For Love or Gold? The Story of a Great Department Store — page 157: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

oF ee oe ee eh @ A ai i > ral) OOS Lew pF «a el ~~ - AM a , ie P . t 4 Fe : oe “ as shy ‘oat * “The Ueceied 2 Fortune, ee. 53 y “I on? t understand,” she said slowly. “What is wrong vith: your father, Mr. Denton?’ - “That’s what I’d like to know,” was the emphatic an- _swer, “but between you and I, it’s my opinion that he’s “crazy !” Mrs. Marvin and Faith both stared at him curiously, for this time there was more Sacinees than disrespect in © his language. “T isten to this,” he went on quickly, “and see if I am not right! I will put the situation before you without a particle of exaggeration.” ae Me ae “Wait!” said Mrs. Marvin. “What does all this con- cern us, sir? Are you not doing wrong to talk to strangers about your father’s business?” A ‘amile passed over the young man’s features, and — he turned toward Faith with a glance of admiration. “T think not,” he said shortly, “and for this simple rea- _ son—he admires your daughter above any girl that he has met; she has influenced him in the past and can in-~ fluence him again in the future. And he is sadly in need of influence, I can assure you,” he continued, “for, at the present moment, he is on the verge of two things, they are the verge of bankruptcy and the verge of insanity!” . Mrs. Marvin looked shocked, but Faith’s brow became clearer. it was coming to her now what was troubling young Denton. The young man went on with hardly a perceptible pause, his face growing more handsome and manly as he became interested and excited. “My father to-day is worth a million dollars, a large percentage of it having been made in his present busi- ness. He is prominent both in social and business circles, and up to the present his ability has never been ques- tioned. To-day he has changed all this as far as it is pos-— se sible to change it in the short period of a week. He is — making arrangements to transact his business on what — he calls a ‘religious basis,’ which means that he intends to transact worldly affairs by heavenly methods, and it does not take much intelligence to see where he will terminate. He will be a bankrupt in five years, if he isn’t sooner, fou GEomichbooks.¢co