet week
or two in the country?" he sug
gested, cheerfully, "Go up to the
Sagamore Club; Jane will go with
you. You can have the whole place
to yourselves You. always liked
nature and er all that, eh?"
"Oh, yes," she said, indifferently.
That afternoon the Hon. John Gar
cide sent a messenger to James J.
Crawford with the following letter:
"My dear Crawford, Your
manly and straightford request
for permission to address my
ward, Miss Castle, has pro
foundly touched me.
"I have considered the mat
ter, I may say earnestly con
sidered it.
"Honor and the sacred duties
of guardianship forbid that I
should interfere in any way with
my dear child's happiness if she
desires to place it in your keep
ing. On the other hand, honor
and decency prevent me from
attempting to influence her to
any decision which might prove
acceptable to myself.
"I can therefore only grant
you the permission you desire to
address my ward. The rest lies
with a propitious Providence.
"Cordially yours,
John Gaucide."
"P. S. My sister, Miss (Jar
eide, and Miss Castle are going to
the Sagamore Club to-night.
I'll take you up there whenever
you can get away."
(Continued on Pag 7)
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