FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52  
53   54   55   56   >>  
be so easy to sell the house,' Tom went on. 'That's our worst millstone. It was built for large hospitality, and we have a good many friends, and they come every week and jump on to the millstone.' "'If one has to have a millstone he should choose it with discretion,' I said. 'It doesn't pay to get one that is too inviting. You'll have to swim around with yours for a while, and watch your chance to slip it on to some other fellow's neck. You don't want your son to be a millstonaire. Some day a man of millions may find it a comfortable fit, an' relieve you. They're buyin' places all about here.' "Tom left an' began work on our programme. The burglary was well executed an' advertised. It achieved a fair amount of publicity--not too much, you know, but enough. The place was photographed by the reporters with the placard 'For Sale' showin' plainly on the front lawn. The advertisin' was worth almost as much as the diamonds. Tom said that his wife had lost weight since the sad event. "'Of course,' I said. 'You can't take ten pounds of jewelry from a woman without reducin' her weight. She must have had a pint o' diamonds.' "'Pictures an' glowin' accounts of the villa were printed in all the papers, an' soon a millionaire wrote that it was just the place he was lookin' for. I closed the deal with him. It was Bill Warburton, who used to go to school with me up there on the hills. He had long been dreamin' of a home in Pointview. "They used to say that Bill was a fool, but he proved an alibi. Went West years ago an' made a fortune, an' thought it would be nice to come back an' finish his life where it began, near the greatest American city. I drew the papers, an' Bill an' I got together often an' talked of the old happy days, now glimmering in the far past--some thirty-five years away, [Illustration: Bill an' I got together often an' talked of the old happy days.] "Well, they enlarged the house--that was already big enough for a hotel--an' built stables an' kennels an' pheasant yards an' houses for ducks an' geese an' peacocks. They stocked up with fourteen horses, twelve hounds, nine collies, four setters, nineteen servants, innumerable fowls, an' four motor-cars, an' started in pursuit o' happiness. "You see, they had no children, an' all these beasts an' birds were intended to supply the deficiency in human life, an' assist in the campaign. Well, somehow, it didn't succeed, an' one day
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52  
53   54   55   56   >>  



Top keywords:

millstone

 
papers
 
weight
 

diamonds

 
talked
 
thought
 
finish
 

greatest

 

dreamin

 

school


Warburton
 

lookin

 

closed

 

proved

 
American
 
Pointview
 

fortune

 

enlarged

 

started

 
pursuit

happiness
 

setters

 

collies

 

nineteen

 
servants
 

innumerable

 

children

 
campaign
 

assist

 
succeed

deficiency
 

beasts

 

intended

 

supply

 

hounds

 
Illustration
 

millionaire

 

thirty

 

glimmering

 
stables

stocked

 

peacocks

 

fourteen

 

horses

 
twelve
 

kennels

 

pheasant

 
houses
 

fellow

 

chance