OCR Interpretation


The day book. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1911-1917, August 15, 1916, LAST EDITION, Image 19

Image and text provided by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

Persistent link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1916-08-15/ed-1/seq-19/

What is OCR?


Thumbnail for

mmmmmmmm
rotary, and earning a decent salaryy
Those who got an inkling of the af
fair admitted that the colonel had
not acted fairly. It was known that
Dorothy was pale and had lost in
terest 'in affairs. But her father was
as obstinate as she.
"I'm mighty sorry, Tom," said ge
nial Jim Banks one afternoon when
he felt in an expansive mood. "She's
a gem, that girl is. And now I come
to think of it, f'seem to remember
there was something funny about
that property of Carteret's. Suppose
you, look through those tin boxes of
papers that we got from the old land
-office after the war."
"The deeds, sir?"
'"Deeds, I suppose, but they haven't
legal force any more. You see, the
commissioners went through all land
titles in 1871 and drew up fresh
deeds, invalidating these. No, they're
just curiosities. But there was some
thing, if my memory isn t playing me
a trick."
Tom spent the afternoon rum
maging through the faded yellow
papers. It was at the bottom of the
last box that he found the deed.
"HunU" said Banks, running his
eye over it "Yes, came to the Wil
liams family through the Chief Al
gonquinka.' Price a pound of beads
brass; one hogshead of tobacco; a
dozen rifles; powder horns yes,
quite regular. Here's your grand
father's transfer. Hello! What's
this?"
attached to the deed was a paper
written in faded ink. Tom and Jim
Banks looked at it with increasing
astonishment.
"My dear old friend," it read. "Of
course I am not going to take your
property. Keep it and let's, call the
affair over. Ever yours, Theophilus
Carteret"
They looked at each other and
Tom drew in a deep breath.
"Then it's mine !" he'Said. "All the
property."
' "I'm afraid not," answered Banks.
"Your grandfather was evidently too
T proud to accept it back. And a sim
ple offer has, of course, no validity
in law."
"But it is mine morally!"
"Morally be hanged. No, yoii
haven't even a moral "right after all,
these years!"
"Lend me that deed, Mr. Banks,"
said Tom, with war in his eyes.
"Take it, my boy. What are you
going to do? Turn Carteret out in
the cold?"
Tom smiled, put on his hat and
went over to the Carteret place.
From her window above Dorothy
looked down in wonder and awe. A
minute later, ashe stood before the
colonel, Tom heard the faint swish
of her skirts in the passage outside.
"Well, sir?" demanded Colonel
Carteret
"Read that," said Tom, placing the
document beneath his nose. ,
The colonel read it and he turned
redder than before. He looked up,
and his voice had the growl of a sav-age-suoh
a growl as might have
been emitted by Algonquinka.
"It's, an infamous forgery, sir.
And even if it isn't, where is the
proof that your grandfather accepted
my grandfather's generous offer?"
The door opened and Dorothy
came in. "Tom !" she -cried. "You
are not quarreling with father?"
"No, dear," said Tom. "Colonel
Carteret," he went on, "I admit that
this document has no legal validity;
But it shows that if your grand
father was generous, my own was no
less generous. You can no longer
talk about our different stations in
life. Morally am the owner of this
place and you are you are secre
tary to Mr. Banks."
' The colonel was beyond speech.
He glared as if his eyes would pop
out of his head. And just then Dor
othy's feminine intuition struck the
psychological moment She ran to
her father and put her arms about his
neck. "We love each other, father,"
she whispered.
Slowly the frown f adeQ off the col-
wai
itMAAJMlfcilA

xml | txt