The Argosy, Vol. 75, No. 4 — page 21: what you’re looking at

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

done something really worthy of con- gratulation in marrying the man who stood with such unmoved face beside his radiant bride. Ted began to like him because he refused to grin to the inanities poured over him. But he wanted to know what it all meant. His mother’s blue eyes read his. Perhaps she guessed that he had refrained from explosion about to the limit of his endurance. She beckoned to him as the guests turned toward the dining-room. He followed her into the library and was about to shut the door when he noticed that the strange man was calm- ly occupying the threshold. The two of them regarded each other for a long moment before Ted faced his mother. “What does it all mean, mother ? ” Ted demanded. “Ted, this is Mr, Barrington.’ ma its mother introduced, without answering. Radford was not enlightened. The name was unfamiliar. His sense of injustice rose and raged. “IT think you've treated me pretty shabby!” he announced with a fervor that emphasized his words. “Don’t rampage, Ted. You'll have to make the best of it. Its not really bad. Will you leave us alone, Hugo?” Again Radford and his unexpected relative crossed glances. There was power about the look of Mr. Barring- ton which made him a personality. Ted saw it instantly. But he was intent. upon an explanation. “Mother, what do you—who is this man, anyway?” he asked the moment the door was securely closed. “He’s a wonderful man, self-made millionaire! ” Radford was a man of broad ex- ' perience in some ways. He knew that self-made men might be almost any kind of men. But, even though the ex- planation was not elucidating, the flaming blue of his mother’s eyes was. It made him ask a question. ‘“ Mother, you can’t love this strange man? You ought to have told me. A woman can make a big mistake—” Ted—a MESQUITE RANCH. 723 “ Ted, there wasn’t time. It all came so suddenly, Mr. Barrington has been so devoted to me ever since I’*met him “Great guns!” Ted exclaimed. “You don’t mean that you’ve known him only a month?” “I just do,” his mother flashed back at him with an earnestness like his own. “ But I know him to his distinction and credit. You ought to be ashamed, ma- king all this fuss, when you are the one to benefit by—” Radford went quickly to his mother. He put his big, strong hands on her shoulders. ‘“ All the same, mother, you’ve been crying about marrying this wonderful, -a month ago—” self-made millionaire,” he — accused gently. “T haven’t,” she denied. “ I’ve been crying about—about you, Ted.” “Well, forget it!” Ted exclaimed sincerely. “ I was rather cut up at your stealing a march on me like this. I can’t see why you did it. But I’m satis- fied, if you are.” “Ted, there isn’t any money,” she whispered. But the import of her words did not reach Ted. He had grown up with money like those other natural and un- limited supplies, air and water, and the idea that she meant to convey just sim- ply did not take hold upon his mind. “Mr. Marsh warned me over six months ago. I—lI’m not much of a mother, Ted! I ought to have cur- tailed my own expenditures and held you down; but I—I didn’t know how to begin.” Radford began to have a faint appre- ciation that what she was saying had some meaning to him. He stared at her for a moment, then showed that his. mind had gone back to take up the novel theme where she had introduced it. ‘“Tsn’t any money for what?” he asked. “For you! For anything! It’s gone—all gone, Ted! Can’t you un- derstand?” she cried nervously. ‘You mean—everything—is gone?” COPMICGLOOOKS (C@)