A CERTAIN RICH MAN
by
WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE
Author of "Stratagems and Spoils," "The Court of Boyville," etc.
The MacMillan Company New York . Boston . Chicago Atlanta . San Francisco
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A Certain Rich Man
New York The MacMillan Company 1909 All rights reserved Copyright, 1909, By The MacMillan Company. Set up and electrotyped. Published July, 1909. Norwood Press J. S. Cushing Co.--Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I 1 CHAPTER II 15 CHAPTER III 30 CHAPTER IV 51 CHAPTER V 59 CHAPTER VI 72 CHAPTER VII 84 CHAPTER VIII 95 CHAPTER IX 105 CHAPTER X 118 CHAPTER XI 135 CHAPTER XII 150 CHAPTER XIII 165 CHAPTER XIV 176 CHAPTER XV 193 CHAPTER XVI 206 CHAPTER XVII 227 CHAPTER XVIII 243 CHAPTER XIX 262 CHAPTER XX 275 CHAPTER XXI 294 CHAPTER XXII 304 CHAPTER XXIII 319 CHAPTER XXIV 334 CHAPTER XXV 339 CHAPTER XXVI 355 CHAPTER XXVII 365 CHAPTER XXVIII 382 CHAPTER XXIX 405 CHAPTER XXX 428
BOOK I
A CERTAIN RICH MAN
CHAPTER I
The woods were as the Indians had left them, but the boys who were playing there did not realize, until many years afterwards, that they had moved in as the Indians moved out. Perhaps, if these boys had known that they were the first white boys to use the Indians' playgrounds, the realization might have added zest to the make-believe of their games; but probably boys between seven and fourteen, when they play at all, play with their fancies strained, and very likely these little boys, keeping their stick-horse livery-stable in a wild-grape arbour in the thicket, needed no verisimilitude. The long straight hickory switches--which served as horses--were arranged with their butts on a rotting log, whereon some grass was spread for their feed. Their string bridles hung loosely over the log. The horsemen swinging in the vines above, or in the elm tree near by, were preparing a raid on the stables of other boys, either in the native lumber town a rifle-shot away or in distant parts of the woods. When the youngsters climbed down, they straddled their hickory steeds and galloped friskily away to the creek and drank; this was part of the rites, for tradition in the town of their elders said that whoever drank of Sycamore Creek water immediately turned horse thief. Having drunk their fill at the ford, they waded it and left the stumpy road, plunging into the underbrush, snorting and puffing and giggling and fussing and complaining--the big ones at the little ones and the little ones at the big ones--after the manner of mankind.
Table of contents (by pages)
- 1: A Certain Rich Man by William Allen White
- 2: As she neared the squaw's pony
- 3: For all the Sycamore Ridge women worked hard in those days
- 4: The next day school began in Sycamore Ridge
- 5: Watts McHurdie had taught the boy to play the accordion
- 6: Philemon Ward's in town wake up
- 7: Under the command of Philemon Ward
- 8: It was that Ellen Culpepper had eyes
- 9: But he remembers the great drouth by Ellen Culpepper's party
- 10: Martin Culpepper was in the crowd
- 11: Bob and Elmer Hendricks were heroes
- 12: And he saw another Watts McHurdie
- 13: Then out walks great Martin Culpepper
- 14: I was going to tell you somepin
- 15: And that Gabriel Carnine was going to serenade Mary Murphy
- 16: Then Ellen Culpepper found her tongue
- 17: I guess that's about over Sycamore Ridge
- 18: Through the streets of Leavenworth
- 19: He told Dolan to give the order to march
- 20: When the Germans stopped singing Marchen Rote
- 21: Watts McHurdie saw Schnitzler stagger
- 22: And saw the bodyguard gather about him
- 23: John Barclay was with Watts McHurdie when he wrote the song
- 24: Yet that was Henry's deathless fame in Sycamore Ridge
- 25: Barclay told the child of their plans
- 26: And while he played on his melodeon
- 27: One understands that the tree once was a sapling
- 28: And Dolan to start a livery stable
- 29: With his concertina under his arm
- 30: Appeared some verses by Watts McHurdie
- 31: The Thayer House was filled with guests
- 32: Culpepper smiled blandly as she put in
- 33: Let them say what they will about Mart Culpepper
- 34: Again the boy found his voice Ellen Culpepper
- 35: Whispered the name Ellen rapturously over and over
- 36: John looked up the hill toward the Hendricks home
- 37: And he told Ellen Culpepper the news plus some Emerson
- 38: Ellen Culpepper explains it all
- 39: Remembering his Grandfather Barclay
- 40: General Hendricks consulted Bemis about politics
- 41: And Hendricks never bothers him
- 42: So Sycamore Ridge and Minneola
- 43: For though the pickets drilled
- 44: John had brought her over from Minneola two days before
- 45: CHAPTER VII In Sycamore Ridge every one knows Watts McHurdie
- 46: That's it responded Lycurgus
- 47: It was the headlight of a train coming over the mountain
- 48: The headlight flashed out of the tunnel
- 49: Dolan and Carnine still were in it
- 50: Lycurgus replied as he put it back in his pocket
- 51: Yet ten days after he refused the offer of Minneola
- 52: Found it guarded by Minneola men
- 53: Lycurgus hurried back to his work
- 54: Who had come over to Minneola the day before
- 55: And some there are who marry for love in Minneola
- 56: And then Ellen Culpepper was a heroine
- 57: The buggy was nearing the Barclay home
- 58: Molly Culpepper had no reserves with her lover
- 59: Barclay enlisted Colonel Culpepper
- 60: Picking up Molly Culpepper on the way
- 61: ' McHurdie stopped a moment to gnaw his plug of tobacco
- 62: The general put the smoking poker on the floor
- 63: I guess I'm a kind of a transcendentalist
- 64: Barclay felt the man's attention
- 65: Lucy and I just counted cash it's in her pocketbook
- 66: Well that was this man Brownwell
- 67: But replied as he latched the Culpepper gate
- 68: Bought some farm products in Missouri
- 69: Brownwell had the money to support the character he assumed
- 70: But why Adrian Brownwell had come to the Ridge
- 71: Yet for all that Brownwell ever remained a man apart
- 72: Barclay was alone most of the time
- 73: But Barclay went on unfolding his scheme
- 74: He proposes to foreclose on me
- 75: Brownwell waved both hands magnificently and with much grace
- 76: ' And I I am The Barclays did not hear what he was
- 77: And I'll take care of Brownwell
- 78: Brownwell waved his arms again dramatically
- 79: A place of longing and of heartache
- 80: Colonel Culpepper dropped a Why
- 81: I don't see what Molly Culpepper can be thinking of
- 82: Sitting in her bedroom chewing her penholder
- 83: It had been a dozen years since he had played an accordion
- 84: Mary Barclay came toward them buffeting the wind
- 85: Molly has no notion of marrying Brownwell
- 86: And you know the Culpeppers think Brownwell is well
- 87: Adrian Brownwell answered Well
- 88: The Papins and Dulangpres came back to his face
- 89: Barclay knew wheedling would not move Brownwell
- 90: And so John Barclay won another game with Destiny
- 91: To urge in that class of depositors
- 92: And there they found the lilacs
- 93: How sweet the lilacs smell to night
- 94: Also to save John's overdrafts
- 95: Some day when Gabe has calmed down
- 96: Hendricks wagged his head impatiently and exclaimed
- 97: Pay off old Brownwell and marry her
- 98: Barclay had been lapsing back into his revery as she spoke
- 99: Brownwell now that your wheat is turning out so well
- 100: Bemis to the silver wedding reception
- 101: So old Watts thought I wouldn't
- 102: And after it all the dance in Culpepper Hall
- 103: Yet Jake Dolan knew why they walked abroad
- 104: Hendricks leaned forward unconsciously
- 105: Hendricks walked to the window
- 106: With Hendricks its moving spirit
- 107: From Minneola to Sycamore Ridge
- 108: Sycamore Ridge and Garrison County
- 109: How does mother stand on Jeanette
- 110: CHAPTER XVI Colonel Martin Culpepper was standing with
- 111: Is certainly a gallus looking slink
- 112: And when Bemis got Minneola township for fifty dollars
- 113: And Bemis needed Barclay in business
- 114: Which made the women wish they had Adrian Brownwell
- 115: And finally wrote the name of Philemon R
- 116: Going over the plans of the college buildings with Barclay
- 117: Carnine paused a moment and then added
- 118: Caught step with Carnine and McHurdie
- 119: And McHurdie kept on sewing at his bench
- 120: And the colonel and the general and Watts McHurdie
- 121: The Barclay Economy Door Strip Factory
- 122: But Jeanette saw the snake and was frightened
- 123: Jake Dolan was only in his forties then
- 124: In Jeanette's case even Lige Bemis Judge Bemis
- 125: By day Dolan saw Robert Hendricks
- 126: And Uncle Bob Hendricks was there
- 127: The Culpeppers had remained with the Barclays for dinner
- 128: Culpepper walked before the younger people
- 129: Did you know it was the thirteenth
- 130: He used Niagara to glorify the name of Barclay
- 131: But wherever he could Barclay sold
- 132: McHurdie insisted that Watts should whip Dolan
- 133: And then the old boys beheld Watts McHurdie
- 134: And thus Watts McHurdie went to his greatest earthly glory
- 135: 'So you're Watts McHurdie who wrote the ' 'The same
- 136: The voice of Adrian Brownwell saying
- 137: I am going to the city to hear Gilmore
- 138: And Molly replied thoughtfully
- 139: And Bemis was behind her with the heavy valise
- 140: Molly looked at Jane a fearful second with beseeching eyes
- 141: Carnine was bent on getting rich
- 142: So Hendricks lived a strong reticent man
- 143: Hendricks looked kindly at the colonel
- 144: Adrian Brownwell is hard up very hard up
- 145: And trouble came upon the Culpeppers
- 146: And told Trixie to 'go sin no more
- 147: Invariably it grows dingier and dingier
- 148: Represent John Barclay and his money
- 149: Bemis opened his eyes in astonishment
- 150: But if we get this reorganization through
- 151: He played the Largo well didn't he
- 152: Even the shabby figure of Colonel Martin Culpepper
- 153: Dolan will be writing a letter
- 154: When Jacob Dolan finished his letter
- 155: John Barclay do you remember when
- 156: There was an awkward pause when Dolan came on the veranda
- 157: And we planted our artillery on the opposite ridge
- 158: Says Myton it is always Myton
- 159: Barclay you've proved it pays
- 160: And the dresses of little Jeanette Barclay slipped down
- 161: The troubles of Watts McHurdie
- 162: Jeanette I suppose so but I don't care do you
- 163: McHurdie not to drag the poet into politics
- 164: I'll see if Miss Jeanette is at home
- 165: Did John Barclay in those days
- 166: He knew how father felt how Lycurgus Mason felt
- 167: And with it Jeanette Barclay went back to school
- 168: Jeanette it will be lonesome when you go
- 169: McHurdie beamed and bowed and smiled
- 170: And Jeanette began Neal said he told you about the ring
- 171: Jeanette and Neal are sensible
- 172: I can't interfere with Neal and Jeanette
- 173: One day Molly Brownwell called
- 174: Barclay and his power were substantial
- 175: Barclay was overwhelmed with amazement
- 176: Barclay wrote to Senator Myton
- 177: Barclay strayed into McHurdie's shop
- 178: Watts and got it published in the magazines
- 179: And found there a letter and a package
- 180: My boy not Jeanette Barclay's but yours yours
- 181: Jeanette if I loved you less
- 182: But late in the afternoon Judge Bemis
- 183: Barclay did not touch his soup
- 184: And in unison with Jacob Dolan
- 185: And Jake Dolan took John Barclay's hand from the colonel
- 186: Mercheson knew how to get orders
- 187: And McHurdie went into the shop
- 188: Carnine was pattering gently toward the front door
- 189: There's a duke after Jeanette a miserable
- 190: John Barclay does not envy Watts McHurdie not at all
- 191: Upon the mere reading of the indictment
- 192: Bemis has retired from the federal bench
- 193: Barclay will return to Sycamore Ridge
- 194: A few letters from Neal Ward to Jeanette Barclay
- 195: Hendricks is for municipal ownership
- 196: The thing I don't like is the coming of Bemis
- 197: Former federal judge Elijah Westlake Bemis
- 198: When Bemis had finished speaking
- 199: Hendricks coughed into the transmitter
- 200: For an hour he considered Adrian Brownwell
- 201: Robert Hendricks was foresighted
- 202: And at that minute Bemis was saying to Adrian Brownwell
- 203: Hendricks put out his hand and cried
- 204: Brownwell saw the amazement flash into Hendricks' eyes
- 205: Don't bother Adrian he'll need no help
- 206: Brownwell about his position in the matter
- 207: He found Dolan waiting for him
- 208: As he overhauled Fernald coming out of the post office
- 209: Dolan saw that Barclay was trying to escape
- 210: Brownwell kept her papers in the other side
- 211: Flowers summer flowers poured in on the Barclays
- 212: John Barclay was dangerously sick
- 213: But the headlines were seared into his brain
- 214: Exclaiming as he mounted the steps to the veranda
- 215: In this practical world you are a failure
- 216: Command him to make Jeanette happy
- 217: He saw Molly Brownwell across the pond
- 218: And the princess shuddered back
- 219: But that night he turned upon her and said Jeanette
- 220: Then Mary Barclay knew that her son had let Him in
- 221: And metaphysicians may as well make a record of the decision
- 222: Former sheriff of Garrison County
- 223: That he heard John and Lige dickering
- 224: He began reading a news item sent out from Washington
- 225: Brownwell turned in to the sidewalk and called
- 226: Molly Brownwell leaned back in her chair
- 227: And by conjuring it with a number and a word
- 228: And that is why Miss Barclay called 876
- 229: Father got off the chair car at Sycamore Ridge this morning
- 230: And made what restitution I could
- 231: What about Neal how does he feel
- 232: Neal Ward found Barclay prodding the fire
- 233: As Neal Ward came back to John Barclay from the telephone
- 234: But Watts McHurdie makes no reply
- 235: Comrade we are all lonesome up here
- 236: McHurdie is the first to find his voice
- 237: McHurdie nods his comprehension
- 238: Buggies clatter by on the pavements
- 239: WINSTON CHURCHILL'S NOVELS Each
- 240: Been surpassed by an American romance
- 241: And without which Barbara would not be Barbara