/
HALL, PA.
CHAPTER VI—Continued
dl
“Why should he? He came off sec-
ond best, didn't he? He was drunk
at the time and my father was Intoxi-
cated, otherwise there would have
been twe funerals, Father was heart-
broken when he sobered up, and sent
his lawyer to your Uncle Bill to apol-
ogize, so your Uncle Bill accepted the
apology and sent back one of his own.
When I was a very small boy your
uncle sold out his ranch to old man
Hobart, whose son, Kenneth, Is now
my general manager. Does Uncle Bill
treat you with civility and decency?”
“Of course he does. He's adorable.
He's a love”
“Very well, then, I'll not Kill him,
You must agree, though, that I did yon
af real service in bumping off old Un.
cle Tom.”
“Uncle Bill says you did.”
admitted. “But then he's biased."
“My father always declared that
Uncle Bill was all wool and a yard
wide. . . . Dinner's ready, thank
God. That stout saddle-colored fe-
male who appeared in the door just
now says we'd better come and get It
or she'll throw it out.”
“What an extremely
young man you are, Don Jaime.”
“Please do not call me Don
The don is really a title of
and is used by one's er
ial Inferiors—rather like
pullman porter address you
or You may
Higgins, Mr. Higuenes,
or Jaime."
“Very well, Mr. Higuenes,”
murmured in a very
Then: “Hold everything.
must run to my room for
chief. I forgot to fetch on
Don Jaime gazed after her.
was no doubt but that he approves
her mightily, When his shif
it met Mrs. Ganby's.
“How
queried,
“Miss Antrim
ful and mentally alert,
smart a young woman as you and I
will ever meet. Well raised well
spoiled, haughty, aware of her power
over men and just loves to use f(t.
Sound at heart, . I think.®
“Will she be here | Don Jaime?™
“I do not know. In mbility
she will not be here long enough to
please me. In run
that Bill Dingle wn the
road she wouldn't be he
a new note In life to me, but
going to let her know she is
toberta
old-fashioned
Jaime,
respect,
ployees or so
having
‘enlonel.’
small
gaze
does she impress
is physic beauti-
Yes, she's as
fact
gsenlawag de
She's
I'm not
CHAPTER VII
his recent ablutions, arrived with Ho
berta and the four went in to dinner.
The table had been set in the gallery,
Don Jaime explaining that during the
summer they always ate outside.
Roberta appraised
the eye of an expert. It was covered
with a white linen cloth:
stemmed red roses peeped from a jade
green bowl in the center; the service
was of sterling silver and very old and
beautiful. On closer inspection
saw that It carried a coat of arms,
“My great-great-great-grandmother's
silver,” Don Jaime explained. “Fellow
in New York once heard I had it and
sent his secretary down to buy it. He
offered me an unbelievably high price
for the service and didn't seem to be.
lieve me when I told him it was not
for sale. He just kept tilting the ante
and couldn't seem to see he was an-
noying me. Some people are like that,
They think money is the béginning
and the end of everything.”
“Perhaps you would, also, Mr.
Higuenes, If you had ever been poor”
Roberta suggested,
“I've paid 12 per cent
money,” he retorted. “I've had the
ranch mortgaged in bad years and
banks earried my father half his life
tima. Only those who are poor In
spirit, who lack courage, can be really
poor.”
“Do you not find life a little lonely
here?”
“A busy man Is seldom lonely. My
father spent his life In bondage to the
irrigation system you probably ob.
served en route here, but after his
death I completed It and transformed
a semiarid valley Into alfalfa and cot.
ton flelds. I got rid of the scrubby
long-horned cattle that were built for
speed and substituted Herefords, which
are built for beef. All this has been
a considerable task and fell to my
hands when I was eighteen. That was
ten years ago.
“After 1 was demobilized In the
spring of 1919 I really started to put
this ranch on a paying basis. 1
cleaned up on cotton in 1919 and *20.
And cattle prices were unbelievably
high. 1 had a feeling, however, that
such a wartime prosperity wouldn't
last, so 1 sold all my cattle in the
fall of 1920, and in 1921 I didn't plant
any cotton. Well, the market smashed
on hoth—and lucky Jim didn't have
any!
“Instead 1 raised alfalfa and stacked
it; then I bought cattle for a song
when the banks and the governmental
loan agencies foreclosed. Cheap eat-
and cheap feed, you know. 1 had
; moments of panic; the road was
lobble, his pale face glowing from
v
f
i
the table with
short-
she
for rented
rough and rocky In spots, although
that, of course, made it all the more
interesting, the victory all the more
delightful. I think that when one has
had to fight for his land and his people
he learns to love both, no matter how
unlovely or uninteresting they may
appear to those whose lives have been
spent in shelter and without effort.”
“My life has been spent that way, 1
must admit,” Roberta confessed. “And
I like it,” she added.
“Why not? You've never tried any
other life, have you?"
Roberta noticed that her host was
much more at his ease, now that their
conversation had veered into new
channels. It occurred to the girl too
that Don Jaime Miguel Higuenes had
lived more in five minutes of his color-
ful life than had the last three genera-
tions of Hacketts, And the Hacketts
were a long-lived race.
“What gainful occupation, if
does Mr, Latham practice now?”
Jaime asked Roberta
“He plays the stock market
“With success, I hope.”
“He has always heen very success.
ful until recently, when he lost prac-
tically everything he had—or at
he would have lost it without
of some who
any,
Don
least
the ald
people him. We
anticipate a reverse in the market
which will pull him out, if not with a
profit at least
“My father loved your Uncle Bil,
if he did him in th
and disagree with him
love
without terrific logs"
even shoot
politically.
give my
You live with
and a member
of his househol « my tenth birth
day. 1 never known a wish
hasn't hastened to gratify, at whatever
So, that old
and liable to suffer financial reverses,
it Is my duty to take care of him. and
for that reason my Uncle Tom's estate
the nature
been his
I i
have he
cost, you now he's
806,
me somewhat In
of a godsend.”
“One more reason why I shonld be
dealt with charitably In the matter of
your deceased avuncular rels
ive." the
you 1ggested
out
ng man ®
“Well, we'll pull you
the sheen ™
the estate Is
“1 understand
on you, Mr
Don Jaime shrugged.
“That
Higuenes
“Es nada.” he
ig, the grass they con-
to that™
replied
sume doesn't amount and he
i “The knowledge
that 1 am serving a distressed lady Is
a rich reward.”
Two maids removed the empty soup
plates and set the roast down In front
of Don Jaime “A turkey.” he
Informed Roberta. Then he sharpened
his carving knife on the steel and at-
tacked the bird, dissecting it In a very
neat and scientific manner
“Can you cook, Miss Antrim?
“Heavens, no!
“1 had heard it was a lost art with
the rising generation. I'm a rattling
good cook, myself, If I do say so. Most
Latin males are, yon know. I enjoy
cooking fish and game.”
“How about boxing?"
“Great sport. 1 have three vaqueros
who are pald five dollars a month
extra to box with me™
gn ed his fingers
0
i
wild
“That, I suppose,” sald Roberta dry.
ly, “appeals to your Irish blood. Are
you of a religious turn of mind?
“Well, I built a church in my pueblo
and I support a padre for my people,
I play the organ in my church and
I've rehearsed the cholr until it's real
ly rather good. You must come to
mass with me tomorrow and listen
to it.”
“Why were you armed today?
you always carry that arsenal?”
“No,” he replied soberly. “I do not.
But of late I have felt that discretion
might be the better part of valor. You
see, I have been unfortunate enough
to make some new enemies recently.
The last time I went abroad unarmed 1
was carried home on a stretcher”
“I fear,” the girl suggested, “that
the Antrim sheep are proving to be a
source of embarrassment to you.”
“Oh, not at all! My enemies never
embarrass me, I assure you.” He said
it 80 simply, 80 earnestly, so absolute
ly without brag or bounce, that Ro-
berta laughed aloud.
“You are a new note In life,” she de
clared. “Mrs. Ganby,; do you not find
Don Jaime a source of profound
amusement 7”
“Don Jaime, I must admit, 1s—qdif.
ferent,” Mrs. Ganby replied guardedly.
“I'm sure of it, Mrs. Ganby. He isn't
a bit religious, but he Ia very charit-
able——so charitable, in fact, that I am
certain he Is obliging me, in the matter
of those sheep, at considerable loss
and nuisance and inconvenience to
himself.”
Do
“Not at all,” her host protested, “I
expect to collect from the Antrim es-
tate a reasonable fee for my services,
to reimburse me for my outlay or in-
convenlence,”
toberta had a feeling of helplessness
in this man's presence, for he was a
new experience with her, She had
never met a man who remotely resem.
bled him—so ruthless, forceful and
dominating,
Not knowing
was silent and
When presently, her glance
Don Jalme's again he was smil-
ing at her, whereupon she itched
with a desire to pull his undoubtedly
Celtic nose. "He has all the audacity
and assurance of the Irish and all of
the ego of the Latin” thought.
“What an indolent, semi-insolent
glance he And he isn't
looking at all. Still he isn’t bad-look-
ing. He's just masculine and knows It,
All of his life he has been accus-
tomed to being high and low justice
on this ranch; because these peons of
his kotow to him he thinks he can get
away with murder. He's just a Mex.
fean feudal baron who has established
his feudal sway just far enough north
of the border to make good with it"
“Is it possible for one to send a tele.
gram from your ranch, Mr. Higuenes?”
what to say, she
attacked her meal,
met
she
has! good-
she asked.
“Certain
office
at L
gccount.”
» it to my
uld go to Los Algo
dones in a day or two to consult with
my
“Well, the long
visit, Miss Antrim,
it will be to Prudencio Alvis 1
almost a full-blooded Spaniard. About
Aztec or Yaqui, but
to make him want to
Be kind. Your
¥
mission will cause him
attorney.
second
visit
USiness
bestir himself
Roberta laughed softly, sud-
for again she had a swift vision
Hackett and the
the
again
compared
« with
Don Prudencio's
feel Wonderland,”
like Alice In
declared suddenly,
and birds and
sealing-wax, and cabbages and kings”
Don “1 am
lighted to Prudy to
He's gO
he'll just
“Speaking of bees
said Jaime sincerely de
have sold you.
I know
visit to
slow, 80 deliberate;
lengthen on
it your
J 5 ¥
it oF |
~
a
Re 4
“Just a Mexican Feudal Baron”
the Rancho Valle Verde until you get
to like the country. Just now you
think my country’s bare and lonely
and desolate, but-—it will grow on
you. To one unaccustomed to wide
horizons there Is born, in Texas, a
feeling that one is lost. But presently
one discovers that out of all this lone
liness and vastness a surprising num-
ber of good-natured and contented peo-
pel come; they're friendly and they
do not talk too much, although they
do talk to the point. I'll miss my guess
a mile If you find Yourself without a
serious Interest In Texas, Mees—]
mean Miss—Antreem—Antrim.”
“He's secretly excited and dis
turbed,” Roberta thought. *“Pronounc-
ing ‘I’ as ‘ee’ 1 wish dinner were over.”
Providentially, it was not a long
course dinner, such as Roberta had ex-
pected would be served and which she
had looked forward to with dread. A
soup, a salad, a roast, two vegetables,
a light dessert and black coffee. That
was all
“He runs his household like a senst.
ble man, at any rate,” the girl re-
flected.
She watched a humming bird flitting
from flower to flower, saw a quail come
forth and bear away a crust tossed
him by Don Jaime, Then, as the
shadows lengthened, the mocking
birds, replete with food and happy,
perched In a lime tree and pald for
thelr meal In Roberta had
never heard a Spanish mocker before
and was delighted with the
and variety of their extensive reper.
toire.
“You are fond of music? Don Jaime
queried,
Roberta nodded and tossed a
quick order in Spanish to one of
dusky maids,
From behind the elimbing lon
vines on the gallery across the patio
& guitar strummed: Roberta
heard the mellow notes of a harp as
unseen fingers ran the scale. Then
a girl's without much vol
but wondrously and sympa-
thetie—commenced to sing “La Golon-
drina
“When I am unhappy,” Don Jaime
explained, “they sing that sad song to
me and make me unhappler.”
“Why don't yon them
something Joyful?
“My dear Miss Antrim,
ever wants to be
It's like enjoyi
melody,
beauty
he
his
pass
Wis
3 a Try
VOI0E ine,
+
have
Higgins
when
! poor
We must feed our racial mel
no
nade happy
he's unhappy ns
health,
ancholy.”
“You
professional
Los Algodones?”
“No, they’
' “1
incorrigible Celt
entertainers
from
; his thin
he brown, powerful
cuddled under
Don
with his left
Jaime
lose
with
nassaged
the boy's
ur ie she
the music
Hind the passic
Presently Don Jaime
“Come, son”
i Vines
shook
gently. he sald softly
in Spanish, as 1
Nuestro padre"
“Say your prayers
you
The sleepy volee spoke haltingly the
have taught
liar words, the
rue
onfami
from time to
man prom
c
ae »
time. When the prayer
he boy
Ganby
good
was finished he rose and, with tl
in his
that
pe
night,
arms, stooped over Mrs
she might kiss her son
Then he passed around
to Roberta's chalr. “Innocence
helplessness,” Roberta heard him
urmur. “Who could not love Rt!”
He stooped over her and lowered the
boy until the childish lips brushed her
then he bore the lad off to bed.
The two women exchanged glances,
the mother's eyes were moist. “That
is the Latin in him, Miss Antrim. He's
not ashamed to demonstrate his affec.
tion.™
loberta did not answer.
thinking of a remark that Crooked
3ill had once made in her presence.
“When children and dogs love a man
a woman Is usually with him.”
She wondered now if Glenn Hackett!
loved children and dogs and decided
presently that he would love his own
children, If and when he had them,
but that he would not be interested in
dogs or human beings beneath him In
the social scale.
“He is a strange man, Mrs. Ganby,"
she said at last. “I have never met
his kind before. I do not know what
to make of him-—whether to like him
or dislike him, to fear him or to trust
him. He killed my uncle and then,
masquerading under the name of Jim
Higgins he induced me to accept the
hospitality of Jaime Higuenes. Where
I come from one doesn't do that sort
of thing, you know. How long have
you known him, Mrs. Ganby?"
“Since three days after he killed
your uncle. I am a trained nurse and
I came down here to tend his wounds,
although he would have recovered
without my ald, for he is as healthy as
a horse. Later he asked me to be
his housekeeper, but since he does not
appear to regard me as a servant, I
imagine I am a sort of pald hostess,
I think he had a hope that you might
visit the ranch some day, and of
course you would never have been in-
vited unless he had a duenna here
He is very punctilious in matters of
social propriety.”
“And Robble?
“When he discovered I had a little
crippled son he sent his general man-
ager to El Paso to bring the boy here.
He knew I'd want him with me, of
course.”
cheek ©
She was
safe
at once,
—-—
On his body are
“I understand. Innocence and help-
Of course his heart went
out to Robbie”
“Children understand, Miss Antrim.
1 think Don Jaime is a man who likes |
a fight—any kind of a fight. He is
tremendously interested in that atro-
phied leg of Robbie's, Lately he has
started massaging It, stretching (it,
He has been sending for
medical treatment on infantile paraly-
talks of sending Robble Fi
the
lessness
studying it.
and i6t
to he treated at
tute.”
sis
Yani afall g g
Rockefeller insti-
inter-
He
the
Further confidences were
rupted by the return of the host.
called something In Spanish to
“For a Moment | Had Forgotten |
Had Killed Your Uncle Tom!” He
Murmured.
Rose of °
Roberta
cocked or
Don Jain
am of sadnes
of resigns n the lazy eyes For
8 moment iad forgotten I had killed
your Uncle Tom!" he murmured,
“Oh, please, Mr. Higuenes—"
“Oh, Jaime” he corrected
“I had forgotten, too, Jaime.”
“Now have made up
mind not to dislike me or the task of |
rying to like me, I have a confession
o make."
“I'l try
“A few days after I shot it out with
his man, Bill Dingle and
over here the
me great bodily
2
©
please,
that you »our
to bear "
up onder it
your
five others came with
intention of doing
harm
pleces in
Iynching me to one of the cross.
hat trellis in
grape arbor a8 A
fact. 1 captured Dingle and his idiots
and confined them in my private bas
tile here for thirty days. Before turn.
ing them loose | had my foreman flog |
them all” i
“Oh, Jaime!"
“That's the sort of bad egg I am,
senorita. That's why 1 was wearing
two guns today. By the way, can you
sing Gounod's ‘Ave Maria?"
“Why, yes!” she answered a little |
breathlessly.
“Oh, grand, wonderful! Let's go In
side and practice it with a plano ac-
companiment., I want you to sing It
at mass tomorrow for my people. You
will, of course. I know you will. Poor |
devils, They'll love it so! But first
send your telegrams. The office in
Los Algodones will soon be closing”
CTO. BE CONTINUED.)
heavy the
yonder, matter of
Formal Notification of
Call to Domestic Duty
It seems that the wife of a well
known member of the Central Manu.
facturing District club, whom we shall
name fictitlously for obvious reasons,
has experienced considerable difficulty
in persuading her spguse to assume
a share in the family responsibilities.
Particularly would she appreciate A
helping hand In the morning when |
there are breakfast to get, children to |
dress, and a host of other cares to
discharge in a minimum of time.
Other means falling, she finally re.
gorted to the formally Ironic and
wakening him one morning, thrust be
fore his astonished eyes the following
neatly done card:
Mrs. Easton Weswood
requests the esteemed company of
Mr. Easton Weswood
at the robing of their children,
Edward, Eleanor, and Edelweiss,
this morning at seven-fifteen
in the malin and only bathroom
of the Weswood domicile,
{Overflow will gather in the south hail)
exchange
|eold and clear. Over field
and farmhouse and winding
roads, was a snowy blanket,
wenth-
as
poi
“(Good Christmas
ter!” sald Jared
he stamped In from the
Pigeon,
office, und thumped a bundle
He
atch
of letters on the kitchen table
was regarding his wife from a w»
ful eye,
Caroline, their daughter,
Jared
in the Christ
his wife's pretty,
over a letter In Ca
writing, as he «
for he had noted a letter from
went out to his
mas packag
long
iosed
ire other fIriend
indeed
to come
with
own.
and eat
them—Dilly
ink you ™
«1. and then |
“tome when
there hefore one oc
Jared, wishing he knew
“Well, Jared Pigeon” Exclaimed His
Wife, “Where Have You Been?”
could ask to share dinner with Billy.
“Well, Jared Pigeon !™ exclaimed his
f the back he
wife, coming to
his delayed
door as
came in with
“where t
ve You been]
this news about Caroline
“Don’t get
i her hushand dur
on the floor and
kitchen door, “1 know
that Caroline can't come
but you know what
folks are these days. [I've asked Rilly
Wakeman to dinner. If you can think
any girl 1 can ask so there'll
four of us, mother"
Mrs. Pigeon smiled sedately., “Land
no. Jared, Caroline's the only girl | ean
think of," she said, "and with
company, we've got to get hnsy
Mother up
down stairs, was very setting
the tahle with all their best china.
There was a delicious warmth up there
in Caroline's room.
Then, when everything was almost
ready, when Mrs Vigeon in her best
hiack gilk, and a new cap with a tiny
violet how on her lovely white hair,
was entertaining Billy Wakeman, just
nas a mother enres for her own beloved
son, just before it was time to sit
down to that delicious dinner mysteri.
ously set for four people—though Mr.
Pigeon knew mother always set a place
for Caroline, anyway-— just then they
heard the horn of the village singe.
“It's stopping here!” yelled Mr
Pigeon, rushing to the side door, and
in 8a moment a lovely, laughing gir
was throwing off her furs among them,
not seeing Billy Wakeman at first
where he stood white and tense. Then
she saw him, and a wonderful look
came Into her Mce—"Nilly I” she whis
pered. “You here? Oh, this makes ht
perfect!”
Billy Wakeman held out
and Caroline went into
homing bird,
Mrs. Pigeon drew hor hoshand inte
the kitchen and closed the doer
“Jared” she sald, “von took It for
granted this morning that Caroline
wasn't fomting homeetnit ehe 1a hore!
She &aid she was tired of the city, and
that she would find something to do in
town. 1 knew her heart was breaking
for Billy—you did a wonderful thing
to ask him."
(by McClure Newspaper Syndiente )
(WRU Services)
excited,
teste
ages
Christmas young
of be
now,
Pigeon, running and
busy
his arme
them like a