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Three Men and a Maid p g. wodehouse „ h£R ENGAGEMENT.!’' Hienett. world r? - H ° ter on theosophy, au; ftmou* wr el rea ding Light. thor ° f .wives‘in New York on etc., etc., air ® Eus taco, hor a l®* tur ‘"? her Windles, ances tan. is with her. tts _ ls his. tral home “f y devote and to <o her life Is lar ®® y ied . Enter ‘iteeplns Mm ot slr Mai ner nephew, bam. t Lon laby Mar owe the e ■ that don lawyer. K shall sa il to ""lYh Atlantic the next gather on in- Mortimer, day. Enter fr iend of an American, son a . can name d insufferable An n peste ring Bennett, who ha o Windles. Mrs Hignett to w „. Bream la * or ®* j® wa iting for helmlna Bennett 1 churc h o“ sta , ce a Corner Bream hlm- Rounl the Corn . wnhe i m tna. heading for the g ‘ lrl> W uh a glorious, red- _ g )n j ovei whom he instantly him Eus though her dog bites b him. ' aCe rs PPe tha 3 t his mother had Ff’tte-r^rny,"whereupon ]-^, a rd declared the wed; Sd hn, a desperate struggle tI P water with another swim mer and rejoins the Atiantic a quarantine. The red-headed girl is Wilheimina Bennett— Billie. SHc hails Sam as a hero and (reduces Bream. Eustace a poor cailor. keeps to his berth. doesn't know Billie is on board Sam makes warm love He pro poses nnd is accepted. Sam plans io suitr in the ship’s concert and forces Eustace to promise to he his accompanist. Sam blacks up and is made ridiculous. Eustace i, consoled by Jane Hubbard, Wend of Billie. Sam and Billie auarrel. Billie breaks their en gagement. Sam. after landing goes into mourning. CHAPTER Vlll—Continued. —lo— said what?” asked Sam. “I said, ‘lda!’ ’’ “Why?" “Because I had an idea. Don’t in terrupt, old man, or you'll get rue mud dled. Where was I?” “1 don’t know." “I remember. I’d just got the idea. I happened to know, you see, that Ben nett and Mortimer were both fright fully keen on getting Windles for the summer, but my mother wouldn’t hear of It and gave them both the miss-in balk. It suddenly occurred to me that mother was going to be away In Amer ica all the summer, so why shouldn’t I make a private deal, let them the house, and make it a stipulation that I was to stay there to look after things? And, to cut u long story short, that’s what I did.” “You let Windles?” “Yes. Old Bennett was down on the dock at Southampton to' meet Wllhel oina, and I fixed it up with him then and there. He was so bucked at the Men of getting the place that he didn't kick for a moment at the suggestion that I should stick at the house. Said would he delighted to have me there, am! wrote out a fat check on the spot. We hired a car and drove straight over “its only twenty miles from South ampton, you know —and we’ve been there evor since. Bennett sent a wire b Mortimer, telling him to join us, and lie came down next day.” He paused, and looked at Sam as ttou ? h comment. Sam had tone to offer. "jiy do you say you're in a hole?” asked, “it seems to me as though P O .“ ad ,lone yourself a bit of good. louvo got the check, und you’re in the llouse with Miss Hubbard.' What “tore do you want?” , s “ ppoße “other gets to hear “Well?” w Je'd he sorer than a sunburned o f Jrobably. But why should she hear !f h ; r m coming to that.”' ‘ S , ere sonie more of the storyr Wte a lot.” fcS /' sa,(l Snm > resignedly. &7P on i , snett flxed a despondent travps .. o' 6 Shll ‘ s,e ’ ~p which the gray ,!u;~L crawlin S with their usual tei-here" a W i ßhin * th emselves Uct nf , A nhl drop fe " down the It ‘-s neck, hut he dkl not' notice el It.” he g!® weather that really start started what?” v 'hat sort of weather - 1 been having here?” l h * ven * noticed.” Win(J,es !t has been tfter about q ' y 01 the tirae * * ncl fsirlv ru‘ :l cc ;p ' e of days It became hortinier , :no that Renne tt and -a t r e , settin * Wt fed. I having spent all their rained a ; a co, tntry where It ni, ' rne ' and Pretty soon It r.-tetj Uieir ne,y es. They hotll *• Xothlng bad at “ o,tln S U P more and more, tIU at last they were hardly on speaking terms. Every little thing that hap pened seemed to get the wind up them. There was that business of Smith, for instance.” ‘‘Who’s Smith?" “Mortimer's bulldog. Old Bennett is scared of him, and wants him kept in the stables, but Mortimer insists on let ting him roam about the house. Well, they scrapped a goodish bit about that. And then there was the orches trion. You remember the orchestrion?" “I haven’t been down at Windles since I was a kid." “That’s right. I forgot that. Well, my pater had an orchestrion put In the drawing room. One of these automatic things you switch on, you know. Makes a devil of a row. Bennett can't stand It, and Mortimer insists on playing it all day. Well, they hotted up a good ish bit over that." “Well, I don’t see how all this affects you. If they want to scrap, why not let them?” “Yes, but, you see, the most frightful thing has happened. At least, it hasn’t happened yet, but it may any day. Bennett’s talking about taking legnl advloe to see if he can’t induce Morti mer to cheese it by law, as he can’t be stopped any other way. And the deuce of it is, your father is Bennett’s legal representative over in England, and he’s sure to go to him." “Well, that’ll do the pater a bit of good. Legal fees." Eustace Hignett waved his arms de spairingly at his cousin’s obtuseness. “But, don’t you see? If Bennett goes to your father about this binge, your father will get onto the fact that Win dles has been let, and he'll nose about, and make Inquiries, and the first thing that’ll happen will be that mother will get to hear of it, and then where shall I be?” Sam pondered. “Yes. there’s that," he admitted. “Well, now you see what a hole I’m in.” “Yes, you are. What are you going to do about It?” “You’re the only person who can help me.” "What can 1 do?” “Why, your father wants you to join the firm, doesn’t he? Well, for goodness’ sake, buck up and join it. Don’t waste a minute. Dash up to London by the next train, and sign on. Then, if Ben nett does blow in for advice, you can fix it somehow that he sees you instead of your father, and it’ll be all right. You can easily work it. Get the office boy or somebody to tell Bennett that your father’s engaged, but that you are on the spot. He won’t mind so long as he sees somebody in the firm." “But I don’t know anything about the law. What shall I say to him?" “That’s all right. I’ve been studying it up a bit. As far as I can gather, this legal advice business is quite simple. Anything that isn’t a tort is a misde meanor. You’ve simply got to tell old Bennett that, in your opinion, the whole thing looks jolly like a tort.” “What’s the word again?” “Tort.” “What does it mean?” “I don’t know. Probably nobody knows. But It’s a safe card to play. Tort. Don’t forget It.” “Tort. Right ho!" “Well, then, come along and pack your things. There’s a train to London in about an hour.” They walked back to the hotel Sam gulped once or twice. “Oh, by the way,” he said. “Er—how is—or —Miss Bennett?” “Oh, she’s all right." Eustace Hlg nett hummed a gay air. Sam’s ready acquiescence in his scheme had re lieved his apprehensive mind. “Going strong?” said Sam, after a pause. “Oh, absolutely. We’re quite good friends again now. No use being In the same house and not being on speaking terms. It’s rummy how the passage of time sort of changes a fel low’s point of view. Why, when she told me about her engagement, I con gratulated her as cheerfully as dam mit ! And only a few weeks ago . . “Her engagement!” exclaimed Sam, leaping like a stricken hlanc-mauge. “Her en-gug-gng gagement!” “To Bream Mortimer, you know, ’ said Eustace Hignett. “She got en gaged to him the day before yester day.” CHAPTER IX The offices of the old-established firm of Marlowe, Thorpe, Prescott, Winslow and Applebv are in Ridgeway s Inn, not far from Fleet street. If you are a millionaire beset by blackmailers or anyone else to whose comfort the best legal advice is essential, und have de cided to put your affairs In the hands of the ablest and discreetest firm In London, you proceed through a dark and grimy entry and up a dark and grimy flight of stairs; and, haying felt your way along a dark and grimy pas sage, you come at length to a dark and grimy door. There is plenty of dir in other parts of Ridgeway’s Inn but nowhere is it so plentiful, so rich in ah lluvial deposits, as on the exterior of THE OAMELSVtLLE MONITOR, DANIELSVILLE. GEORGIA the offices of Marlowe, Thorpe, Pres cott, Winslow and Appleby. As you tap on the topmost of the geological strata concealing the ground-glass of the door, a sense of relief and security Hoods your being. For In London grubbiness is the gauge of a lawyer’s respectabil ity. The brass plate, let Into the wood work of this door, Is misleading. Read ing It, you get the Impression that on the other side quite a covey of lawyers await your arrival. The name of the firm leads you to suppose that there will be barely standing room in the of fice. You picture Thorpe jostling you aside as he makes for Prescott to dis cuss with him the latest case of de murrer, nnd Winslow and Appleby treading on your toes, deep In conver sation on replevin. But these legal firms dwindle. The years go by nnd take their toll, snatching away here a Prescott, there an Appleby, till before you know where you are, you are down to your last lawyer. The only surviving member of the firm of Mar lowe, Thorpe—what I said before — was, at the time with which this story deals. Sir Mallnby Marlowe, son of the original founder of the firm and father of the celebrated black-faced comedian, Samuel of that Ilk; and the outer of fice, where callers were received and parked till Sir Mallaby could find time for them, was occupied by a single clerk. i When Sam, reaching the office after his journey, opened the door, this clerk. John Peters by name, was seated on a high stool, holding in one hand a half eaten sausage, in tho other an extraor dinarily large and powerful revolver. At the sight of Sam lie laid down both en gines of destruction and beamed. He was not a particularly successful beamer, being hampered by a cast in eye which gave him a truculent and sinister look; but those who knew him knew that he had a heart of gold and were not intimidated by his repel lent face. Betweeen Soun and himself there had always existed terms of cordiality, starting from the time when the former was n small boy, and It had been John Peters’ mission to take him now to the Zoo, now to the train back to school. “Why, Mr. Samuel 1" “Hullo, Peters!” “We were expecting you bnck a week ago. So you got back safe?" “Safe? Why, of course.” Peters shook his head. “I conefss that, when there was this delay in your coming here, I sometimes feared something might have happened to you. 1 recall mentioning it to the young lady who recently did me the honor to promise to become my wife." “Ocean liners aren’t often wrecked nowadays.” “I was thinking more of the brawls on shore. America’s a dangerous coun try. But perhaps you were not in touch with the underworld?” “I don’t think 1 was." “Ah 1” said John Peters, significant- ly. He took up the revolver, gave it a fond and almost paternal look, and replaced it on the desk. “Wliat on earth are you doing with that thing?” asked Sam. Mr. Peters lowered his voice. “I’m going to America myself In a few days’ time, Mr. Samuel. It’s my annual holiday, and the guvnor’s send ing me over with papers in connection with The People v. Schultz and Bowen, It’s a big case over there. A client f ours Is mixed up in It. an American gentleman. I am to take these Impor tant papers to his legal representative in New York. So I thought it best to be prepared.” The first smile that he had permitted himself in nearly two weeks flitted across Satn’s face. “Wliat on earth sort of a place do you think New York is?” he asked. “It’s safer than London.” “Ah, but what about the underworld? I’ve seen these American films that they send over here, Mr. Samuel. Every Saturday night regular I take my young lady to a cinema, and, I tell you, they tench you something. Did you ever see ‘Wolves of the Bowery’? There was a man in that in just my position, curry ing important papers, and what they didn’t try to do to him! No, I’m taking no chances, Mr. Samuel!” “I should have said you were, lug- ging that thing about with you.” Mr. Peters seemed wounded. “Oh, I understand the mechanism perfectly, anil I am becoming a very fair shot. I take my little bite of food In here early and go and practice at the Rupert street rifle range during my lunch hour. You’d he surprised how quickly one picks It up. When 1 get home at night I try how quick I can draw. You have to draw like a flash of lightning, Mr. Samuel. If you’d ever seen a film called Two-Gun Thomas y ou’d realize that. You haven’t time to he loitering about.” “I haven’t,” agreed Sam. “Is my fa ther in? I’d like to see him If he’s not busy.” Mr Peters, recalled to his profession al duties. shed his sinister front like a garment. He picked up a speaking tube and blew down it. "Mr Samuel to see you, Mr. Mallaby. Yes, sir, very good. Will you go right in, Mr. Samuel?” g„tn proceeded to the Inner office, ni'd found his father dictating into the i attentive ear of Miss Milliken, bis el derly and respectable stenographer, re plies to Ills morning mall. The grime which incrusted the law yer’s professional stamping ground did not extend to his person. Sir Mallaby Marlowe was a dapper little man. with a round, cheerful face and a bright eye. Ills morning coat had been cut by London's best tuilor, and his trousers perfectly creased by a sedulous valet. A pink carnation In his buttonhole matched his healthy complexion. His golf handicap was twelve. His 3lster, Mrs. Horace Hignett, considered him worldly. "Good morning, father.” “Very glad to see you’re back, Sam. So you didn't win?" “N’o, I got beaten in the semi-finals.” “American amateurs are a very hot lot: the best ones. I suppose you were weak on the greens. 1 warned you about that. “Yes, life Is real, life ls earnest,” he said, gazing at Sam seriously, “und the grave is not our goal. Lives of great meu all remind us we can make our lives sublime. In fact, It's time you took off your coat and started to work." “1 am quite ready, father.” “You didn’t hear what I said," ex claimed Sir Mallaby with a look of sur prise. “I said it was time you began work.” "And I old I was quite ready." “Bless my soul! You’ve changed your views a trifle since 1 saw you last." “I have changed them altogether." CHAPTER X At about the time when Sam Mar lowe was having tlie momentous Inter view with his father, described in the last chapter, Mr. Rufus Bennett woke from an after-luncheon nap In Mrs. llignett’s delightful old-world mansion, Windles. in the county of Hampshire. He had gone to his room after lunch, because there seemed nothing else to do. 1t was still raining hard, so that a rumble in the picturesque garden was impossible, and the only alternative to sleep, the society of Mr. Henry Morti mer, had been one peculiarly distaste ful to Mr. Bennett. Much has been written of great friendships between man and man, friendships which neither woman can mar nor death destroy. Rnt'us Bennett had always believed that his friendship for Mr. Mortimer was of tills order. They had been hoys together In the same small town, and had kept to gether In after years. They had been Damon and Pythias, David and Jona- than. But never till now had they been cooped up together iu an English coun try house in the middle of u bad patch of English summer weather. So this afternoon Mr. Bennett, In order to avoid his lifelong friend, had gone to bed. He awoke now with a start, and a moment later realized what It was that had aroused him. There was music in the air. The room was full of it. It seemed to he coining up through the floor and rolling about In chunks all round his bed. He blinked the last fragments of sleep out of his system, and became tilled with a restless irrita bility. He rang the bell violently, and pres ently there entered a grave, thin. Intel lectual man who looked like a duke, only more respectable. This was Web ster, Mr. Bennett’s English valet. "Is that Mr. Mortimer?” he barked, as the door opened. “No, sir. It Is I—Webstrt." Not even the annoyance of being summoned like this from an absorbing game of penny nap In the housekeeper’s room had the power to make the valet care less of his grammar. “I fancied that I heard your bell ring, sir." “I wonder you could hear anything with that Infernal nolso going on," snapped Mr. Bennett. “Is Mr. .Morti mer playing that—that d —d gas-engine in the drawing room?" “Yes, sir. ‘Tostl’s Good-by.' A charming air, sir." “Charming ulr he —! Tell him to stop It.” "Very good, sir.” The valet withdrew like a duke leav ing the royal presence, not actually walking backwards, but giving the Im pression of doing so. Mr. Bennett lay in bed and fumed. Presently the valet returned. The music still continued to roll about the room. “I am sorry to have to Inform you, sir,” said Webster, “that Mr. Mortimer declines to accede to your request." “Oh, he said that, did he?” “Billie, I want you to go to London and see Sir Mallaby Marlowe.” (TO HE CONTINUED.) Keeps Him “Cleaned.” “Is your wife a good housekeeper?” “Well, I’ll say this for her, she never lets the ‘dust’ accumulate.” —Boston Transcript. Great Advantage. Riches have one great advantage: You can afford to throw away, after you get home, the unsatisfactory hat that you buy. No one is ever convinced that he’ lacking In sense by epithets. Asphaltic Concrete Base Type of Road Pavement On the Pacific coast there has been widely developed over a period of twenty-five years a type of pnveinent and foundation which is the acme of resiliency and flexibility and the ability to resist the encroachments of water. This pavement is known as the asphal tic concrete base type. Its more com. mon name is that of "black base." This type is not patented or controlled by any company or individual and la laid at a moderate cost. It is simply a foundation of three or four inches of mixed stone and as phalt on which is placed a wenring course of the recognized sheet asphalt or asphaltic concrete that is laid in the East. This gives a total thickness of five or six Inches of pnveinent and foundation, which lias been found ample to meet the heaviest and most varied traffic known to California high ways. In Visalia, Cal., is a “black base" pavement that was laid in IStHI and which is today in excellent condi tion. The Visalia pavement Is offi cially reported by the city engineer to have cost nothing for maintenance. Where the subgrade is unstable It is good practice to lay a thin insulating course of four Inches of broken stone. Engineers familiar with this type of construction claim that it Is the only type which will successfully resist the bombardment of heavy traffic and is, therefore, destined to become standard in eastern paving practice within a comparatively few years. In the bor ough of Manhattan, New York city, tiie practice lias been adopted of re placing foundation cuts in Fifth ave nue with this type of asphaltic base wherever an opening in the pavement becomes necessary. The feature of prime importance in tills question of design of new pave ments Is that the field is a very wide one, that there are very many types of pavement, that the engineer and the taxpayer can conserve the inter ests of good engineering and wise tax outlay by taking fully into account the possibilities of these various types of paving and avoiding any policy that ! involves placing all the eggs In one ! basket. Big Loads on Highways Is Scored by Auto Club Should one-lhlrd of one per cent of the motor vehicles of a city be al lowed to carry loads heavy enough to ruin the highways for the remaining 90 2-8 per cent? This question was answered in the negative by the voters of Los Angeles through a referendum initiated by the Automobile Club of Southern Califor nia. The city council passed an ordi nance increasing the load limits for trucks to 20,000 pounds, which is 4,000 pounds more than allowed under tin* state law. The exhaustive engineer ing investigation recently conducted l>y the automobile dub demonstrated clearly that excessive loading contrib uted largely to the breaking down of roads. Arguments presented against the 26,000-pound load declared that In Los Angeles only 36 vehicles out of every 10,000 could benefit by excessive load ing. There are 250,000 motor ve hicle owners In the city of Los An geles alone paying a tax of two cents jer gallon to Insure the highways be ing maintained. Inquiries from all parts of the country Indicate that the action of the Automobile Club of Southern Califor nia to protect the roads Is being watched with keen interest throughout the United States. Good Roads Soon Pay for Themselves, Says Expert Tests recently conducted by A. B. Cutter, city engineer of Everett. Wash., to determine the effect of different road types upon gasoline con sumption showed that on modern con crete and bltullthlc asphalt roods there is no difference In gasoline con sumption. On gravel or waterbound macadam roads in good condition gas oline consumption is from 10 to 35 per cent greater. “Under modern volume of traffic,” says Mr. Cutter, “good roads rapidly pay for themselves In economy of gasoline consumption and the same holds true in economy of tire and other automobile wear and tear.* The tests were made on roads in Washington, Oregon and California. They provide a distance In each test of 100 miles of continuous operation in order accurately to record the gas oline consumption and produce a fair i average. It was required that the tests be made on road surfaces in good condition after three years’ practical use and that a uniform speed of not less than 20 nor more than 30 miles per hour be maintained.