The Argosy, Vol. 90 No. 1 — page 152: what you’re looking at

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

146 This acted on her like a stimulant. She looked at him clearly, and a tiny wistful smile twisted up the corners of her mouth. “I never knew what kind of a man I’d like,” she answered, ‘“ because I never saw one like you before, but if I had—then ”— she hesitated, and concluded with a bit of a laugh— then I am sure I would have known.” What happened then and later that eve- ning, after they had dined together on the Waldorf roof, is a matter outside the prov- ince of this chronicle to relate. They never told more than merely bits of conversa- tion. The checks proved highly acceptable at any bank, and both Mr. Henry Harlingood and Mr. Roger B. Stakes decided to retain them. Mr. Stakes, be it observed, took longer to make his decision than did Mr. Harlin- good,, but when his broker told him he was getting a quarter more than the St. Oppo- site was worth in the open market he de- cided to let the bargain stand. The hotel was one of Una’s wedding gifts, among the others being a diamond solitaire almost as large as the one Prince had formerly worn. Curiously, he stopped wearing diamonds entirely shortly after that, and Aunt Belle never ceased to re- mind him querulously that he cared more for his bride than for her because he never stopped wearing diamonds as long as she alone insisted. He laughingly admitted this, declaring he had waited for more authoritative femi- nine decision. But there is no conflict be- tween Aunt Belle and the present Mrs. (The THE ARGOSY. John C. Prince. ject of devotion. “Petroleum” bought the Harlingood mansion, and made a present of it to Miss Haynes, and has given her, in addition, the income on a million with which to maintain it in its former splendor. This she does, assisted by Mrs. Harlingood, who still re- tains her home there, and where, to all in- tents and purposes, the Harlingoods still reign, for Aunt Belle had made Mr. and Mrs. Harlingood her permanent guests, and in return has had no difficulty in making her way among the social circle which alone can appreciate her. The Chink who managed the Oklahoma ranch left last year, and in his place was installed Jack Welling at fifteen thousand dollars a year; and when he left to under- take his new work his wife and their first- born, one year old, went with him. Arthur, thanks to his well-known inti- macy with that picturesque Western char- acter, Petroleum Prince, has secured a peculiar and enviable position as confiden- tial adviser to a prominent firm of brokers in oil stocks, and his mother is justly proud of his facile dealings in high finance. On their first wedding anniversary John C. Prince presented his bride with a new home quite some distance up the avenue from the old Harlingood mansion and in the heart of the most exclusive residence section of the metropolis. A little later he secured from a foreign agent, with whom he had been in correspondence, that most val- uable of Bouguereau’s exquisite master- pieces, ‘“ Aurora,” and it was hung in the drawing-room of Una’s home the very day that John C. Prince, Jr., was born. End.) They have a mutual ob- MID OCEAN—AFTER A STORM HITE clouds that muse, drowsed in the morninz light— Ethereal fragments from the wind-swept night; In the boat’s wake each billow’s ebbing crest ‘ Shot through with colors like the rainbow’'s breast. No fringe of land to blot the boundless view; A world of water, domed with tranquil blue; And mystery wedded to melodious art, In the soft beating of the ocean’s heart. William H. Hayne. oO comicbool< CO