The Argosy, Vol. 75, No. 4 — page 241: what you’re looking at

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

found his proper sphere when he landed on a cattle ranch somewhere in New Mexico. His father’s will had left him the property. The remainder of the Vandemoer estate, appraised at half a million, was to go to Vandy on condition that he wed Alice Fahnstock. The estate was to be held in trust for two years, or until the nuptials were solemnized. If, at the end of that time, the conditions were not fulfilled the half million should be bestowed upon some- thing or other. Vandy was satisfied with these stipu- lations; but Alice, soon after the elder Vandemoer’s death, became the bride of aman who was worth three-quarters of a million. Then Vandy sensibly went to take charge of his ranch. (With these few preliminaries the plot will now coagulate. ) A year after her conjugal vows Alice obtained a divorce and a handsome cash settlement. Alice was a bright girl, brainy and beautiful. Vandy heard about the separation. He wrote—they both wrote. He still wanted Alice and the half million more than ever. Alice always loved him, but only recently had discovered the fact—she said so herself. H° RBERT VANDEMOER Emerson fiz However, for reasons of her own, she kept putting off considering the possibility of their marrying. The day when the stipulation in the will should be annulled drew near. Still no defi- nite word from Alice. Her seeming indifference made Vandy all the more anxious. Such is human nature. It would take him a week to travel East. One month re- mained—two weeks, ten days. How time dragged and flew at the same time! Then, just when all seemed lost, Vandy received the prayed-for message saying he might hurry East to claim Alice’s hand and his father’s fortune. The jubilant stock-grower rode his pinto on the run all the way to Rita MacGregor’s, to tell her the gladsome news. : In the first place Rita was Mexican, and in the second, Scotch. This com- bination never strikes a happy medium. It either produces a Mexican poppy or a Scotch thistle. © Rita was convent bred, and the only person in all the countryside with the sympathy and understanding to receive Vandy’s confidence, which had to find vent somewhere. The adobe casa where Rita lived, 943 S CORMICLO@ (C@)