Oh, Money! Money! | Page 4

where the cousins live, you know. Of course I want to see how it
works."
"Humph! I suppose you think you'll find out--with you watching their
every move!" The lawyer had settled back in his chair, an ironical smile
on his lips.
"Oh, they won't know me, of course, except as John Smith."
"John Smith!" The lawyer was sitting erect again.
"Yes. I'm going to take that name--for a time."
"Nonsense, Fulton! Have you lost your senses?"
"No." The millionaire still smiled imperturbably. "Really, my dear Ned,
I'm disappointed in you. You don't seem to realize the possibilities of

this thing."
"Oh, yes, I do--perhaps better than you, old man," retorted the other
with an expressive glance.
"Oh, come, Ned, listen! I've got three cousins in Hillerton. I never saw
them, and they never saw me. I'm going to give them a tidy little sum
of money apiece, and then have the fun of watching them spend it. Any
harm in that, especially as it's no one's business what I do with my
money?"
"N--no, I suppose not--if you can carry such a wild scheme through."
"I can, I think. I'm going to be John Smith."
"Nice distinctive name!"
"I chose a colorless one on purpose. I'm going to be a colorless person,
you see."
"Oh! And--er--do you think Mr. Stanley G. Fulton, multi-millionaire,
with his pictured face in half the papers and magazines from the
Atlantic to the Pacific, CAN hide that face behind a colorless John
Smith?"
"Maybe not. But he can hide it behind a nice little close-cropped
beard." The millionaire stroked his smooth chin reflectively.
"Humph! How large is Hillerton?"
"Eight or ten thousand. Nice little New England town, I'm told."
"Hm-m. And your--er--business in Hillerton, that will enable you to be
the observing fly on your cousins' walls?"
"Yes, I've thought that all out, too; and that's another brilliant stroke.
I'm going to be a genealogist. I'm going to be at work tracing the
Blaisdell family--their name is Blaisdell. I'm writing a book which
necessitates the collection of an endless amount of data. Now how

about that fly's chances of observation. Eh?"
"Mighty poor, if he's swatted--and that's what he will be! New England
housewives are death on flies, I understand."
"Well, I'll risk this one."
"You poor fellow!" There were exasperation and amusement in the
lawyer's eyes, but there was only mock sympathy in his voice. "And to
think I've known you all these years, and never, suspected it, Fulton!"
The man who owned twenty millions still smiled imperturbably.
"Oh, yes, I know what you mean, but I'm not crazy. And really I'm
interested in genealogy, too, and I've been thinking for some time I'd go
digging about the roots of my ancestral tree. I have dug a little, in years
gone. My mother was a Blaisdell, you know. Her grandfather was
brother to some ancestor of these Hillerton Blaisdells; and I really am
interested in collecting Blaisdell data. So that's all straight. I shall be
telling no fibs. And think of the opportunity it gives me! Besides, I
shall try to board with one of them. I've decided that."
"Upon my word, a pretty little scheme!"
"Yes, I knew you'd appreciate it, the more you thought about it." Mr.
Stanley G. Fulton's blue eyes twinkled a little.
With a disdainful gesture the lawyer brushed this aside.
"Do you mind telling me how you happened to think of it, yourself?"
"Not a bit. 'Twas a little booklet got out by a Trust Company."
"It sounds like it!"
"Oh, they didn't suggest exactly this, I'll admit; but they did suggest
that, if you were fearful as to the way your heirs would handle their
inheritance, you could create a trust fund for their benefit while you
were living, and then watch the way the beneficiaries spent the income,

as well as the way the trust fund itself was managed. In this way you
could observe the effects of your gifts, and at the same time be able to
change them if you didn't like results. That gave me an idea. I've just
developed it. That's all. I'm going to make my cousins a little rich, and
see which, if any of them, can stand being very rich."
"But the money, man! How are you going to drop a hundred thousand
dollars into three men's laps, and expect to get away without an
investigation as to the why and wherefore of such a singular
proceeding?"
"That's where your part comes in," smiled the millionaire blandly.
"Besides, to be accurate, one of the laps is--er--a petticoat one."
"Oh, indeed! So much the worse, maybe. But--And so this is where I
come in, is it? Well, and suppose I refuse to come in?"
"Regretfully I shall have to employ another attorney."