The Mount Holly News

Doctor
Egerton
Story of the Purchase
of a Country
Place
By JAMES BRAINARD

A young man pulling a boat on a
New England lake rested on his oars
before a plank landing, on which stood
a young woman evidently waiting for
something.

"Beg pardon," he said to her, "is
there a road behind those houses up
there leading down to the railroad sta-
tion at Parkville?"

"Yes, there is," was the reply.

The young man gazed about him as
though interested in the lay of the land.
He was really interested in the girl,
who was quite comely. He was trying
to think of some other question to ask
her in order to keep up a conversation.

"Can you tell me who occupies that
white house up on that crest?" he
asked.

"Dr. Egerton."

There was another pause. The re-
plies were so exactly to the point that
they did not invite any further ques-
tioning. However, the young man was
not to be dropped.

"I'm looking for a place like that on
this lake," he said. "I wonder if it
could be bought."

"I suppose there's hardly a piece of
property in the world that cannot be
bought if the purchaser is willing to
give a large enough price."

"I've looked over all these New Eng-
land lakes with a view to buying a
summer residence, and I like this bit
of water better than any of them. My
mother and sister won't go to hotels,
and I don't like them myself. We wish
a place where we can go as soon as
spring opens and stay till late in the
autumn."

The young lady evinced no interest
in the young man's family plans and
made no reply.

"That place up there would suit us
exactly," he continued. "I would like
to spend all the rest of my summers
there. The view must be fine."

"There would be no harm in your
trying to buy it," said the girl. "You
might write a note to the owner asking
if any sum you would be prepared to
pay would be accepted."

"Thank you very much for the sug-
gestion."

At that moment there were sounds
of motorboat engine explosions, and a
launch was seen making for the land-
ing. It soon pulled up there under care
of a single boatman. The young lady
got aboard and without so much as a
look at the oarsman was carried away.

"Mighty fine looking girl," he said to
himself. "Well but plainly dressed and
with an air of being somebody. I
wonder who she is."

Jack Aborn was
an enormously
wealthy young man, having inherited
the bulk of his father's property, and
was accustomed to having anything
money could buy that he desired. There
was something unique in the Egerton
place that struck his fancy. He couldn't
very well build such a place. To begin
with, he couldn't get the site; then it
would require half a century to grow
the trees. Besides, there was an old
fashioned look about the whole place
that could not be imitated. As the
young lady had said, there would be no
harm in trying to buy it, and he re-
solved to drop the owner a note asking
if he would consider an offer.

He did so and received a reply writ-
ten in a woman's hand as follows:

Dr. Egerton desires me to acknowledge
the receipt of your note asking if an offer
for this place will be considered and to
say that it has been in the Egerton fam-
ily so many years that there is at pres-
ent no intention on the part of the own-
er to sell it. However, the doctor would
like to know what it would bring. Yours
truly,
SARAH H MCARTHY
Secretary.

Aborn was sufficiently versed in
business methods to waste no further
time in correspondence; he called upon
Dr. Egerton for a conference. He was
received by Miss McCarthy, a middle
aged lady, who told him that the doc-
tor had gone to the city, but that she (the
secretary) had charge of such business
matters as required attention in the
doctor's absence and had power to act.

Aborn asked what the property would
bring if offered openly for sale, and
Miss McCarthy said she thought it
would easily sell for $30,000. Where-
upon Aborn made an offer of $40,000
for it. The secretary said that she
would transmit the offer to her princi-
pal and would write him.

In due time a note came to Aborn
stating briefly that his offer would not
be accepted. He was quite ready to
raise it, but did not like dealing through
a third party. He called again on the
doctor, but was again disappointed at
not seeing him. The doctor was at
home, but very busy. Aborn left word
with the secretary that he would raise
his bid to $50,000.

A reply to this came to him that as-
-tonished him. It was this:

Dr. Egerton desires me to inform Mr.
Aborn that inquiries having been made
as to his financial standing and his abil-
ity to pay for any purchase he might
make, the responses are perfectly satis-
factory. But the doctor has also been
informed that Mr. Aborn is one of those
young men who, having inherited large
means, think they can acquire anything
they fancy. Surely there is no property
without a price, but the price on the Eger-
ton place is in proportion to Mr. Aborn's
enormous fortune. It is enormously high.
Yours truly,
SARAH H. M'CARTHY.

Aborn was not only astonished at this
reply; he was mad. At first he deter-
mined to drop the matter in contemp-
cuous silence, but he was too irritated
to do this. Besides, he was curious to
discover what sort of man this doctor
was who would go so far out of his
way to insult a man whose only fault
was a desire to possess the Egerton
homestead. He determined to make
one more effort to see him. He called,
but again was obliged to be content
with seeing the secretary, the doctor
having again gone to the city on im-
portant business.

"Is this doctor," he asked in an irri-
gated tone, "a regularly educated phy-
sician or a quack?"

"Dr. Egerton is something higher
than even a regularly educated physi-
cian. The doctor's title is doctor of
philosophy."

"What, then, does he do for a liv-
ing?"

"The doctor is a sociologist."

"Oh, I see; has something to do with
the running of the town charities."

"City charities principally."

"I know a man who has such a posi-
tion, but he doesn't get much of a sal-
ary."

To this there was no response.

"Well," continued Aborn, "I wish you
would tell this sociologist that he'd
better cut out his degree till he has
learned to treat his fellow men with
proper civility. I had a perfect right to
inquire whether he would sell his
place and was led to believe that an
offer would be acceptable even if not
accepted. Then I receive an"-

"You have not yet offered enough.
The doctor holds the property far above
its intrinsic worth on account of its
having been so long in the family."

Aborn, being angry, thought how
nice it would be to offer a price this
insulting sociologist could not afford to
decline.

"Very well," he said. "tell him I'll
give him $100,000 for it. When will he
be at home?"

"Tomorrow.
I'll call for the reply."

Aborn looked over the premises as
he went away and determined to give
double the price offered if necessary,
buy adjoining tracts and make the
place a paradise. Though he did not
know it, all this fever to possess the
place was born of the desire to have
his own way in everything and to
take revenge for having been told the
truth.

The next morning Aborn was rowing
on the lake when he met the girl he
had seen on the landing. She was in a
canoe.

"Beg pardon," he said, "but"-

The girl stopped paddling and waited.

"Perhaps you will remember suggest-
ing that I write the owner of the white
house up there asking if he would
like to sell the place?"

"Well?"

"What kind of man is he anyway?"

"Dr. Egerton is a very level headed
person. Anything the doctor tells you
has weight to it."

"H'm! He's no gentleman."

"There you are right. I must admit
that the doctor is not a gentleman in
any respect."

"Why did you not tell me this be-
fore."

"You did not ask for information as
to his attributes."

"He is a cad."

"He is very plain spoken."

"I should think he is."

"I hope my suggestion hasn't led to
anything disagreeable."

"Oh, the suggestion was very sensi-
ble as well as very kind."

"Is the place for sale?"

"I suppose it is. But for a man who
gets probably $75 a month for running
the poor he's mighty independent."

The girl made no reply to this. In-
de ed, she indicated that the dialogue
didn't interest her by putting her pad-
dle in the water. Aborn dipped his
oars, and they pulled apart.

During the afternoon Aborn called
at Dr. Egerton's to learn if $100,000
would buy a place worth not over a
third of that amount. He had given
up any expectation of seeing the doc-
tor. Indeed, he rather thought it bet-
ter he should not. He feared he would
be tempted to punch the man's head.

He was standing in the drawing room
looking out through a window on the
lake when, hearing a rustle of woman's
clothing behind him, he turned, expect-
ing to see the secretary. What was
his amazement to see the girl he had
met first on the landing and the same
morning in a canoe. Her eyes were
bubbling with mischief.

"W-w-hat does this mean?" he stam-
mered.

"You called to see Dr. Egerton, did
you not?"

"Yes.
I am Dr. Egerton."

"You?"

"Yes. I am Cornelia Egerton, Ph. D."

"I see."

It was scarcely necessary for him to
add anything to these two simple words
for it was evident that his eyes had
been opened.

"Very stupid of me, wasn't it?"

"Be seated. I owe you an apology.
The temptation was too strong for me."

"How about that information you got
about me?"

"Made out of whole cloth."

"Your secretary?"

"My aunt."

"She said something about your run-
ning a city charity bureau."

"Heaven has blessed me with great
wealth, I consider myself simply as
its dispenser. In order to dispense it
intelligently I studied sociology."

"Heaven has also given me great
wealth, but it hasn't occurred to me to
give it away till after my death, when
I shall have no use for it."

"Better adopt my plan."

"Do you really own this house?"

"Yes, but I own another I like better.
You may have this one for what I con-
sider it worth-$20,000."

"Done!"

A year later the doctor went with
the house.