Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, July 27, 1913, SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE SECTION, Page 4, Image 36
4 SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE "There isn't any Walton in Massachusetts!" "Arc you sure Kitty .'" "Sun of i-oiiie I it in surf! I looked it up in two different atlases. There arc fifteen Waltons, but none of them in Massachusetts, anil it was written quite plain M-u-s-s." "My Ueorgo," exclaimed, "it (loos look black, docs n't it !" "It could n't bo worso, Hartley it simply could n't." "It was foolish of you not to liavo had it out with Viola not to have nipped it in tho bud tho moment you suspected this fellow." JITTV is a soft, round, helpless littlo person, 1 and she looked softer, rounder and more help less than ever as I reproached her. "I I tried to," she quavered. "Vet you allowed this man to come up with you on the train?" "I 1 could n't help that," she whimpered, with suffusing eyes. "I could n't slop him buying a tichet, could II" "You ought to have asserted yourself. Any woman any mother - with the slightest sense ami knowl edge of the world, would have asserted herself." "I I tried to," she wailed. "Kveu a chicken will light for its young," I went on angrily. "Kven a worm will light for its worm lets; yet you meekly tolerated this scamp, this valet may-he, this possible bigamist and scoundrel, and could n't think of doing anything more than wring ing your hands." "I I was afraid of Viola," she gasped out through her sobs. "She acts as though she were engaged to him and does n't allow me to open my mouth. It 's nil very well to talk about c-e-eliickcns, but what could I do?" 1 thought for a while in silence, pulling hard at niy cigar. "He is at the Fourth Avenue Hotel," I said at last. "J '11 drop in on Mr. Cobb tomorrow and then wo '11 sec what he has to sav to the man of the family." Kitty looked up gratefully. "Ob, what a comfort you are, Hartley," she ex claimed. "I was trying to nerve myself all the time 1 taw Viol coming toward me ahead of the stream of paiteniert to scud for you. but 1 just could n't. Yes, that 's the best thing for jou to see him, and take that attitude--tho man of the family and all that. 1 can't help thinking he is some dreadful kind of impostor." "I'll know for sure tomorrow," 1 said. "I'll know tomorrow if I have to stand him on his head." 1 judged it wiser not to telephone beforehand. Forewarning such an ambiguous young man might result in his keeping out of my way. 1 got to tho hotel a little after midday, and made up my mind to remain there until 1 had cornered Mr. Cobb. On going to the desk to inquire for the number of his room the clerk stopped me smilingly before I was half through. "Oh, if it s Mr. Cobb you want," he said, "he is right over there in that chair." Sure enough there was my man, with his long legs stretched out, and a neglected morning paper in his lap. Kveu in his careless attitude he looked a very presentable young fellow, and I noticed the excellent cut of his dollies, as well as his pleasant, uncon cerned expression. 1 had a sudden misgiving that I might be making a fool of myself, and rapidly edited (he remarks with which I bad intended open ing the engagement. Hut before going over to him, I asked to have a glance at the register, and sud denly bristled with renewed suspicion as I read tho entry: Montgomery J. Cobb, Wall on, Muss. I had already confirmed tho fact that there was no Walton, Mass. "1 bog your pardon," I began, as suavely as I was able, "I am Mr. Ilartloy Williams Mrs. TrutlelPs brother whom perhaps you will recall meeting last night." MH. COMH sprang up and shook hands with the most unruilled assurance. Indeed, assurance was evidently this young man's long suit. It was only in his eyes those blue, rather protuberant eyes that 1 could detect the least hint of dis composure. "1 am a business man," 1 said, "and you will ex cuse mo if i conic to the point without any preambles or beating about the bush?" Ho nodded amiably. "Circumstances demand that I should know something about you," 1 continued. "A frank un derstanding between us would help materially." "Help what?" ho inquired. The subdued impertinence of the remark nettled me, but 1 managed to restrain my temper. "You havo been paying cry pronounced attention to my niece," I said. "As her uncle and guardian, and as much as I dislike this unpleasant task it is my (1 u t y to 1 o a r n something about you." "Miss Trndell is n most charming young lady," ho observed, " a n d while it is truo I a d in i r e her 1 scarcely think you n r o .instilled in calling my utten tionspronouiicod." "J have it from hor mother," 1 said. "Mrs. Tnnlell is a most charming lady," he went on with tho same ex asperating bland noss. "1 would not for anything in the world cast tho slightest reflection on Mrs. Tru.loll, whom I admiro and respect ; but in holding mo up in this fashion sho " "W.body is hold ing you up," I interrupted warmly. "1 simply mean that a con tinued acquaintance is impossible unless you inform us who you are and where you come from. If you are a gentleman you can have no possible reason for withholding such information, which you ought not to put us in the position of insisting' upon." "The word insist is a very disagreeable one," he said, as iinportiubably as ever, shaking the ash from his cigarette. "So is the word adventurer." I retorted, now quite angry. "A man whoso only address is a non-existent town in Massachusetts has only himself to thank if he inspires a certain suspicion." "I am forced to agree with you," he remarked, with an air of sharing my point of view, and looking long and earnestly at his brilliantly polished shoos. "I am forced to agree with you; I admit it frankly." "And is this bow the matter is going to rest" I demanded, after a considerable pause. "It can rest any way it pleases," be replied, awakening from a sort of brown study. "My private a f Tairs are my own business, and if you can not bring yourself to take mo on trust am afraid our brief acquaintance will have to end." "All our acquaintance will havo to cud," 1 said, with a marked stress on the first word. "Even my niece, I think, will appreciate the need of that." T TI10l'(!HT his smile wavered for a moment as bis shoos again engrossed his entire attention; lie was plainly loss easy than he would have me believe. "It 's too bad," he remarked finally in an aggrieved voice. "If I could explain I would only the truth is I can't." "Then you will kindly keep away from my family until you can," 1 said. "A man "can do without a toothbrush, and ho can do without socks, but he has to have antecedents." "Well, 1 '11 agree to one thing," he said, recovering his smiling effrontery. "1 '11 agree to keep away from you all you like." I swallowed tho insult in silence, though inwardly I was boiling. Then I rose quietly, and without rais ing my voice or departing from an ordinary conver sational tone, said: "You have told me very little, but I have learned all I want to know. You are evidently a sharper and a rascal, and if you continue this impudent courtship of my niece, 1 shall take some very effectual means to squelch you. Good day, sir, good day!" With that 1 turned on my heel and left him, with a disconcerting sense of having got the worst of it. That fooling increased during the next few days when I heard he was a constant caller at Kitty's apartment, and that Viola and he were going out together almost every afternoon or evening. Pro testing to Kitty seemed absolutely useless; she would agree to everything 1 said, and then do nothing; 1 would put words into hor mouth to say to Mr. Cobb, and then, when ho came, she dared not say them. I gathered, however, that sho had had some violent passages with Viola in private, with no results save sullonness and resentment. Viola, who knew mighty well what 1 thought about it all, showed a remarkable adroitness in eluding me. Sho was always just going out, or having a letter to write, or a pressing engagement with Isobel Latimer whenever I tried to pin her down for that lecture she was so plainly dreading. One day, after a week had gone by in this manner, 1 lost all patience with her. As sho was about to flutter away in a whirlwind of animation and excuses, I put my back to the door and smilingly held her prisoner. "Wo havo to have a talk about Mr. Cobb," I said, "and wo are going to have it right now." "Oh, but Uncle Hartley," she pleaded, I can't, I can't ! 1 have n't a moment to spare truly 1 havo n't. 1 have a dress-fitting at Estelle's, and I am already ten minutes late." "I am a week late," I said. "A week late trying to sco you, and always getting put off. For once your engagements will havo to give way to the claims of a wild and woolly uncle. 1 've got a lot to say, and you 'e got a lot to hear." Al'lMlECIATINO that 1 was in earnest, she sat down, hut with a flash of her eyes and a muti nous tightening of her lips that boded ill for my long-deferred interview. Sho was a pretty girl in her way, with masses of fair hair and a trim, nice figure; I had always credited her with an affection ate disposition as well until 1 ventured to lay bauds on Mr. Cobb. "Let 's get it over with," she snid, fldgetting in her scat. "As my uncle (Continual on I'ayv b)