John Henry Smith | Page 2

stalking toward the club house" 185
"Miss Harding ... smiled and looked innocent as could be" 193
"It was not much of a drive" 207
"Run! Run, boys!" 211
"Then I struck the bull" 213
Diagram, "The auto and the bull" 218
"What are you looking for?" 221
"Had ignited the matches" 225
"He was tall, angular, and whiskered" 237
"LaHume was shot back several yards" 245
"Grasping her by the arm I dragged her" 267
"She left for the South" 282
"Business is business" 291
"Ten up and eight to play" 297
"She rose to her feet" 307
"I cannot turn back if I would" 315
"He looked doubtfully at me" 318

"This takes the cake!" 329
"And then I saw her!" 335
"I believe I could carry it" 345

JOHN HENRY SMITH

JOHN HENRY SMITH

ENTRY No. I
Miss HARDING Is COMING
"Heard the news?" demanded Chilvers, approaching the table where
Marshall, Boyd, and I were smoking on the broad veranda of the
Woodvale Golf and Country Club. We shook our heads with contented
indifference. It was after luncheon, and the cigars were excellent.
"Where's LaHume?" grinned Chilvers. "Where's our Percy? He must
hear this."
"LaHume and Miss Lawrence are out playing," languidly answered
Marshall. "What's happened? Don't prolong this suspense."
Miss Ross and Miss Dangerfield turned the corner and Chilvers saw
them. Chilvers is married, but has lost none of his effervescence and
consequently retains his popularity.
"Come here," he called, motioning to these two charming young ladies.
"I've got something for you! Great news; great news!"
"What is it?" asked Miss Ross, her deep-brown eyes brightening with
curiosity.
"Another heiress coming!" announced Chilvers, with the bow of a
jeweller displaying some rare gem "--another heiress on her way to
Woodvale! This is going to be a hard season for such perennial
bachelors as Smith, Boyd, Carter, and others I could name. You girls
will have your work cut out when this new heiress unpacks her trunks
and sets fluttering the hearts of these steel-plated golfers."
"Who is it?" impatiently demanded the chorus. Chilvers has all the arts
of an actor in working for a climax.
"Miss Grace Harding; that's all!" said Chilvers.
"The famous beauty?" cried Miss Ross.
"Last season's society sensation in Paris and London?" exclaimed Miss
Dangerfield.

"Daughter of the great railway magnate?" asked Marshall.
"The one to whom Baron Torpington was reported engaged?" I added.
"You all have guessed it the first time," laughed Chilvers. "She's the
only daughter of Robert L. Harding, magnate, financier, Wall Street
general, the man who recently beat the pirate kings down there at their
own game. How much is Harding supposed to be worth, Smith?"
"Thirty millions or so," I replied.
"Well, I wish I had the 'so.' That would keep me in golf balls for a
while," Chilvers continued, turning his attention to the ladies. "What
show have you unfortunate girls against a combination like that? And
think of Percy LaHume! What will that poor boy do? Percy heads for
the richest heiress of each season with that same mighty instinct which
leads a boy to cast wistful glances at the largest cut of pie. He thought
the heiresses had quit coming, and now this happens; but he has gone
so far in his campaign for the hand and cheque-book of Miss Lawrence,
that he cannot stop quick without dislocating his spine. I doubt if that
poor little Lawrence girl will ever have more than five millions."
"Never mind Percy and his prospects," said Marshall. "Who told you
that Miss Grace Harding is coming to Woodvale?"
"Carter told me," replied Chilvers. "Carter knows them. The whole
Harding family is coming, which includes Croesus, his wife, and their
fair daughter, aged nineteen or thereabouts. Ah! why did I marry so
soon?"
Mrs. Chilvers was standing back of him and soundly boxed his ears.
"How does it happen that the Hardings are coming here?" asked Mrs.
Chilvers, when told the cause of this excitement. "Are they Mr. Carter's
guests?"
"Mr. Harding is a charter member of Woodvale," I informed her. "For
some unknown reason he joined the club when it started, but has never
been here, and I doubt if he has ever played golf. He is the owner of the
majority of the bonds issued against this clubhouse."
"I wonder if Miss Harding plays golf?" said Boyd.
"Golf is not among the list of accomplishments mentioned by those
writers who pretend to know all about her," remarked Chilvers. "I have
been forced to learn from a casual reading of society events that this
remarkable heiress is without an equal as an equestrienne, that she
paints, sings, drives a sixty-horse-power Mercedes with a skill and a

courage which discourages the French chauffeurs, and does other
athletic and artistic