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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
February 1925
Y------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ F I N E G O L D J P O R T H E P E A R L OF G R E A T P R I C E JOSEPHINE HOPE WESTERVELT
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(Continued from last m onth) T H E S T O R Y TO D A T E
not re tu rn un til morning. A storm came up and they though t th a t he m ust have gone in somewhere for shelter before th e storm broke. They knew no different until nearly noon, when th e ir motor boat was reported cast ashore five m iles fu rth e r down, w ith th e engine broken and some of Mr. Morehouse’s clothing and provisions still in it. F ran tically they telephoned everywhere along th e shore, hoping to find th a t he had been rescued; bu t no trace of him or of the body had yet been reported. Myrtle Morehouse found th e household sadly upset. W ill’s mother was lying white and dry eyed on h er bed, and refused to talk . W ill’s fath e r had locked him self in his den, and refused to see her or any one else for hours.
T h e s to r y s t a r t s o ff w ith th e f r ie n d s h ip o f B illie B o b a n d B lu e b ird , h is littl e n e x t-d o o r n e ig h b o r. B illie B o b 's f a th e r f e lt c a lle d to th e m is s io n field, b u t h is w ife w o u ld n o t g o . H e b e c a m e p a s to r o f a fa s h io n a b le B ro o k ly n c h u rc h . B e c a u s e o f h is w ife ’s e x tr a v a g a n t ta s te s , h e liv e d f a r b e y o n d h is in c o m e , b e c a m e d is c o u ra g e d , w e n t o u t in a b o a t a n d w a s n e v e r s e e n a g a in . CHAPTER 2 THE BEEZLER fe js jjjjg H E next hou r was a b itterly h ard one for th e two | b women, b u t by th a t tim e Mrs. Morehouse had p BN ggs somewhat revived, and she declared h er intention of going a t once to Providence, leaving Mrs. Chap man and Billie Bob a t home. A t the thought of th e child,
both women realized w h at a terrib le blow it would be to th e little lad. “ It will kill him ,” said his mother. By m idnight Myrtle Morehouse was on her way to th e summer home of her husband’s parents. The. elderly couple usually retu rn ed to th e city earlier in th e season, b u t a m ild fall tempted them to rem ain near th e w ater longer th an usual. Their summer home was a delightful old house of colonial build, w ith spacious grounds which reached to the w ate r’s edge and enclosed a private beach. The bath house and boat house gave indications of th e owner’s enjoy m ent of th e w aters of th e bay. It was really an arm of the bay reaching up
She wandered up and down th e strip of beach, weeping and wondering w hat could be done. Toward evening W ill’s fath e r sent for her, and when she went into the den she felt as if she had seen a ghost, so white and stricken was the face of h er father-in-law . “Myrtle, why did W ill-com e to ask me for money? W hat did he w ant it fo r? ” “ I didn’t know he came for th at, fath e r,” was her sta rtled reply.
The longing to satisfy the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eye has led m a n y souls away from God and into rain. Let us be content with such things as we h a v e , knowing that God has promised to withhold no good thing.
“W hat coùld he w ant one hundred thousand dollars for? You surely must know ?” came the hard tense voice of th e old man. Myrtle Morehouse’s face tu rned white, and she could not speak. “Tell me, Myrtle,” said th e old man, his hand uncon sciously clinching hers in a cruel grip. v “T h at,” -came the tense, strange-voiced reply, “was th e sum th a t th e new church is to cost, and Will was to have tu rned it over to the church board last n igh t.” W ith a heartb reak ing moan the old m an’s head sank upon his desk. “F ath er, fath er, what is it? W hat does it all m ean?” was the w ife’s frightened question. The old man never answered, bu t motioned for h er to leave him. N either W ill’s fath e r or mother wanted her presence, and Myrtle went to her room, bu t not to sleep. Wide-eyed she stared into space-. “W hat could it all mean? W hat had W ill’s ' fath er m ean t?” Guiltily she remembered many things; she remembered certain extravagances of hers, and somehow those extrav agances seemed to stretch out over a long period. Guilt ily she remembered th a t occasion when h er husband told her he could not le t her have th e money for some special (Continued on page 92)
into th e land, and yet th e large boats plying between Provi dence and New York passed w ithin plain sigh t of th e house, and often th e captains of th e reg u lar boats, as they made th e ir evening s ta rt from Providence, sent th e ir flash-light greetings to th e inh ab itan ts of th e houses bordering the near-by shore. Here Will Morehouse was accustomed to spend his sum mers as a boy, and la ter as a young man. He was an expert swimmer, and was no novice when it came to handling a row boat or a motor boat. Mrs. Morehouse and Billie Bob had also spent several summers a t th e old home. As the sorrow ing wife sped through th e night, she kept wondering how such an accident could have occurred, and half stunned as she was, she could not account for it. When she reached th e little station, th ree miles from her destination, it was morning. While she was considering if she would have to walk the rem aining distance, a motor car came up and a man jumped out and hu rried into the station w ith a telegram . She recognized the Morehouse car, and waited for th e chauffeur, who was glad to tak e h er w ith him on his re tu rn trip. The chauffeur told her th a t Mr. Morehouse had gone out In th e motor boat yesterday evening, Saying th a t he m ight
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