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diff --git a/26485.txt b/26485.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e0d9399 --- /dev/null +++ b/26485.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11226 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Making of Bobby Burnit, by George Randolph Chester + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Making of Bobby Burnit + Being a Record of the Adventures of a Live American Young Man + +Author: George Randolph Chester + +Illustrator: James Montgomery Flagg + F. R. Gruger + +Release Date: August 30, 2008 [EBook #26485] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAKING OF BOBBY BURNIT *** + + + + +Produced by Mark C. Orton, Linda McKeown, Barbara Tozier +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +THE MAKING OF BOBBY BURNIT + + + +[Illustration: I'm in for some of the severest drubbings of my life] + + + + + THE MAKING OF BOBBY BURNIT + + Being a Record of the Adventures of a Live American Young Man + + + _By GEORGE RANDOLPH CHESTER_ + + + AUTHOR OF + + "Get Rich Quick Wallingford," "The Cash Intrigue," Etc. + + + WITH FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS + + BY JAMES MONTGOMERY FLAGG AND F. R. GRUGER + + + _A. L. BURT COMPANY_ + _Publishers New York_ + + + + + COPYRIGHT 1908 + + THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY + + COPYRIGHT 1909 + + THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY + + JUNE + + + + + + DEDICATION + + To the Handicapped Sons of Able + Fathers, and the Handicapped + Fathers of Able Sons, + with Sympathy for + each, and a + Smile for + both + + + + +THE MAKING OF BOBBY BURNIT + + + + +CHAPTER I + +BOBBY MAKES SOME IMPORTANT PREPARATIONS FOR A COMMERCIAL LIFE + + +"I am profoundly convinced that my son is a fool," read the will of +old John Burnit. "I am, however, also convinced that I allowed him to +become so by too much absorption in my own affairs and too little in +his, and, therefore, his being a fool is hereditary; consequently, I +feel it my duty, first, to give him a fair trial at making his own +way, and second, to place the balance of my fortune in such trust that +he can not starve. The trusteeship is already created and the details +are nobody's present business. My son Robert will take over the John +Burnit Store and personally conduct it, as his only resource, without +further question as to what else I may have left behind me. This is my +last will and testament." + +That is how cheerful Bobby Burnit, with no thought heretofore above +healthy amusements and Agnes Elliston, suddenly became a business man, +after having been raised to become the idle heir to about three +million. Of course, having no kith nor kin in all this wide world, he +went immediately to consult Agnes. It is quite likely that if he had +been supplied with dozens of uncles and aunts he would have gone first +to Agnes anyhow, having a mighty regard for her keen judgment, even +though her clear gaze rested now and then all too critically upon +himself. Just as he came whirling up the avenue he saw Nick Allstyne's +white car, several blocks ahead of him, stop at her door, and a figure +which he knew must be Nick jump out and trip up the steps. Almost +immediately the figure came down again, much more slowly, and climbed +into the car, which whizzed away. + +"Not at home," grumbled Bobby. + +It was like him, however, that he should continue straight to the +quaint old house of the Ellistons and proffer his own card, for, +though his aims could seldom be called really worth while, he +invariably finished the thing he set out to do. It seemed to be a sort +of disease. He could not help it. To his surprise, the Cerberus who +guarded the Elliston door received him with a smile and a bow, and +observed: + +"Miss Elliston says you are to walk right on up to the Turkish alcove, +sir." + +While Wilkins took his hat and coat Bobby paused for a moment +figuratively to hug himself. At home to no one else! Expecting him! + +"I'll ask her again," said Bobby to himself with determination, and +stalked on up to the second floor hall, upon which opened a delightful +cozy corner where Aunt Constance Elliston permitted the more +"family-like" male callers to smoke and loll and be at mannish ease. + +As he reached the landing the door of the library below opened, and in +it appeared Agnes and an unusually well-set-up young man--a new one, +who wore a silky mustache and most fastidious tailoring. The two were +talking and laughing gaily as the door opened, but as Agnes glanced up +and saw Bobby she suddenly stopped laughing, and he almost thought +that he overheard her say something in an aside to her companion. The +impression was but fleeting, however, for she immediately nodded +brightly. Bobby bowed rather stiffly in return, and continued his +ascent of the stairs with a less sprightly footstep. Crestfallen, and +conscious that Agnes had again closed the door of the library without +either herself or the strange visitor having emerged into the hall, he +strode into the Turkish alcove and let himself drop upon a divan with +a thump. He extracted a cigar from his cigar-case, carefully cut off +the tip and as carefully restored the cigar to its place. Then he +clasped his interlocked fingers around his knee, and for the next ten +minutes strove, like a gentleman, not to listen. + +When Agnes came up presently she made no mention whatever of her +caller, and, of course, Bobby had no excuse upon which to hang +impertinent questions, though the sharp barbs of them were darting +through and through him. Such fuming as he felt, however, was +instantly allayed by the warm and thoroughly honest clasp she gave him +when she shook hands with him. It was one of the twenty-two million +things he liked about her that she did not shake hands like two ounces +of cold fish, as did some of the girls he knew. She was dressed in a +half-formal house-gown, and the one curl of her waving brown hair that +would persistently straggle down upon her forehead was in its +accustomed place. He had always been obsessed with a nearly +irresistible impulse to put his finger through that curl. + +"I have come around to consult you about a little business matter, +Agnes," he found himself beginning with sudden breathlessness, his +perturbation forgotten in the overwhelming charm of her. "The +governor's will has just been read to me, and he's plunged me into a +ripping mess. His whole fortune is in the hands of a trusteeship, +whatever that is, and I'm not even to know the trustees. All I get is +just the business, and I'm to carry the John Burnit Store on from its +present blue-ribbon standing to still more dazzling heights, I +suppose. Well, I'd like to do it. The governor deserves it. But, you +see, I'm so beastly thick-headed. Now, Agnes, you have perfectly +stunning judgment and all that, so if you would just----" and he came +to an abrupt and painful pause. + +"Have you brought along the contract?" she asked demurely. "Honestly, +Bobby, you're the most original person in the world. The first time, I +was to marry you because you were so awkward, and the next time +because your father thought so much of me, and another time because +you wanted us to tour Norway and not have a whole bothersome crowd +along; then you were tired living in a big, lonely house with just you +and your father and the servants; now, it's an advantageous business +arrangement. What share of the profits am I to receive?" + +Bobby's face had turned red, but he stuck manfully to his guns. + +"All of them," he blurted. "You know that none of those is the real +reason," he as suddenly protested. "It is only that when I come to +tell you the actual reason I rather choke up and can't." + +"You're a mighty nice boy, Bobby," she confessed. "Now sit down and +behave, and tell me just what you have decided to do." + +"Well," said he, accepting his defeat with great philosophy, since he +had no reason to regard it as final, "of course, my decision is made +for me. I'm to take hold of the business. I don't know anything about +it, but I don't see why it shouldn't go straight on as it always has." + +"Possibly," she admitted thoughtfully; "but I imagine your father +expected you to have rather a difficult time of it. Perhaps he wants +you to, so that a defeat or two will sting you into having a little +more serious purpose in life than you have at present. I'd like, +myself, to see you handle, with credit to him and to you, the splendid +establishment he built up." + +"If I do," Bobby wanted to know, "will you marry me?" + +"That makes eleven times. I'm not saying, Bobby, but you never can +tell." + +"That settles it. I'm going to be a business man. Let me use your +'phone a minute." It was one of the many advantages of the +delightfully informal Turkish alcove that it contained a telephone, +and in two minutes Bobby had his tailors. "Make me two or three +business suits," he ordered. "Regular business suits, I mean, for real +business wear--you know the sort of thing--and get them done as +quickly as you can, please. There!" said he as he hung up the +receiver. "I shall begin to-morrow morning. I'll go down early and +take hold of the John Burnit Store in earnest." + +"You've made a splendid start," commented Agnes, smiling. "Now tell me +about the polo tournament," and she sat back to enjoy his enthusiasm +over something about which he was entirely posted. + +He was good to look at, was Bobby, with his clean-cut figure and his +clean-cut face and his clean, blue eyes and clean complexion, and she +delighted in nothing more than just to sit and watch him when he was +at ease; he was so restful, so certain to be always telling the truth, +to be always taking a charitably good-humored view of life, to turn on +wholesome topics and wholesome points of view; but after he had gone +she smiled and sighed and shook her head. + +"Poor Bobby," she mused. "There won't be a shred left of his tender +little fleece by the time he gets through." + +One more monitor Bobby went to see that afternoon, and this was Biff +Bates. It required no sending in of cards to enter the presence of +this celebrity. One simply stepped out of the elevator and used one's +latch-key. It was so much more convenient. Entering a big, barnlike +room he found Mr. Bates, clad only in trunks and canvas shoes, +wreaking dire punishment upon a punching-bag merely by way of +amusement; and Mr. Bates, with every symptom of joy illuminating his +rather horizontal features--wide brows, wide cheek-bone, wide nose, +wide mouth, wide chin, wide jaw--stopped to shake hands most +enthusiastically with his caller without removing his padded glove. + +"What's the good news, old pal?" he asked huskily. + +He was half a head shorter than Bobby and four inches broader across +the shoulders, and his neck spread out over all the top of his torso; +but there was something in the clear gaze of the eyes which made the +two gentlemen look quite alike as they shook hands, vastly different +as they were. + +"Bad news for you, I'm afraid," announced Bobby. "That little +partnership idea of the big gymnasium will have to be called off for a +while." + +Mr. Bates took a contemplative punch or two at the still quivering +bag. + +"It was a fake, anyway," he commented, putting his arm around the top +of the punching-bag and leaning against it comfortably; "just like +this place. You went into partnership with me on this joint--that is, +you put up the coin and run in a lot of your friends on me to be +trained up--squarest lot of sports I ever saw, too. You fill the place +with business and allow me a weekly envelope that makes me tilt my +chin till I have to wear my lid down over my eyes to keep it from +falling off the back of my head, and when there's profits to split up +you shoves mine into my mitt and puts yours into improvements. You put +in the new shower baths and new bars and traps, and the last thing, +that swimming-tank back there. I'm glad the big game's off. I'm so +contented now I'm getting over-weight, and you'd bilk me again. But +what's the matter? Did the bookies get you?" + +"No; I'll tell you all about it," and Bobby carefully explained the +terms of his father's will and what they meant. + +Mr. Bates listened carefully, and when the explanation was finished he +thought for a long time. + +"Well, Bobby," said he, "here's where you get it. They'll shred you +clean. You're too square for that game. Your old man was a fine old +sport and _he_ played it on the level, but, say, he could see a marked +card clear across a room. They'll double-cross you, though, to a +fare-ye-well." + +The opinion seemed to be unanimous. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +PINK CARNATIONS APPEAR IN THE OFFICE OF THE JOHN BURNIT STORE + + +Bobby gave his man orders to wake him up early next morning, say not +later than eight, and prided himself very much upon his energy when, +at ten-thirty, he descended from his machine in front of the old and +honored establishment of John Burnit, and, leaving instructions for +his chauffeur to call for him at twelve, made his way down the long +aisles of white-piled counters and into the dusty little office where +old Johnson, thin as a rail and with a face like whittled chalk, +humped over his desk exactly as he had sat for the past thirty-five +years. + +"Good-morning, Johnson," observed Bobby with an affable nod. "I've +come to take over the business." + +He said it in the same untroubled tone he had always used in asking +for his weekly check, and Johnson looked up with a wry smile. +Applerod, on the contrary, was beaming with hearty admiration. He was +as florid as Johnson was colorless, and the two had rubbed elbows and +dispositions in that same room almost since the house of Burnit had +been founded. + +"Very well, sir," grudged Johnson, and immediately laid upon the +time-blackened desk which had been old John Burnit's, a closely +typewritten statement of some twenty pages. On top of this he placed a +plain gray envelope addressed: + + _To My Son Robert, + Upon the Occasion of His Taking Over the Business_ + +Upon this envelope Bobby kept his eyes in mild speculation, while he +leisurely laid aside his cane and removed his gloves and coat and hat; +next he sat down in his father's jerky old swivel chair and lit a +cigarette; then he opened the letter. He read: + + "Every business needs a pessimist and an optimist, with ample + opportunities to quarrel. Johnson is a jackass, but honest. He + is a pessimist and has a pea-green liver. Listen to him and + the business will die painlessly, by inches. Applerod is also + a jackass, and I presume him to be honest; but I never tested + it. He suffers from too much health, and the surplus goes into + optimism. Listen to him and the business will die in horrible + agony, quickly. But keep both of them. Let them fight things + out until they come almost to an understanding, then take the + middle course." + +That was all. Bobby turned squarely to survey the frowning Johnson and +the still beaming Applerod, and with a flash of clarity he saw his +father's wisdom. He had always admired John Burnit, aside from the +fact that the sturdy pioneer had been his father, had admired him much +as one admires the work of a master magician--without any hope of +emulation. As he read the note he could seem to see the old gentleman +standing there with his hands behind him, ready to stretch on tiptoe +and drop to his heels with a thump as he reached a climax, his +spectacles shoved up on his forehead, his strong, wrinkled face stern +from the cheek-bones down, but twinkling from that line upward, the +twinkle, which had its seat about the shrewd eyes, suddenly +terminating in a sharp, whimsical, little up-pointed curl in the very +middle of his forehead. To corroborate his warm memory Bobby opened +the front of his watch-case, where the same face looked him squarely +in the eyes. Naturally, then, he opened the other lid, where Agnes +Elliston's face smiled up at him. Suddenly he shut both lids with a +snap and turned, with much distaste but with a great show of energy, +to the heavy statement which had all this time confronted him. The +first page he read over laboriously, the second one he skimmed +through, the third and fourth he leafed over; and then he skipped to +the last sheet, where was set down a concise statement of the net +assets and liabilities. + +"According to this," observed Bobby with great show of wisdom, "I take +over the business in a very flourishing condition." + +"Well," grudgingly admitted Mr. Johnson, "it might be worse." + +"It could hardly be better," interposed Applerod--"that is, without +the extensions and improvements that I think your father would have +come in time to make. Of course, at his age he was naturally a bit +conservative." + +"Mr. Applerod and myself have never agreed upon that point," wheezed +Johnson sharply. "For my part I considered your father--well, scarcely +reckless, but, say, sufficiently daring! Daring is about the word." + +Bobby grinned cheerfully. + +"He let the business go rather by its own weight, didn't he?" + +Both gentlemen shook their heads, instantly and most emphatically. + +"He certainly must have," insisted Bobby. "As I recollect it, he only +worked up here, of late years, from about eleven fifty-five to twelve +every other Thursday." + +"Oftener than that," solemnly corrected the literal Mr. Johnson. "He +was here from eleven until twelve-thirty every day." + +"What did he do?" + +It was Applerod who, with keen appreciation, hastened to advise him +upon this point. + +"Said 'yes' twice and 'no' twelve times. Then, at the very last +minute, when we thought that he was through, he usually landed on a +proposition that hadn't been put up to him at all, and put it clear +out of the business." + +"Looks like good finessing to me," said Bobby complacently. "I think I +shall play it that way." + +"It wouldn't do, sir," Mr. Johnson replied in a tone of keen pain. +"You must understand that when your father started this business it +was originally a little fourteen-foot-front place, one story high. He +got down here at six o'clock every morning and swept out. As he got +along a little further he found that he could trust somebody else with +that job--_but he always knew how to sweep_. It took him a lifetime to +simmer down his business to just 'yes' and 'no.'" + +"I see," mused Bobby; "and I'm expected to take that man's place! How +would you go about it?" + +"I would suggest, without meaning any impertinence whatever, sir," +insinuated Mr. Johnson, "that if you were to start clerking----" + +"Or sweeping out at six o'clock in the morning?" calmly interrupted +Bobby. "I don't like to stay up so late. No, Johnson, about the only +thing I'm going to do to show my respect for the traditions of the +house is to leave this desk just as it is, and hang an oil portrait of +my father over it. And, by the way, isn't there some little side room +where I can have my office? I'm going into this thing very earnestly." + +Mr. Johnson and Mr. Applerod exchanged glances. + +"The door just to the right there," said Mr. Johnson, "leads to a room +which is at present filled with old files of the credit department. No +doubt those could be moved somewhere else." + +Bobby walked into that room and gaged its possibilities. It was a +little small, to be sure, but it would do for the present. + +"Just have that cleared out and a 'phone put in. I'll get right down +to business this afternoon and see about the fittings for it." Then he +looked at his watch once more. "By George!" he exclaimed, "I almost +forgot that I was to see Nick Allstyne at the Idlers' Club about that +polo match. Just have one of your boys stand out at the curb along +about twelve, will you, and tell my chauffeur to report at the club." + +Johnson eyed the closed door over his spectacles. + +"He'll be having blue suits and brass buttons on us two next," he +snorted. + +"He don't mean it at all that way," protested Applerod. "For my part, +I think he's a fine young fellow." + +"I'll give you to understand, sir," retorted Johnson, violently +resenting this imputed defection, "that he is the son of his father, +and for that, if for nothing else, would have my entire allegiance." + +Bobby, meanwhile, feeling very democratic and very much a man of +affairs, took a street-car to the Idlers', and strode through the +classic portals of that club with gravity upon his brow. Flaxen-haired +Nick Allstyne, standing by the registry desk, turned to dark Payne +Winthrop with a nod. + +"You win," he admitted. "I'll have to charge it up to you, Bobby. I +just lost a quart of the special to Payne that since you'd become +immersed in the cares of business you'd not be here." + +Bobby was almost austere in his reception of this slight. + +"Don't you know," he demanded, "that there is nobody who keeps even +his social engagements like a business man?" + +"That's what I gambled on," returned Payne confidentially, "but I +wasn't sure just how much of a business man you'd become. Nick, don't +you already seem to see a crease in Bobby's brow?" + +"No, that's his regular polo crease," objected lanky Stanley Rogers, +joining them, and the four of them fell upon polo as one man. Their +especially anxious part in the tournament was to be a grinding match +against Willie Ashler's crack team, and the point of worry was that so +many of their fellows were out of town. They badly needed one more +good player. + +"I have it," declared Bobby finally. It was he who usually decided +things in this easy-going, athletic crowd. "We'll make Jack Starlett +play, but the only way to get him is to go over to Washington after +him. Payne, you're to go along. You always keep a full set of regalia +here at the club, I know. Here, boy!" he called to a passing page. +"Find out for us the next two trains to Washington." + +"Yes, sir," said the boy with a grin, and was off like a shot. They +had a strict rule against tipping in the Idlers', but if he happened +to meet Bobby outside, say at the edge of the curb where his car was +standing, there was no rule against his receiving something there. +Besides, he liked Bobby, anyhow. They all did. He was back in a +moment. + +"One at two-ten and one at four-twenty, sir." + +"The two-ten sounds about right," announced Bobby. "Now, Billy, +telephone to my apartments to have my Gladstone and my dress-suit togs +brought down to that train. Then, by the way, telephone Leatherby and +Pluscher to send up to my place of business and have Mr. Johnson show +their man my new office. Have him take measurements of it and fit it +up at once, complete. They know the kind of things I like. Really, +fellows," he continued, turning to the others, after he had patiently +repeated and explained his instructions to the foggy but willing +Billy, "I'm in serious earnest about this thing. Up to me, you know, +to do credit to the governor, if I can." + +"Bobby, the Boy Bargain Baron," observed Nick. "Well, I guess you can +do it. All you need to do is to take hold, and I'll back you at any +odds." + +"We'll all put a bet on you," encouraged Stanley Rogers. "More, we'll +help. We'll all get married and send our wives around to open accounts +with you." + +In spite of the serious business intentions, the luncheon which +followed was the last the city saw of Bobby Burnit for three days. Be +it said to his credit that he had accomplished his purpose when he +returned. He had brought reluctant Jack Starlett back with him, and +together they walked into the John Burnit Store. + +"New office fitted up yet, Johnson?" asked Bobby pleasantly. + +"Yes, sir," replied Johnson sourly. "Just a moment, Mr. Burnit," and +from an index cabinet back of him he procured an oblong gray envelope +which he handed to Bobby. It was inscribed: + + _To My Son, + Upon the Fitting-Out of New Offices_ + +With a half-embarrassed smile, Bobby regarded that letter thoughtfully +and carried it into the luxurious new office. He opened it and read +it, and, still with that queer smile, passed it over to Starlett. This +was old John Burnit's message: + + "I have seen a business work up to success, and afterward add + velvet rugs and dainty flowers on the desk, but I never saw a + successful business start that way." + +Bobby looked around him with a grin. There _was_ a velvet rug on the +floor. There were no flowers upon the mahogany desk, but there _was_ a +vase to receive them. For just one moment he was nonplussed; then he +opened the door leading to the dingy apartment occupied by Messrs. +Johnson and Applerod. + +"Mr. Johnson," said he, "will you kindly send out and get two dozen +pink carnations for my room?" + +Quiet, big Jack Starlett, having loaded and lit and taken the first +long puff, removed his pipe from his lips. + +"Bully!" said he. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +OLD JOHN BURNIT'S ANCIENT ENEMY POINTS OUT THE WAY TO GRANDEUR + + +Mr. Johnson had no hair in the very center of his head, but, when he +was more than usually vexed, he ran his fingers through what was left +upon both sides of the center and impatiently pushed it up toward a +common point. His hair was in that identical condition when he knocked +at the door of Bobby's office and poked in his head to announce Mr. +Silas Trimmer. + +"Trimmer," mused Bobby. "Oh, yes; he is the John Burnit Store's chief +competitor; concern backs up against ours, fronting on Market Street. +Show him in, Johnson." + +Jack Starlett, who had dropped in to loaf a bit, rose to go. + +"Sit down," insisted Bobby. "I'm conducting this thing all open and +aboveboard. You know, I think I shall like business." + +"They tell me it's the greatest game out," commented Starlett, and +just then Mr. Trimmer entered. + +He was a little, wiry man as to legs and arms, but fearfully rotund as +to paunch, and he had a yellow leather face and black eyes which, +though gleaming like beads, seemed to have a muddy cast. Bobby rose to +greet him with a cordiality in no degree abashed by this appearance. + +"And what can we do for you, Mr. Trimmer?" he asked after the usual +inanities of greeting had been exchanged. + +"Take lunch with me," invited Mr. Trimmer, endeavoring to beam, his +heavy, down-drooping gray mustache remaining immovable in front of the +deeply-chiseled smile that started far above the corners of his nose +and curved around a display of yellow teeth. "I have just learned that +you have taken over the business, and I wish as quickly as possible to +form with the son the same cordial relations which for years I enjoyed +with the father." + +Bobby looked him contemplatively in the eye, but had no experience +upon which to base a picture of his father and Mr. Trimmer enjoying +perpetually cordial relations with a knife down each boot leg. + +"Very sorry, Mr. Trimmer, but I am engaged for lunch." + +"Dinner, then--at the Traders' Club," insisted Mr. Trimmer, who never +for any one moment had remained entirely still, either his foot or his +hand moving, or some portion of his body twitching almost incessantly. + +Inwardly Bobby frowned, for, so far, he had found no points about his +caller to arouse his personal enthusiasm; and yet it suddenly occurred +to him that here was doubtless business, and that it ought to have +attention. His father, under similar circumstances, would find out +what the man was after. He cast a hesitating glance at his friend. + +"Don't mind me, Bobby," said Starlett briskly. "You know I shall be +compelled to take dinner with the folks to-night." + +"At about what time, Mr. Trimmer?" Bobby asked. + +"Oh, suit yourself. Any time," responded that gentleman eagerly. "Say +half-past six." + +"The Traders'," mused Bobby. "I think the governor put me up there +four or five years ago." + +"I seconded you," the other informed him; "and I had the pleasure of +voting for you just the other day, on the vacancy made by your father. +You're a full-fledged member now." + +"Fine!" said Bobby. "Business suit or----" + +"Anything you like." With again that circular smile behind his +immovable mustache, Mr. Trimmer backed out of the room, and Bobby, +dropping into a chair, turned perplexed eyes upon his friend. + +"What do you suppose he wants?" he inquired. + +"Your eye-teeth," returned Jack bluntly. "He looks like a mucker to +me." + +"Oh, I don't know," returned Bobby, a trifle uneasily. "You see, Jack, +he isn't exactly our sort, and maybe we can't get just the right angle +in judging him. He's been nailed down to business all his life, you +know, and a fellow in that line don't have a chance, as I take it, to +cultivate all the little--well, say artificial graces." + +"Your father wasn't like him. He was as near a thoroughbred as I ever +saw, Bobby, and he was nailed down, as you put it, all _his_ life." + +"Oh, you couldn't expect them all to be like the governor," responded +Bobby instantly, shocked at the idea. "But this chap may be no end of +a good sort in his style. No doubt at all he merely came over in a +friendly way to bid me a sort of welcome into the fraternity of +business men," and Bobby felt quite a little thrill of pride in that +novel idea. "By George! Wait a minute," he exclaimed as still another +brilliant thought struck him, and going into the other room he said to +Johnson: "Please give me the letter addressed: 'To My Son Robert, Upon +the Occasion of Mr. Trimmer's First Call.'" + +For the first time in days a grin irradiated Johnson's face. + +"Nothing here, sir," he replied. + +"Let me go through that file." + +"Strictly against orders, sir," said Johnson. + +"Indeed," responded Bobby quizzically; "I don't like to press the bet, +Johnson, but really I'd like to know who has the say here." + +"You have, sir, over everything except my private affairs; and that +letter file is my private property and its contents my private +trusteeship." + +"I can still take my castor oil like a little man, if I have to," +Bobby resignedly observed. "I remember that when I was a kiddy the +governor once undertook to teach me mathematics, and he never would +let me see the answers. More than ever it looks like it was up to +Bobby," and whistling cheerfully he walked back into his private +office. + +Johnson turned to Applerod with a snarl. + +"Mr. Applerod," said he, "you know that I almost never swear. I am now +about to do so. Darn it! It's a shame that Trimmer calls here again on +that old scheme about which he deviled this house for years, and we +forbidden to give Mr. Robert a word of advice unless he asks for it." + +"Why is it a shame?" demanded Applerod. "I always have thought that +Trimmer's plan was a great one." + +So, all unprepared, Bobby went forth that evening, to become +acquainted with the great plan. + +At the restless Traders' Club, where the precise corridors and columns +and walls and ceilings of white marble were indicative of great +formality, men with creases in their brows wore their derbies on the +backs of their heads and ceaselessly talked shop. Mr. Trimmer, more +creased of brow than any of them, was drifting from group to group +with his eyes turned anxiously toward the door until Bobby came in. +Mr. Trimmer was most effusively glad to see the son of his old friend +once again, and lost no time in seating him at a most secluded table, +where, by the time the oysters came on, he was deep in a catalogue of +the virtues of John Burnit; and Bobby, with a very real and a very +deep affection for his father which seldom found expression in words, +grew restive. One thing held him, aside from his obligations as a +guest. He was convinced now that his host's kindness was in truth a +mere graceful act of welcome, due largely to his father's standing, +and the idea flattered him very much. He strove to look as +businesslike as possible, and thought again and again upon his father; +of how he had sat day after day in this stately dining-hall, honored +and venerated among these men who were striving still for the ideal +that he had attained. It was a good thought, and made for pride of the +right sort. With the entree Mr. Trimmer ordered his favorite vintage +champagne, and, as it boiled up like molten amber in the glasses, so +sturdily that the center of the surface kept constantly a full quarter +of an inch above the sides, he waited anxiously for Bobby to sample +it. Even Bobby, long since disillusioned of such things and grown +abstemious from healthy choice, after a critical taste sipped slowly +again and again. + +"That's ripping good wine," he acknowledged. + +"There's only a little over two hundred bottles of it left in the +world," Mr. Trimmer assured him, and then he waited for that first +glass to exert its warming glow. He was a good waiter, was Silas +Trimmer, and keenly sensitive to personal influences. He knew that +Bobby had not been in entire harmony with him at any period of the +evening, but after the roast came on--a most careful roast, indeed, +prepared under a certain formula upon which Mr. Trimmer had +painstakingly insisted--he saw that he had really found his way for a +moment to Bobby's heart through the channel provided by Nature for +attacks upon masculine sympathy, and at that moment he leaned forward +with his circular smile, and observed: + +"By the way, Mr. Burnit, I suppose your father often discussed with +you the great plan we evolved for the Burnit-Trimmer Arcade?" + +Bobby almost blushed at the confession he must make. + +"I'm sorry to say that he didn't," he owned. "I never took the +interest in such things that I ought, and so I missed a lot of +confidences I'd like to have had now." + +"Too bad," sympathized Mr. Trimmer, now quite sure of his ground, +since he had found that Bobby was not posted. "It was a splendid plan +we had. You know, your building and mine are precisely the same width +and precisely in a line with each other, back to back, with only the +alley separating us, the Trimmer establishment fronting on Market +Street and the Burnit building on Grand. The alley is fully five feet +below our two floor lines, and we could, I am quite sure, get +permission to bridge it at a clearance of not to exceed twelve feet. +By raising the rear departments of your store and of mine a foot or +so, and then building a flight of broad, easy steps up and down, we +could almost conceal the presence of this bridge from the inside, and +make one immense establishment running straight through from Grand to +Market Streets. The floors above the first, of course, would bridge +over absolutely level, and the combined stores would comprise by far +the largest establishment in the city. Of course, the advantage of it +from an advertising standpoint alone would be well worth while." + +Bobby could instantly see the almost interminable length of store area +thus presented, and it appealed to his sense of big things at once. + +"What did father say about this?" he asked. + +"Thought it a brilliant idea," glibly returned Mr. Trimmer. "In fact, +I think it was he who first suggested such a possibility, seeing very +clearly the increased trade and the increased profits that would +accrue from such an extension, which would, in fact, be simply the +doubling of our already big stores without additional capitalization. +We worked out two or three plans for the consolidation, but in the +later years your father was very slow about making actual extensions +or alterations in his merchandising business, preferring to expend his +energies on his successful outside enterprises. I feel sure, however, +that he would have come to it in time, for the development is so +logical, so much in keeping with the business methods of the times." + +Here again was insidious flattery, the insinuation that Bobby must be +thoroughly aware of "the business methods of the times." + +"Of course, the idea is new to me," said Bobby, assuming as best he +could the air of business reserve which seemed appropriate to the +occasion; "but I should say, in a general way, that I should not care +to give up the identity of the John Burnit Store." + +"That is a fine and a proper spirit," agreed Mr. Trimmer, with great +enthusiasm. "I like to see it in a young man, but I've no doubt that +we can arrange that little matter. Of course, we would have to +incorporate, say, as the Burnit-Trimmer Mercantile Corporation, but +while having that name on the front of both buildings, it might not be +a bad idea, for business as well as sentimental reasons, to keep the +old signs at the tops of both, just as they now are. Those are little +details to discuss later; but as the stock of the new company, based +upon the present invoice values of our respective concerns, would be +practically all in your hands and mine, this would be a very amicable +and easily arranged matter. I tell you, Mr. Burnit, this is a +tremendous plan, attractive to the public and immensely profitable to +us, and I do not know of anything you could do that would so well as +this show you to be a worthy successor to John Burnit; for, of course, +it would scarcely be a credit to you to carry on your father's +business without change or advance." + +It was the best and the most crafty argument Mr. Trimmer had used, and +Bobby carried away from the Traders' Club a glowing impression of this +point. His father had built up this big business by his own unaided +efforts. Should Bobby leave that legacy just where he had found it, or +should he carry it on to still greater heights? The answer was +obvious. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +AGNES EMPHATICALLY DECIDES THAT SHE DOES NOT LIKE A CERTAIN PERSON + + +At the theater that evening, Bobby, to his vexation, found Agnes +Elliston walking in the promenade foyer with the well-set-up stranger. +He passed her with a nod and slipped moodily into the rear of the +Elliston box, where Aunt Constance, perennially young, was +entertaining Nick Allstyne and Jack Starlett, and keeping them at a +keen wit's edge, too. Bobby gave them the most perfunctory of +greetings, and, sitting back by himself, sullenly moped. He grumbled +to himself that he had a headache; the play was a humdrum affair; +Trimmer was a bore; the proposed consolidation had suddenly lost its +prismatic coloring; the Traders' Club was crude; Starlett and Allstyne +were utterly frivolous. All this because Agnes was out in the foyer +with a very likely-looking young man. + +She did not return until the end of that act, and found Bobby ready to +go, pleading early morning business. + +"Is it important?" she asked. + +"Who's the chap with the silky mustache?" he suddenly demanded, unable +to forbear any longer. "He's a new one." + +The eyes of Agnes gleamed mischievously. + +"Bobby, I'm astonished at your manners," she chided him. "Now tell me +what you've been doing with yourself." + +"Trying to grow up into John Burnit's truly son," he told her with +some trace of pompous pride, being ready in advance to accept his +rebuke meekly, as he always had to do, and being quite ready to cover +up his grievous error with a change of topic. "I had no idea that +business could so grip a fellow. But what I'd like to find out just +now is who is my trustee? It must have been somebody with horse sense, +or the governor would not have appointed whoever it was. I'm not going +to ask anything I'm forbidden to know, but I want some advice. Now, +how shall I learn who it is?" + +"Well," replied Agnes thoughtfully, "about the only plan I can suggest +is that you ask your father's legal and business advisers." + +He positively beamed down at her. + +"You're the dandy girl, all right," he said admiringly. "Now, if you +would only----" + +"Bobby," she interrupted him, "do you know that we are standing up +here in a box, with something like a thousand people, possibly, turned +in our direction?" + +He suddenly realized that they were alone, the others having filed out +into the promenade, and, placing a chair for her in the extreme rear +corner of the box, where he could fence her off, sat down beside her. +He began to describe to her the plan of Silas Trimmer, and as he went +on his enthusiasm mounted. The thing had caught his fancy. If he could +only increase the profits of the John Burnit Store in the very first +year, it would be a big feather in his cap. It would be precisely what +his father would have desired! Agnes listened attentively all through +the fourth act to his glowing conception of what the reorganized John +Burnit Company would be like. He was perfectly contented now. His +headache was gone; such occasional glimpses as he caught of the play +were delightful; Mr. Trimmer was a genius; the Traders' Club a +fascinating introduction to a new life; Starlett and Allstyne a joyous +relief to him after the sordid cares of business. In a word, Agnes was +with him. + +"Do you think your father would accept this proposition?" she asked +him after he was all through. + +"I think he would at my age," decided Bobby promptly. + +"That is, if he had been brought up as you have," she laughed. "I +think I should study a long time over it, Bobby, before I made any +such important and sweeping change as this must necessarily be." + +"Oh, yes," he agreed with an assumption of deep conservatism; "of +course I'll think it over well, and I'll take good, sound advice on +it." + +"I have never seen Mr. Trimmer," mused Agnes. "I seldom go into his +store, for there always seems to me something shoddy about the whole +place; but to-morrow I think I shall make it a point to secure a +glimpse of him." + +Bobby was delighted. Agnes had always been interested in whatever +interested him, but never so absorbedly so as now, it seemed. He +almost forgot the stranger in his pleasure. He forgot him still more +when, dismissing his chauffeur, he seated Agnes in the front of the +car beside him, with Starlett and Allstyne and Aunt Constance in the +tonneau, and went whirling through the streets and up the avenue. It +was but a brief trip, not over a half-hour, and they had scarcely a +chance to exchange a word; but just to be up front there alone with +her meant a whole lot to Bobby. + +Afterward he took the other fellows down to the gymnasium, where Biff +Bates drew him to one side. + +"Look here, old pal!" said Bates. "I saw you real chummy with T. W. +Tight-Wad Trimmer to-night." + +"Yes?" admitted Bobby interrogatively. + +"Well, you know I don't go around with my hammer out, but I want to +put you wise to this mut. He's in with a lot of political graft, for +one thing, and he's a sure thing guy for another. He likes to take a +flyer at the bangtails a few times a season, and last summer he +welshed on Joe Poog's book; claimed Joe misunderstood his fingers for +two thousand in place of two hundred." + +"Well, maybe there was a mistake," said Bobby, loath to believe such a +monstrous charge against any one whom he knew. + +"Mistake nawthin'," insisted Biff. "Joe Poog don't take finger bets +for hundreds, and Trimmer never did bet that way. He's a born welsher, +anyhow. He looks the part, and I just want to tell you, Bobby, that if +you go to the mat with this crab you'll get up with the marks of his +pinchers on your windpipe; that's all." + +Early the next morning--that is, at about ten o'clock--Bobby bounced +energetically into the office of Barrister and Coke, where old Mr. +Barrister, who had been his father's lawyer for a great many years, +received him with all the unbending grace of an ebony cane. + +"I have come to find out who were the trustees appointed by my father, +Mr. Barrister," began Bobby, with a cheerful air of expecting to be +informed at once, "not that I wish to inquire about the estate, but +that I need some advice on entirely different matters." + +"I shall be glad to serve you with any legal advice that you may +need," offered Mr. Barrister, patting his finger-tips gently together. + +"Are you the trustee?" + +"No, sir"--this with a dusty smile. + +"Who is, then?" + +"The only information which I am at liberty to give you upon that +point," said Mr. Barrister drily, "is that contained in your father's +will. Would you care to examine a copy of that document again?" + +"No, thanks," declined Bobby politely. "It's too truthful for +comfort." + +From there he went straight to his own place of business, where he +asked the same question of Johnson. In reply, Mr. Johnson produced, +from his own personal and private index-file, an oblong gray envelope +addressed: + + _To My Son Robert, + Upon His Inquiring About the Trusteeship of My Estate_ + +Opening this in the privacy of his own office, Bobby read: + + "As stated in my will, it is none of your present business." + +"Up to Bobby again," the son commented aloud. "Well, Governor," and +his shoulders straightened while his eyes snapped, "if you can stand +it, I can. Hereafter I shall take my own advice, and if I lose I shall +know how to find the chap who's to blame." + +He had an opportunity to "go it alone" that very morning, when Johnson +and Applerod came in to him together with a problem. Was or was not +that Chicago branch to be opened? The elder Mr. Burnit had considered +it most gravely, but had left the matter undecided. Mr. Applerod was +very keenly in favor of it, Mr. Johnson as earnestly against it, and +in his office they argued the matter with such heat that Bobby, +accepting a typed statement of the figures in the case, virtually +turned them out. + +"When must you have a decision?" he demanded. + +"To-morrow. We must wire either our acceptance or rejection of the +lease." + +"Very well," said Bobby, quite elated that he was carrying the thing +off with an air and a tone so crisp; "just leave it to me, will you?" + +He waded through the statement uncomprehendingly. Here was a problem +which was covered and still not covered by his father's observations +anent Johnson and Applerod. It was a matter for wrangling, obviously +enough, but there was no difference to split. It was a case of +deciding either yes or no. For the balance of the time until Jack +Starlett called for him at twelve-thirty, he puzzled earnestly and +soberly over the thing, and next morning the problem still weighed +upon him when he turned in at the office. He could see as he passed +through the outer room that both Johnson and Applerod were furtively +eying him, but he walked past them whistling. When he had closed his +own door behind him he drew again that mass of data toward him and +struggled against the chin-high tide. Suddenly he shoved the papers +aside, and, taking a half-dollar from his pocket, flipped it on the +floor. Eagerly he leaned over to look at it. Tails! With a sigh of +relief he put the coin back in his pocket and lit a cigarette. About +half an hour later the committee of two came solemnly in to see him. + +"Have you decided to open the Chicago branch, sir?" asked Johnson. + +"Not this year," said Bobby coolly, and handed back the data. "I wish, +Mr. Johnson, you would appoint a page to be in constant attendance +upon this room." + +Back at their own desks Johnson gloated in calm triumph. + +"It may be quite possible that Mr. Robert may turn out to be a +duplicate of his father," he opined. + +"I don't know," confessed Applerod, crestfallen. "I had thought that +he would be more willing to take a sporting chance." + +Mr. Johnson snorted. Mr. Applerod, who had never bet two dollars on +any proposition in his life, considered himself very much of a +sporting disposition. + +Savagely in love with his new assertiveness Bobby called on Agnes that +evening. + +"I saw Mr. Trimmer to-day," she told him. "I don't like him." + +"I didn't want you to," he replied with a grin. "You like too many +people now." + +"But I'm serious, Bobby," she protested, unconsciously clinging to his +hand as they sat down upon the divan. "I wouldn't enter into any +business arrangements with him. I don't know just what there is about +him that repels me, but--well, I don't _like_ him!" + +"Can't say I've fallen in love with him myself," he replied. "But, +Agnes, if a fellow only did business with the men his nearest +women-folks liked, there wouldn't be much business done." + +"There wouldn't be so many losses," she retorted. + +"Bound to have the last word, of course," he answered, taking refuge +in that old and quite false slur against women in general; for a man +suffers from his spleen if he can not put the quietus on every +argument. "But, honestly, I don't fear Mr. Trimmer. I've been +inquiring into this stock company business. We are each to have stock +in the new company, if we form one, in exact proportion to the +invoices of our respective establishments. Well, the Trimmer concern +can't possibly invoice as much as we shall, and I'll have the majority +of stock, which is the same as holding all the trumps. I had Mr. +Barrister explain all that to me. With the majority of stock you can +have everything your own way, and the other chap can't even protest. +Seems sort of a shame, too." + +"I don't like him," declared Agnes. + +The ensuing week Bobby spent mostly on the polo match, though he +called religiously at the office every morning, coming down a few +minutes earlier each day. It was an uneasy week, too, as well as a +busy one, for twice during its progress he saw Agnes driving with the +unknown; and the fact that in both instances a handsome young lady was +with them did not seem to mend matters much. He was astonished to find +that losing the great polo match did not distress him at all. A year +before it would have broken his heart, but the multiplicity of new +interests had changed him entirely. As a matter of fact, he had been +long ripe for the change, though he had not known it. As he had +matured, the blood of his heredity had begun to clamor for its +expression; that was all. + +At the beginning of the next week Mr. Trimmer came in to see him +again, with a roll of drawings under his arm. The drawings displayed +the proposed new bridge in elevation and in cross section. They showed +the total stretch of altered store-rooms from street to street, and +cleverly-drawn perspectives made graphically real that splendid +length. They were accompanied by an estimate of the cost, and also by +a permit from the city to build the bridge. With these were the +preliminary papers for the organization of the new company, and Bobby, +by this time intensely interested and convinced that his interest was +business acumen, went over each detail with contracted brow and with +kindling enthusiasm. + +It was ten o'clock of that morning when Silas Trimmer had found Bobby +at his desk; by eleven Mr. Johnson and Mr. Applerod, in the outer +office, were quite unable to work; by twelve they were snarling at +each other; at twelve-thirty Johnson ventured to poke his head in at +the door, framing some trivial excuse as he did so, but found the two +merchants with their heads bent closely over the advantages of the +great combined stores. At a quarter-past one, returning from a hasty +lunch, Johnson tiptoed to the door again. He still heard an insistent, +high-pitched voice inside. Mr. Trimmer was doing all the talking. He +had explained and explained until his tongue was dry, and Bobby, with +a full sense of the importance of his decision, was trying to clear +away the fog that had grown up in his brain. Mr. Trimmer was pressing +him for a decision. Bobby suddenly slipped his hand in his pocket, +and, unseen, secured a half-dollar, which he shook in his hand under +the table. Opening his palm he furtively looked at the coin. Heads! + +"Get your papers ready, Mr. Trimmer," he announced, as one finally +satisfied by good and sufficient argument, "we'll form the +organization as soon as you like." + +No sooner had he come to this decision than he felt a strange sense of +elation. He had actually consummated a big business deal! He had made +a positive step in the direction of carrying the John Burnit Store +beyond the fame it had possessed at the time his father had turned it +over to him! Since he had stiffened his back, he did not condescend to +take Johnson and Applerod into his confidence, though those two +gentlemen were quivering to receive it, but he did order Johnson to +allow Mr. Trimmer's representatives to go over the John Burnit books +and to verify their latest invoice, together with the purchases and +sales since the date of that stock-taking. To Mr. Applerod he assigned +the task of making a like examination of the Trimmer establishment, +and each day felt more like a really-truly business man. He affected +the Traders' Club now, formed an entirely new set of acquaintances, +and learned to go about the stately rooms of that magnificent business +annex with his hat on the back of his head and creases in his brow. + +Even before the final papers were completed, a huge gang of workmen, +consisting of as many artisans as could be crowded on the job without +standing on one another's feet, began to construct the elaborate +bridge which was to connect the two stores, and Mr. Trimmer's +publicity department was already securing column after column of space +in the local papers, some of it paid matter and some gratis, wherein +it appeared that the son of old John Burnit had proved himself to be a +live, progressive young man--a worthy heir of so enterprising a +father. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +WHEREIN BOBBY ATTENDS A STOCK-HOLDERS' MEETING AND CUTS A WISDOM-TOOTH + + +Within a very few days was completed the complicated legal machinery +which threw the John Burnit Store and Trimmer and Company into the +hands of "The Burnit-Trimmer Merchandise Corporation" as a holding and +operating concern. The John Burnit Store went into that consolidation +at an invoice value of two hundred and sixty thousand dollars, Trimmer +and Company at two hundred and forty thousand; and Bobby was duly +pleased. He had the majority of stock! On the later suggestion of Mr. +Trimmer, however, sixty thousand dollars of additional capital was +taken into the concern. + +"The alterations, expansions, new departments and publicity will +compel the command of about that much money," Mr. Trimmer patiently +explained; "and while we could appropriate that amount from our +respective concerns, we ought not to weaken our capital, particularly +as financial affairs throughout the country are so unsettled. This is +not a brisk commercial year, nor can it be." + +"Yes," admitted Bobby, "I've heard something of all this hard-times +talk. I know Nick Allstyne sold his French racer, and Nick's supposed +to be worth no end of money." + +"Exactly," agreed Mr. Trimmer dryly. "This sixty thousand dollars' +worth of stock, Mr. Burnit, I am quite sure that I can place with +immediate purchasers, and if you will leave the matter to me I can +have it all represented in our next meeting without any bother at all +to you." + +"Very kind of you, I am sure," agreed Bobby, thankful that this +trifling detail was not to bore him. + +And so it was that the Burnit-Trimmer Merchandise Corporation was +incorporated at five hundred and sixty thousand dollars. It was +considerably later when Bobby realized the significance of the fact +that the subscribers to the additional capitalization consisted of Mr. +Trimmer's son, his son-in-law, his head bookkeeper, his confidential +secretary and his cousin, all of whom had also been minor +stock-holders in the concern of Trimmer and Company. + +It was upon the day preceding the first stock-holders' meeting of the +reorganized company that Bobby, quite proud of the fact that he had +acted independently of them, made the formal announcement to Johnson +and Applerod that the great consolidation had been effected. + +"Beginning with to-morrow morning, Mr. Johnson," said he to that +worthy, "the John Burnit Store will be merged into the Burnit-Trimmer +Merchandise Corporation, and Mr. Trimmer will doubtless send his +secretary to confer with you about an adjustment of the clerical +work." + +"Yes, sir," said Mr. Johnson dismally, and rose to open the filing +case behind him. With his hand in the case he paused and turned a most +woebegone countenance to the junior Burnit. "We shall be very +regretful, Mr. Applerod and myself, to lose our positions, sir," he +stated. "We have grown up with the business from boyhood." + +"Nonsense!" exploded Applerod. "We would be regretful if that were to +occur, but there is nothing of the sort possible. Why, Mr. Burnit, I +think this consolidation is the greatest thing that ever happened. +I've been in favor of it for years; and as for its losing me my +position--Pooh!" and he snapped his fingers. + +"Applerod is quite right, Mr. Johnson," said Bobby severely. "Nothing +of the sort is contemplated. Yourself and Mr. Applerod are to remain +with me as long as fair treatment and liberal pay and personal +attachment can induce you to do so." + +"Thank you, sir," said Mr. Johnson dryly, but he shook his head, and +from the file produced one of the familiar gray envelopes. + +Bobby eyed it askance as it came toward him, and winced as he saw the +inscription. He was beginning to dread these missives. They seemed to +follow him about, to menace him, to give him a constant feeling of +guilt. Nevertheless, he took this one quite calmly and walked into his +own room. It was addressed: + + _To My Son, + Upon the Occasion of His Completing a Consolidation + with Silas Trimmer_ + +and it read: + + "When a man devils you for years to enter a business deal with + him, you may rest assured that man has more to gain by it than + you have. Aside from his wormwood business jealousy of me, + Silas Trimmer has wanted this Grand Street entrance to his + store for more than the third of a century; now he has it. + He'll have your store next." + +"Look here, Governor," protested Bobby aloud, to his lively +remembrance of his father as he might have stood in that very room, "I +call this rather rubbing it in. It's a bit unsportsmanlike. It's +almost like laying a trap for a chap who doesn't know the game," and, +rankling with a sense of injustice, he went out to Johnson. + +"I say, Johnson," he complained, "it's rather my fault for being too +stubborn to ask about it, but if you knew that Mr. Trimmer was trying +to work a game on me that was dangerous to the business, why didn't +you volunteer to explain it to me; to forewarn me and give me a chance +for judgment with all the pros and cons in front of me?" + +"From the bottom of my heart, Mr. Burnit," said Johnson with feeling, +"I should like to have done it; but it was forbidden." + +He already had lying before him another of the gray envelopes, and +this he solemnly handed over. It was addressed: + + _To My Son, + Upon His Complaining that Johnson Gave Him No Warning + Concerning Silas Trimmer_ + +The message it contained was: + + "It takes hard chiseling to make a man, but if the material is + the right grain the tool-marks won't show. If I had wanted you + merely to make money, I would have left the business entirely + in the hands of Johnson and Applerod. But there is no use to + put off pulling a tooth. It only hurts worse in the end." + +When Bobby left the office he felt like walking in the middle of the +street to avoid alley corners, since he was unable to divine from what +direction the next brick might come. He had taken the business to +heart more than he had imagined that he would, and the very fact of +his father's having foreseen that he would succumb to this +consolidation made him give grave heed to the implied suggestion that +he would be a heavy loser by it. He had an engagement with Allstyne +and Starlett at the Idlers' that afternoon, but they found him most +preoccupied, and openly voted him a bore. He called on Agnes Elliston, +but learned that she was out driving, and he savagely assured himself +that he knew who was handling the reins. He dined at the Traders', +and, for the first time since he had begun to frequent that place, the +creases in his brow were real. + +Later in the evening he dropped around to see Biff Bates. In the very +center of the gymnasium he found that gentleman engaged in giving a +preliminary boxing lesson to a spider-like new pupil, who was none +other than Silas Trimmer. Responding to Biff's cheerful grin and Mr. +Trimmer's sheepish one with what politeness he could muster, Bobby +glumly went home. + +On the next morning occurred the first stock-holders' meeting of the +Burnit-Trimmer Merchandise Corporation, which Bobby attended with some +feeling of importance, for, with his twenty-six hundred shares, he was +the largest individual stock-holder present. That was what had +reassured him overnight: the magic "majority of stock!" Mr. Trimmer +only had twenty-four hundred, and Bobby could swing things as he +pleased. His father, omniscient as he was, must certainly have failed +to foresee this fact. In his simplicity of such matters and his +general unsuspiciousness, Bobby had not calculated that if the +additional six hundred shares were to vote solidly with Mr. Trimmer +against him, his twenty-six hundred shares would be confronted by +three thousand, and so rendered paltry. + +Mr. Trimmer was delighted to see young Mr. Burnit. This was a great +occasion indeed, both for the John Burnit Store and for Trimmer and +Company, and, in the opinion of Mr. Trimmer, his circular smile very +much in evidence, John Burnit himself would have been proud to see +this day! Mr. Smythe, Mr. Trimmer's son-in-law, also thought it a +great day; Mr. Weldon, Mr. Trimmer's head bookkeeper, thought it a +great day; Mr. Harvey, Mr. Trimmer's confidential secretary, and Mr. +U. G. Trimmer, Mr. Silas Trimmer's cousin, shared this pleasant +impression. + +In the beginning the organization was without form or void, as all +such organizations are, but Mr. Trimmer, having an extremely clear +idea of what was to be accomplished, proposed that Mr. Burnit accept +the chair _pro tem._--where he would be out of the way. The unanimous +support which this motion received was quite gratifying to the +feelings of Mr. Burnit, proving at once that his fears had been not +only groundless but ungenerous, and, in accepting the chair, he made +them what he considered a very neat little speech indeed, striving the +while to escape that circular smile with its diameter of yellow teeth +and its intersecting crescent of stiff mustache; for he disliked +meanly to imagine that smile to have a sarcastic turn to-day. At the +suggestion of Mr. Trimmer, Mr. Weldon accepted the post of secretary +_pro tem._ Mr. Trimmer then, with a nicely bound black book in his +hand, rose to propose the adoption of the stock constitution and +by-laws which were neatly printed in the opening pages of this +minute-book, and in the articles of which he had made some trifling +amendments. Mr. Weldon, by request, read these most carefully and +conscientiously, making quite plain that the entire working management +of the consolidated stores was to be under the direct charge of a +general manager and an assistant general manager, who were to be +appointed and have their salaries fixed by the board of directors, as +was meet and proper. Gravely the stock-holders voted upon the adoption +of the constitution and by-laws, and, with a feeling of pride, as the +secretary called his name, Bobby cast his first vote in the following +conventional form: + +"Aye--twenty-six hundred shares." + +Mr. Trimmer followed, voting twenty-four hundred shares; then Mr. +Smythe, three hundred; Mr. Weldon, fifty; Mr. Harvey, fifty; Mr. U. G. +Trimmer, fifty; Mr. Thomas Trimmer, whose proxy was held by his +father, one hundred and fifty; making in all a total of fifty-six +hundred shares unanimously cast in favor of the motion; and Bobby, +after having roundly announced the result, felt that he was conducting +himself with vast parliamentary credit and lit a cigarette with much +satisfaction. + +Mr. Trimmer, twirling his thumbs, displayed no surprise, nor even +gratification, when Mr. Smythe almost immediately put him in +nomination for president. Mr. Weldon promptly seconded that +nomination. Mr. Harvey moved that the nominations for the presidency +be closed. Mr. U. G. Trimmer seconded that motion, which was carried +unanimously; and with no ado whatever Mr. Silas Trimmer was made +president of the Burnit-Trimmer Merchandise Corporation, Mr. Burnit +having most courteously cast twenty-six hundred votes for him; for was +not Mr. Trimmer entitled to this honor by right of seniority? In +similar manner Mr. Burnit, quite pleased, and not realizing that the +vice-president of a corporation has a much less active and influential +position than the night watchman, was elected to the second highest +office, while Mr. Weldon was made secretary and Mr. Smythe treasurer. +Mr. Harvey, Mr. U. G. Trimmer and Mr. Thomas Trimmer were, as a matter +of course, elected members of the board of directors, the four +officers already elected constituting the remaining members of the +board. There seemed but very little business remaining for the +stock-holders to do, so they adjourned; then, the members of the board +being all present and having waived in writing all formal +notification, the directors went into immediate session, with Mr. +Trimmer in the chair and Mr. Weldon in charge of the bright and +shining new book of minutes. + +The first move of that body, after opening the meeting in due form, +was made by Mr. Harvey, who proposed that Mr. Silas Trimmer be +constituted general manager of the consolidated stores at a salary of +fifty thousand dollars per year, a motion which was immediately +seconded by Mr. U. G. Trimmer. + +Bobby was instantly upon his feet. Even with his total lack of +experience in such matters there was something about this that struck +him as overdrawn, and he protested that fancy salaries should have no +place in the reorganized business until experience had proved that the +business would stand it. He was very much in earnest about it, and +wanted the subject discussed thoroughly before any such rash step was +taken. The balance of the discussion consisted in one word from Mr. +Smythe, echoed by all his fellow-members. + +"Question!" said that gentleman. + +"You have all heard the question," said Mr. Trimmer calmly. "Those in +favor will please signify by saying 'Aye.'" + +"Aye!" voted four members of the board as with one scarcely interested +voice. + +"No!" cried Bobby angrily, and sprang to his feet, his anger confused, +moreover, by the shock of finding unsuspected wolves tearing at his +vitals. "Gentlemen, I protest against this action! I----" + +Mr. Trimmer pounded on the table with his pencil in lieu of a gavel. + +"The motion is carried. Any other business?" + +It seemed that there was. Mr. Harvey proposed that Mr. Smythe be made +assistant general manager at a salary of twenty-five thousand dollars +per year. Again the farce of a ballot and the farce of a protest was +enacted. Where now was the voting power of Bobby's twenty-six hundred +shares? In the directors' meeting they voted as individuals, and they +were six against one. Rather indifferently, as if the thing did not +amount to much, Mr. Smythe proposed that the selection of a firm name +for advertising and publicity purposes be left to the manager, and +though Bobby voted no as to this proposition on general principles, it +seemed of minor importance, in his then bewildered state of mind. +After all, the thing which grieved him most just then was to find that +people _could_ do these things! + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +CONSISTING ENTIRELY OF A RAPID SUCCESSION OF MOST PAINFUL SHOCKS + + +He was still dazed with what had happened, when, the next morning, he +turned into the office and found Johnson and Applerod packing-up their +personal effects. Workmen were removing letter-files and taking desks +out of the door. + +"What's the matter?" he asked, surveying the unwonted confusion in +perplexity. + +"The entire office force of the now defunct John Burnit Store has been +dismissed, that's all!" blurted Applerod, now the aggrieved one. "You +sold us out, lock, stock and barrel!" + +"Impossible!" gasped Bobby. + +Mr. Johnson glumly showed him curt letters of dismissal from Trimmer. + +"Where's mine, I wonder?" inquired Bobby, trying to take his terrific +defeat with sportsmanlike nonchalance. + +"I don't suppose there is any for you, sir, inasmuch as you never had +a recognized position to lose," replied Johnson, not unkindly. "Did +the board of directors elect you to any salaried office?" + +"Why, so they didn't!" exclaimed Bobby, and for the first time +realized that no place had been made for him. He had taken it as a +matter of course that he was to be a part of the consolidation, and +the omission of any definite provision for him had passed unnoticed. + +The door leading to his own private office banged open, and two men +appeared, shoving through it the big mahogany desk turned edgewise. + +"What are they doing?" Bobby asked sharply. + +"Moving out all the furniture," snapped Applerod with bitter relish. +"All the office work, I understand, is to be done in the other +building, and this space is to be thrown into a special cut-glass +department. I suppose the new desk is for Mr. Trimmer." + +Furious, choking, Bobby left the office and strode back through the +store. The first floor passageway was already completed between the +two buildings, and a steady stream of customers was going over the +bridge from the old Burnit store into the old Trimmer store. There +were very few coming in the other direction. He had never been in Mr. +Trimmer's offices, but he found his way there with no difficulty, and +Mr. Trimmer came out of his private room to receive him with all the +suavity possible. In fact, he had been saving up suavity all morning +for this very encounter. + +"Well, what can we do for you this morning, Mr. Burnit?" he wanted to +know, and Bobby, though accustomed to repression as he was, had a +sudden impulse to drive his fist straight through that false circular +smile. + +"I want to know what provision has been made for me in this new +adjustment," he demanded. + +"Why, Mr. Burnit," expostulated Mr. Trimmer in much apparent surprise, +"you have two hundred and sixty thousand dollars' worth of stock in +what should be the best paying mercantile venture in this city; you +are vice-president, and a member of the board of directors!" + +"I have no part, then, in the active management?" Bobby wanted to +know. + +"It would be superfluous, Mr. Burnit. One of the chief advantages of +such a consolidation is the economy that comes from condensing the +office and managing forces. I regretted very much indeed to dismiss +Mr. Johnson and Mr. Applerod, but they are very valuable men and +should have no difficulty in placing themselves advantageously. In +fact, I shall be glad to aid them in securing new positions." + +"The thing is an outrage!" exclaimed Bobby with passion. + +"My dear Mr. Burnit, it is business," said Mr. Trimmer coldly, and, +turning, went deliberately into his own room, leaving Bobby standing +in the middle of the floor. + +Bobby sprang to that door and threw it open, and Trimmer, who had been +secretly trembling all through the interview, turned to him with a +quick pallor overspreading his face, a pallor which Bobby saw and +despised and ignored, and which turned his first mad impulse. + +"I'd like to ask one favor of you, Mr. Trimmer," said he. "In moving +the furniture out of the John Burnit offices I should be very glad, +indeed, if you would order my father's desk removed to my house. It is +an old desk and can not possibly be of much use. You may charge its +value to my account, please." + +"Nonsense!" said Mr. Trimmer. "I'll have it sent out with pleasure. Is +there anything else?" + +"Nothing whatever at present," said Bobby, trembling with the task of +holding himself steady, and walked out, unable to analyze the bitter +emotions that surged within him. + +On the sidewalk, standing beside his automobile, he found Johnson and +Applerod waiting for him, and the moment he saw Johnson, cumbered with +the big index-file that he carried beneath his arm, he knew why. + +"Give me the letter, Johnson," he said with a wry smile, and Johnson, +answering it with another equally as grim, handed him a gray envelope. + +Applerod, who had been the first to upbraid him, was now the first to +recover his spirits. + +"Never mind, Mr. Burnit," said he; "businesses and even fortunes have +been lost before and have been regained. There are still ways to make +money." + +Bobby did not answer him. He was opening the letter, preparing to +stand its contents in much the same spirit that he had often gone to +his father to accept a reprimand which he knew he could not in dignity +evade. But there was no reprimand. He read: + + "There's no use in telling a young man what to do when he has + been gouged. If he's made of the right stuff he'll know, and + if he isn't, no amount of telling will put the right stuff in + him. I have faith in you. Bobby, or I'd never have let you in + for this goring. + + "In the meantime, as there will be no dividends on your stock + for ten years to come, what with 'improvements, expenses and + salaries,' and as you will need to continue your education by + embarking in some other line of business before being ripe + enough to accomplish what I am sure you will want to do, you + may now see your trustee, the only thoroughly sensible person + I know who is sincerely devoted to your interests. Her name is + Agnes Elliston." + +"What is the matter?" asked Johnson in sudden concern, and Applerod +grabbed him by the arm. + +"Oh, nothing much," said Bobby; "a little groggy, that's all. The +governor just handed me one under the belt. By the way, boys"--and +they scarcely noted that he no longer said "gentlemen"--"if you have +nothing better in view I want you to consider yourselves still in my +employ. I'm going into business again, at once. If you will call at my +house tomorrow forenoon I'll talk with you about it," and anxious to +be rid of them he told his driver "Idlers'," and jumped into his +automobile. + +Agnes! That surely was giving him a solar-plexus blow! Why, what did +the governor mean? It was putting him very much in a kindergarten +position with the girl before whom he wanted to make a better +impression than before anybody else in all the world. + +It took him a long time to readjust himself to this cataclysm. + +After all, though, was not his father right in this, as he had been in +everything else? Humbly Bobby was ready to confess that Agnes had more +brains and good common sense than anybody, and was altogether about +the most loyal and dependable person in all the world, with the single +and sole exception of allowing that splendid looking and unknown chap +to hang around her so. They were in the congested down-town district +now, and as they came to a dead stop at a crossing, Bobby, though +immersed in thought, became aware of a short, thick-set man, who, +standing at the very edge of the car, was apparently trying to stare +him out of countenance. + +"Why, hello, Biff!" exclaimed Bobby. "Which way?" + +"Just waiting for a South Side trolley," explained Biff. "Going over +to see Kid Mills about that lightweight go we're planning." + +"Jump in," said Bobby, glad of any change in his altogether indefinite +program. "I'll take you over." + +On the way he detailed to his athletic friend what had been done to +him in the way of business. + +"I know'd it," said Biff excitedly. "I know'd it from the start. +That's why I got old Trimmer to join my class. Made him a special +price of next to nothing, and got Doc Willets to go around and tell +him he was in Dutch for want of training. Just wait." + +"For what?" asked Bobby, smiling. + +"Till the next time he comes up," declared Biff vengefully. "Say, do +you know I put that shrimp's hour a-purpose just when there wouldn't +be a soul up there; and the next time I get him in front of me I'm +going to let a few slip that'll jar him from the cellar to the attic; +and the next time anybody sees him he'll be nothing but splints and +court-plaster." + +"Biff," said Bobby severely, "you'll do nothing of the kind. You'll +leave one Silas Trimmer to me. Merely bruising his body won't get back +my father's business. Let him alone." + +"But look here, Bobby----" + +"No; I say let him alone," insisted Bobby. + +"All right," said Biff sullenly; "but if you think there's a trick you +can turn to double cross this Trimmer you've got another think coming. +He's sunk his fangs in the business he's been after all his life, and +now you couldn't pry it away from him with a jimmy. You know what I +told you about him." + +"I know," said Bobby wearily. "But honestly, Biff, did you ever see me +go into a game where I was a loser in the end?" + +"Not till this one," confessed Biff. + +"And this isn't the end," retorted Bobby. + +He knew that when he made such a confident assertion that he had +nothing upon which to base it; that he was talking vaguely and at +random; but he also knew the intense desire that had arisen in him to +reverse conditions upon the man who had waited until the father died +to wrest that father's pride from the son; and in some way he felt +coming strength. In Biff's present frame of conviction Bobby was +pleased enough to drop him in front of Kid Mills' obscure abode, and +turn with a sudden hungry impulse in the direction of Agnes. At the +Ellistons', when the chauffeur was about to slow up, Bobby in a panic +told him to drive straight on. In the course of half an hour he came +back again, and this time pride alone--fear of what his chauffeur +might think--determined him to stop. With much trepidation he went up +to the door. Agnes was just preparing to go out, and she came down to +him in the front parlor. + +"This is only a business call," he confessed with as much appearance +of gaiety as he could summon under the circumstance. "I've come around +to see my trustee." + +"So soon?" she said, with quick sympathy in her voice. "I'm _so_ +sorry, Bobby! But I suppose, after all, the sooner it happened the +better. Tell me all about it. What was the cause of it?" + +"You wouldn't marry me," charged Bobby. "If you had this never would +have happened." + +She shook her head and smiled, but she laid her hand upon his arm and +drew closer to him. + +"I'm afraid it would, Bobby. You might have asked my advice, but I +expect you wouldn't have taken it." + +"I guess you're right about that," admitted Bobby; "but if you'd only +married me---- Honest, Agnes, when are you going to?" + +"I shall not commit myself," she replied, smiling up at him rather +wistfully. + +"There's somebody else," declared Bobby, instantly assured by this +evasiveness that the unknown had something to do with the matter. + +"If there were, it would be my affair entirely, wouldn't it?" she +wanted to know, still smiling. + +"No!" he declared emphatically. "It would be my affair. But really I +want to know. Will you, if I get my father's business back?" + +"I'll not promise," she said. "Why, Bobby, the way you put it, you +would be binding me _not_ to marry you in case you _didn't_ get it +back!" and she laughed at him. "But let's talk business now. I was +just starting out upon your affairs, the securing of some bonds for +which the lawyer I have employed has been negotiating, so you may take +me up there and he will arrange to get you the two hundred and fifty +thousand dollars you are to have. It's for a new start, without +restrictions except that you are to engage in business with it. That's +all the instructions I have." + +[Illustration: Will you if I get my father's business back?] + +"Thanks," said Bobby, with a gulp. "Honestly, Agnes, it's a shame. +It's a low-down trick the governor played to put me in this helplessly +belittled position with you." + +"Why, how strange," she replied quietly. "I look upon it as a most +graceful and agreeable position for myself." + +"Oh!" he exclaimed blankly, as it occurred to him just how +uncomfortable the situation must be to her, and he reproached himself +with selfishness in not having thought of this phase of the matter +before. "That's a fact," he admitted. "I say, Agnes, I'll say no more +about that end of it if you don't; and, after all, I'm glad, too. It +gives me a legitimate excuse to see you much oftener." + +"Gracious, no!" she protested. "You fill up every spare moment that I +have now; but so long as you are here on business this time, let's +attend to business. You may take me up to see Mr. Chalmers. By the +way, I want you to meet him, anyhow. You have seen him, I believe, +once or twice. He was here one day when you called, and he was walking +with me in the lobby of the theater when you came in to join us one +evening." + +"Y-e-s," drawled Bobby, as if he were placing the man with difficulty. + +"The Chalmers' are charming people," she went on. "His wife is +perfectly fascinating. We used to go to school together. They have +only been married three months, and when they came here to go into +business I was very glad to throw such of your father's estate as I am +to handle into his hands. Whenever they are ready I want to engineer +them into our set, but they live very quietly now. I know you'll like +them." + +"Oh, I'm sure I will," agreed Bobby heartily, and his face was +positively radiant, as, for some unaccountable reason, he clutched her +hand. She lifted it up beneath his arm, around which, for one ecstatic +moment, she clasped her other hand, and together they went out into +the hall, Bobby, simply driveling in his supreme happiness, allowing +her to lead him wheresoever she listed. Still in the joy of knowing +that his one dreaded rival was removed in so pleasant a fashion, he +handed her into the automobile and they started out to see Mr. +Chalmers. Their way led down Grand Street, past the John Burnit Store, +and with all that had happened still rankling sorely in his mind, +Bobby looked up and gave a gasp. Workmen were taking down the plain, +dignified old sign of the John Burnit Store from the top of the +building, and in its place they were raising up a glittering new one, +ordered by Silas Trimmer on the very day Bobby had agreed to go into +the consolidation; and it read: + + "TRIMMER AND COMPANY" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +PINK-CHEEKED APPLEROD RUSHES TO THE RESCUE WITH A GOLDEN SCHEME + + +Agnes had been surprised into an exclamation of dismay by that new +sign, but she checked it abruptly as she saw Bobby's face. She could +divine, but she could not fully know, how that had hurt him; how the +pain of it had sunk into his soul; how the humiliation of it had +tingled in every fiber of him. For an instant his breath had stopped, +his heart had swelled as if it would burst, a great lump had come in +his throat, a sob almost tore its way through his clenched teeth. He +caught his breath sharply, his jaws set and his nostrils dilated, then +the color came slowly back to his cheeks. Agnes, though longing to do +so, had feared to lay her hand even upon his sleeve in sympathy lest +she might unman him, but now she saw that she need not have feared. It +had not weakened him, this blow; it had strengthened him. + +"That's brutal," he said steadily, though the steadiness was purely a +matter of will. "We must change that sign before we do anything else." + +"Of course," she answered simply. + +Involuntarily she stretched out her small gloved hand, and with it +touched his own. Looking back once more for a fleeting glimpse at the +ascending symbol of his defeat, he gripped her hand so hard that she +almost cried out with the pain of it; but she did not wince. When he +suddenly remembered, with a frightened apology, and laid her hand upon +her lap and patted it, her fingers seemed as if they had been +compressed into a numb mass, and she separated them slowly and with +difficulty. Afterward she remembered that as a dear hurt, after all, +for in it she shared his pain. + +While they were still stunned and silent under Silas Trimmer's parting +blow, the machine drew up at the curb in front of the building in +which Chalmers had his office. Chalmers, Bobby found, was a most +agreeable fellow, to whom he took an instant liking. It was strange +what different qualities the man seemed to possess than when Bobby had +first seen him in the company of Agnes. Their business there was very +brief. Chalmers held for Bobby, subject to Agnes' order as trustee, +the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in instantly +convertible securities, and when they left, Bobby had a check for that +amount comfortably tucked in his pocket. + +There was another brief visit to the office of old Mr. Barrister, +where Agnes, again as Bobby's trustee, exhibited the papers Chalmers +had made out for her, showing that the funds previously left in her +charge had been duly paid over to Bobby as per the provisions of the +will, and thereupon filed her order for a similar amount. Barrister +received them with an "I told you so" air which amounted almost to +satisfaction. He was quite used to seeing the sons of rich men +hastening to become poor men, and he had so evidently classed Bobby as +one of the regular sort, that Bobby took quite justifiable umbrage and +decided that if he had any legal business whatever he would put it +into the hands of Chalmers. + +He spent the rest of the day with Agnes and took dinner at the +Ellistons', where jolly Aunt Constance and shrewd Uncle Dan, in +genuine sympathy, desisted so palpably from their usual joking about +his "business career," that Bobby was more ill at ease than if they +had said all the grimly humorous things which popped into their minds. +For that reason he went home rather early, and tumbled into bed +resolving upon the new future he was to face to-morrow. + +At least, he consoled himself with a sigh, he was now a man of +experience. He had learned something of the world. He was not further +to be hoodwinked. His last confused vision was of Silas Trimmer on his +knees begging for mercy, and the next thing he knew was that some one +was reminding him, with annoying insistency, of the early call he had +left. + +The world looked brighter that morning, and he was quite hopeful when, +in the dim old study, seated at his father's desk and with the +portrait of stern old John Burnit frowning and yet shrewdly twinkling +down upon him, he received Johnson, dry and sour looking as if he +expected ill news, and Applerod, bright and radiant as if Fortune's +purse were just about to open to him. + +"Well, boys," said Bobby cheerily, "we're going to stick right +together. We're going to start into a new business as soon as we can +find one that suits us, and your employment begins from this minute. +We're beginning with a capital of two hundred and fifty thousand +dollars," and rather pompously he spread the check upon the desk. His +pompousness faded in something under fifteen seconds, for it was in +about that length of time that he caught sight of a plain gray +envelope then in the process of emerging from Johnson's pocket. He +accepted it with something of reluctance, but opened it nevertheless; +and this was the message of the late John Burnit: + + _To my Son Upon the Occasion of his Being Intrusted + With Real Money_ + + "In most cases the difference between spending money and + investing it is wholly a matter of speed. Not one man in ten + knows when and where and how to put a dollar properly to work; + so the only financial education I expect you to get out of an + attempt to go into business is a painful lesson in + subtraction." + +"This letter, Johnson, is only a delicate intimation from the governor +that I'll make another blooming ass of myself with this," commented +Bobby, tapping his finger on the check, and placing the letter face +downward beside it, where he eyed it askance. + +"A quarter of a million!" observed Applerod, rolling out the amount +with relish. "A great deal can be done with two hundred and fifty +thousand dollars, you know." + +"That's just the point," observed Bobby with a frown of perplexity, +directed alternately to the faithful gentlemen who for upward of +thirty years had been his father's right and left bowers. "What am I +to do with it? Johnson, what would you do with two hundred and fifty +thousand dollars?" + +"Lose it," confessed stooped and bloodless Johnson. "I never made a +dollar out of a dollar in my life." + +"What would you do with it, Applerod?" + +Mr. Applerod, scarcely able to contain himself, had been eagerly +awaiting that question. + +"Purchase, improve and market the Westmarsh Addition," he said +promptly, expanding fully two inches across his already rotund chest. + +"What?" snorted Johnson, and cast upon his workmate a look of +withering scorn. "Are you still dreaming about the possibilities of +that old swamp?" + +"To be sure it is a swamp," admitted Mr. Applerod with some heat. "Do +you suppose you could buy one hundred and twenty acres of directly +accessible land, almost at the very edge of the crowded city limits, +at two hundred dollars an acre if it wasn't swamp land?" he demanded. +"Why, Mr. Burnit, it is the opportunity of a lifetime!" + +"How much capital would be needed?" asked Bobby, gravely assuming the +callous, inquisitorial manner of the ideal business man. + +"Well, I've managed to buy up twenty acres out of my savings, and +there are still one hundred acres to be purchased, which will take +twenty thousand dollars. But this is the small part of it. Drainage, +filling and grading is to be done, streets and sidewalks ought to be +put down, a gift club-house, which would serve at first as an office, +would be a good thing to build, and the thing would have to be most +thoroughly advertised. I've figured on it for years, and it would +require, all told, about a two-hundred-thousand investment." + +"And what would be the return?" asked Bobby without blinking at these +big figures, and proud of his attitude, which, while conservative, was +still one of openness to conviction. + +"Figure it out for yourself," Mr. Applerod invited him with much +enthusiasm. "We get ten building lots to the acre, turning one hundred +and twenty acres into one thousand two hundred lots. Improved sites at +any point surrounding this tract can not be bought for less than +twenty-five dollars per front foot. Corner lots and those in the best +locations would bring much more, but taking the average price at only +six hundred dollars per lot, we would have, as a total return for the +investment, seven hundred and twenty thousand dollars!" + +"In how long?" Bobby inquired, not allowing himself to become in the +slightest degree excited. + +"One year," announced the optimistic Mr. Applerod with conviction. + +Mr. Johnson, his lips glued tightly together in one firm, thin, +straight line across his face, was glaring steadfastly at the corner +of the ceiling, permitting no expression whatever to flicker in his +eyes; noting which, Bobby turned to him with a point-blank question: + +"What do you think of this opportunity, Mr. Johnson?" he asked. + +Mr. Johnson glared quickly at Mr. Applerod. + +"Tell him," defied that gentleman. + +"I think nothing whatever of it!" snapped Mr. Johnson. + +"What is your chief ground of objection?" Bobby wanted to know. + +Again Mr. Johnson glared quickly at Mr. Applerod. + +"Tell him," insisted that gentleman with an outward wave of both +hands, expressive of his intense desire to have every secret of his +own soul and of everybody's else laid bare. + +"I will," said Johnson. "Your father, a dozen times in my own hearing, +refused to have anything to do with the scheme." + +Bobby turned accusing eyes upon Applerod, who, though red of face, was +still strong of assertion. + +"Mr. Burnit never declined on any other grounds than that he already +had too many irons in the fire," he declared. "Tell him that, too, +Johnson!" + +"It was only his polite way of putting it," retorted Mr. Johnson. + +"John Burnit was noted for his polite way of putting his business +conclusions," snapped Applerod in return, whereat Bobby smiled with +gleeful reminiscence, and Mr. Johnson smiled grimly, albeit +reluctantly, and Mr. Applerod smiled triumphantly. + +"I can see the governor doing it," laughed Bobby, and dismissed the +matter. "Mr. Johnson, as a start in business we may as well turn this +study into a temporary office. Take this check down to the Commercial +Bank, please, and open an account. You already have power of attorney +for my signature. Procure a small set of books and open them. Make out +for me against this account at the Commercial a check for ten +thousand. Mr. Applerod, kindly reduce your swamp proposition to paper +and let me have it by to-morrow. I'll not promise that I will do +anything with it, but it would be only fair to examine it." + +With these crisp remarks, upon the decisiveness of which Bobby prided +himself very much, he left the two to open business for him under the +supervision of the portrait of stern but humor-given old John Burnit. + +"Applerod," said Johnson indignantly, his lean frame almost quivering, +"it is a wonder to me that you can look up at that picture and reflect +that you are trying to drag John Burnit's son into this fool scheme." + +"Johnson," said Mr. Applerod, puffing out his cheeks indignantly, "you +were given the first chance to advise Mr. Robert what he should do +with his money, and you failed to do so. This is a magnificent +business opportunity, and I should consider myself very remiss in my +duty to John Burnit's son if I failed to urge it upon him." + +Mr. Johnson picked up the letter that Bobby, evidently not caring +whether they read it or not, had left behind him. He ran through it +with a grim smile and handed it over to Applerod as his best retort. + +At the home of Agnes Elliston Bobby's car stopped almost as a matter +of habit, and though the hour was a most informal one he walked up the +steps as confidently as if he intended opening the door with a +latch-key; for since Agnes was become his trustee, Bobby had awakened, +overnight, to the fact that he had a proprietary interest in her which +could not be denied. + +Agnes came down to meet him in a most ravishing morning robe of pale +green, a confection so stunning in conjunction with her gold-brown +eyes and waving brown hair and round white throat that Bobby was +forced to audible comment upon it. + +"Cracking!" said he. "I suppose that if I hadn't had nerve enough to +pop in here unexpectedly before noon I wouldn't have seen that gown +for ages." + +It was Aunt Constance, the irrepressible, who, leaning over the stair +railing, sank the iron deep into his soul. + +"It was bought at Trimmer and Company's, Grand Street side, Bobby," +she informed him, and with this Parthian shot she went back through +the up-stairs hall, laughing. + +"Ouch!" said Bobby. "That was snowballing a cripple," and he was +really most woebegone about it. + +"Never mind, Bobby, you have still plenty of chance to win," comforted +Agnes, who, though laughing, had sympathetic inkling of that sore spot +which had been touched. He seemed so forlorn, in spite of his big, +good-natured self, that she moved closer to him and unconsciously put +her hand upon his arm. It was too much for him in view of the way she +looked, and, suddenly emboldened, he did a thing the mere thought of +which, under premeditation, would have scared him into a frapped +perspiration. He placed his hands upon her shoulders, and, drawing her +toward him, bent swiftly down to kiss her. For a fleeting instant she +drew back, and then Bobby had the surprise of his life, for her warm +lips met his quite willingly, and with a frank pressure almost equal +to his own. She sprang back from him at once with sparkling eyes, but +he had no mind to follow up his advantage, for he was dazed. It had +left him breathless, amazed, incredulous. He stood for a full minute, +his face gone white with the overwhelming wonder of this thing that +had happened to him, and then the blunt directness which was part of +his inheritance from his father returned to him. + +"Well, anyhow, we're to be engaged at last," he said. + +"No," she rebuked him, with a sudden flash of mischief; "that was +perfectly wicked, and you mustn't do it again." + +"But I will," he said, advancing with heightened color. + +"You mustn't," she said firmly, and although she did not recede +farther from him he stopped. "You mustn't make it hard for us, Bobby," +she warned him. "I'm under promise, too; and that's all I can tell you +now." + +"The governor again," groaned Bobby. "I suppose that I'm not to talk +to you about marrying, nor you to listen, until I have proved my right +and ability to take care of you and your fortune and mine. Is that +it?" + +She smiled inscrutably. + +"What brings you at this unearthly hour?" she asked by way of evasion. +"Some business pretext, I'll be bound." + +"Of course it is," he assured her. "This morning you are strictly in +the role of my trustee. I want you to look at some property." + +"But I have an appointment with my dressmaker." + +"The dressmaker must wait." + +"What a warning!" she laughed. "If you would order a mere--a mere +acquaintance around so peremptorily, what would you do if you were +married?" + +"I'd be the boss," announced Bobby with calm confidence. + +"Indeed?" she mocked, and started into the library. "You'd ask +permission first, wouldn't you?" + +"Where are you going?" he queried in return, and grinned. + +"To telephone my dressmaker," she admitted, smiling, and realizing, +too, that it was not all banter. + +"I told you to, remember," asserted Bobby, with a strange new sense of +masterfulness which would not down. + +When she came down again, dressed for the trip, he was still in that +dazed elation, and it lasted through their brisk ride to the far +outskirts of the city, where, at the side of a watery marsh that +extended for nearly a mile along the roadway, he halted. + +"This is it," waving his hand across the dismal waste. + +"It!" she repeated. "What?" + +"The property that it was suggested I buy." + +"No wonder your father thought it necessary to appoint a trustee," was +her first comment. "Why, Bobby, what on earth could you do with it? +It's too large for a frog farm and too small for a summer resort," and +once more she turned incredulous eyes upon the "property." + +Dark, oily water covered the entire expanse, and through it emerged, +here and there, clumps of dank vegetation, from the nature and +dispersement of which one could judge that the water varied from one +to three feet in depth. Higher ground surrounded it on all sides, and +the urgent needs of suburban growth had scattered a few small, cheap +cottages, here and there, upon the hills. + +"It doesn't seem very attractive until you consider those houses," +Bobby confessed. "You must remember that the city hasn't room to grow, +and must take note that it is trying to spread in this direction. +Wouldn't a fellow be doing a rather public-spirited thing, and one in +which he might take quite a bit of satisfaction, if he drained that +swamp, filled it, laid out streets and turned the whole stretch into a +cluster of homes in place of a breeding-place for fevers?" + +"You talk just like a civic improvement society," she said, laughing. + +"We did have a chap lecturing on that down at the club a few nights +ago," he admitted, "and maybe I have picked up a bit of the talk. But +wouldn't it be a good thing, anyhow?" + +"Oh, I quite approve of it, now that I see your plan," she agreed; +"but could it be made to pay?" + +"Well," he returned with a grave assumption of that businesslike air +he had recently been trying to copy down at the Traders' Club, "there +are one hundred and twenty acres in the tract. I can buy it for two +hundred dollars an acre, and sell each acre, in building lots, for +full six hundred. It seems to me that this is enough margin to carry +out the needed improvements and make the marketing of it worth while. +What do you think of it?" + +They both gazed out over that desolate expanse and tried to picture it +dotted with comfortable cottages, set down in grassy lawns that +bordered on white, clean streets, and the idea of the transformation +was an attractive one. + +"It looks to me like a perfectly splendid idea," Agnes admitted. "I +wonder what your father would have thought of it." + +"Well," confessed Bobby a trifle reluctantly, "this very proposition +was presented to him several times, I believe, but he always declined +to go into it." + +"Then," decided Agnes, so quickly and emphatically that it startled +him, "don't touch it!" + +"Oh, but you see," he reminded her, "the governor couldn't go into +everything that was offered him, and to this plan he never urged any +objection but that he had too many irons in the fire." + +"I wouldn't touch it," declared Agnes, and that was her final word in +the matter, despite all his arguments. If John Burnit had declined to +go into it, no matter for what reason, the plan was not worth +considering. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +BOBBY SUCCEEDS IN SNAPPING A BARGAIN FROM UNDER SILAS TRIMMER'S NOSE + + +Still undecided, but carrying seriously the thought that he must +overlook no opportunity if he was to prove himself the successful man +that his father had so ardently wished him to become, Bobby dropped +into the Idlers' Club for lunch, where Nick Allstyne and Payne +Winthrop hailed him as one returned from the dead. + +"Just the chap," declared Nick. "Stan Rogers has written me that I'm +to scrape the regular crowd together and come up to his new Canadian +lodge for a hunt. Stag affair, you know. Real sport and no pink-coat +pretense." + +"Sorry, Nick," said Bobby, pluming himself a trifle upon his +steadfastness to duty, "but I know what Stan's stag affairs are like. +It would mean two weeks at least, and I could not spare that much time +from the city." + +"Business again!" groaned Payne in mock dismay. "This grasping greed +for gain is blighting the most promising young men of our avaricious +country. Why, it's positively shameful, Bobby, when your father must +have left you over three million." + +"Two hundred and fifty thousand, so far as I'm allowed to inquire just +now," corrected Bobby; "and I'm ordered to go into business with that +and prove that I'm not such a blithering idiot that I can't be trusted +with the rest of it, whatever there is." + +"But I thought you'd had your trial by fire and pulled out of it," +interposed Nick. "I heard that you had sold your interests or +something, and when I saw a new sign over the store I knew that it was +true. Sensible thing, I call it." + +"Sensible!" winced Bobby. "You're allowing me a mighty pleasant way +out of it, but the fact of the matter is that I lost in such a +stinging way I'm bound to get back into the game and do nothing else +until I win," and he explained how Silas Trimmer had performed upon +him a neat and delicate operation in commercial surgery. + +They were properly sympathetic; not that they cared much about +business, but if Bobby had entered any game whatsoever in which he had +been soundly beaten, they could quite understand his desire to stay in +that game until he could show points on the right side. + +"Nevertheless," Nick urged, "you ought to take a little breathing +spell in between." + +All through lunch, and through the game of billiards which followed, +they strove to make him see the error of his ways, but Bobby was +obdurate, and at last they gave him up as a bad job, with the grave +prediction that later he would find himself nothing more nor less than +a beast of burden. When he left them Bobby was surprised at himself. +For a time he had feared that in his declaration of such close +attention to business he might be posing; but he found that to miss a +stag hunting party, which heretofore had been one of his keenest +delights, weighed upon him not at all; found actually that he would +far rather stay in the city to engage in the game of finance which was +unfolding before him! He came upon this surprising discovery while he +was on his way across to a side street, where, on the fourth floor of +a store and warehouse building, he let himself in at a wide door with +a latch-key and entered the gymnasium of Biff Bates. That gentleman, +in trunks, sweater and sandals, was padding all alone around and +around the edge of the hall at a steady jog, which, after twenty solid +minutes, had left no effect whatever upon his respiration. + +"Getting fat as a butcher again," he announced as he trotted steadily +around to Bobby, suddenly stopping short with an expansive grin across +his wide face and a handshake that it took an athlete to withstand. +"Got to cut it down or it'll put me on the blink. What's the best +thing you know, chum?" + +"How does this hit you?" asked Bobby, taking from his pocket the check +Johnson had given him that morning. + +Mr. Bates looked at it with his hands behind him. + +"Pleased to make your acquaintance," he said to the slip of paper, +nodding profoundly. + +"Oh, everybody's friendly to these," said Bobby, indorsing the check. +"It is for the new gymnasium," he explained. "Now, partner, turn loose +and monopolize the physical training business of this city." + +"Partner!" scorned Mr. Bates. "Look here, old pal, there's only one +way I'll take this big ticket, and that is that you'll drag down your +split of the profits." + +"But don't I on this place?" protested Bobby. + +"Nit!" retorted Mr. Bates with infinite scorn. "You put them right +back into the business, but that don't go any more. If we start this +big joint it's got to be partners right, see? Or else take back this +wealthy handwriting. I don't guess I want it, anyhow. From past +performances you need all the money in the world, and ten thousand +simoleons will put a crimp in any wad." + +"No," laughed Bobby; "you're saving it for me when you take it. I've +just read a very nice note, left for me by the governor, that I'll be +a fool and lose anyhow." + +Mr. Bates grinned. + +"You will, all right, all right, if you're going into business," he +admitted, and stuffed the check in the upturned cuff of his sweater. +"After these profit-and-loss artists get your goat on all the starts +your old man left you, maybe I'll have to put up the eats and sleeps +for you anyhow; huh?" and Mr. Bates laughed with keen enjoyment of +this delicately expressed idea. "How are you going to divorce yourself +from the rest of it, Bobby?" + +"I'm not quite sure," said Bobby. "You know that big stretch of swamp +land, out on the Millberg Road?" + +"Where Paddy Dolan fell in and died from drinkin' too much water? Sure +I do." + +"Well, it has been suggested to me that I buy it, drain it, fill it, +put in paved streets, cut it up into building lots and sell it." + +"And build it full of these pale yellow shacks that the honest working +slob buys with seventeen years of his wages, and then loses the +shack?" Biff incredulously wanted to know. + +"You guessed wrong, Biff," laughed Bobby. "Just selling the lots will +be enough for me. What do you think of it?" + +"I don't know," said Mr. Bates thoughtfully. "I know they frame up +such stunts and boost 'em strong in the papers, and if any of these +real-estate sharps is working just for their healths they've been +stung from all I've seen of 'em. But the main point is, who's the guy +that's tryin' to lead you to it?" + +"Oh, that part's all right," replied Bobby with perfect assurance. +"The man who wants me to finance this, and who has already bought some +of the land, was one of my father's right-hand men for nearly thirty +years." + +"Then that's all right," agreed Mr. Bates. "But say!" he suddenly +exclaimed as a new thought struck him; "it's a wonder this right-mitt +mut of your father's didn't make the old man fall for it long ago, if +it's such a hot muffin." + +"He did try it," confessed Bobby with hesitation for the second time +that day; "but the governor always complained that he had too many +other irons in the fire." + +"He did, _did_ he?" Mr. Bates wanted to know, fixing accusing eyes on +Bobby. "Then don't be the fall guy for any other touting. Your old man +knew this business dope from Sheepshead Bay to Oakland. You take it +from me that this tip ain't the one best bet." + +Bobby left the gymnasium with a certain degree of dissatisfaction, not +only with Mr. Applerod's scheme but with the fact that wherever he +went his father's business wisdom was thrown into his teeth. That +evening, drawn to the atmosphere into which events had plunged him, he +dined at the Traders' Club. As he passed one of the tables Silas +Trimmer leered up at him with the circular smile, which, bisected by a +row of yellow teeth and hooded with a bristle of stubby mustache, had +now come to aggravate him almost past endurance. To-night it made him +approach his dinner with vexation, and, failing to find the man he had +sought, he finished hastily. As he went out, Silas Trimmer, though +looking straight in his direction, did not seem to be at all aware of +Bobby's approach. He was deep in a business discussion with his +priggish son-in-law. + +"It's a great opportunity," he was loudly insisting. "If I can secure +that land I'll drain and improve it and cut it up into building lots. +This city is ripe for a suburban boom." + +That settled it with Bobby. No matter what arguments there might be to +the contrary, if Silas Trimmer had his eye on that piece of property, +Bobby wanted it. + +Applerod, though eagerness brought him early, had no sooner entered +the study next morning than Bobby, who was already dressed for +business and who had his machine standing outside the door, met him +briskly. + +"Keep your hat on, Applerod," he ordered. "We'll go right around and +buy the rest of that property at once." + +"I thought those figures I left last night would convince you," beamed +Mr. Applerod. + +There is no describing the delight and pride with which that +highly-gratified gentleman followed the energetic young Mr. Burnit to +the curb, nor the dignity with which, a few minutes later, he led the +way into the office of one Thorne, real-estate dealer. + +"Mr. Thorne, Mr. Robert Burnit," said Mr. Applerod, hastening straight +to business. "Mr. Burnit has come around to close the deal for that +Westmarsh property." + +Mr. Thorne was suavity itself as he shook hands with Mr. Burnit, but +the most aching regret was in his tone as he spoke. + +"I'm very sorry indeed, Mr. Burnit," he stated; "but that property, +which, by the way, seems very much in demand, passed out of my hands +yesterday afternoon." + +"To whom?" Mr. Applerod excitedly wanted to know. "I think you might +have let us have time to turn around, Thorne. I spoke about it to you +yesterday morning, you know, and said that I felt quite hopeful Mr. +Burnit would buy it." + +"I know," said Mr. Thorne, politely but coldly; "and I told you at the +time we talked about it that I never hold anything in the face of a +bona fide offer." + +"But who has it?" Bobby insisted, more eager now to get it, since it +had slipped away from him, than ever before. + +"The larger portion of it, the ninety-two acres adjoining Mr. +Applerod's twenty," Mr. Thorne advised him, "was taken up by Miles, +Eddy and Company. The north eight acres are owned by Mr. Silas +Trimmer, and I am quite positive, from what Mr. Trimmer told me, not +two hours later, that this parcel is not for sale." + +Bobby's heart sank. Eight acres of that land had already been gobbled +up by Silas Trimmer, and, no doubt, that astute and energetic business +gentleman was now after the balance. + +"Where is the office of Miles, Eddy and Company?" Bobby asked, with a +crispness that pleased him tremendously as he used it. + +"Twenty-six Plum Street," Mr. Thorne advised him. + +"Thanks," said Bobby, and whirled out of the door, followed by the +disconsolate Applerod. + +At the office of Miles, Eddy and Company better luck awaited them. + +Yes, that firm had secured possession of the Westmarsh ninety-two +acres. Yes, the property was listed for sale, having been bought +strictly for speculative purposes. And its figure? The price was now +three hundred dollars per acre. + +"I'll take it," said Bobby. + +There was positive triumph in his voice as he announced this decision. +He would show Silas Trimmer that he was awake at last, that he was not +to be beaten in every deal. + +"Twenty-seven thousand six hundred dollars," said Bobby, figuring the +amount on a pad he picked up from Mr. Eddy's desk. "Very well. Allow +me to use your telephone a moment. Mr. Chalmers," directed Bobby when +he had his new lawyer on the wire, "kindly get into communication with +Miles, Eddy and Company and look up the title on ninety-two acres of +Westmarsh property which they have for sale. If the title is clear the +price is to be three hundred dollars per acre, for which amount you +will have a check, payable to your order, within half an hour." + +Then to Johnson--biting his pen-handle in Bobby's study and wondering +where his principal and Applerod could be at this hour--he telephoned +to deliver a check in the amount of twenty-seven thousand six hundred +dollars to Mr. Chalmers. Never, since he had been plunged into +"business," had Bobby been so elated with himself as when he walked +from the office of Miles, Eddy and Company; and, to keep up the good +work, as soon as he reached the hall he turned to Applerod with a +crisp, ringing voice, which was the product of that elation. + +"Now for an engineer," he said. + +"Already as good as secured," Mr. Applerod announced, triumphant that +every necessity had been anticipated. "Jimmy Platt, son of an old +neighbor of mine. Fine, smart boy, and knows all about the Westmarsh +proposition. Bless you, I figured on this with him every vacation +during his schooling!" + +An hour later, Bobby, Mr. Applerod and the secretly jubilant Jimmy +Platt had sped out Westmarsh way, and were inspecting the hundred and +twelve acres of swamp which the new firm of Burnit and Applerod held +between them. + +"It's a fine job," said the young engineer, coveting anew the +tremendous task as he bent upon it an admiring professional eye. "This +time next year you won't recognize the place. It's a noble thing, Mr. +Burnit, to turn an utterly useless stretch of swamp like this into +habitable land. Have you secured the entire tract?" + +"Unfortunately, no," Bobby confessed with a frown. "The extreme north +eight acres are owned by another party." + +"And when you drain your property," mused Jimmy, smiling, "you will +drain his." + +"Not if I can help it," declared Bobby emphatically. + +"You must come to some arrangement before you begin," warned the +engineer with the severe professional authority common to the quite +young. Already, however, he was trying to grow regulation engineer's +whiskers; also he immediately planned to get married upon the proceeds +of this big job, which, after years of chimerical dreaming, had become +too real, almost, to be believed. "Perhaps you could get the owner to +stand his proportionate share of the expense of drainage." + +Bobby smiled at the suggestion but made no other answer. He knew Silas +Trimmer, or thought that he did, and the idea of Silas bearing a +portion of a huge expense like this, when he could not be forced to +shoulder it, struck him as distinctly humorous. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +AGNES DELIVERS BOBBY A NOTE FROM OLD JOHN BURNIT--IN A GRAY ENVELOPE + + +That night, at the Traders' Club, Bobby was surprised when Mr. Trimmer +walked over to his table and dropped his pudgy trunk and his lean +limbs into a chair beside him. His yellow countenance was creased with +ingratiating wrinkles, and the smile behind his immovable mustache +became of perfectly flawless circumference as his muddy black eyes +peered at Bobby through thick spectacles. It seemed to Bobby that +there was malice in the wrinkles about those eyes, but the address of +Mr. Trimmer was most conciliatory. + +"I have a fuss to pick with you, young man," he said with clumsy +joviality. "You beat me upon the purchase of that Westmarsh property. +Very shrewd, indeed, Mr. Burnit; very like your father. I suppose that +now, if I wanted to buy it from you, I'd have to pay you a pretty +advance." And he rubbed his hands as if to invite the opening of +negotiations. + +"It is not for sale," said Bobby, stiffening; "but I might consider a +proposition to buy your eight acres." He offered this suggestion with +reluctance, for he had no mind to enter transactions of any sort with +Silas Trimmer. Still, he recalled to himself with a sudden yielding to +duty, business is business, and his father would probably have waved +all personal considerations aside at such a point. + +"Mine _is_ for sale," offered Silas, a trifle too eagerly, Bobby +thought. + +"How much?" he asked. + +"A thousand dollars an acre." + +"I won't pay it," declared Bobby. + +"Well," replied Mr. Trimmer with a deepening of that circular smile +which Bobby now felt sure was maliciously sarcastic, "by the time it +is drained it will be worth that to any purchaser." + +"Suppose we drain it," suggested Bobby, holding both his temper and +his business object remarkably well in hand. "Will you stand your +share of the cost?" + +"It strikes me as an entirely unnecessary expense at present," said +Silas and smiled again. + +"Then it won't be drained," snapped Bobby. + +Later in the evening he caught Silas laughing at him, his shoulders +heaving and every yellow fang protruding. The next morning, keeping +earlier hours than ever before in his life, Bobby was waiting outside +Jimmy Platt's door when that gentleman started to work. + +"The first thing you do," he directed, still with a memory of that +aggravating laugh, "I want you to build a cement wall straight across +the north end of my Westmarsh property." + +Mr. Platt smiled and shook his head. + +"Evidently you can not buy that north eight acres, and don't intend to +drain it," he commented, stroking sagely the sparse beginning of those +slow professional whiskers. "It's your affair, of course, Mr. Burnit, +but I am quite sure that spite work in engineering can not be made to +pay." + +"Nevertheless," insisted Bobby, "we'll build that wall." + +The previous afternoon Jimmy Platt had made a scale drawing of the +property from city surveys, and now the two went over it carefully, +discussing it in various phases for fully an hour, proving estimates +of cost and general feasibility. At the conclusion of that time Bobby, +well pleased with his own practical manner of looking into things, +telephoned to Johnson and asked for Applerod. Mr. Applerod had not yet +arrived. + +"Very well," said Bobby, "when he comes have him step out and secure +suitable offices for us," and this detail despatched he went out with +his engineer to make a circuit of the property and study its drainage +possibilities. + +From profiles that Platt had made they found the swamp at its upper +point to be much lower than the level of the river, which ran beyond +low hills nearly a mile away; but the river made a detour, including a +considerable fall, coming back again to within a scant half-mile of +the southern end of the tract, where it was much lower than the marsh. +Between marsh and river at the south was an immense hill, too steep +and rugged for any practical purpose, and this they scaled. + +The west end of the city lay before them crowding close to the river +bank, and already its tentacles had crept around and over the hills +and on past Westmarsh tract. Young Platt looked from river to swamp, +his eyes glowing over the possibilities that lay before them. + +"Mr. Burnit," he announced, after a gravity of thought which he strove +his best to make take the place of experience, "you ought to be able +to buy this hill very cheaply. Just through here we'll construct our +drainage channel, and with the excavation fill your marsh. It is one +of the neatest opportunities I have ever seen, and I want to +congratulate you upon your shrewdness in having picked out such a +splendid investment." + +This, Bobby felt, was praise from Caesar, and he was correspondingly +elated. + +He did not return to the study until in the afternoon. He found +Johnson livid with abhorrence of Applerod's gaudy metamorphosis. That +gentleman wore a black frock-coat, a flowered gray waistcoat, +pin-striped light trousers, shining new shoes, sported a gold-headed +cane, and on the table was the glistening new silk hat which had +reposed upon his snow-white curls. His pink face was beaming as he +rose to greet his partner. + +"Mr. Burnit," said he, shaking hands with almost trembling gravity and +importance, "this day is the apex of my life, and I'm happy to have +the son of my old and revered employer as my partner." + +"I hope that it may prove fortunate for both of us," replied Bobby, +repressing his smile at the acquisition of the "make-up" which +Applerod had for years aspired to wear legitimately. + +Johnson, humped over the desk that had once been Bobby's father's, +snorted and looked up at the stern portrait of old John Burnit; then +he drew from the index-file which he had already placed upon the back +of that desk a gray-tinted envelope which he handed to Bobby with a +silence that was more eloquent than words. It was inscribed: + + _To my Son if he is Fool Enough to Take up With Applerod's + Swamp Scheme_ + +Rather impatiently Bobby tore it open, and on the inside he found: + + "When shrewd men persist in passing up an apparently cinch + proposition, don't even try to find out what's the matter with + it. In this six-cylinder age no really good opportunity runs + loose for twenty-four hours." + +"If the governor had only arranged to leave me his advice beforehand +instead of afterward," Bobby complained to Agnes Elliston that +evening, "it might have a chance at me." + +"The blow has fallen," said Agnes with mock seriousness; "but you must +remember that you brought it on yourself. You have complained to _me_ +of your father's carefully-laid plans for your course in progressive +bankruptcy, and he left in my keeping a letter for you covering that +very point." + +"_Not_ in a gray envelope, I hope," groaned Bobby. + +"_In_ a gray envelope," she replied firmly, going across to her own +desk in the library. + +"I had feared," said Bobby dismally, "that sooner or later I should +find he had left letters for me in your charge as well as in +Johnson's, but I had hoped, if that were the case, that at least they +would be in pink envelopes." + +She brought to him one of the familiar-looking missives, and Bobby, as +he took it, looked speculatively at the big fireplace, in which, as it +was early fall, comfortable-looking real logs were crackling. + +"Don't do it, Bobby," she warned him smiling. "Let's have the fun +together," and she sat beside him on the couch, snuggling close. + +The envelope was addressed: + + _To My Son Upon his Complaining that His Father's Advice + Comes too Late!_ + +He opened it, and together they read: + + "No boy will believe green apples hurt him until he gets the + stomach-ache. Knowing you to be truly my son, I am sure that + if I gave you advice beforehand you would not believe it. This + way you will." + +Bobby smiled grimly. + +"I remember one painful incident of about the time I put on +knickerbockers," he mused. "Father told me to keep away from a +rat-trap that he had bought. Of course I caught my hand in it three +minutes afterward. It hurt and I howled, but he only looked at me +coldly until at last I asked him to help. He let the thing squeeze +while he asked if a rat-trap hurt. I admitted that it did. Would I +believe him next time? I acknowledged that I would, and he opened the +trap. That was all there was to it except the raw place on my hand; +but that night he came to my room after I had gone to bed, and lay +beside me and cuddled me in his arms until I went to sleep." + +"Bobby," said Agnes seriously, "not one of these letters but proves +his aching love for you." + +"I know it," admitted Bobby with again that grim smile. "Which only +goes to prove another thing, that I'm in for some of the severest +drubbings of my life. I wonder where the clubs are hidden." + +He found one of them late that same night at the Idlers'. Clarence +Smythe, Silas Trimmer's son-in-law, drifted in toward the wee small +hours in an unusual condition of hilarity. He had a Vandyke, had Mr. +Smythe, and was one who cherished a mad passion for clothes; also, as +an utterly impossible "climber," he was as cordially hated as Bobby +was liked at the Idlers', where he had crept in "while the window was +open," as Nick Allstyne expressed it. Ordinarily he was most prim and +pretty of manner, but to-night he was on vinously familiar terms with +all the world, and, crowding himself upon Bobby's quiet whist crowd, +slapped Bobby joyously on the shoulder. + +"Generous lad, Bobby!" he thickly informed Allstyne and Winthrop and +Starlett. "If you chaps have any property you've wanted to unload for +half a lifetime, here's the free-handed plunger to buy it." + +"How's that?" Bobby wanted to know, guessing instantly at the +humiliating truth. + +"That Westmarsh swamp belonged to Trimmer," laughed Mr. Smythe, so +bubbling with the hugeness of the joke that he could not keep his +secret; "and when Thorne, after pumping your puffy man, told my clever +father-in-law you wanted it, he promptly bought it from himself in the +name of Miles, Eddy and Company and put up the price to three hundred +an acre. Besides taking the property off his shoulders you've given +him nearly a ten-thousand-dollar advance for it. Fine business!" + +"Great!" agreed blunt Jack Starlett. "Almost as good a joke as +refusing to pay a poker debt because it isn't legal." + +Bobby smiled his thanks for the shot, but inside he was sick. The game +they were playing was a parting set-to, for the three others were +leaving in the morning for Stanley's hunt, but Bobby was glad when it +was over. In the big, lonely house he sat in the study for an hour +before he went to bed, looking abstractedly up at the picture of old +John Burnit and worrying over this new development. It cut him to the +quick, not so much that he had been made a fool of by "clever" +real-estate men, had been led, imbecile-like, to pay an extra hundred +dollars per acre for that swamp land, but that the advantage had gone +to Silas Trimmer. + +Moreover, why had Silas put a prohibitive valuation upon that north +eight acres? Why did he want to keep it? It must be because Silas +really expected that his tract would be drained free of charge, and +that he would thus have the triumph of selling it for an approximate +six thousand dollars an acre in the form of building lots. In the face +of such a conclusion, the thought of the cement wall that he had +ordered built was a great satisfaction. + +It was a remarkably open winter that followed, and outdoor operations +could thereby go on uninterrupted. In the office, the pompous +Applerod, in his frock-coat and silk hat, ground Johnson's soul to +gall dust; for he had taken to saying "_Mr._ Johnson" most formally, +and issuing directions with maddening politeness and consideration. An +arrangement had been effected with Applerod, whereby that gentleman, +for having suggested the golden opportunity, was to reap the entire +benefit of the improvement on his own twenty acres, Bobby financing +the whole deal and charging Applerod's share of it against his +account. Applerod stood thereby to gain about seventy-six thousand +dollars over and above the price he had paid for his twenty acres; +and, moreover, _Bobby had decided to call the improved tract the +Applerod Addition_! When that name began to appear in print, coupled +with flaming advertisements of Applerod's devising, there was grave +danger of the rosy-cheeked old gentleman's losing every button from +every fancy vest in his possession. + +In the meantime, thoroughly in love with the vast enterprise which he +had projected, Bobby spent his time outdoors, fascinated, unable to +find any peace elsewhere than upon his Titanic labor. His evenings he +spent in such social affairs as he could not avoid; with Agnes +Elliston; with Biff Bates; in an occasional game of billiards at the +Idlers'; but his days, from early morning until the evening whistle, +he spent amid the clang of pick and shovel, the rattling of the trams, +the creaking of the crane. It was an absorbing thing to see that +enormous groove cut down through the big hill, and to watch the growth +of the great mounds which grew up out of the marsh. The ditch that +should drain off all this murky water was, of course, the first thing +to be achieved, and, from the base of the hill through which it was to +be cut, the engineer ran a tram bridge straight across the swamp to +the new retaining wall; and from this, with the aid of a huge, +long-armed crane which lifted cars bodily from the track, the soil was +dumped on either side as it was removed from the cut. By the latter +part of December the ditch had been completed and connected with the +special sewer which, by permission of the city, had been built to +carry the overflow to the river, and, the open weather still holding, +the stagnant pool which had been a blot upon the landscape for untold +ages began to flow sluggishly away, displaced by the earth from the +disappearing hill. + +The city papers were teeming now with the vast energy and +public-spirited enterprise of young Robert Burnit and Oliver P. +Applerod, and there were many indications that the enterprise was to +be a most successful one. Even before they were ready to receive them, +applications were daily made for reservations in the new district, and +individual home-seekers began to take Sunday trips out to where the +big undertaking was in progress. + +"You sure have got 'em going, Bobby," confessed the finally-convinced +Biff Bates after a visit of inspection. "Here's where you put the +hornet on one Silas Tight-Wad Trimmer all right, all right. But the +bones don't roll right that the side bet don't go for Johnson instead +of Applegoat. He's a shine, for me. I think he's all to the canary +color inside, but this man Johnson's some man if he only had a shell +to put it in. Me for him!" + +The unexpressed friendship that had sprung up between the taciturn +bookkeeper and the loquacious ex-pugilist was both a puzzle and a +delight to Bobby, and it was one of his great joys to see them +together, they not knowing why they liked such companionship, not +having a single topic of conversation in common, but unconsciously +enjoying that vague, sympathetic man-soul they found in each other. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +AGNES AND BOBBY DISCERN DIAMOND-STUDDED SPURS FOR THE LATTER + + +About the first of February the filling and grading were finished and +the construction of the streets began, and the middle of March saw the +final disappearance of everything, except that dark, eight-acre spot +of Silas Trimmer's, which might remind one of the tract once known as +the Westmarsh. In its place lay a broad, yellow checker-board, formed +by intersecting streets of asphalt edged with cement pavements, and in +the center, at the crossing of broad Burnit and Applerod Avenues, +there arose, over a spot where once frogs had croaked and mosquitoes +clustered in crowds, a pretty club-house, which was later to be +donated to the suburb; and a great satisfaction fell upon the soul of +Bobby Burnit like a benediction. + +Also one Oliver P. Applerod added two full inches to his strut. He +seldom came out to the scene of actual operations, for there was none +there except workmen to see his frock-coat and silk hat; but +occasionally, from a sense of duty inextricably mingled with +self-assertiveness, he paid a visit of inspection, and upon one of +these his eyes were confronted by a huge new board sign, visible for +half a mile, that overlooked the Applerod Addition from the hills to +the north. It bore but two words: "Trimmer's Addition." Applerod, +holding his broadcloth tight about him to keep it from yellow +contamination as a car rumbled by, looked and wiped his glasses and +looked again, then, highly excited, he called Bobby to him. + +"Why didn't you tell me of this?" he demanded, pointing to the sign. + +Bobby, happy in sweater and high boots and liberal decorations of +clay, only laughed. + +"The sign went up only yesterday," he stated. + +"But it is competition. Unfair competition! He is stealing our +thunder," protested Applerod. + +"He has a perfect right to lay out a subdivision if he wants," said +Bobby. "But don't worry, Applerod. I've been over there and the thing +is a joke. The tract is one-fourth the size of ours, it is uphill and +downhill, only a little grading is being done, streets are cut through +but not paved, and a few cheap board sidewalks are being put down. +He's had to pay a lot more for his land than we have, and can not sell +his lots any cheaper." + +"There's no telling what Silas Trimmer will do," said Applerod, +shaking his head. + +"Nonsense," said Bobby; "there is no chance that people will pass by +our lots and buy one of his." + +Applerod walked away unconvinced. Had it been any one else than Silas +Trimmer who had set up this opposition he would not have minded so +much, but Applerod had come to have a mighty fear of John Burnit's +ancient enemy, and presently he came back to Bobby more panic-stricken +than ever. + +"I'm going to sell my interest in the Applerod Addition the minute I +find a buyer," he declared, "and I'd advise you to do the same." + +"Don't be foolish," counseled Bobby, frowning. "You _can't_ lose." + +"But man!" quavered Applerod. "I have four thousand dollars of my own +cash, all I've been able to scrape together in a lifetime, tied up in +this thing, and I _mustn't_ lose!" + +Bobby regarded his father's old confidential clerk more in sorrow than +in anger. He was not used to dealing with men of any age so utterly +lacking in gameness. + +"Four thousand," he repeated, then he looked across his big +checker-board. "I'll give you ten thousand for it right now." + +"What!" objected Applerod, aghast. "Why, Burnit, the work is nearly +done and I have already in sight seventy-six thousand dollars of clear +profit over my investment." + +Bobby did not remind Applerod that his four thousand dollars +represented only a trifling part of the investment required to yield +this seventy-six thousand dollars' profit. Yet, after all, there was +no flaw in Applerod's commercial reasoning. + +"I didn't expect you to accept it," replied Bobby. "If you were +determined to get out, however, you've had an offer of six thousand +profit, with no risk." + +"I'd be crazy," declared Applerod. "I can get a better price than +that." + +Bobby was thoughtful for an hour after Applerod had left him; then he +hurried into the club-house and telephoned to Chalmers. This was in +the forenoon. In the afternoon Applerod was served with an injunction +based upon an indivisibility of interest, restraining him from +disposing of his share; and in his anger he let it slip out that he +had already been trying to open negotiations with Trimmer! + +"Honestly, it hurts!" said Bobby wearily, telling of the incident to +Agnes that night. "I didn't know there were so many unsportsmanlike +people." + +"I think that is precisely what your father wanted you to find out," +she observed. + +"I don't want to know it," protested Bobby. "I'd stay much happier to +believe that everybody in the world was of the right sort." + +She shook her head. + +"No, Bobby," she said gently; "you have to know that there is the +other kind, in order properly to appreciate truth and honor and +loyalty." + +"I could almost believe I was in a Sunday-school class," grinned +Bobby. "No wonder it's snowing." + +Agnes looked out of the window with a cry of delight. Those floating +flakes were the very first snow of the season; but they were by no +means the last. The winter, delayed, but apparently all the more +violent for that very reason, burst suddenly upon the city, stopping +the finishing touches on both suburban additions. Came rain and sleet +and snow, and rain and sleet and snow again, then biting cold that +sank deep into the ground and sealed it as if with a crust of iron. +March, that had come in like a lamb, went out like a lion, and the +lion raged through April and into May. Then, as suddenly as it had +come, the belated winter passed away and the warm sun beat down upon +the snow-clad hills and swept them clean. It penetrated into the +valleys and turned them into rivulets, thousands of which poured into +the river and swelled its banks brimming full. The streets of the +Applerod Addition were quickly washed with their own white covering +and dried, and immediately with this break-up began the great +advertising campaign. The papers flamed with full-page and half-page +announcements of the wonderful home-making opportunity; circulars were +mailed to possible home-buyers by the hundred thousand; every +street-car told of the bargain on striking cards; immense electric +signs blazoned the project by night; sixteen-sheet posters were spread +upon all the bill-boards, and every device known to expert advertising +was requisitioned. Not one soul within the city or within a radius of +fifty miles but had kept constantly before him the duty he owed to +himself to purchase a lot in the marvelous Applerod Addition; and now +indeed Oliver P. Applerod, reassured once more, began to reap the +fruit of his life's ambitions as prospective buyers thronged to look +at his frock-coat and silk hat. + +June the first was set for the date of the "grand opening," and though +it was not to be a month of roses, still the earth looked bright and +gay as the time approached, and Bobby Burnit took Agnes out to view +his coming triumph. This was upon a bright day toward the end of May, +when those yellow squares were tempered to a golden green by the +tender young grass that had been sown at the completion of the +grading. She had made frequent visits with him through the winter, and +now she gloried with him. + +"It looks fine, Bobby," she confessed with glowing eyes. "Fine! It +really seems as if you had won your spurs." + +"Diamond-studded ones!" he exulted. "Why, Agnes, the office is +besieged with requests for allotments. In spite of the fact that we +have over eleven hundred lots for sale at an average price of six +hundred dollars, we're not going to have enough to go around. The +receipts will be fully seven hundred thousand dollars, and our +complete disbursements, by the time we have sold out, will not amount +to over two hundred and twenty-five thousand. Of course, I don't +know--I haven't asked, and you wouldn't tell me if I did--just by what +promises you are bound, but when I close up this deal you're going to +marry me! That's flat!" + +"You mustn't be too sure of anything in this world, Bobby," she warned +him, but she turned upon him a smile that made her words but idle +breath. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +BOBBY DISCOVERS AN ENEMY GREATER THAN SILAS TRIMMER + + +One circumstance only had occurred to give Bobby any anxiety. With the +beginning of the thaw the water in Silas Trimmer's eight acres had +begun slowly to rise, and he saw with some dismay that by far the +larger part of the great natural basin from which the surface water +had been supplied to this swamp sloped from the northern end. Not +having that expanse of one hundred and twenty acres to spread over, it +might overflow, and in considerable trepidation he sought Jimmy Platt. +That happy young gentleman only smiled. + +"I calculated upon that," he informed Bobby, "and built your retaining +wall two feet higher than the normal spring level for that very +reason. It will carry all the water than can shed down from those +hills." + +Relieved, Bobby went ahead with the preparations for turning the +Applerod Addition into money, and though he saw the water creeping up +steadily against the other side of his wall, he displayed no anxiety +until it had reached within three or four inches of the top. Then he +took Platt out with him to have a look at it. + +"Don't you think you ought to get busy?" he inquired. "Hadn't we +better add another foot to this wall?" + +"Not necessary," said Jimmy, shaking his head positively. "This has +been an unusual spring, but the wet weather is all over now, and you +can see by the water-mark where the level has gone down a half inch +since morning. All the moisture that has been trickling down here +during the past week has been from the thawing out of the frozen +hillsides, but those slopes are almost dust dry now." + +"Suppose it should rain again?" insisted Bobby, still worried. + +"It couldn't rain hard enough to fill up these four inches," declared +Platt with decision. "Look here, Mr. Burnit, I'd worry myself if there +was any cause whatever. Do you suppose I'd want anything to happen to +my biggest and best job so close to my wedding-day?" + +"So you've set the time," said Bobby, with eager pleasure. He had met +Platt's "best girl" and her mother out at the Addition, and liked her, +as he did earnest young Platt. + +"June the first," replied Jimmy exultantly. "The date of your +opening--in the evening." + +"Don't forget to send me an invitation." + +"Will you come?" said Platt. He had wanted to ask Bobby before, but +had not been quite sure that he ought. + +"Come!" replied Bobby. "Indeed I shall--unless I happen to have a +wedding of my own on that date." + +Bobby went away satisfied once more, and quite willing to give up the +additional foot of wall. The work would entail considerable cost, and +expense now was much more of an item than it had been a few months +previously. Already he had spent upon this project over two hundred +and ten thousand dollars; ten thousand he had given to Biff Bates; ten +thousand he had used personally, so there was but an insignificant +portion left of his two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Their +"grand opening" would eat up another tidy little sum, for it was to be +an expensive affair. The liberal advertising that had already appeared +was augmented as the great day approached, a brass band had been +engaged, a magnificent lunch, sufficient to feed an army, had been +arranged for, and every available 'bus and carry-all and picnic wagon +in the city had been secured to transport all comers, free of charge, +from the end of the car line to the new Addition. The price of +vehicles was high, however, for Silas Trimmer had already engaged +quite a number of them to run between the Applerod Addition and his +own. During the week preceding June first, there had appeared, in the +local papers, advertisements of about one-fourth the size that Bobby +was using, calling attention to the opening of the Trimmer Addition, +which was to be upon the same date. + +On the evening of May twenty-ninth, Bobby found Silas pacing the top +of the retaining wall which held in his swamp, and waited for the +spider-like figure to come across and join him. + +"Too bad you didn't come in with me, or sell me your property at a +reasonable figure," said Bobby affably, willing, in spite of his +recent bitter experience, to meet his competitor upon the same +friendly grounds that he would a crack polo antagonist on the eve of +contest. "It's a shame that this could not all have been improved at +one time." + +"I'd just as lief have my part of it the way it is," said Silas. "It's +no good now, but it's as good as yours," and he climbed into his buggy +and drove away laughing, leaving Bobby strangely dissatisfied and +doubtful over that strange remark. + +While he was still trying to unravel it, he noted that the water in +Silas' pond, which but a day or so previously had been down to fully +nine inches from the top, was now climbing rapidly upward again; and +there had been no rain for more than two weeks! The thing was +inexplicable. He was still puzzling over this as he drove down the +road and turned in at broad Burnit Avenue toward the club-house. The +asphalt and the pavements were bone dry and as clean as a ball-room +floor, and it seemed to him that the young grass was growing greener +and higher here than anywhere. + +Suddenly he ordered his chauffeur to stop the machine. He had just +passed a lot where, amid the tufts of green, his eye had caught the +glint of water. Running back to it he saw that the center of that lot +was covered by a small pool scarcely half an inch deep, through which +the grass was growing dankly. This, too, was queer, for the hot sun +and strong breeze of the past few days should have dried up every +vestige of moisture. He walked along the sidewalk, studying each of +the lots in turn. Here and there he discovered other small pools, and +every lot bore the appearance of having just been freshly and too +liberally watered. He stepped from the pavement upon the earth, and to +his surprise his foot sank into it to the depth of an inch or more. +For a while he was deeply worried, but presently it flashed upon him +that all this soil had been dumped into the marsh, displacing the +water, and that in this process it had naturally become soaked through +and through. Of course it would take a long time to dry out and it +would be all the better for its moisture. The rate at which grass was +growing was proof enough of that. + +On the next day, kept busy by the preparations for the big opening, +Bobby did not get out to the Applerod Addition until evening again. As +he neared it he met Silas Trimmer coming back in his buck-board, that +false circle around his mouth very much in evidence. + +"You ought to have had your opening yesterday. I'd have been tempted +to buy a lot myself then," shouted Silas as he passed, and Bobby was +sure that the tone was a mocking one. + +Consumed with anxiety, he hurried on to see how Silas' swamp stood. +Aghast, he found the level of the water a full inch higher than any +point that it had ever before reached. Connecting this condition +vaguely with that other phenomenon that he had noted, he whirled his +runabout and ran back into Burnit Avenue. In twenty-four hours a +remarkable change had been wrought. There were pools everywhere. The +lot where he had first noticed it was now entirely covered with water, +with barely the tips of the grass showing through. Frightened, he +drove over the entire Addition, up one street and down another. In +many places the lots were flooded. One entire block had become no more +nor less than a pond. At other points the water, carrying with it the +yellow soil, was flowing over his beautiful clean sidewalks and +spreading its stain upon his immaculate streets. The darkness alone +drove him from that inspection, and then it occurred to him to send +once more for Jimmy Platt. At the first suburban telephone station he +tried for nearly an hour to locate his man, but in vain. Later he +tried it from his club, but could not reach him. That night was a +sleepless one, and the next morning's daybreak found him speeding out +the roadway to the Applerod Addition. + +Early as he was, however, he found young Platt there ahead of him and +in despair. He had good cause. The whole north end of the Applerod +Addition had turned black, and over the top of Bobby's now grimy +cement wall poured a broad, dark sheet of the murky swamp-water which +had stained it. The pond of Silas Trimmer had overflowed in spite of +all Platt's confident figuring that it could not, and in spite of the +fact that dry weather had prevailed for two solid weeks. That was the +inexplicable part. Clear weather, and still the entire suburb was +becoming practically submerged! With solid, dry soil surrounding it, +wherever the eye could reach it had become but a morass of mud! Mud +was smeared upon every path and every roadway, and Bobby's automobile +slipped and slid in the oily, yellow liquid that lay sluggishly in +every gutter and blotched every rod of his clean asphalt. + +Young Platt's face blanched as he saw Bobby. + +"I've made a miserable botch of it," he confessed, torn with an agony +of regret at his failure; "and I can't see yet what I overlooked. I'd +no right to tackle a man's job like this!" + +"You!" replied Bobby vehemently. "It was Trimmer who did this; +somehow, someway he did it, and he flaunts it in our faces. Look +there!" and he pointed to a huge signboard that had been erected +overnight just opposite the entrance to Burnit Avenue. In huge, bold +letters, surmounted by a giant hand that pointed the way, it told +prospective investors to buy property in the high and dry Trimmer +Addition, the words "High and Dry" being twice as large as any other +lettering upon the board. + +"It is surely a lot of nerve," admitted Platt, "but it is rank +nonsense to say that the man had anything to do with this catastrophe. +It would have been impossible. Let's look this thing over. Drive past +the club-house to the extreme west side." + +Once more they traversed the mud of Burnit Avenue, and upon the dry, +sloping ground the young engineer, cursing his inexperience, alighted +and walked along the edge of the property, seeking a solution to the +mystery. Still perplexed, he ascended the rising ground and looked +musingly across at the yet swollen and clay-red river. Suddenly an +exclamation escaped his lips. + +"There's your enemy," he said to Bobby who had climbed up beside him, +and pointed to the river. "The river bank, I am sure, must edge upon a +tilted shale formation which dips just below this basin. Probably at +all times some of the water from the river seeps down between two +sand-separated layers of this formation to find its outlet in the +marsh, and it is this water which, through a geological freak, has +supplied that swamp for ages. In the spring, however, and in +extraordinary flood times, it probably finds a higher and looser +stratum, and rushes down here with all the force of a hydraulic +stream. This spring it took it a long time to wet thoroughly all our +made ground from the bottom upward. The frost, sinking deeper in this +loose, wet soil than elsewhere, held it back, too, for a time, but as +soon as this was thoroughly out of the ground the river overflow came +up like a geyser. + +"Mr. Burnit, your Applerod Addition is ruined, and it can never be +saved, unless by some extraordinary means. Nature picked out this +spot, centuries and centuries ago, for a swamp, and she's going to +have one here in spite of all that we can do. In five years this basin +won't be a thing but black water and weeds, with only that club-house +as a decaying monument to your enterprise." + +Bobby controlled himself with an effort. His face was drawn and white; +but part of that was from the anxiety of the past two days, and he +took the blow stiff and erect, as a good soldier stands up to be +disciplined. His eye roved over the work in which he had taken such +pride, and already he could see in fancy the dank weeds growing up, +and the croaking frogs diving into the oily surface, and the clouds of +mosquitoes hovering over it again. Over the top of his retaining wall +still poured the foul water which was to leaven all this, and he gazed +upon it with a sharp intake of the breath. + +"And to think that Silas Trimmer must have known all this, and led me +to waste a fortune just so that he could reap the benefit of my +advertising for his own vulture advantage!" + +That, at first, was the part which hurt more than the overthrow of his +plans, more than the loss of his money, more than the failure of his +fight to carry out his father's wishes for his success: that any one +could play the game so unfairly, that there could be in all the world +people so detestable, so unprincipled, so _unsportsmanlike_! + +Slowly the vanquished pair descended the hill to where the automobile +stood upon the solid, level sward, but before they climbed in Bobby +shook hands with his engineer. + +"Don't blame yourself too much, old man," he said. "It wasn't a +condition that you could foresee, and I'm mighty sorry if it hurts +your reputation." + +"It ought to!" exclaimed Platt with deep self-revilement. "I should +have investigated. I should not have taken anything for granted. I +ought to have enough money so that you could sue me for damages and +recover all you lost." + +"It couldn't be done," said Bobby miserably. "I've lost so much more +than money." + +He did not tell Platt of Agnes, but that was the one thought into +which all his failure had finally resolved. Agnes! How much longer +must he wait for her? They had just passed the club-house when a light +buggy turned into Burnit Avenue, driven furiously by a white-haired +man in a white vest and a high silk hat. + +"I accept your offer!" cried Applerod, as soon as he came within +talking distance, his usually ruddy face now livid white. + +"My offer," repeated Bobby wonderingly. + +"Yes; your offer of ten thousand dollars for my share in the Applerod +Addition." + +Bobby was forced to laugh. It had needed but this to make the bitter +jest of fortune complete. + +"You refused that offer the day it was made, Applerod!" put in Platt +indignantly. "I heard you. Anyhow, you dragged Mr. Burnit into this +thing!" + +"He's not to blame for that," said Bobby. "But still, I don't think I +care to buy any more of this property." And he smiled grimly at the +absurdity of it all. + +"I'll sue you for it!" shrieked Applerod, frantic from thwarted +self-interest. "You prevented me from selling out at a profit when I +had a chance! You bound me hand and foot when I knew that if Silas +Trimmer had anything to gain by it we would lose! He knew all the time +that this swamp was fed by underground springs. He bragged about it to +me this morning as I passed him on the road. He told me last night I'd +better come out here this morning." + +"I see," said Bobby coldly, and he reached for his lever. + +"Then you won't hold good to your offer?" gasped the other. + +Pale before, he had turned ashen now, and Bobby looked at him with +quick compunction. Applerod, always so chubbily youthful for a man of +his years, was grown suddenly old. He seemed to have shrunk inside his +clothes, his face to have turned flabby, his eyes to have dimmed. +After all, he was an old man, and the little that he had scraped +together represented all that he could hope to amass in a none too +provident lifetime. This day made him a pauper and there was no chance +for a fresh start. Bobby himself was young and strong, and, moreover, +his resources were by no means exhausted. + +"I'll tell you what I'll do, Applerod," said he, after a moment of +very sober thought. "Your property cost you in the neighborhood of +four thousand. Interest since the time you first began to invest in it +would bring it up to a little more than that. I'll give you five +thousand." + +"I won't accept it.--Yes, I will! yes, I will!" he cried as Bobby +impatiently reached again for his lever. + +"Very well," said Bobby, "wait a minute." And tearing a leaf from his +memorandum-book he wrote a note to Johnson to see to the transfer of +the property and deliver to Applerod a check for five thousand +dollars. + +"That was more than generous; it was foolish," protested Jimmy Platt, +as they whirled away. + +"No doubt," admitted Bobby dryly. "But, if I'm forced to be a fool, I +might as well have a well-finished job of it." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +AGNES DECIDES THAT SHE WILL WAIT + + +Applerod, his poise nearly recovered, bounded into the office where +Johnson sat stolidly working away, his sense of personal contentedness +enhanced by the presence of Biff Bates, who sat idly upon the flat-top +desk, dangling his legs and waiting for Bobby. Mr. Applerod paid no +attention whatever to Mr. Bates, that gentleman being quite beneath +his notice, but with vast importance he laid down in front of Mr. +Johnson the note which Bobby had given him. + +"_Mr._ Johnson," he pompously directed, "you will please attend to +this little matter as soon as possible." + +"Applerod," said Johnson, glancing at the note and looking up with +sudden fire, "does this mean that you are no longer even partially my +employer?" + +"That's it exactly." + +"Then you, Applerod, don't you dare call me _Mr._ Johnson again!" And +he shook a bony fist at his old-time work-fellow. + +Biff Bates nearly fell off the desk, but with rare presence of mind +restrained his glee. + +Mr. Applerod, smiling loftily, immediately wielded his bludgeon. + +"We should not quarrel over trifles," he stated commiseratingly. "We +are once more companions in misfortune. There is no Applerod Addition. +It is a swamp again." + +"What do you mean?" asked Johnson incredulously, but suspending his +indignation for the instant. + +"This," said Applerod: "that the entire addition is a hundred-acre mud +puddle this morning. You couldn't sell a lot in it to a blind man. +Every cent that was invested in it is lost. The whole marsh was fed +from underground springs that have come up through it and overflowed +the place." + +"Trimmer again," said Biff Bates, and slid off the desk; then he +looked at his watch with a curious speculative smile. + +"But if it is all lost," protested Johnson, looking again at the note +and pausing in the making out of the check, "how do you come to get +this?" + +"He owed it to me," asserted Applerod. "I wanted to sell out when I +first found that we were competing with Silas Trimmer, and young +Burnit kept me from it by an injunction. He offered me ten thousand +dollars for my interest once, but this morning when I went to accept +that offer he would only give me this five thousand. It's just five +thousand dollars that he's robbed me of." + +"_Robbed!_" shrilled Johnson, jumping from his chair. "Applerod, you +weigh a hundred and eighty pounds and I weigh a hundred and +thirty-seven, but I can lick you the best day you ever lived; and by +thunder and blazes! if you let fall another remark like that I'll +knock your infernal head off!" + +Mr. Johnson had on no coat, but he felt the urgent need to remove +something, so he tore off one false sleeve, wadded it up in a little +ball and slammed it on the floor with great vigor, tore off the other +one, wadded it up and slammed that down. Biff Bates, quivering with +joy, rang loudly upon a porcelain electric-light shade with his pencil +and called: "Time!" + +There was no employment for a referee, however, for Mr. Applerod, with +astonishing agility, sprang to the door and held it half open, ready +for a hurried exit in case of any other demonstration. It was shocking +to think that he might be drawn into an undignified altercation--and +with a mere clerk! Also, it might be dangerous. + +"Nothing doing, chum," said Biff Bates disgustedly to his friend +Johnson. "This bunch of mush-ripe bananas ain't even a quitter. He's a +never-beginner. But you'll do fine, old scout. Come along with me. I +got a treat for you." + +Mr. Johnson, breathing scorn that alternately dented and inflated his +nostrils, slowly donned his coat and hat without removing his eyes +from Applerod, who, as the two approached the door, edged uncertainly +away from it. + +"I've got to go out, anyhow," said Johnson, addressing his remarks +exclusively to Mr. Bates, but his glare exclusively to Mr. Applerod. +"I'm going to put this check into the hands of Mr. Chalmers, so Mr. +Robert don't get cheated by any yellow-livered _snake in the grass_!" +And he spit out those last violent words with a sudden vehemence which +made Mr. Applerod drop his shiny hat. + +When Bobby came into the office a few minutes later he found Applerod, +his hat upon his lap, waiting in one of the customers' chairs with +stiff solemnity. + +"Why aren't you at your desk, Applerod?" asked Bobby sharply. "You +have an immense amount of unopened mail, and some of it may contain +checks which will have to be sent back." + +"Mr. Burnit," said Mr. Applerod, rising with great dignity and +throwing back his shoulders, "I consider myself no longer in your +employ. I have resigned." + +Bobby looked at him thoughtfully and weighed rapidly in his mind a +great many things. He remembered that his father had once said of the +two men: "Johnson has a pea-green liver and is a pessimist, but he is +honest. Applerod suffers from too much health and is an optimist, and +I presume him to be honest, but I never tested it." Yet his father had +seen fit to keep Applerod in his intimate employ all these years, +recognizing in him material of value. Moreover, he had advised Bobby +to keep both men, and Bobby, to-day more than ever, placed great faith +in the wisdom of his father. + +"Mr. Applerod," said he, "I dislike to be harsh with you, but if you +don't put up your hat and get at that bundle of mail I shall be +compelled to consider discharging you. Where's Johnson?" + +"He went out with Mr. Bates, sir." + +When Bobby left, Applerod was industriously sorting the mail on his +desk, preparing to open it. + +Bobby let himself into the big new gymnasium and walked back through +the deserted hall to the small room that was used for individual +training. As he neared the door he could hear the sound of loud voices +and the shuffling of feet, and heard the commanding voice of Biff +Bates shout "Break!" + +The door was locked, but through the slide window at the side a +strange tableau met his eyes. Stooped and lean Johnson, as chalk-white +of face as ever, had paunchy and thin-legged Silas Trimmer by the +collar, and over Biff Bates' intervening body was trying to rain blows +into the center of the circular smile, now flattened to an oval of +distress. + +"Break, Johnson, break!" begged Biff. "Don't put him out till you feed +him all he's got coming." Thereupon he succeeded in extracting Mr. +Trimmer from the grasp of Mr. Johnson and forced the former back upon +a chair, where he began to fan him with a towel in most approved +fashion. + +"Let me out of this!" gasped Mr. Trimmer. "I'll have you arrested for +assault and conspiracy." + +"They'll only pinch a corpse, for the cops'll find me tickled to death +when they get here," responded Mr. Bates gaily. "Now you're all right. +Get up!" + +"Let me out of this, I say!" commanded Mr. Trimmer frantically. "I'll +run you into the penitentiary! I'll break you up in business! I'll +hire thugs to break every bone in your body!" + +"Is that all?" inquired Biff complacently, and grabbed him as he +started to run around the room in a wild hunt for an outlet. "Stand up +here and put up a fight or I'll punch you myself. I've been aching to +do it for a year. That's why I got Doc Willets to dope it out to you +that you was dyin' for training, and why I kept shifting your hour to +when there was nobody here. Go to him, chum!" + +Then ensued the strangest sparring match that the grinning and +stealthily silent Bobby had ever seen. Johnson, with a true "tiger +crouch" which he could not have avoided if he had wished, began +dancing around and around the spherical body of Mr. Trimmer, without +science and without precaution, keeping his two arms going like +windmills, and occasionally landing a light blow upon some portion of +Mr. Trimmer's unresisting anatomy; but finally a whirl so vigorous +that it sent Johnson spinning upon his own heel, landed squarely +beneath the jaw of Silas. That gentleman, with a puffed eye and a +bleeding lip and two teeth gone, rose from his feet with the impact of +the blow, and landed with a grunt in a huge basket of soiled +bath-towels. + +"Johnson," called the laughter-shaken voice of Bobby through the +window, "I'm ashamed of you!" + +Mr. Johnson looked up happily from his task of wiping away a little +trickle of blood from his already swollen nose. + +"Did you see me do it?" he demanded, thrilling with pride. "Mr. +Burnit, I--I never had so much fun in my life. Never, never! By the +way, sir," and even upon that triumphant moment his duty obtruded, "I +have a letter for you that I brought away from the office," and +through the window he handed one of the inevitable gray envelopes. It +was inscribed: + + _To My Son, Upon the Failure of Applerod's Swamp Scheme_ + +"In the midst of pleasure we are in pain," murmured Bobby, and tore +open the letter. In it he read: + + "My Dear Boy: + + "A man must not only examine a business proposition from all + sides, but must also turn it over and look well at the bottom. + I never knew what was the matter with that swamp scheme, + except Applerod, but I didn't want to know any more. You did. + + "Well, you don't need wisdom. I've put one-half your fortune + where it will yield you a living income. Try to cut at least + one eye-tooth with the other half. Your trustee is instructed + to give you another start. + + "YOUR LOVING FATHER." + +His trustee! Once more he must face her with failure; go to her +beaten, and accept through her hands the means to gain himself another +buffeting. He had not the heart to see her now, but he was not turned +altogether coward, for leaving the scene of the late conflict +abruptly, all its humor spoiled for him, he telephoned her what had +happened and that he would be out in the evening. + +"No, you must come now. I want you," she gently insisted, and when he +had come to her she went directly to him and put both her hands upon +his shoulders. + +"It wasn't fair, Bobby; it wasn't fair!" she cried. "None of it is +fair, and your father had no right to bind me down with promises when +you need me so. I'm willing to break them all. Bobby, I'll marry you +to-morrow if you say so." + +He drew a long, trembling breath, and then he put his hands gently +upon both her cheeks and kissed her on the forehead. + +"Let's don't," he said simply. "I have my own blood up now, and I want +to take this other chance. I want to play the game out to the end. +You'll wait, won't you?" + +She looked up at him through moist eyes. He was so big and so strong +and so good, and already through the past year of earnest purpose +there had come firm, new lines upon his face, lines that meant +something in the ultimate building of character; and she recognized +that perhaps stern old John Burnit had been right after all. + +"Indeed, I can wait," she whispered. "Proudly, Bobby." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +IN WHICH A CHARMING GENTLEMAN OFFERS AN INVESTMENT WITHOUT A FLAW + + +It was pretty, in the succeeding days, to see Agnes poring over +advertisements and writing down long lists of suggested enterprises +for investigation, enterprises which proved in every case to be in the +midst of an already too thickly contested field, or to be hampered by +monopoly, or subject to some other vital drawback. There seemed to be +a strange dearth of safe and suitable commercial ventures, a fact over +which Bobby and Agnes together puzzled almost nightly. There was to be +no false start this time; no stumbling in the middle of the race; no +third failure. The third time was to be the charm. And yet too much +time must not be wasted. They both began to feel rather worried about +this. + +Of course, there was a letter, in the familiar gray envelope. It had +been handed to Bobby by Johnson upon the day the second check for two +hundred and fifty thousand had been paid over by Chalmers upon Agnes' +order, and it read: + + _To My Son Robert, + Upon His Third Attempt to Make Money_ + + "The man who has never failed has been either too lucky or too + timid to have much tried and tested worth. The man who always + fails is too useless to talk about. As you've failed twice + you're neither too lucky nor too timid. It remains to be seen + if you are too useless. + + "Remember that money isn't the only audible thing in this + world; but it makes more noise than anything else. A vast + number of people call money vulgar; but, if you'll notice, + this opinion is chiefly held by those who haven't been able to + secure any of it. + + "I wouldn't have you sacrifice any decent principle to get it, + because that is not necessary; but go get money of your own, + and see what a difference there is between dollars. A dollar + you've made is as different from a dollar that's given to you + as your children are from other people's." + +"If only the governor had pointed out some good business for me to go +into," complained Bobby as he read this letter over with Agnes. + +She shook her head soberly. She realized, more than he possibly could, +as yet, just where Bobby's weaknesses lay. She had worried over them +not a little, of late, and she was just as anxious as old John Burnit +had been to have him correct those defects; and she, like Bobby's +father, was only thankful that they were not defects of manliness, of +courage or of moral or mental fiber. They were only defects of +training, for which the elder Burnit, as he had himself confessed, was +responsible. + +"That isn't what he wanted at all, Bobby," she protested. "The very +fact of your two past failures shows just how right he was in making +you find out things for yourself. The chief trouble, I am afraid, is +that you have been too ready to furnish the money and let others spend +it for you." + +"I know," said Bobby. "I have been too willing to take everybody's +word, I guess; but I have always been able to do that in my crowd, and +it is rather a dash to me to find that in business you can not do it. +However, I have reformed." + +He said this so self-confidently that Agnes laughed. + +"Yes," she admitted, "you are convinced that Silas Trimmer is a thief +and a rascal, and you would not take his word for anything. You are +convinced that Applerod's judgment is useless and that your own does +not amount to much, but I still believe that the next plausible +looking and plausible talking man who comes to you can engage you in +any business that seems fair on the surface." + +"I deserve what you say," he confessed, but somewhat piqued, +nevertheless. "However, I don't think you are giving me credit for +having learned any lesson at all. Why, only to-day you ought to have +heard me turning down a proposition to finance a new and improved +washing-machine. Sounded very good and feasible, too. The man was a +good talker and thoroughly earnest and honest, I am sure. I really did +want to help the fellow start his business, but somehow or other I +could not seem to like the idea of washing-machines; such a sudsy sort +of business." + +Agnes laughed the sort of a laugh that always made him want to catch +hold of her, but if he had any intentions in that respect they were +interfered with just now by Uncle Dan, who strolled into the parlor in +his dressing-jacket and with a cigar tilted in the corner of his +mouth. + +"How's the Commercial Board of Strategy coming on?" he inquired as he +offered Bobby a cigar. + +"Fine!" declared Bobby; "except that it can not think of a stratagem." + +"I think you are very selfish not to help us out, Uncle Dan," declared +Agnes. "With all your experience you ought to be able to suggest +something for Bobby to go into that would be a nice business and +perfectly safe and make him lots of money without requiring too much +experience to start with." + +"Young lady," said Uncle Dan severely, "if I knew a business of that +kind I'd sell some of the stock of my factory and go into it myself; +but I don't. The fact is, there are no business snaps lying around +loose. You have to make one, and that takes not just money, but work +and brains." + +"I'm perfectly willing to work," declared Bobby. + +"And you don't mean to say that he hasn't brains!" objected Agnes. + +"No-o-o," admitted Uncle Dan. "I am quite sure that Bobby has brains, +but they have not been quite--a--a--well, say solidified, yet. You're +not allowed to smoke in this parlor, Bobby. Mrs. Elliston wants a +quiet home game of whist; sent me to bring you up." + +Secretly, old Dan Elliston was himself puzzling a great deal over a +career for Bobby, but up to the moment had not found anything that he +thought safe to propose. Not having a good idea he was averse to +discussing any project whatsoever, and so, each time that he was +consulted upon the subject, he was as evasive as this about it, and +Bobby each morning dragged perplexedly into the handsome offices of +the defunct Applerod Addition, where Applerod and Johnson were still +working a solid eight hours a day to straighten out the affairs of +that unfortunate venture. + +Those offices were the dullest quarters Bobby knew, for they contained +nothing but the dead ashes of bygone money; but one morning business +picked up with a jerk. He found a mine investment agent awaiting him +when he arrived, and before he was through with this clever +conversationalist a man was in to get him to buy a racing stable. +Affairs grew still more brisk as the morning wore on. Within the next +two hours he had politely but firmly declined to buy a partnership in +a string of bucket shops, to refinance a defunct irrigation company, +to invest in a Florida plantation, to take a tip on copper, and to +back an automobile factory which was to enter business upon some +designs of a new engine stolen by a discharged workman. + +"How did all these people find out that I have two hundred and fifty +thousand dollars to invest?" impatiently demanded Bobby, after he had +refused the allurements of a patent-medicine scheme, the last of that +morning's lot. + +There followed a dense silence, in the midst of which old Johnson +looked up from the book in which he was entering a long, long list of +items on the wrong side of the profit and loss account, and jerked his +lean thumb angrily in the direction of Applerod. + +"Ask him," he said. + +Chubby-faced old Applerod, excessively meek of spirit to-day, suffered +a moment of embarrassment under the accusing eyes of young Burnit. + +"The newspapers, sir," he admitted, twisting uncomfortably in his +swivel chair. "The reporters were here yesterday afternoon with the +idea that since you haven't announced any future plans, the failure of +our real estate scheme--_my_ real estate scheme," he corrected in +response to a snort and a glare from Johnson--"had left you penniless. +Of course I wasn't going to let them go away with that impression, so +I told them that you had another two hundred and fifty thousand +dollars to invest, with probably more to follow, if necessary." + +"And of course," groaned Bobby, "it is all in print, with ingenious +trimmings." + +From a drawer in his desk Johnson quietly drew copies of the morning +papers, each one folded carefully to an article in which, under wide +variations of embarrassing head-lines, the facts of Bobby's latest +frittering of his father's good money were once more facetiously, even +gleefully, set forth and embellished, with added humorous speculations +as to how he would probably cremate his new fund. Bobby was about to +turn into his own room to absorb his humiliation in secret when +Applerod hesitantly stopped him. + +"Another thing, sir," he said. "Mr. Frank L. Sharpe called up early +this morning to know when he would find you in, and I took the liberty +of telling him that you would very likely be here at ten o'clock." + +Bobby frowned slightly at the mention of that name. He knew of Sharpe +vaguely as a man whose private life had been so scandalous that +society had ceased to shudder at his name--it simply refused to hear +it; a man who had even secured advancement by obligingly divorcing his +first wife so that the notorious Sam Stone could marry her. + +"What did he want?" he asked none too graciously. + +"I don't know, sir," said Applerod; "but he telephoned me again just +as you were getting rid of this last caller. I told him that you were +here and he said that he would be right over." + +Bobby made no reply to this, but went thoughtfully into his room and +closed the door after him. In less than five minutes the door opened, +and Mr. Applerod, his voice fairly oily with obsequiousness, announced +Mr. Frank L. Sharpe! Why, here is a man whose name was in the papers +every morning, noon and night! Mr. Sharpe had taken a trip to New York +on behalf of the Gas Company; Mr. Sharpe had returned from his trip to +New York on behalf of the Gas Company; Mr. Sharpe had entertained at +the Hotel Spender; Mr. Sharpe had made a speech; Mr. Sharpe had been +interviewed; Mr. Sharpe had been indisposed for half a day! + +Quite prepossessing of appearance was Mr. Sharpe; a tall, rather +slight gentleman, whose features no one ever analyzed because the eyes +of the observer stopped, fascinated, at his mustache. That wonderful +adornment was wonderfully luxuriant, gray and curly, pretty to an +extreme, and kept most fastidiously trimmed, and it lifted when he +smiled to display a most engaging row of white, even teeth. Centered +upon this magnificent combination the gaze never roved to the animal +nose, to the lobeless ears, to the watery blue eyes half obscured by +the lower lids. He was immaculately, though a shade too youthfully, +dressed in a gray frock suit, with pearl-gray spats upon his shoes, +and he was most charmed to see young Mr. Burnit. + +"You have a very neat little suite of offices here, Mr. Burnit," he +commented, seating himself gracefully and depositing his gray hat, his +gray cane and his gray gloves carefully to one side of him upon +Bobby's desk. + +"I'm afraid they are a little too nice for practical purposes," Bobby +confessed. "I have found that business isn't a parlor game." + +"Precisely what I came to see you about," said Mr. Sharpe. "I +understand you have been a trifle unfortunate, but that is because you +did not go into the regular channels. An established and paying +corporation is the only worth-while proposition, and if you have not +yet settled upon an investment I would like to suggest that you become +interested in our local Brightlight Electric Company." + +"I thought there was no gas or electric stock for sale," said Bobby +slowly, clinging still to a vague impression that he had gained five +or six years before. + +"Not to the public," replied Mr. Sharpe, smiling, "and there would not +have been privately except for the necessity of a reorganization. The +Brightlight needs more capital for expansion, and I have too many +other interests, even aside from the Consumers' Electric Light and +Power and the United Gas and Fuel Companies, to spare the money +myself--and the Brightlight is too good to let the general public in +on." He smiled again, quite meaningly this time. "This is quite +confidential, of course," he added. + +Bobby bowed his acknowledgment of the confidence which had been +reposed in him, and generously began at once to reconstruct his +impressions of the impossible Mr. Sharpe. You couldn't believe all you +heard, you know. + +"The Brightlight," went on Mr. Sharpe, "is at present capitalized +for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and is a good +ten-per-cent.-dividend-paying stock at the present moment; but its +business is not growing, and I propose to take in sufficient capital +to raise the Brightlight to a half-million-dollar corporation, clear +off its indebtedness and project certain extensions. I understand that +you have the necessary amount, and here is the proposition I offer +you. Brightlight stock is now quoted at a hundred and seventy-two. We +will double its present capitalization, and you may take up the extra +two hundred and fifty thousand dollars' worth of its stock at par, or +about three-fifths of its actual value. That is a bargain to be +snapped at, Mr. Burnit." + +Did Bobby Burnit snap at this proposition? He did not. Bobby had +learned caution through his two bitter failures, and of caution is +born wisdom. + +"Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars' worth of stock in a +five-hundred-thousand-dollar corporation won't do for me," he declared +with a firmness that was pleasant to his own ears. "I don't care to go +into any proposition in which I have not the controlling interest." + +Mr. Sharpe, remembering the details of Bobby's Trimmer and Company +experiment, hastily turned his imminent smile of amusement into a +merely engaging one. + +"I don't blame you, Mr. Burnit," said he; "but to show you that I am +more willing to trust you than you are to trust me, if you care to go +into this thing I'll agree to sell you from one to ten shares of my +individual stock--at its present market value, of course." + +"That's very good of you," agreed Bobby, suddenly ashamed of his +ungenerous stand in the face of this sportsmanlike attitude. "But +really I've had cause for timidity." + +"Caution is not cowardice," said Mr. Sharpe in a tone which conveyed a +world of friendly approbation. "This matter must be taken up very +soon, however, and I can not allow you more than a week to +investigate. I'd be pleased to receive your legal and business +advisers at any time you may nominate, and to give them any advantage +you may wish." + +"I'll investigate it at least, and I thank you for giving me the +opportunity," said Bobby, really very contrite that he had been doing +Sharpe such a mental injustice all these years. "By the way," he +suddenly added, "has Silas Trimmer anything whatever to do with this +proposition?" + +Mr. Sharpe smiled. + +"Mr. Trimmer does not own one share of stock in the Brightlight +Electric Company, nor will he own it," he answered. + +"In that case," said Bobby, "I am satisfied to consider your offer +without fear of heart-disease." + +The departing caller met an incoming one in the outer office, and +Agnes, sweeping into Bobby's room, breathlessly gasped: + +"That was Frank Sharpe!" + +"The same," admitted Bobby, smiling down at her and taking both her +hands. + +"I never saw him so closely," she declared. "Really, he's quite +distinguished-looking." + +"As long as he avoids a close shave," supplemented Bobby. "But what +brings you into the--the busy marts of trade so early in the morning?" + +"My trusteeship," she answered him loftily, producing some documents +from her hand-bag. "And I'm in a hurry. Sign them papers." + +"Them there papers," he kindly corrected, and seating himself at his +desk he examined the minor transfers perfunctorily and signed them. + +"I'm afraid I'm a failure as a trustee," she told him. "I ought to +have had more power. I ought to have been authorized to keep you out +of bad company. How came Mr. Sharpe to call on you, for instance?" + +"To make my fortune," he gravely assured her. "Mr. Sharpe wants me to +go into the Brightlight Electric Company with him." + +"I can imagine your courteous adroitness in putting the man back in +his place," she laughed. "How preposterous! Why, he's utterly +impossible!" + +"Ye-e-es?" questioned Bobby. "But you know, Agnes, this isn't a +pink-tea affair. It's business, which is at the other end of the +world." + +"You're not honestly defending him, Bobby?" she protested +incredulously. "Why, I do believe you are considering the man +seriously!" + +"Why not?" he persisted, arguing against his own convictions as much +as against hers. "We want me to make some money, don't we? To make a +success that will let me marry you?" + +"I'm not to say so, remember," she reminded him. + +"Father put no lock on my tongue, though," he reminded her in turn; +"so I'll just lay down the dictum that as soon as I succeed in any one +business deal I'm going to marry you, and I don't care whether the +commodity I handle is electricity or potatoes." + +"But Frank L. Sharpe!" she exclaimed, with shocked remembrance of +certain whispered stories she had heard. + +"Really, I don't see where he enters into it," persisted Bobby. "The +Brightlight Electric Company is a stock corporation, in which Mr. +Sharpe happens to own some shares; that is all." + +She shook her head. + +"I can't seem to like it," she told him, and rose to go. + +The door opened, and Johnson, with much solemnity, though in his eyes +there lurked a twinkle, brought in a card which, with much stiff +ceremony, he handed to Bobby. + +"Professor Henry H. Bates," read Bobby in some perplexity, then +suddenly his brow cleared and he laughed uproariously. "Come right in, +Biff," he called. + +In response to this invitation there entered upon Agnes' vision a +short, chunky, broad-shouldered young man in a checked green suit and +red tie, who, finding himself suddenly confronted by a dazzlingly +beautiful young lady, froze instantly into speechless awkwardness. + +"This is my friend and partner, Mr. Biff--Mr. Henry H. Bates--Miss +Elliston," introduced Bobby, smiling. + +Agnes held out her hand, which suddenly seemed to dwindle in size as +it was clasped by the huge palm of Mr. Bates. + +"I have heard so much of you from Mr. Burnit, and always nice things," +she said, smiling at him so frankly that Mr. Bates, though his face +flushed red, instantly thawed. + +"Bobby's right there with the boost," commented Mr. Bates, and then, +not being quite satisfied with that form of speech, he huskily +corrected it to: "Burnit's always handing out those pleasant words." +This form of expression seeming also to be somewhat lacking in polish, +he relapsed into more redness, and wiped the strangely moist palms of +his hands upon the sides of his coat. + +"He doesn't talk about any but pleasant people," Agnes assured him. + +After she had gone Mr. Bates looked dazedly at the door through which +she had passed out, then turned to Bobby. + +"Carries a full line of that conversation," he commented, "but I like +to fall for it. And say! I'll bet she's game all right; the kind that +would stick to a guy when he was broke, in jail and had the smallpox. +That's your steady, ain't it, Bobby?" + +Coming from any one else this query might have seemed a trifle blunt, +but Bobby understood precisely how Mr. Bates meant it, and was +gratified. + +"She's the real girl," he admitted. + +"I'm for her," stoutly asserted Mr. Bates, as he extracted a huge wad +of crumpled bills from his trousers pocket. "Any old time she wants +anybody strangled or stabbed and you ain't handy, she can call on your +friend Biff. Here's your split of last month's pickings at the gym. +One hundred and eighty-one large, juicy simoleons; count 'em, one +hundred and eighty-one!" And he threw the money on the desk. + +"Everything paid?" asked Bobby. + +"Here's the receipts," and from inside his vest Mr. Bates produced +them. "Ground rent, light, heat, payroll, advertising, my own little +old weekly envelope and everything; and I got one-eighty-one in my +other kick for my share." + +"Very well," said Bobby; "you just put this money of mine into a fund +to buy further equipments when we need them." + +"Nit and nix; also no!" declared Mr. Bates emphatically. "This time +the bet goes as she lays. You take a real money drag-down from now +on." + +"Mr. Johnson," called Bobby through the open door, "please take charge +of this one hundred and eighty-one dollars, and open a separate +account for my investment in the Bates Athletic Hall. It might be, +Biff," he continued, turning to Mr. Bates, "that yours would turn out +to be the only safe business venture I ever made." + +"It ain't no millionaire stunt, but it sure does pay a steady divvy," +Mr. Bates assured him. "I see a man outside scraping the real-estate +sign off the door. Is he going to paint a new one?" + +"I don't know," said Bobby, frowning. "I shall, of course, get into +something very shortly, but I've not settled on anything as yet. The +best thing that has turned up so far is an interest in the Brightlight +Electric Company offered me to-day by Frank L. Sharpe." + +"What!" shrieked Biff in a high falsetto, and slapped himself smartly +on the wrist. "Has he been here? I thought it seemed kind of close. +Give me a cigarette till I fumigate." + +"What's the matter with the Brightlight Electric Company?" demanded +Bobby. + +"Nothing. It's a cinch so far as I know. But Sharpe! Why, say, Bobby, +all the words I'd want to use to tell you about him have been left out +of the dictionary so they could send it through the mails." + +Bobby frowned. The certain method to have him make allowances for a +man was to attack that man. When he arrived at the Idlers' Club at +noon, however, he was given another opportunity for Christian charity. +Nick Allstyne and Payne Winthrop and Stanley Rogers were discussing +something with great indignation when he joined them, and Nick drew +him over to the bulletin board, where was displayed the application of +Frank L. Sharpe, proposed by Clarence Smythe, Silas Trimmer's +son-in-law, and seconded by another undesirable who had twice been +posted for non-payment of dues. + +"There is only one thing about this that commends itself to me, and +that is the immaculate and colossal nerve of the proceeding," declared +Nick indignantly. "The next thing you know somebody will propose Sam +Stone." + +At this they all laughed. The Idlers' Club was the one institution +that stood in no awe of the notorious "boss" of the city and of the +state; a man who had never held an office, but who, until the past two +years, had controlled all offices; whose methods were openly +dishonest; who held underground control of every public utility and a +score of private enterprises. The idea of Stone as an applicant for +membership in the Idlers' Club was a good joke, but the actual +application of Sharpe was too serious for jesting. Nevertheless, all +this turmoil over the mere name of the man worked a strange reaction +in Bobby Burnit. + +"After all, business is business," he declared to himself, "and I +don't see where Sharpe's personality figures in this Brightlight +Electric deal, especially since I am to have control." + +Accordingly he directed Chalmers and Johnson to make a thorough +investigation of that corporation. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +BOBBY ENTERS A BUSINESS ALLIANCE, A SOCIAL ENTANGLEMENT AND A QUARREL +WITH AGNES + + +The report of Mr. Johnson and Mr. Chalmers upon the Brightlight +Electric Company was a complicated affair, but, upon the whole, highly +favorable. It was an old establishment, the first electric company +that had been formed in the city, and it held, besides some minor +concessions, an ancient franchise for the exclusive supply of twelve +of the richest down-town blocks, this franchise, made by a generous +board of city fathers, still having twenty years to run. The concern's +equipment was old and much of it needed renewal, but its financial +affairs were in good shape, except for a mortgage of a hundred +thousand dollars held by one J. W. Williams. + +"About this mortgage," Mr. Chalmers advised Mr. Burnit; "its time +limit expires within two months, and I have no doubt that is why +Sharpe wants to put additional capital into the concern. Moreover, +Williams is notoriously reputed a lieutenant of Sam Stone's, and it is +quite probable that Stone is the real holder of the mortgage." + +"I don't see where it makes much difference, so long as the mortgage +has to be paid, whether it is paid to Stone or to somebody else," said +Bobby reflectively. + +"I don't see any difference myself," agreed Chalmers, "except that I +am suspicious of that whole crowd, since Sharpe is only a figurehead +for Stone. I find that Sharpe is credited with holding two hundred +thousand dollars' worth of the present stock. The majority of the +Consumers Company and a good share of the United are also in his name. +Just how all these facts have a bearing upon each other I can not at +present state, but in view of the twenty years' franchise, and of the +fact that you will hold undisputed control, I do not see but that you +have a splendid investment here. The contract for the city lighting of +those twelve blocks is ironclad, and the franchise for exclusive +private lighting and power is exclusive so long as 'reasonably +satisfactory service' is maintained. As this has been undisputed for +thirty years I don't think you need have much fear upon that score," +and Chalmers smiled. + +In the afternoon of that same day Sharpe called up. + +"What dinner engagement have you for to-night?" he inquired. + +"None," replied Bobby, after a moment of hesitation. + +"Then I want you to dine with me at the Spender. Can you make it?" + +"I guess so," replied Bobby reluctantly, after another hesitant pause. +"What time, say?" + +"About seven. Just inquire at the desk. I'll have a dining-room +reserved." + +Bobby was very thoughtful as he arrayed himself for dinner, and he was +still more thoughtful when, a boy ushering him into the cozy little +private dining-room, he found the over-dazzling young Mrs. Sharpe with +her husband. She greeted the handsome young Mr. Burnit most +effusively, clasping his hand warmly and rolling up her large eyes at +him while Mr. Sharpe looked on with smiling approval. Bobby +experienced that strange conflict which most men have known, a feeling +of revulsion at war with the undoubted lure of the women. She was one +of those who deliberately make appeal through their femininity alone. + +"Such a pleasure to meet you," she said in the most silvery of voices. +"I have heard so much of Mr. Burnit and his polo skill." + +"It's the best trick I do," confessed Bobby, laughing. + +"That's because Mr. Burnit hasn't found his proper forte as yet," +interposed Sharpe. "He was really cut out for the illuminating +business." And he led the way to the table, upon which Bobby had +already noted that five places were laid. + +"A couple of our friends might drop in," said the host in explanation; +"they usually do." + +"If it's Sam and Billy we're not going to wait for them," said Mrs. +Sharpe with a languishing glance at Bobby. "They're always ages and +ages late, if they come at all. Frank, where are those cocktails? I'm +running down." + +She took the drink with an avidity Bobby was not used to seeing among +his own women friends, and almost immediately it heightened her +vivacity. There could be no question that she was a fascinating woman. +Again Bobby had that strange sense of revulsion, and again he was +conscious that, in spite of her trace of a tendency to indecorum, +there was a subtle appeal in her; one, however, that he shrank from +analyzing. Her talk was mostly of the places she had been, with almost +pathetic little mention now and then of unattainable people. Evidently +she craved social position, in spite of the fact that she was for ever +shut out from it. + +While they were upon the fish the door opened and two men came in. +With a momentary frown Bobby recognized both; one of them the great +Sam Stone, and the other William Garland, a rich young cigar +manufacturer, quite prominent in public affairs. The latter he had +met; the former he inspected quite curiously as he acknowledged the +introduction. + +Stone gave one the idea that he was extremely heavy; not that he was +so grossly stout, although he was large, but he seemed to convey an +impression of tremendous weight. His features and his expression were +heavy, his eyes were heavy-lidded, and he was taciturnity itself. He +gave Bobby a quick scrutiny from head to foot, and in that instant had +weighed him, measured him, catalogued and indexed him for future +reference for ever. Stone's only spoken word had been a hoarse +acknowledgment of his introduction, and as soon as the entree came on +he attacked it with a voracious appetite, which, however, did not +prevent him from weighing and absorbing in silence every word that was +spoken in his hearing. Bobby found himself wondering how this +unattractive man could have secured his tremendous following, in spite +of the fact that Stone "never broke a promise and never went back on a +friend," qualities which would go far toward establishing any man in +the esteem of mankind. + +It was not until the appearance of the salad that any allusion was +made to business, and then Garland, upon an impatient signal from +Stone, turned to Bobby with the suavity of which he was thorough +master. + +"Mr. Sharpe tells me that you consider taking a dip into the public +utilities line," he suggested. + +Instantly three of them bent an attention upon Bobby so straight that +it might have been palpable even to him, had not Stone suddenly +lighted a match to attract their attention, and glared at them. + +"I have already decided," said Bobby frankly, seeing no reason for +fencing. "My legal and business advisers tell me that it would be a +good investment, and I am ready to take hold of the Brightlight +Electric as soon as the formalities can be arranged." + +Stone grunted his approval, and immediately rose, looking at his +watch. + +"Pleased to have met you, Mr. Burnit," he rumbled hoarsely, and took +his coat and hat. "Sorry I can't stay. Promised to meet a man." + +"Coming back?" asked Garland. + +"Might," responded the other, and was gone. + +As soon as Stone had left, the trifle of strain that had been apparent +prior to Bobby's very decided statement that he would go into the +business, was lifted; and Mrs. Sharpe, pink of cheek and sparkling of +eye and exhilarated by the wine to her utmost of purely physical +attractiveness, moved when the coffee was served to a chair between +Bobby and Garland, and, gifted with a purring charm, exerted herself +to the utmost to please the new-comer. She puzzled Bobby. The woman +was an entirely new type to him, and he could not fathom her. + +With the clearing of the table more champagne was brought, and Bobby +began to have an uneasy dread of a "near-orgie," such as was +associated in the minds of the knowing ones with this crowd. Sharpe, +however, quickly removed this fear, for, pushing aside his own glass +with a bare sip after it had been filled, he drew forth a pencil and +produced some papers which he spread before Bobby. + +"I imagined that you would have a very favorable report on the +Brightlight Electric," he said with a smile, "so I took the liberty of +bringing along an outline of my plan for reorganization. If Mr. +Garland and Mrs. Sharpe will excuse us for talking shop we might +glance over them together." + +"You're selfish," pouted Mrs. Sharpe quite prettily, but, +nevertheless, she turned her exclusive attention to Garland for the +time being. + +With considerable interest Bobby plunged into the business at hand. +Here was a well-established concern that had been doing business for +three decades, which had been paying ten per cent. dividends for +years, and which would doubtless continue to do so for many years to +come. An opportunity to obtain control of it solved his problem of +investment at once, and he strove to approach its intricacies with +intelligence. He became vaguely aware, by and by, that just behind him +Garland and Mrs. Sharpe were carrying on a most animated conversation +in an undertone interspersed with much laughter, and once, with a +start of annoyance, he overheard Garland telling a slightly _risque_ +story, at which Mrs. Sharpe laughed softly and with evident relish. He +glanced around involuntarily. Garland had his arm across the back of +her chair, and they were leaning toward each other in a close +proximity which Bobby reflected with sudden savageness could not +possibly occur if that were his wife; nor was he much softened by the +later reflection that, in the first place, a woman of her type never +could have been his wife, and that, in the second place, it was not +the man who was to blame, nor the woman so much, as Sharpe himself. +Indeed, Bobby somehow gained the impression that the others flouted +and despised Sharpe and held him as a weakling. + +His glance was but a fleeting one, and he turned from them with a look +which Sharpe, noting, misinterpreted. + +"I had hoped," he said, "to go into this thing very thoroughly, so +that we could begin the reorganization at once, with the preliminaries +completely understood; but if we are detaining you from any +engagement, Mr. Burnit--" + +"Not at all, not at all," the highly-interested Bobby hastened to +assure him. "I have no engagements whatever to-night, and my time is +entirely at your disposal." + +"Then let's drop down to the theater," suddenly interposed Mrs. +Sharpe. "You can talk your dust-dry business there just as well as +here. Billy, telephone down to the Orpheum and see if they have a +box." + +Bobby was far too unsuspecting to understand that he had been +deliberately trapped. Though not of the ultra-exclusives, his social +position was an excellent one and he had the entree everywhere. To be +seen publicly with young Burnit was a step upward, as Mrs. Sharpe saw +it, in that forbidding and painful social climb. + +Bobby started with dismay when Garland stepped to the telephone, but +he was fairly caught, and he realized it in time to check the +involuntary protest that rose to his lips. He had acknowledged that +his time was free and at their disposal, and he regretted deeply that +no good, handy lie came to his rescue. + +They arrived at the theater between acts, and with the full blaze of +the auditorium upon them. Bobby's comfort was not at all heightened +when Stone almost immediately followed them in. He had firmly made up +his mind as they entered to obtain a place in the rear corner of the +box, where he could not be seen; but he was not prepared for the +generalship of Mrs. Sharpe, who so manoeuvered it as to force him to +the very edge, between herself and Garland, and, as she turned to him +with a laughing remark which, in pantomime, had all the confidential +understanding of most cordial and intimate acquaintanceship, Bobby +glanced apprehensively across at the other side of the proscenium-arch. +There, in the opposite box, staring at him in shocked amazement, sat +Agnes Elliston! + +"But Agnes," protested Bobby at the Elliston home next day, "I could +not possibly help it." + +"No?" she inquired incredulously. "I don't imagine that any one +strongly advised you to have anything to do with Mr. Sharpe--and it +was through him that you met _her_. Perhaps it is just as well that it +happened, however, because it has shown you just how you were about to +become involved." + +Bobby swallowed quite painfully. His tongue was a little dry. + +"Well, the fact of the matter is," he admitted, reddening and +stammering, "that I have already 'become involved,' if that's the way +you choose to put it; for--for--I signed an agreement with Sharpe, and +an application for increase of capitalization, this morning." + +"You don't mean it!" she gasped. "How could you?" + +"Why not?" he demanded. "Agnes, it seems quite impossible for you to +divorce business and social affairs. I tell you they have absolutely +nothing to do with each other. The opportunity Sharpe offered me is a +splendid one. Chalmers and Johnson investigated it thoroughly, and +both advise me that it is quite an unusually good chance." + +"You didn't seem to be able to divorce business and social affairs +last night," she reminded him rather sharply, returning to the main +point at issue and ignoring all else. + +There was the rub. She could not get out of her mind the picture of +Mrs. Sharpe chatting gaily with him, smiling up at him and all but +fawning upon him, in full view of any number of people who knew both +Agnes and Bobby. + +"You have made a deliberate choice of your companions, Mr. Burnit, +after being warned against them from more than one source," she told +him, aflame with indignant jealousy, but speaking with the rigidity +common in such quarrels, "and you may abide by your choice." + +"Agnes!" he protested. "You don't mean--" + +"I mean just this," she interrupted him coldly, "that I certainly can +not afford to be seen in public, and don't particularly care to +entertain in private, any one who permits himself to be seen in public +with, or entertained in private by, the notorious Mrs. Frank L. +Sharpe." + +They were both of them pale, both trembling, both stiffened by hurt +and rebellious pride. Bobby gazed at her a moment in a panic, and saw +no relenting in her eyes, in her pose, in her compressed lips. She was +still thinking of the way Mrs. Sharpe had looked at him. + +"Very well," said he, quite calmly; "since our arrangements for this +evening are off, I presume I may as well accept that invitation to +dine at Sharpe's," and with this petty threat he left the house. + +At the Idlers' he was met by a succession of grins that were more +aggravating because for the most part they were but scantily +explained. Nick Allstyne, indeed, did take him into a corner, with a +vast show of secrecy, requested him to have an ordinance passed, +through his new and influential friends, turning Bedlow Park into a +polo ground; while Payne Winthrop added insult to injury by shaking +hands with him and most gravely congratulating him--but upon what he +would not say. Bobby was half grinning and yet half angry when he left +the club and went over for his usual half hour at the gymnasium. +Professor Henry H. Bates was also grinning. + +"See you're butting in with the swell mob," observed Mr. Bates +cheerfully. "Getting your name in the paper, ain't you, along with the +fake heavyweights and the divorces?" and before Bobby's eyes he thrust +a copy of the yellowest of the morning papers, wherein it was set +forth that Mr. and Mrs. Frank L. Sharpe had entertained a notable box +party at the Orpheum, the night before, consisting of Samuel Stone, +William Garland and Robert Burnit, the latter of whom, it was rumored, +was soon to be identified with the larger financial affairs of the +city, having already contracted to purchase a controlling interest in +the Brightlight Electric Company. The paper had more to say about the +significance of Bobby's appearance in this company, as indicating the +new political move which sought to ally the younger business element +with the progressive party that had been so long in safe, sane and +conservative control of municipal affairs, except for the temporary +setback of the recent so-called "citizens' movement" hysteria. Bobby +frowned more deeply as he read on, and Mr. Bates grinned more and more +cheerfully. + +"Here's where it happens," he observed. "On the level, Bobby, did they +hook you up on this electric deal?" + +"What's the matter with it?" demanded Bobby. "After thorough +investigation by my own lawyer and my own bookkeeper, the Brightlight +proves to have been a profitable enterprise for a great many years, +and is in as good condition now as it ever was. Why shouldn't I go +into it?" + +Biff winked. + +"Because it's no fun being the goat," he replied. "Say, tell me, did +you ever earn a pull with this bunch?" + +"No." + +"Well, then, why should they hand you anything but the buzzer? If this +is a good stunt don't you suppose they'd keep it at home? Don't you +suppose that Stone could go out and get half the money in this town, +if he wanted it, to put behind a deal that was worth ten per cent. a +year and pickings? I don't care what your lawyer or what Johnson says +about it, I know the men. This boy Garland is a good sport, all right, +but he's for the easy-money crowd every time--and they're going to +make the next mayor out of him. Our local Hicks would rather be robbed +by a lot of friendly stick-up artists than have their money wasted by +a lot of wooden-heads, and after this election the old Stone gang will +have their feet right back in the trough; yes! This is the way I +figure the dope. They've framed it up to dump the Brightlight +Electric, and you're the fall guy. So wear pads in your derby, because +the first thing you know the hammer's going to drop on your coco." + +"How do you find out so much, Biff?" returned Bobby, smiling. + +"By sleeping seven hours a day in place of twenty-four. If some of the +marks I know would only cough up for a good, reliable alarm clock +they'd be better off." + +"Meaning me, of course," said Bobby. "For that I'll have to manhandle +you a little. Where's your gloves?" + +For fifteen minutes they punched away at each other with soft gloves +as determinedly and as energetically as if they were deadly enemies, +and then Bobby went back up to his own office. He found Applerod +jubilant and Johnson glum. Already Applerod heard himself saying to +his old neighbors: "As Frank L. Sharpe said to me this morning--," or: +"I told Sharpe--," or: "Say! Sam Stone stopped at my desk +yesterday--," and already he began to shine by this reflected glory. + +"I hear that you have decided to go into the Brightlight Electric," he +observed. + +"Signed all the papers this morning," admitted Bobby. + +"Allow me to congratulate you, sir," said Applerod, but Johnson +silently produced from an index case a plain, gray envelope, which he +handed to Bobby. + +It was inscribed: + + _To My Son Upon His Putting Good Money Into any + Public Service Corporation_ + +and it read: + + "When the manipulators of public service corporations tire of + skinning the dear public in bulk, they skin individual + specimens just to keep in practice. If you have been fool + enough to get into the crowd that invokes the aid of dirty + politics to help it hang people on street-car straps, just + write them out a check for whatever money you have left, and + tell your trustee you are broke again; because you are not and + never can be of their stripe, and if you are not of their + stripe they will pick your bones. Turn a canary loose in a + colony of street sparrows and watch what happens to it." + +Bobby folded up the letter grimly and went into his private room, +where he thought long and soberly. That evening he went out to +Sharpe's to dinner. As he was about to ring the bell, he stopped, +confronted by a most unusual spectacle. Through the long plate-glass +of the door he could see clearly back through the hall into the +library, and there stood Mrs. Sharpe and William Garland in a tableau +"that would have given Plato the pip," as Biff Bates might have +expressed it had he known about Plato. At that moment Sharpe came +silently down the stairs and turned, unobserved, toward the library. +Seeing that his wife and Garland were so pleasantly engaged, he very +considerately turned into the drawing-room instead, _and as he entered +the drawing-room he lit a cigarette_! Bobby, vowing angrily that there +could never be room in the Brightlight for both Sharpe and himself, +did not ring the bell. Instead, he dropped in at the first public +telephone and 'phoned his regrets. + +"By the way," he added, "how soon will you need me again?" + +"Not before a week, at least," Sharpe replied. + +"Very well, then," said Bobby; "I'll be back a week from to-day." + +Immediately upon his arrival down-town he telegraphed the joyous news +to Jack Starlett, in Washington, to prepare for an old-fashioned +loafing bee. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A STRANGE CONNECTION DEVELOPS BETWEEN ELECTRICITY AND POLITICS + + +Chalmers, during Bobby's absence, secured all the secret information +that he could concerning the Brightlight Electric, but nothing to its +detriment transpired in that investigation, and when he returned, +Bobby, very sensibly as he thought, completed his investment. He paid +his two hundred and fifty thousand dollars into the coffers of the +company, and, at the first stock-holders' meeting, voting this stock +and the ten shares he had bought from Sharpe at a hundred and +seventy-two, he elected his own board of directors, consisting of +Chalmers, Johnson, Applerod, Biff Bates and himself, giving one share +of stock to each of the other four gentlemen so that they would be +eligible. The remaining two members whom he allowed to be elected were +Sharpe and J. W. Williams, and the board of directors promptly elected +Bobby president and treasurer, Johnson secretary and Chalmers +vice-president--a result which gave Bobby great satisfaction. Once he +had been frozen out of a stock company; this time he had absolute +control, and he found great pleasure in exercising it, though against +Chalmers' protest. With swelling triumph he voted to himself, through +his "dummy" directors, the salary of the former president--twelve +thousand dollars a year--though he wondered a trifle that President +Eastman submitted to his retirement with such equanimity, and after he +walked away from that meeting he considered his business career as +accomplished. He was settled for life if he wished to remain in the +business, the salary added to the dividends on two hundred and sixty +thousand dollars worth of stock bringing his own individual income up +to a quite respectable figure. If there were no further revenue to be +derived from the estate of John Burnit, he felt that he had a very +fair prospect in life, indeed, and could, no doubt, make his way very +nicely. + +He had been unfortunate enough to find Agnes Elliston "not at home" +upon the two occasions when he had called since their disagreement +upon the subject of the Sharpes, but now he called her up by telephone +precisely as if nothing had happened, and explained to her how good +his prospects were; good enough, in fact, he added, that he could look +matrimony very squarely in the eye. + +"Allow me to congratulate you," said Agnes sweetly. "I presume I'll +read presently about the divorce that precedes your marriage," and she +hung up the receiver; all of which, had Bobby but paused to reflect +upon it, was a very fair indication that all he had to do was to jump +in his automobile and call on Aunt Constance Elliston, force his way +upon the attention of Agnes and browbeat that young lady into an +immediate marriage. He chose, on the contrary, to take the matter more +gloomily, and Johnson, after worrying about him for three dismal days, +consulted Biff Bates. But Biff, when the problem was propounded to +him, only laughed. + +"His steady has lemoned him," declared Biff. "Any time a guy's making +plenty of money and got good health and ain't married, and goes around +with an all-day grouch, you can play it for a one to a hundred +favorite that his entry's been scratched in the solitaire diamond +stakes." + +"Uh-huh," responded the taciturn Johnson, and stalked back with grim +purpose to the Electric Company's office, of which Bobby and Johnson +and Applerod had taken immediate possession. + +The next morning Johnson handed to Bobby one of the familiar gray +envelopes, inscribed: + + _To My Son Upon the Occasion of His Having a Misunderstanding + with Agnes Elliston_ + +He submitted the envelope with many qualms and misgivings, though +without apology, but one glance at Bobby's face as that young +gentleman read the inscription relieved him of all responsibility in +the matter, for if ever a face showed guilt, that face was the face of +Bobby Burnit. In the privacy of the president's office Bobby read the +briefest note of the many that his forethoughted father had left +behind him in Johnson's charge: + + "You're a blithering idiot!" + +That was all. Somehow, that brief note seemed to lighten the gloom, to +lift the weight, to remove some sort of a barrier, and he actually +laughed. Immediately he called up the Ellistons. He received the +information from the housekeeper that Agnes and Aunt Constance had +gone to New York on an extended shopping trip, and thereby he lost his +greatest and only opportunity to prove that he had at last been +successful in business. That day, all the stock which Frank L. Sharpe +had held began to come in for transfer, in small lots of from ten to +twenty shares, and inside a week not a certificate stood in Sharpe's +name. All the stock held by Williams also came in for transfer. Bobby +went immediately to see Sharpe, and, very much concerned, inquired +into the meaning of this. Mr. Sharpe was as pleasant as Christmas +morning. + +"To tell you the truth, Mr. Burnit," said he, "there were several very +good reasons. In the first place, I needed the money; in the second +place, you were insistent upon control and abused it; in the third +place, since the increased capitalization and change of management the +quotations on Brightlight Electric dropped from one-seventy-two to +one-sixty-five, and I got out before it could drop any lower. You will +give me credit for selling the stock privately and in small lots where +it could not break the price. However, Mr. Burnit, I don't see where +the sale of my stock affects you in any way. You have the Brightlight +Electric now in good condition, and all it needs to remain a good +investment is proper management." + +"I'm afraid it needs more than that," retorted Bobby. "I'm afraid it +needs to be in a position to make more money for other people than for +myself;" through which remark it may be seen that, though perhaps a +trifle slow, Bobby was learning. + +Another lesson awaited him. On the following morning every paper in +the city blazed with the disquieting information that the Consumers' +Electric Light and Power Company and the United Illuminating and Fuel +Company were to be consolidated! Out of the two old concerns a +fifty-million-dollar corporation was to be formed, and a certain +portion of the stock was to be sold in small lots, as low, even, as +one share each, so that the public should be given a chance to +participate in this unparalleled investment. Oh, it was to be a +tremendous boon to the city! + +Bobby, much worried, went straight to Chalmers. + +"So far as I can see you have all the best of the bargain," Chalmers +reassured him. "The Consumers', already four times watered and quoted +at about seventy, is to be increased from two to five million before +the consolidation, so that it can be taken in at ten million. The +Union, already watered from one to nine million in its few brief +years, takes on another hydraulic spurt and will be bought for twenty +million. Of the thirty million dollars which is to be paid for the old +corporation, nineteen million represents new water, the most of which +will be distributed among Stone and his henchmen. The other twenty +million will go to the dear public, who will probably be given one +share of common as a bonus with each share of preferred, and pay ten +million sweaty dollars for it. Do you think this new company expects +to pay dividends? On their plants, worth at a high valuation, five +million dollars, and their new capital of ten million, a profit must +be earned for fifty million dollars' worth of stock, and it can not be +done. Within a year I expect to see Consolidated Illuminating and +Power Company stock quoted at around thirty. By that time, however, +Stone and his crowd will have sold theirs, and will have cleaned up +millions. Brightlight Electric was probably too small a factor to be +considered in the consolidation. Did you pay off that mortgage? Then +Stone has his hundred thousand dollars; the back salary list of +Stone's henchmen has been paid up with your money; Sharpe and Williams +have converted their stock and Stone's into cash at a fancy figure; +Eastman is to be taken care of in the new company and they are +satisfied. In my estimation you are well rid of the entire crowd, +unless they have some neat little plan for squeezing you. But I'll +tell you what I would do. I would go direct to Stone, and see what he +has to say." + +Bobby smiled ironically at himself as he climbed the dingy stairs up +which it was said that every man of affairs in the city must sooner or +later toil to bend the knee, but he was astonished when he walked into +the office of Stone to find it a narrow, bare little room, with the +door wide open to the hall. There was an old, empty desk in it--for +Stone never kept nor wrote letters--and four common kitchen chairs for +waiting callers. At the desk near the one window sat Stone, and over +him bent a shabby-looking man, whispering. Stone, grunting +occasionally, looked out of the window while he listened, and when the +man was through gave him a ten-dollar bill. + +"It's all right," Stone said gruffly. "I'll be in court myself at ten +o'clock to-morrow morning, and you may tell Billy that I'll get him +out of it." + +Another man, a flashily-dressed fellow, was ahead of Bobby, and he, +too, now leaned over Stone and whispered. + +"Nothing doing," rumbled Stone. + +The man, from his gestures, protested earnestly. + +"Nix!" declared Stone loudly. "You threw me two years ago this fall, +and you can't come back till you're on your uppers good and proper. I +don't want to see you nor hear of you for another year, and you +needn't send any one to me to fix it, because it can't be fixed. Now +beat it. I'm busy!" + +The man, much crestfallen, "beat it." Bobby was thankful that there +was no one else waiting when it was his turn to approach the Mogul. +Stone shook hands cordially enough. + +"Mr. Stone," inquired Bobby, "how does it come that the Brightlight +Electric Company was not offered a chance to come into this new +consolidation?" + +"How should I know?" asked Stone in reply. + +"It is popularly supposed," suggested Bobby, smiling, "that you know a +great deal about it." + +Mr. Stone ignored that supposition completely. + +"Mr. Burnit, how much political influence do you think you could +swing?" + +"Frankly, I never thought of it," said Bobby surprised. + +"You belong to the Idlers' Club, you belong to the Traders' Club, to +the Fish and Game, the Brassie, the Gourmet, and the Thespian Clubs. +You are a member of the board of governors in three of these clubs, +and are very popular in all of them. A man like you, if he would get +wise, could swing a strong following." + +"Possibly," admitted Bobby dryly; "although I wouldn't enjoy it." + +"One-third of the members of the Traders' Club do not vote, more than +half of the members of the Fish and Game and the Brassie do not vote, +none of the members of the other clubs vote at all," went on Mr. +Stone. "They ain't good citizens. If you're the man that can stir them +up the right way you'd find it worth while." + +"But just now," evaded Bobby, "whom did you say I should see about +this consolidation?" + +"Sharpe," snapped Stone. "Good day, Mr. Burnit." And Bobby walked away +rather belittled in his own estimation. + +He had been offered an excellent chance to become one of Stone's +political lieutenants, had been given an opportunity to step up to the +pie counter, to enjoy the very material benefits of the Stone style of +municipal government; and in exchange for this he had only to sell his +fellows. He knew now that his visit to Sharpe would be fruitless, that +before he could arrive at Sharpe's office that puppet would have had a +telephone message from Stone; yet, his curiosity aroused, he saw the +thing through. Mr. Sharpe, upon his visit, met Bobby as coldly as the +January morning when the Christmas bills come in. + +"We don't really care for the Brightlight Electric in the combination +at all," said Mr. Sharpe, "but if you wish to come in at a valuation +of five hundred thousand I guess we can find a place for you." + +"Let me understand," said Bobby. "By a valuation of five hundred +thousand dollars you mean that the Brightlight stock-holders can +exchange each share of their stock for one share in the Consolidated?" + +"That's it, precisely," said Mr. Sharpe without a smile. + +"You're joking," objected Bobby. "My stock in the Brightlight is worth +to-day one hundred and fifty dollars a share. My two hundred and sixty +thousand dollars' worth of stock in the Consolidated would not be +worth par, even, to-day. Why do you make this discrimination when you +are giving the stock-holders of the Consumers' an exchange of five +shares for one, and the stock-holders of the United an exchange of +twenty shares for nine?" + +"We need both those companies," calmly explained Sharpe, "and we don't +need the Brightlight." + +"Is that figure the best you will do?" + +"Under the circumstances, yes." + +"Very well then," said Bobby; "good day." + +"By the way, Mr. Burnit," Sharpe said to him with a return of the +charming smile which had been conspicuously absent on this occasion, +"we needn't consider the talk entirely closed as yet. It might be +possible that we would be able, between now and the first of the next +month, when the consolidation is to be completed, to make you a much +more liberal offer to come in with us; to be one of us, in fact." + +Bobby sat down again. + +"How soon may I see you about it?" he asked. + +"I'll let you know when things are shaped up right. By the way, Mr. +Burnit, you are a very young man yet, and just starting upon your +career. Really you ought to look about you a bit and study what +advantages you have in the way of personal influence and following." + +"I have never counted that I had a 'following.'" + +"I understand that you have a very strong one," insisted Sharpe. "What +you ought to do is to see Mr. Stone." + +"I have been to see him," replied Bobby with a smile. + +"So I understand," said Sharpe dryly. "By the way, next Tuesday I am +to be voted upon in the Idlers'. You are on the board of governors up +there, I believe?" + +"Yes," said Bobby steadily. + +Sharpe studied him for a moment. + +"Well, come around and see me about this consolidation on Wednesday," +he suggested, "and in the meantime have another talk with Stone. By +all means, go and see Stone." + + * * * * * + +"Johnson," asked Bobby, later, "what would you do if a man should ask +you to sell him your personal influence, your self-respect and your +immortal soul?" + +"I'd ask his price," interposed Applerod with a grin. + +"You'd never get an offer," snapped Johnson to Applerod, "for you +haven't any to sell. Why do you ask, Mr. Burnit?" + +Bobby regarded Johnson thoughtfully for a moment. + +"I know how to make the Brightlight Electric Company yield me two +hundred per cent. dividends within a year or less," he stated. + +"Through Stone?" inquired Johnson. + +"Through Stone," admitted Bobby, smiling at Johnson's penetration. + +"I thought so. I guess your father has summed up, better than I could +put it, all there is to be said upon that subject." And from his +index-file he produced one of the familiar gray envelopes, inscribed: + + _To My Son Robert Upon the Subject of Bribery_ + + "When a man sells his independence and the faith of his + friends he is bankrupt. Both the taker and the giver of a + bribe, even when it is called 'preferment,' are like dogs with + fleas; they yelp in their sleep; only the man gets callous + after a while and the dog doesn't. Whoever the fellow is + that's trying to buy your self-respect, go soak him in the + eye, and pay your fine." + +"For once I agree most heartily with the governor," said Bobby, and as +a result he did not go to see Stone. Moreover, Frank L. Sharpe was +blackballed at the Idlers' Club with cheerful unanimity, and Bobby +figuratively squared his shoulders to receive the blow that he was +convinced must certainly fall. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +AGNES APPEARS PUBLICLY WITH MRS. SHARPE AND BIFF BATES HAS A ONE-ROUND +SCRAP + + +That night, though rather preoccupied by the grave consequences that +might ensue on this flat-footed defiance of Stone and his crowd, Bobby +went to the theater with Jack Starlett and Jack's sister and mother. +As they seated themselves he bowed gravely across the auditorium to +Agnes and Aunt Constance Elliston, who, with Uncle Dan, were +entertaining a young woman relative from Savannah. He did not know how +the others accepted his greeting; he only saw Agnes, and she smiled +quite placidly at him, which was far worse than if she had tilted her +head. Through two dreary, interminable acts he sat looking at the +stage, trying to talk small talk with the Starletts and remaining +absolutely miserable; but shortly before the beginning of the last act +he was able to take a quite new and gleeful interest in life, for the +young woman from Savannah came fluttering into the Elliston box, +bearing in tow the beautiful and vivacious Mrs. Frank L. Sharpe! + +Bobby turned his opera-glasses at once upon that box, and pressed Jack +Starlett into service. Being thus attracted, the ladies of the +Starlett box, mystified and unable to extract any explanation from the +two gleeful men, were compelled, by force of circumstances and +curiosity, also to opera-glass and lorgnette the sufferers. + +Like the general into which he was developing, Bobby managed to meet +Agnes face to face in the foyer after the show. Tears of mortification +were in her eyes, but still she was laughing when he strode up to her +and with masterful authority drew her arm beneath his own. + +"Your carriage is too small for four," Bobby calmly told Mr. Elliston, +and, excusing himself from the Starletts, deliberately conducted Agnes +to a hansom. As they got well under way he observed: + +"You will notice that I make no question of being seen in public +with--" + +"Bobby!" she protested. "Violet did not know. The Sharpes visited in +Savannah. His connections down there are quite respectable, and no +doubt Mrs. Sharpe, who is really clever, held herself very +circumspectly." + +"Fine!" said Bobby. "You will notice that I am quite willing to listen +to _you_. Explain some more." + +"Bobby!" she protested again, and then suddenly she bent forward and +pressed her handkerchief to her eyes. + +Bobby was astounded. She was actually crying! In a moment he had her +in his arms, was pressing her head upon his shoulder, was saying +soothing things to her with perfectly idiotic volubility. For an +infinitesimally brief space Agnes yielded to that embrace, and then +suddenly she straightened up in dismay. + +"Good gracious, Bobby!" she exclaimed. "This hansom is all glass!" + +He looked out upon the brilliantly lighted street with a reflex of her +own consternation, but quickly found consolation. + +"Well, after all," he reflected philosophically, "I don't believe +anybody who saw me would blame me." + +"You're a perfectly incorrigible Bobby," she laughed. "The only check +possible to put upon you is to hold you rigidly to business. How are +you coming out with the Brightlight Electric Company? I have been +dying to ask you about it." + +"I have a telephone in my office," he reminded her. + +"I am completely ignoring that ungenerous suggestion," she replied. + +"It wasn't sportsmanlike," he penitently admitted. "Well, the +Brightlight Electric is still making money, and Johnson has stopped +leaks to the amount of at least twenty thousand dollars a year, which +will permit us to keep up the ten per cent. dividends, even with our +increased capitalization, and even without an increase of business." + +"Glorious!" she said with sparkling eyes. + +"Too good to be true," he assured her. "They'll take it away from me." + +"How is it possible?" she asked. + +"It isn't; but it will happen, nevertheless," he declared with +conviction. + +He had already begun to spend his days and nights in apprehension of +this, and as the weeks went on and nothing happened his apprehension +grew rather than diminished. + +In the meantime, the Consolidated Illuminating and Power Company went +pompously on. The great combine was formed, the fifty million dollars' +worth of stock was opened for subscription, and the company gave a +vastly expensive banquet in the convention hall of the Hotel Spender, +at which a thousand of the city's foremost men were entertained, and +where the cleverest after-dinner speakers to be obtained talked in +relays until long after midnight. Those who came to eat the rich food +and drink the rare wine and lend their countenances to the stupendous +local enterprise, being shrewd business graduates who had cut their +eye-teeth in their cradles, smiled and went home without any thought +of investing; but the hard-working, economical chaps of the offices +and shops, men who felt elated if, after five years of slavery, they +could show ten hundred dollars of savings, glanced in awe over this +magnificent list of names in the next day's papers. If the stock of +the Consolidated Illuminating and Power Company was considered a good +investment by these generals and captains and lieutenants of finance, +who, of course, attended this Arabian Nights banquet as investors, it +must certainly be a good investment for the corporals and privates. + +Immediately vivid results were shown. Immense electric signs, +furnished at less than cost and some of them as big as the buildings +upon the roofs of which they were erected, began to make +constellations in the city sky; buildings in the principal down-town +squares were studded, for little or nothing, with outside incandescent +lights as thickly as wall space could be found for them, and the men +whose only automobiles are street-cars awoke to the fact that their +city was becoming intensely metropolitan; that it was blazing with the +blaze of Paris and London and New York; that all this glittering +advancement was due to the great new Consolidated Illuminating and +Power Company, and more applications for stock were made! + +Every applicant was supplied, but the treasury stock of the company +having been sold out, the scrip had to come from some place else, and +it came through devious, secret ways from the holdings of such men as +Stone and Garland and Sharpe. + +During the grand orgie of illumination the election came on; the price +of gas and electricity went gloriously and recklessly down, and the +men who were identified with the triumphantly successful new +illuminating company were the leading figures in the campaign. The +puerile "reform party," the blunders of whose incompetence had been +ridiculous, was swept out of existence; Garland was elected mayor by +the most overwhelming majority that had ever been known in the city, +and with him was elected a council of the same political faith. Sam +Stone, always in the background, always keeping his name out of the +papers as much as possible, came once more to the throne, and owned +the city and all its inhabitants and all its business enterprises and +all its public utilities, body and soul. + +One night, shortly after the new officials went into power, there was +no light in the twelve blocks over which the Brightlight Company had +exclusive control, nor any light in the outside districts it supplied. +This was the first time in years that the company, equipped with an +emergency battery of dynamos which now proved out of order, had ever +failed for an instant of proper service. Candles, kerosene lamps and +old gas fixtures, the rusty cocks of which had not been turned in a +decade, were put hastily in use, while the streets were black with a +blackness particularly Stygian, contrasted with the brilliantly +illuminated squares supplied by the Consolidated Company. All night +long the mechanical force, attended by the worried but painfully +helpless Bobby, pounded and tapped and worked in the grime, but it was +not until broad daylight that they were able to discover the cause of +trouble. For two nights the lights ran steadily. On the third night, +at about seven-thirty, they turned to a dull, red glow, and slowly +died out. This time it was wire trouble, and through the long night as +large a force of men as could be mustered were tracing it. Not until +noon of the next day was the leak found. + +It was a full week before that section of the city was for the third +time in darkness, but when this occurred the business men of the +district, who had been patient enough the first night and enduring +enough the second, loosed their reins and became frantic. + +At this happy juncture the Consolidated Company threw an army of +canvassers into those twelve monopolized blocks, and the canvassers +did not need to be men who could talk, for arguments were not +necessary. The old, worn-out equipment of the Brightlight Electric, +and the fact that it was managed and controlled by men who knew +nothing whatever of the business, its very president a young fellow +who had probably never seen a dynamo until he took charge, were +enough. + +Bobby, passing over Plum Street one morning, was surprised to see a +large gang of men putting in new poles, and when he reached the office +he asked Johnson about it. In two minutes he had definitely +ascertained that no orders had been issued by the Brightlight Electric +Company nor any one connected with it, and further inquiry revealed +the fact that these poles were being put up by the Consolidated. He +called up Chalmers at once. + +"I knew I'd hear from you," said Chalmers, "and I have already been at +work on the thing. Of course, you saw what was in the papers." + +"No," confessed Bobby. "Only the sporting pages." + +"You should read news, local and general, every morning," scolded +Chalmers. "The new city council, at their meeting last night, granted +the Consolidated a franchise to put up poles and wires in this +district for lighting." + +"But how could they?" expostulated Bobby. "Our contract with the city +has several years to run yet, and guarantees us exclusive privilege to +supply light, both to the city and to private individuals, in those +twelve blocks." + +"That cleverly unobtrusive joker clause about 'reasonably satisfactory +service,'" replied Chalmers angrily. "By the way, have you +investigated the cause of those accidents very thoroughly? Whether +there was anything malicious about them?" + +Bobby confessed that he had not thought of the possibility. + +"I think it would pay you to do so. I am delving into this thing as +deeply as I can, and with your permission I am going to call your +father's old attorney, Mr. Barrister, into consultation." + +"Go ahead, by all means," said Bobby, worried beyond measure. + +At five o'clock that evening Con Ripley came jauntily to the plant of +the Brightlight Electric Company. Con was the engineer, and the world +was a very good joke to him, although not such a joke that he ever +overlooked his own interests. He spruced up considerably outside of +working hours, did Con, and, although he was nearing forty, considered +himself very much a ladies' man, also an accomplished athlete, and +positively the last word in electrical knowledge. He was donning his +working garments in very leisurely fashion when a short, +broad-shouldered, thickset young man came back toward him from the +office. + +"You're Con Ripley?" said the new-comer by way of introduction. + +"Maybe," agreed Con. "Who are you?" + +"I'm the Assistant Works," observed Professor Henry H. Bates. + +"Oh!" said Mr. Ripley in some wonder, looking from the soft cap of Mr. +Bates to the broad, thick tan shoes of Mr. Bates, and then back up to +the wide-set eyes. "I hadn't heard about it." + +"No?" responded Mr. Bates. "Well, I came in to tell you. I don't know +enough about electricity to say whether you feed it with a spoon or +from a bottle, but I'm here, just the same, to notice that the juice +slips through the wires all right to-night, all right." + +"The hell you are!" exclaimed Mr. Ripley, taking sudden umbrage at +both tone and words, and also at the physical attitude of Mr. Bates, +which had grown somewhat threatening. "All right, Mr. Works," and Mr. +Ripley began to step out of his overalls; "jump right in and push +juice till you get black in the face, while I take a little vacation. +I've been wanting a lay-off for a long time." + +"You'll lay on, Bo," dissented Mr. Bates. "Nix on the vacation. That's +just the point. You're going to stick on the job, and I'm going to +stick within four feet of you till old Jim-jams Jones shakes along to +get his morning's morning; and it will be a sign of awful bad luck for +you if the lights in this end of town flicker a single flick any time +to-night." + +"Is that it?" Mr. Ripley wanted to know. "And if they should happen to +flicker some what are you going to do about it?" + +"I don't know yet," said Biff. "I'll knock your block off first and +think about it afterward!" + +Mr. Ripley hastily drew his overalls back on and slipped the straps +over his shoulders with a snap. + +"You'll tell me when you're going to do it, won't you?" he asked +banteringly, and, a full head taller than Mr. Bates, glared down at +him a moment in contempt. Then he laughed. "I'll give you ten to one +the lights will flicker," he offered to bet. "I wouldn't stop such a +cunning chance for exercise for real money," and, whirling upon his +heel, Mr. Ripley started upon his usual preliminary examination of +dynamos and engines and boilers. + +Quite nonchalantly Mr. Bates, puffing at a particularly villainous +stogie and with his hands resting idly in his pockets, swung after Mr. +Ripley, keeping within almost precisely four feet of him. In the +boiler-room, Ripley, finding Biff still at his heels, said to the +fireman, with a jerk of his thumb over his shoulder: + +"Rocksey, be sure you keep a good head of steam on to-night if you're +a friend of mine. This is Mr. Assistant Works back here, and he's come +in to knock my block off if the lights flicker." + +"Rocksey," a lean man with gray beard-bristles like pins and with +muscles in astounding lumps upon his grimy arms, surveyed Mr. Bates +with a grin which meant volumes. + +"Ring a bell when it starts, will you, Con?" he requested. + +To this Biff paid not the slightest attention, gazing stolidly at the +red fire where it shone through the holes of the furnace doors; but +when Mr. Ripley moved away Biff moved also. Ripley introduced Biff in +much the same terms to a tall man who was oiling the big, +old-fashioned Corliss, and a sudden gleam came into the tall man's +eyes as he recognized Mr. Bates, but he turned back to his oiling +without smile or comment. Ripley eyed him sharply. + +"You'll hold the sponge and water-bottle for me, won't you, Daly?" he +asked, with an evident attempt at jovial conciliation. + +Daly deliberately wiped the slender nose of his oil can and went on +oiling. + +"What's the matter?" asked Ripley with a frown. "Got a grouch again?" + +"Yes, I have," admitted Daly without looking up, and shrugged his +shoulders. + +"Then cut it out," said Ripley, "and look real unpeeved when somebody +hands you tickets to the circus." + +From that moment Mr. Ripley seemed to take a keen delight in goading +Mr. Bates. He took a sudden dash half-way down the length of the long +room, as if going to the extreme other end of the plant, then suddenly +whirled and retraced his steps to meet Biff coming after him; made an +equally sudden dart for the mysterious switch-board, and seized a +lever as if to throw it, but suddenly changed his mind, apparently, +and went away, leaving Mr. Bates to infer that the throwing of that +particular lever would leave them all in darkness; later, with Biff +ready to spring upon him, he threw that switch to show that it had no +important function to perform at all. To all these and many more +ingenious tricks to humiliate him, Mr. Bates paid not the slightest +attention, but, as calmly and as impassively as Fate, kept as nearly +as he could to the four-foot distance he had promised. + +It was about ten o'clock when Biff, interested for a moment in the +switch-board, suddenly missed Ripley, and looking about him hastily he +saw the fireman standing in the door of the boiler-room grinning at +him, while the other workmen--all of whom were of the old regime--were +also enjoying his discomfort; but Daly, catching his eye, nodded +significantly toward the side-door which led upon the street. It was +an almost imperceptible nod, but it was enough for Biff, and he dashed +out of that door. Half a block ahead of him he saw Ripley hurrying, +and took after him with that light, cat-like run which is the height +of effortless and noiseless speed. Ripley, looking back hastily, +hurried into a saloon, and he had scarcely closed the door when Biff +entered after him, in time to see his man standing at the telephone, +receiver in hand. It was the work of but an instant to grab Ripley by +the arm and jerk him away from the 'phone. Quickly recovering his +balance, with a lunge of his whole body Ripley shot a swift fist at +the man who had interfered with him, but Biff, without shifting his +position, jerked his head to one side and the fist shot harmlessly by. +Before another blow could be struck, or parried, the bartender, a +brawny giant, had rushed between them. + +"Let us alone, Jeff," panted Ripley. "I've got all I can stand for +from this rat." + +"Outside!" said Jeff with cold finality. "You can beat him to a pulp +in the street, Con, but there'll be no scrimmage in this place without +me having a hand in it." + +Ripley considered this ultimatum for a moment in silence, and then, to +Biff's surprise, suddenly ran out of the door. It was a tight race to +the plant, and there, with Biff not more than two arms' length behind +him, Ripley jerked at a lever hitherto untouched, and instantly the +place was plunged into complete darkness. + +"There!" screamed Ripley. + +A second later Biff had grappled him, and together they went to the +floor. It was only a moment that the darkness lasted, however, for +tall Tom Daly stood by the replaced switch, looking down at them in +quiet joy. Immediately with the turning on of the light Biff scrambled +to his feet like a cat and waited for Ripley to rise. It was Ripley +who made the first lunge, which Biff dexterously ducked, and +immediately after Biff's right arm shot out, catching his antagonist a +glancing blow upon the side of the cheek; a blow which drew blood. +Infuriated, again Ripley rushed, but was blocked, and for nearly a +minute there was a swift exchange of light blows which did little +damage; then Biff found his opening, and, swinging about the axis of +his own spine, threw the entire force of his body behind his right +arm, and the fist of that arm caught Ripley below the ear and dropped +him like a beef, just as Bobby came running back from, the office. + +"What are you doing here, Biff? What's the matter?" demanded Bobby, as +Ripley, dazed, struggled to his feet, and, though weaving, drew +himself together for another onslaught. + +"Matter!" snarled Biff. "I landed on a frame-up, that's all. This +afternoon I saw Sharpe and this Ripley together in a bum wine-room on +River Street, swapping so much of that earnest conversation that the +partitions bulged, and I dropped to the double-cross that's being +handed out to you. I've been trying to telephone you ever since, but +when I couldn't find you I came right down to run the plant. That's +all." + +"You're all right, Biff," laughed Bobby, "but I guess we'll call this +a one-round affair, and I'll take charge." + +"Don't stop 'em!" cried Daly savagely, turning to Bobby. "Hand it to +him, Biff. He's a crook and an all-round sneak. He beat me out of this +job by underhand means, and there ain't a man in the place that ain't +tickled to death to see him get the beating that's coming to him. +Paste him, Biff!" + +"Biff!" repeated Mr. Ripley, suddenly dropping his hands. "Biff who?" + +"Mr. Biff Bates, the well-known and justly celebrated ex-champion +middleweight," announced Bobby with a grin. "Mr. Ripley--Mr. Bates." + +"Biff Bates!" repeated Con Ripley. "Why didn't some of you guys tell +me this was Biff Bates? Mr. Bates, I'm glad to meet you." And with +much respect he held forth his hand. + +"Go chase yourself," growled Mr. Bates, in infinite scorn. + +Ripley replied with a sudden volley of abuse, couched in the vilest of +language, but to this Biff made no reply. He dropped his hands in his +coat pockets, and, considering his work done, walked over to the wall +and leaned against it, awaiting further developments. + +"Daly," asked Bobby sharply, breaking in upon Ripley's tirade, "are +you competent to run this plant?" + +"Certainly, sir," replied Daly. "I should have had the job four years +ago. I was promised it." + +"You may consider yourself in charge, then. Mr. Ripley, if you will +walk up to the office I'll pay you off." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +BOBBY'S MONEY IS ELECTROCUTED AND JOHN BURNIT'S SON WAKES UP + + +Bobby, jubilant, went to see Chalmers next day. The lawyer listened +gravely, but shook his head. + +"I'm bound to tell you, Mr. Burnit, that you have no case. You must +have more proof than this to bring a charge of conspiracy. Ripley had +a perfect right to talk with Sharpe or to telephone to some one, and +mere hot-headedness could explain his shutting off the lights. Your +over-enthusiastic friend Bates has ruined whatever prospect you might +have had. Your suspicions once aroused, you should have let your man +do as he liked, but should have watched him and caught him in a trap +of some sort. Now it is too late. Moreover, I have bad news for you. +Your contract for city lighting is ironclad, and can not be broken, +but I saw to-day a paper signed by an overwhelming majority of your +private consumers that the service is not even 'reasonably +satisfactory,' and that they wish the field open to competition. With +this paper to back them, Stone's council granted the right to the +Consolidated Company to erect poles, string wires and supply current. +We can bring suit if you say so, but you will lose it." + +"Bring suit, then!" ordered Bobby vehemently. "Why, Chalmers, the +contract for the city lighting alone would cost the Brightlight money +every year. The profit has all been made from private consumers." + +"That's why you're losing it," said Chalmers dryly. "The whole project +is very plain to me now. The Consumers and the United Companies never +cared to enter that field, because their controlling stock-holders +were also the Brightlight controlling stock-holders, and they could +get more money through the Brightlight than they could through the +other companies; and so they led the public to believe that there was +no breaking the monopoly the Brightlight held upon their service. Now, +however, they want to gain another stock-jobbing advertisement by +driving you out of the field. They planned from the first to wreck you +for just that purpose--to make Consolidated stock seem more desirable +when the stock sales began to dwindle--and they are perfectly willing +to furnish the consumers in your twelve blocks with current at their +present ridiculously low rate, because, with them, any possible +profits to be derived from the business are insignificant compared to +the profits to be derived from the sale of their watered stock. The +price of illumination and power, later, will _soar_! Watch it. They're +a very bright crowd," and Mr. Chalmers paused to admire them. + +"In other words," said Bobby glumly. "I am what Biff Bates told me I +would be--the goat." + +"Precisely," agreed Chalmers. + +"Begin suit anyhow," directed Bobby, "and we'll see what comes of it." + +"By the way," called Chalmers with a curious smile as Bobby opened the +door; "I've just learned that one of the foremost enthusiasts in this +whole manipulation has been quiet and conservative Silas Trimmer." + +Bobby did not swear. He simply slammed the door. + +Two days later Bobby was surprised to see Sharpe drop in upon him. + +"I understand you are bringing suit against the Consolidated for +encroachment upon your territory, and against the city for abrogation +of contract," began Sharpe. + +"Yes," said Bobby. + +"Don't you think it rather a waste of money, Mr. Burnit? I can +guarantee you positively that you will not win either suit." + +"I'm willing to wait to find that out." + +"No use," said Sharpe impatiently. "I'll tell you what we will do, Mr. +Burnit. If you care to have us to do so, the Consolidated, a little +later on, will absorb the Brightlight." + +"On what terms?" asked Bobby. + +"It all depends. We might discuss that later. There's another matter +I'd like to speak with you about. Stone wants to see you, even yet. I +want to tell you, Mr. Burnit, he can get along a great deal better +without you than you can without him, as you are probably willing to +admit by now. But he still wants you. Go and see Stone." + +"On--what--terms--will the Consolidated now absorb the Brightlight?" +demanded Bobby sternly. + +"Well," drawled Sharpe, with a complete change of manner, "the +property has deteriorated considerably within a remarkably short space +of time, but I should say that we would buy the Brightlight for three +hundred thousand dollars in stock of the Consolidated, half preferred +and half common." + +"And this is your very best offer?" + +"The very best," replied Sharpe, making no attempt to conceal his +exultant grin. + +"Not on your life," declared Bobby. "I'm going to hold the Brightlight +intact. I'm going to fulfill the city contract at a loss, if it takes +every cent I can scrape together, and then I'm going to enter politics +myself. I'm going to drive Stone and his crowd out of this city, and +we shall see if we can not make a readjustment of the illuminating +business on my basis instead of his. Good day, Mr. Sharpe." + +"Good day, sir," said Sharpe, and this time he laughed aloud. + +At the door he turned. + +"I'd like to call your attention, young man, to the fact that a great +many very determined gentlemen have announced their intention of +driving Mr. Stone and his associates out of this city. You might +compare that with the fact that Mr. Stone and his friends are all here +yet, and on top," and with that he withdrew. + +"If I may be so bold as to say so," said Mr. Applerod, worried to +paleness by this foolish defiance of so great and good a man, "you +have made a very grave error, Mr. Burnit, very grave, indeed. It is +suicidal to defy Mr. Sharpe, and through him _Mr. Stone_!" + +"Will you shut up!" snarled Johnson to his ancient work-mate. "Mr. +Burnit, I have no right to take the liberty, but I am going to +congratulate you, sir. Whatever follies inexperience may have led you +to commit, you are, at any rate, sir, a _man_, like your father was +before you!" and by way of emphasis Johnson smacked his fist on his +desk as he glared in Mr. Applerod's direction. + +"It's all very well to show fight, Johnson," said Bobby, a little +wanly, "but just the same I have to acknowledge defeat. I am afraid I +boasted too much. Chalmers, after considering the matter, positively +refuses to bring suit. The whole game is over. I have the Brightlight +Company on my hands at a net dead loss of every cent I have sunk into +it, and it can not pay me a penny so long as these men remain in +power. I am going to fight them with their own weapons, but that is a +matter of years. In the meantime, my third business attempt is a +hideous failure. Where's the gray envelope, Johnson?" + +"It is here," admitted Johnson, and from his file took the missive in +question. + +As Bobby took the letter from Johnson Agnes came into the office and +swept toward him with outstretched hand. + +"It is perfectly shameful, Bobby! I just read about it!" + +"So soon?" he wanted to know. + +She carried a paper in her hand and spread it before him. In the very +head-line his fate was pronounced. "Brightlight Electric Tottering to +Its Fall," was the cheerful line which confronted him, and beneath +this was set forth the facts that every profitable contract heretofore +held by the Brightlight Electric had been taken away from that +unfortunate concern, in which the equipment was said to be so +inefficient as to render decent service out of the question, and that, +having remaining to it only a money-losing contract for city lighting, +business men were freely predicting its very sudden dissolution. The +item, wherein the head-line took up more space than the news, wound up +with the climax statement that Brightlight stock was being freely +offered at around forty, with no takers. + +To her surprise, Bobby tossed the paper on Johnson's desk and laughed. + +"I have been so long prepared for this bit of 'news' that it does not +shock me much," he said; "moreover, the lower this stock goes the +cheaper I can buy it!" + +"Buy it!" she incredulously exclaimed. + +"Exactly," he stated calmly. "I presume that, as heretofore, I'll be +given another check, and I do not see any better place to put the +money than right here. I am going to fight!" + +"Beg your pardon, sir," said Johnson. "Your last remark was spoken +loud enough to be taken as general, and I am compelled to give you +this envelope." + +Into his hands Johnson placed a mate to the missive which Bobby had +not yet opened, and this one was inscribed: + + _To My Son Robert, Upon His Declaration that He Will Take Two + Starts at the Same Business_ + +Bobby looked at the two letters in frowning perplexity, and then +silently walked into his own office, where Agnes followed him; and it +was she who closed the door. He sat down at his desk and held that +last letter of his father's before him in dread. He had so airily +built up his program; and apprehension told him what this letter might +contain! Presently he was conscious that Agnes' arm was slipped across +his shoulder. She was sitting upon the arm of his chair, and had bent +her cheek upon his head. So they read the curt message: + + "To throw good money after bad is like sprinkling salt on a + cut. It only intensifies the pain and doesn't work much of a + cure. In your case it is strictly forbidden. You must learn to + cut your garment according to your cloth, to bite off only + what you can chew, to lift no more than you can carry. Your + next start must not be encumbered." + +"He's wrong!" declared Bobby savagely. + +"But if he is," protested Agnes, "what can you do about it?" + +"If his bequests are conditional I shall have to accept the +conditions; but, nevertheless, I am going to fight; and I am going to +keep the Brightlight Electric!" + +Mechanically he opened the other letter now. The contents were to this +effect: + + _To My Son Upon His Losing Money in a Public Service + Corporation_ + + "Every buzz-saw claims some fingers. Of course you had to be a + victim, but now you know how to handle a buzz-saw. The first + point about it is to treat it with respect. When you realize + thoroughly that a buzz-saw is dangerous, half the danger is + gone. So, when your wound is healed, you might go ahead and + saw, just as a matter of accomplishment. Bobby, how I wish I + could talk with you now, for just one little half hour." + +Convulsively Bobby crumpled the letter in his hand and the tears +started to his eyes. + +"Bully old dad!" he said brokenly, and opened his watch-case, where +the grim but humor-loving face of old John Burnit looked up at his +beloved children. + +"And now what are you going to do?" Agnes asked him presently, when +they were calmer. + +"Fight!" he vehemently declared. "For the governor's sake as well as +my own." + +"I just found another letter for you, sir," said Johnson, handing in +the third of the missives to come in that day's mail from beyond the +Styx. It was inscribed: + + _To My Son Robert Upon the Occasion of His Declaring Fight + Against the Politicians Who Robbed Him_ + + "Nothing but public laziness allows dishonest men to control + public affairs. Any time an honest man puts up a sincere fight + against a crook there's a new fat man in striped clothes. If + you have a crawful and want to fight against dirty politics in + earnest, jump in, and tell all my old friends to put a bet + down on you for me. I'd as soon have you spend in that way the + money I made as to buy yachts with it; and I can see where the + game might be made as interesting as polo. Go in and win, + boy." + +"And now what are you going to do?" Agnes asked him, laughing this +time. + +"Fight!" he declared exultantly. "I'm going to fight entirely outside +of my father's money. I'm going to fight with my own brawn and my own +brain and my own resources and my own personal following! Why, Agnes, +that is what the governor has been goading me to do. It is what all +this is planned for, and the governor, after all, is right!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +SOME EMINENT ARTISTS AMUSE MEESTER BURNIT WHILE HE WAITS + + +One might imagine, after Bobby's heroic declarations, that, like young +David of old, he would immediately proceed to stride forth and slay +his giant. There stood his Goliath, full panoplied, sneering, waiting; +but alas! Bobby had neither sling nor stone. It was all very well to +announce in fine frenzy that he would smash the Consolidated, destroy +the political ring, drive Sam Stone and his henchmen out of town and +wrest all his goods and gear from Silas Trimmer; but until he could +find a place to plant his foot, descry an opening in the armor and +procure an adequate weapon, he might just as well bottle his fuming +and wait; so Bobby waited. In the meantime he stuck very closely to +the Brightlight office, finding there, in the practice of petty +economics and the struggle with well-nigh impossible conditions, ample +food for thought. In a separate bank reposed the new fund of two +hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which he kept religiously aside +from the affairs of the Brightlight, and this fund also waited; for +Bobby was not nearly so feverish to find instant employment for it as +he had been with the previous ones--though he had endless chances. +People with the most unheard of schemes seemed to have a peculiar +scent for unsophisticated money, and not only local experts in the +gentle art of separation flocked after him, but out of town +specialists came to him in shoals. To these latter he took great +satisfaction in displaying the gem of his collection of post-mortem +letters from old John Burnit: + + "You don't need to go away from home to be skinned; moreover, + it isn't patriotic." + +That usually stopped them. He was growing quite sophisticated, was +Bobby, quite able to discern the claws beneath the velvet paw, quite +suspicious of all the ingenious gentlemen who wanted to make a fortune +for him; and their frantic attempts to "get his goat," as Biff Bates +expressed it, had become as good as a play to this wise young person, +as also to the wise young person's trustee. + +Agnes, who was helping Bobby wait, came occasionally to the office of +the Brightlight on business, and nearly always Bobby had reduced to +paper some gaudy new scheme that had been proposed to him, over which +they both might laugh. In great hilarity one morning they were going +over the prospectus of a plan to reclaim certain swamp lands in +Florida, when the telephone bell rang, and from Bobby's difficulty in +understanding and his smile as he hung up the receiver, Agnes knew +that something else amusing had turned up. + +[Illustration: Little me to trot out and find an angel. Are you it?] + +"It is from Schmirdonner," he explained as he turned to her again. +"He's the conductor of the orchestra at the Orpheum, you know. I +gather from what he says that there are some stranded musicians here +who probably speak worse English than myself, and he's sending them up +to me to see about arranging a benefit for them. You'd better wait; it +might be fun, or you might want to help arrange the benefit." + +"No," disclaimed Agnes, laughing and drawing her impedimenta together +for departure, "I'll leave both the fun and the philanthropy to you. I +know you're quite able to take care of them. I'll just wait long +enough to hear how we're to get rid of the water down in Florida. I +suppose we bore holes in the ground and let it run out." + +"By no means," laughed Bobby. "It's no where near so absurdly simple +as that," and he turned once more to the prospectus which lay open on +the desk before them. + +Before they were through with it there suddenly erupted into the outer +office, where Johnson and Applerod glared at each other day by day +over their books, a pandemonium of gabbling. Agnes, with a little +exclamation of dismay at the time she had wasted, rose in a hurry, and +immediately after she passed through the door there bounded into the +room a rotund little German with enormous and extremely thick glasses +upon his knob of a nose, a grizzled mustache that poked straight up on +both sides of that knob, and an absurd toupee that flared straight out +all around on top of the bald spot to which it was pasted. Behind him +trailed a pudgy man of so exactly the Herr Professor's height and +build that it seemed as if they were cast in the same spherical mold, +but he was much younger and had jet black hair and a jet black +mustache of such tiny proportions as to excite amazement and even awe. +Still behind him was as unusually large young woman, fully a head +taller than either of the two men, who had an abundance of jet black +hair, and was dressed in a very rich robe and wrap, both of which were +somewhat soiled and worn. + +"Signor R-r-r-r-icardo, der grosse tenore--Mees-ter Burnit," +introduced the rotund little German, with a deep bow commensurate with +the greatness of the great tenor. "Signorina Car-r-r-avaggio--Mees-ter +Burnit. I, Mees-ter Burnit, _Ich bin_ Brofessor Fruehlingsvogel." + +Bobby, for the lack of any other handy greeting, merely bowed and +smiled, whereupon Signorina Caravaggio, stepping into a breach which +otherwise would certainly have been embarrassing, seated herself +comfortably upon the edge of Bobby's desk and swung one large but +shapely foot while she explained matters. + +"It's like this, Mr. Burnit," she confidently began: "when that +dried-up little heathen, Matteo, who tried to run the Neapolitan Grand +Opera Company with stage money, got us this far on a tour that is a +disgrace to the profession, he had a sudden notion that he needed +ocean air; so he took what few little dollars were in the treasury and +hopped right on into New York. + +"Here we are, then, at the place we were merely 'to make connections,' +two hundred miles from our next booking and without enough money among +us to buy a postage stamp. We haven't seen a cent of salary for six +weeks, and the only thing we can do is to seize the props and scenery +and costumes, see if they can be sold, and disband, unless somebody +gallops to the rescue in a hurry. Professor Fruehlingsvogel happened to +know another Dutchman here who conducts an orchestra at the Orpheum, +and he sent us to you. He said you knew all the swell set and could +start a benefit going if anybody in town could." + +"Yes," said Bobby, smiling; "Schmirdonner telephoned me just a few +minutes ago that the Herr Professor Fruehlingsvogel would be up to see +me, and asked me to do what I could. How many of you are there?" + +"Seventy-three," promptly returned Signorina Caravaggio, "and all +hungry. Forty singers and an orchestra of thirty--seventy--besides +props and the stage manager and Herr Fruehlingsvogel, who is the +musical director." + +"Where are you stopping?" asked Bobby, aghast at the size of the +contract that was offered him. + +"We're not," laughed the great Italian songstress. "We all went up and +registered at a fourth-rate place they call the Hotel Larken, but +that's as far as we got, for we were told before the ink was dry that +we'd have to come across before we got a single biscuit; so there they +are, scattered about the S. R. O. parts of that little two-by-twice +hotel, waiting for little me to trot out and find an angel. Are you +it?" + +"I can't really promise what I can do," hesitated Bobby, who had never +been able to refuse assistance where it seemed to be needed; "but I'll +run down to the club and see some of the boys about getting up a +subscription concert for you. How much help will you need?" + +"Enough to land us on little old Manhattan Island." + +"And there are over seventy of you to feed and take care of for, say, +three days, and then to pay railroad fares for," mused Bobby, a little +startled as the magnitude of the demand began to dawn upon him. "Then +there's the music-hall, advertising, printing and I suppose a score of +other incidentals. You need quite a pile of money. However, I'll go +down to the club at lunch time and see what I can do for you." + +"I knew you would the minute I looked at you," said the Signorina +confidently, which was a compliment or not, the way one looked at it. +"But, say; I've got a better scheme than that, one that will let you +make a little money instead of contributing. I understand the Orpheum +has next week dark, through yesterday's failure of The Married +Bachelor Comedy Company. Why don't you get the Orpheum for us and back +our show for the week? We have twelve operas in our repertoire. The +scenery and props are very poor, the costumes are only half-way decent +and the chorus is the rattiest-looking lot you ever saw in your life; +but they can sing. They went into the discard on account of their +faces, poor things. Suppose you come over and have a look. They'd melt +you to tears." + +"That won't be necessary," hastily objected Bobby; "but I'll meet a +lot of the fellows at lunch, and afterward I'll let you know." + +"After lunch!" exclaimed the Signorina with a most expressive placing +of her hands over her belt, whereat the Herr Professor and Der Grosse +Tenore both turned most wistfully to Bobby to see what effect this +weighty plea might have upon him. "Lunch!" she repeated. "If you would +carry a fork-full of steaming spaghetti into the Hotel Larken at this +minute you'd start a riot. Why, Mr. Burnit, if you're going to do +anything for us you've got to get into action, because we've been up +since seven and we still want our breakfasts." + +"Breakfast!" exclaimed Bobby, looking hastily at his watch. It was now +eleven-thirty. "Come on; we'll go right over to the Larken, wherever +that may be," and he exhibited as much sudden haste as if he had seen +seventy people actually starving before his very eyes. + +Just as the quartette stepped out of the office, Biff Bates, just +coming in, bustled up to Bobby with: + +"Can I see you just a minute, Bobby? Kid Mills is coming around to my +place this afternoon." + +"Haven't time just now, Biff," said Bobby; "but jump into the machine +with us and I'll do the 'chauffing.' That will make room for all of +us. We can talk on the way to the Hotel Larken. Do you know where it +is?" + +"Me?" scorned Biff. "If there is an inch of this old town I can't put +my finger on in the dark, blindfolded, I'll have that inch dug out and +thrown away." + +At the curb, with keen enjoyment of the joke of it all, Bobby gravely +introduced Mr. Biff Bates, ex-champion middle-weight, to these +imported artists, but, very much to his surprise, Signorina Caravaggio +and Professor Bates struck up an instant and animated conversation +anent Biff's well-known and justly-famous victory over Slammer Young, +and so interested did they become in this conversation that instead of +Biff's sitting up in the front seat, as Bobby had intended, the +eminent instructor of athletics manoeuvered the Herr Professor into +that post of honor and climbed into the tonneau with Signor Ricardo +and the Signorina, with the latter of whom he talked most volubly all +the way over, to the evidently vast annoyance of Der Grosse Tenore. + +The confusion of tongues must have been a very tame and quiet affair +as compared to the polyglot chattering which burst upon Bobby's ears +when he entered the small lobby of the Hotel Larken. The male members +of the Neapolitan Grand Opera Company, almost to a man, were smoking +cigarettes. There were swarthy little men and swarthy big men, there +seeming to be no medium sizes among them, while the women were the +most wooden-featured lot that Bobby had ever encountered, and the +entire crowd was swathed in gay but dingy clothing of the most +nondescript nature. Really, had Bobby not been assured that they were +grand opera singers he would have taken them for a lot of immigrants, +for they had that same unhappy expression of worry. The principals +could be told from the chorus and the members of the orchestra from +the fact that they stood aloof from the rest and from one another, +gloomily nursing their grievances that they, each one the most +illustrious member of the company, should thus be put to +inconvenience! It was a monstrous thing that they, the possessors of +glorious voices which the entire world should at once fall down and +worship, should be actually hungry and out of money! It was, oh, +unbelievable, atrocious, barbarous, positively inhuman! + +With the entrance of the Signorina Caravaggio, bearing triumphantly +with her the neatly-dressed and altogether money-like Bobby Burnit, +one hundred and forty wistful eyes, mostly black and dark brown, were +immediately focused in eager interest upon the possible savior. Behind +the desk, perplexed and distracted but still grimly firm, stood frowzy +Widow Larken herself, drawn and held to the post of duty by this vast +and unusual emergency. Not one room had Madam Larken saved for all +these alien warblers, not one morsel of food had she loosed from her +capacious kitchen; and yet not one member of the company had she +permitted to stray outside her doors while Signorina Caravaggio and +Signor Ricardo and the Herr Professor Fruehlingsvogel had gone out to +secure an angel, two stout porters being kept at the front door to +turn back the restless. If provision could be made to pay the bills of +this caravan, the Widow Larken--who was shaped like a pillow with a +string tied around it and wore a face like a huge, underdone apple +dumpling--was too good a business woman to overlook that opportunity. +Bobby took one sweeping glance at that advancing circle of one hundred +and forty eyes and turned to Widow Larken. + +"I will be responsible for the hotel bills of these people until +further notice," said he. + +The Widow Larken, looking intently at Bobby's scarf-pin, relented no +whit in her uncompromising attitude. + +"And who might you be?" she demanded, with a calm brow and cold +determination. + +"I am Robert J. Burnit," said Bobby. "I'll give you a written order if +you like--or a check." + +The Widow Larken's uncompromising expression instantly melted, but she +did not smile--she grinned. Bobby knew precisely the cause of that +amused expression, but if he had needed an interpreter, he had one at +his elbow in the person of Biff Bates, who looked up at him with a +reflection of the same grin. + +"They're all next to you, Bobby," he observed. "The whole town knows +that you're the real village goat." + +The Widow Larken did not answer Bobby directly. She called back to a +blue-overall-clad porter at the end of the lobby: + +"Open the dining-room doors, Michael." + +Signorina Caravaggio immediately said a few guttural words in German +to Professor Fruehlingsvogel, a few limpid words in Italian to Signor +Ricardo a few crisp words in French to Madame Villenauve, a nervous +but rather attractive little woman with piercing black eyes. The +singers of other languages did not wait to be informed; they joined +the general stampede toward the ravishing paradise of midday +breakfast, and as the last of them vacated the lobby, the principals +no whit behind the humble members of the chorus in crowding and +jamming through that doorway, Bobby breathed a sigh of relief. Only +the Signorina was left to him, and Bobby hesitated just a moment as it +occurred to him that, perhaps, a more personal entertainment was +expected by this eminent songstress. Biff Bates, however, relieved him +of his dilemma. + +"While you're gone down to see the boys at the Idlers' Club," said +Biff, "I'm going to take Miss Carry--Miss--Miss--" + +"Caravaggio," interrupted the Signorina with a repetition of a laugh +which had convinced Bobby that, after all, she might be a singer, +though her speaking voice gave no trace of it. + +"Carrie for mine," insisted Biff with a confident grin. "I'm going to +take Miss Carrie out to lunch some place where they don't serve +prunes. I guess the Hotel Spender will do for us." + +Bobby surveyed Biff with an indulgent smile. + +"Thanks," said he. "That will give me time to see what I can do." + +"You take my advice, Mr. Burnit," earnestly interposed the Signorina. +"Don't bother with your friends. Go and see the manager of the Orpheum +and ask him about that open date. Ask him if he thinks it wouldn't be +a good investment for you to back us." + +Biff, the conservative; Biff, whose vote was invariably for the +negative on any proposition involving an investment of Bobby's funds, +unexpectedly added his weight for the affirmative. + +"It's a good stunt, Bobby. Go to it," he counseled, and the Caravaggio +smiled down at him. + +Again Bobby laughed. + +"All right, Biff," said he. "I'll hunt up the manager of the Orpheum +right away." + +In his machine he conveyed Biff and the prima donna to the Hotel +Spender, and then drove to the Orpheum. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +WITH THE RELUCTANT CONSENT OF AGNES, BOBBY BECOMES A PATRON OF MUSIC + + +The manager of the Orpheum was a strange evolution. He was a man who +had spent a lifetime in the show business, running first a concert +hall that "broke into the papers" every Sunday morning with an account +of from two to seven fights the night before, then an equally +disreputable "burlesque" house, the broad attractions of which +appealed to men and boys only. To this, as he made money, he added the +cheapest and most blood-curdling melodrama theater in town, then a +"regular" house of the second grade. In his career he had endured two +divorce cases of the most unattractive sort, and, among quiet and +conventional citizens, was supposed to have horns and a barbed tail +that snapped sparks where it struck on the pavement. When he first +purchased the Orpheum Theater, the most exclusive playhouse of the +city, he began to appear in its lobby every night in a dinner-coat or +a dress-suit, silk topper and all, with an almost modest diamond stud +in his white shirt-front; and ladies, as they came in, asked in awed +whispers of their husbands: "Is _that_ Dan Spratt?" Some few who had +occasion to meet him went away gasping: "Why, the man seems really +nice!" Others of "the profession," about whom the public never knew, +spoke his name with tears of gratitude. + +Mr. Spratt, immersed in troubles of his own, scarcely looked up as +Bobby entered, and only grunted in greeting. + +"Spratt," began Bobby, who knew the man quite well through "sporting" +events engineered by Biff Bates, "the Neapolitan Grand Opera Company +is stranded here, and--" + +"Where are they?" interrupted Spratt eagerly, all his abstraction +gone. + +"At the Hotel Larken," began Bobby again. "I--" + +"Have they got their props and scenery?" + +"Everything, I understand," said Bobby. "I came around to see you--" + +"Who's running the show?" demanded Spratt. + +"Their manager decamped with the money--with what little there was," +explained Bobby, "and they came to me by accident. I understand you +have an open date next week." + +"It's not open now," declared Spratt. "The date is filled with the +Neapolitan Grand Opera Company." + +"There doesn't seem to be much use of my talking, then," said Bobby, +smiling. + +"Not much," said Spratt. "They're a good company, but I've noticed +from the reports that they've been badly managed. The Dago that +brought them over didn't know the show business in this country and +tried to run the circus himself; and, of course, they've gone on the +rocks. It's great luck that they landed here. I just heard a bit ago +that they were in town. I suppose they're flat broke." + +"Why, yes," said Bobby. "I just went up to the Hotel Larken and said +I'd be responsible for their hotel bill." + +"Oh," said Spratt. "Then you're backing them for their week here." + +"Well, I'm not quite sure about that," hesitated Bobby. + +"If you don't, I will," offered Spratt. "There's a long line of +full-dress Willies here that'll draw their week's wages in advance to +attend grand opera in cabs. At two and a half for the first sixteen +rows they'll pack the house for the week, and every diamond in the +hock-shops will get an airing for the occasion. But you saw it first, +Burnit, and I won't interfere." + +"Well, I don't know," Bobby again hesitated. "I haven't fully--" + +"Go ahead," urged Spratt heartily. "It's your pick-up and I'll get +mine. Hey, Spencer!" + +A thin young man, with hair so light that he seemed to have no hair at +all and no eyebrows, came in. + +"We've booked the Neapolitan Grand Opera Company for next week. Have +they got Caravaggio and Ricardo with them?" he asked, turning abruptly +to Bobby. + +Bobby, with a smile, nodded his head. + +"All right, Spence; get busy on some press stuff for the afternoon +papers. You can fake notices about them from what you know. Use +two-inch streamers clear across the pages, then you can get some fresh +stuff and the repertoire to-night for the morning papers. Play it up +strong, Spence. Use plenty of space; and, say, tell Billy to get ready +for a three o'clock rehearsal. Now, Burnit, let's go up to the Larken +and make arrangements." + +"We might just as well wait an hour," counseled Bobby. "The only one I +found in the crowd who could speak English was Signorina Caravaggio." + +"I know her," said Spratt. "Her other name's Nora McGinnis. Smart +woman, too, and straight as a string; and sing! Why, that big ox can +sing a bird off a tree." + +"She's just gone over to lunch with Biff Bates at the Spender," +observed Bobby, "and we'd better wait for her. She seems to be the +leading spirit." + +"Of course she is. Let's go right over to the Spender." + +Biff Bates did not seem overly pleased when his tete-a-tete luncheon +was interrupted by Bobby and Mr. Spratt, but the Signorina Nora very +quickly made it apparent that business was business. Arrangements were +promptly made to attach the carload of effects for back salaries due +the company, and to lease these to Bobby for the week for a nominal +sum. Bobby was to pay the regular schedule of salaries for that week +and make what profit he could. A rehearsal of _Carmen_ was to be +called that afternoon at three, and a repertoire was arranged. + +Feeling very much exhilarated after all this, Bobby drove out in his +automobile after lunch to see Agnes Elliston. He found that young lady +and Aunt Constance about to start for a drive, their carriage being +already at the door, but without any ceremony he bundled them into his +machine instead. + +"Purely as my trustee," he explained, "Agnes must inspect my new +business venture." + +Aunt Constance smiled. + +"The trusteeship of Agnes hasn't done you very much good so far," she +observed. "As a matter of fact, if she wanted to build up a reputation +as an expert trustee, I don't think she could accomplish much by +printing in her circulars the details of her past stewardship." + +"I don't want her to work up a reputation as a trustee," retorted +Bobby. "She suits me just as she is, and I'm inclined to thank the +governor for having loaded her down with the job." + +"I'm becoming reconciled to it myself," admitted Agnes, smiling up at +him. "Really, I have great faith that one day you will learn how to +take care of money--if the money holds out that long. What is the new +venture, Bobby?" + +He grinned quite cheerfully. + +"I am about to become an angel," he said quite solemnly. + +Aunt Constance shook her head. + +"No, Bobby," she said kindly; "there _are_ spots, you know, where +angels fear to tread." + +But Agnes took the declaration with no levity whatever. + +"You don't mean in a theatrical sense?" she inquired. + +"_In_ a theatrical sense," he insisted. "I am about to back the +Neapolitan Grand Opera Company." + +"Why, Bobby!" objected Agnes, aghast. "You surely don't mean it! I +never thought you would contemplate anything so preposterous as that. +I thought it was to be only a benefit!" + +"It's only a temporary arrangement," he reassured her, laughing that +he had been taken so seriously. "I'm arranging so that they can earn +their way out of town; that's all. I am taking you down now to see +their first rehearsal." + +"I don't care to go," she declared, in a tone so piqued that Bobby +turned to her in mute astonishment. + +Aunt Constance laughed at his look of utter perplexity. + +"How little you understand, Bobby," she said. "Don't you see that +Agnes is merely jealous?" + +"Indeed not!" Agnes indignantly denied. "That is an idea more absurd +than the fact that Bobby should go into such an enterprise at all. +However, since I lay myself open to such a suspicion I shall offer no +further objection to going." + +Bobby looked at her curiously and then he carefully refrained from +chuckling, for Aunt Constance, though joking, had told the truth. +Instant visions of dazzling sopranos, of mezzos and contraltos, of +angelic voices and of vast beauty and exquisite gowning, had flashed +in appalling procession before her mental vision. The idea, in the +face of the appalling actuality, was so rich that Bobby pursued it no +further lest he spoil it, and talked about the weather and equally +inane topics the rest of the way. + +It was not until they had turned into the narrow alley at the side of +the Orpheum, and from that to the still more narrow alley at its rear, +that the zest of adventure began to make amends to Agnes for certain +disagreeable moments of the ride. At the stage door a particularly +bewildered-looking man with a rolling eye and a weak jaw, rendered +limp and helpless by the polyglot aliens who had flocked upon him, +strickenly let them in, to grope their way, amid what seemed an +inextricable confusion, but was in reality the perfection of +orderliness, upon the dim stage, beyond which stretched, in vast +emptiness, the big, black auditorium. Upon the stage, chattering in +shrill voices, were the forty members of the company, still in their +queer clothing, while down in front, where shaded lights--seeming dull +and discouraged amid all the surrounding darkness--streamed upon the +music, were the members of the orchestra, chattering just as volubly. +The general note was quite different in pitch from the one Bobby had +heard that morning, for since he had seen them the members of the +organization had been fed, and life looked cheerful. + +Wandering at a loss among these people, and trying in the dim twilight +to find some face that he knew, the ears of Bobby and his party were +suddenly assailed by an extremely harsh and penetrating voice which +shouted: + +"Clear!" + +This was accompanied by a sharp clap from a pair of very broad hands. +The chattering suddenly took on a rapid crescendo, ascending a full +third in the scale and then dying abruptly in a little high falsetto +shriek; and Bobby, with a lady upon either arm, found his little trio +immediately alone in the center of the stage, a row of dim footlights +cutting off effectually any view into the vast emptiness of the +auditorium. + +"Hey, you; _clear_!" came the harsh voice again, accompanied by +another sharp clap of the hands, and a bundle of intense fighting +energy bounced out from the right tormentor wing, in the shape of a +gaunt, fiercely-mustached and entirely bald man of about forty-five, +who appeared perpetually to be in the last stages of distraction. + +"Who do you weesh to see?" demanded the gaunt man, in a very decided +foreign accent. He had made a very evident attempt to be quite polite +indeed, and forgiving of people who did not know enough to spring for +the wings at the sound of that magic word, "Clear!" + +Any explanations that Bobby might have tried to make were happily +prevented by a voice from the yawning blackness--a quiet voice, a +voice of authority, the voice of Mr. Spratt. + +"Come right down in front here, Burnit. Jimmy, show the gentleman how +to get down." + +"Thees way," snapped the gaunt man, with evident relief but no +abatement whatever of his briskness, and he very hastily walked over +to the right wings, where Jimmy, the house electrician, piloted the +trio with equal relief through the clustered mass of singers to the +door behind the boxes. As they emerged into the auditorium the raucous +voice of the gaunt man was heard to shout: "All ready now. _Carmen_ +all ze way through." An apparent repetition of which statement he +immediately made with equal raucousness in two or three languages. +There was a call to Caravaggio in English, to Ricardo and the Signers +Fivizzano and Rivaroli in Italian, to Messrs. Philippi and +Schaerbeeken in Spanish and Dutch, to Madam Villenauve in French, to +Madam Kadanoff in Russian, and to Mademoiselle Toeroek in Hungarian, to +know if they were ready; then, in rough but effective German, he +informed the Herr Professor down in the orchestra that all was +prepared, clapped his hands, cried "Overture," and immediately plunged +to the right upper entrance, marked by two chairs, where, with shrill +objurgations, he began instructing and drilling the Soldiers' Chorus +out of certain remembered awkwardnesses, as Herr Fruehlingsvogel's +baton fell for the overture. + +Shorn of all the glamor that scenic environment, light effects and +costume could give them, it was a distinct shock to Agnes to gaze in +wondering horror from each one of those amazing faces to the other, +and when the cigarette girls trooped out, amazement gave way to +downright consternation. Nevertheless, she cheered up considerably, +and the apex of her cheerfulness was reached when the oversized +Signorina Caravaggio sang, very musically, however, the role of the +petite and piquant Carmen. It was then that, sitting by Bobby in the +darkness, Agnes observed with a sigh of content: + +"Your trustee quite approves, Bobby. I don't mind being absolutely +truthful for once in my life. I _was_ a little jealous. But how could +I be? Really, their voices are fine." + +Mr. Spratt, too, was of that opinion, and he came back to Bobby to say +so most emphatically. + +"They'll do," said he. "After the first night they'll have this town +crazy. If the seat sale don't go right for Monday we'll pack the house +with paper, and the rest of the week will go big. Just hear that +Ricardo! The little bit of a sawed-off toad sings like a canary. If +you don't look at 'em, they're great." + +They _were_ superb. From the throats of that ill-favored chorus there +came divine harmony, smooth, evenly-balanced, exhilarating, almost +flawless, and as the great musical poem of passion unfolded and the +magnificent aria of Don Jose was finished in the second act, the +little group of listeners down in front burst into involuntary +applause, to which there was but one dissenting voice. This voice, +suddenly evolving out of the darkness at Bobby's side, ejaculated with +supreme disgust: + +"Well, what do you think of that! Why, that fat little fishworm of a +Dago is actually gone bug-house over Miss McGinnis," a fact which had +been obvious to all of them the minute small Ricardo began to sing his +wonderful love song to large Caravaggio. + +The rest of them had found only amusement in the fact, but to Biff +Bates there was nothing funny about this. He sat in speechless +disapproval throughout the balance of that much-interrupted +performance, wherein Professor Fruehlingsvogel, now and then, stopped +his music with a crash to shriek an excited direction that it was all +wrong, that it was execrable, that it was a misdemeanor, a crime, a +murder to sing it in that way! The passage must be all sung over; or, +at other times, the gaunt stage director, whose name was Monsieur +Noire, would rush with a hoarse howl down to Herr Professor, order him +to stop the music, and, turning, berate some unfortunate performer who +had defied the conventions of grand opera by acting quite naturally. +On the whole, however, it was a very creditable performance, and +Bobby's advisers gave the project their unqualified approval. + +"It is really a commendable thing," Aunt Constance complacently +announced, "to encourage music of this order, and to furnish such a +degree of cultivation for the masses." + +It was a worthy project indeed. As for the company itself there could +be no question that it was a good one. No one expected acting in grand +opera, no one expected that the performers would be physically +adaptable to their parts. The voice! The voice was all. Even Agnes +admitted that it was a splendid thing to be a patron of the fine arts; +but Bobby, in his profound new wisdom and his thorough conversion to +strictly commercial standards, said with vast iconoclasm: + +"You are overlooking the main point. I am not so anxious to become a +patron of the fine arts as I am to make money," with which terrible +heresy he left them at home, with a thorough understanding that he was +quite justified in his new venture; though next morning, when he +confided the fact to Johnson, that worthy, with a sigh, presented him +with an appropriate missive from among those in the gray envelopes +left in his care by the late John Burnit. It was inscribed: + + _To My Son Robert, Upon His Deciding to Back a Theatrical + Venture_ + + "Sooner or later, every man thinks it would be a fine thing to + run a show, and the earlier in life it happens the sooner a + man will have it out of his system. I tried it once myself, + and I know. So good luck to you, my boy, and here's hoping + that you don't get stung too badly." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +STILL WITH THE RELUCTANT CONSENT OF AGNES, BOBBY INVESTS IN THE FINE +ARTS + + +That week's "season of grand opera" was an unqualified success, +following closely the lines laid down by the experienced Mr. Spratt. +Caravaggio and Ricardo and Philippi and Villenauve became household +words, after the Monday night performance of _Carmen_, and for the +balance of the week shining carriages rolled up to the entrance of the +Orpheum, disgorging load after load of high-hatted gentlemen and +long-plumed ladies. Before the end of the engagement it was definitely +known that Bobby's investment would yield a profit, even deducting for +the days of idleness during which he had been compelled to support the +rehearsing company. The powers of darkness thereupon set vigorously to +work upon him to carry the company on through the rest of its season. + +It was then that the storm broke. Against his going further with the +company Agnes Elliston interposed an objection so decided and so +unflattering that the _entente cordiale_ at the Elliston home was +strained dangerously near to the breaking point, and in this she was +aided and abetted by Aunt Constance, who ridiculed him, and by Uncle +Dan Elliston, who took him confidentially for a grave and hardheaded +remonstrance. Chalmers, Johnson, and even Applerod wrestled with him +in spirit; his friends at the Idlers' Club "guyed" him unmercifully, +and even Biff Bates, though his support was earnestly sought by the +Signorina Caravaggio, also counseled him roughly against it, and +through it all Bobby was made to feel that he was a small boy who had +proposed to eat a peck of green apples and then go in swimming in +dog-days. Another note from his father, handed to him by the faithful +and worried Johnson, was the deciding straw: + + _To My Son Robert, About That Theatrical Venture_ + + "When a man who knows nothing of the business backs a show, + there's usually a woman at the bottom of it--and that kind of + woman is mostly rank poison to a normal man, even if she is a + good woman. No butterfly ever goes back into its chrysalis and + becomes a grub again. Let birds of a feather flock together, + Bobby." + +That unfortunate missive, for once shooting so wide the mark, pushed +Bobby over the edge. There was a streak of stubbornness in him which, +well developed and turned into proper channels, was likely to be very +valuable, but until he learned to use that stubbornness in the right +way it bade fair to plunge him into more difficulties than he could +extricate himself from with profit. Even Agnes, reading that note, +indignantly agreed with Bobby that he was being unjustly misread. + +"It is absurd," he explained to her. "This is the first +dividend-paying investment I have been able to make so far, and I'm +going to keep it up just as long as I can make money out of it. I'd be +very foolish if I didn't. Besides, this is just a little in-between +flyer, while I'm conservatively waiting for a good, legitimate +opening. It can take, at most, but a very small part of my two hundred +and fifty thousand." + +Agnes, though defending him against his father, was still reluctant +about the trip, but suddenly, with a curious smile, she withdrew all +objections and even urged him to go ahead. + +"Bobby," said she, still with that curious smile and strangely shining +eyes, and putting both her hands upon his shoulders, "I see that you +must go ahead with this. I--I guess it will be good for you. Somehow, +I think that this is to be your last folly, that you are really +learning that the world is not all polo and honor-bets. So go +ahead--and I'll wait here." + +He could not know how much that hurt her. He only knew, after she had +talked more lightly of his trip, that he had her full and free +consent, and, highly elated with his first successful business +venture, he took up the contracts of the Neapolitan Grand Opera +Company where Signor Matteo, the decamped manager and producer, had +dropped them. The members of the company having attached the scenery +and effects for back salaries, sold them to Bobby for ten thousand +dollars, and he immediately found himself confronted by demands for +settlements, with the alternative of damage suits, from the two cities +in which the company had been booked for the two past weeks. + +Had Bobby not bound himself irrevocably to contracts which made him +liable for the salaries of every member of this company for the next +twenty weeks, he would have withdrawn instantly at the first hint of +these suits; but, now that he was in for it, he promptly compromised +them at a rate which made Spratt furious. + +"If I'd thought," said Spratt angrily in the privacy of the Orpheum +office, "that you were sucker enough to get roped in for the full +season, I'd have tossed you out of the running for this week. This +game is a bigger gamble than the Stock Exchange. The smartest +producers in the business never know when they have a winner or a +loser. More than that, while all actors are hard to handle, of all the +combinations on earth, a grand opera company is the worst. I'll bet a +couple of cold bottles that before you're a week on the road you'll +have leaks in your dirigible over some crazy dramatic stunts that are +not in the book of any opera of the Neapolitan repertoire." + +The prediction was so true that it was proved that very night, which +was Friday, during the repetition of _Carmen_. It seemed that Biff +Bates, by means of the supreme dominance of the Caravaggio, had been +made free of the stage, a rare privilege, and one that enabled Biff to +spend his time, under unusual and romantic circumstances, very much in +the company of the Celtic Signorina; all of which was very much to the +annoyance, distress and fury of Signor Ricardo, especially on _Carmen_ +night. At all other times the great Ricardo thought very well indeed +of the Signorina Nora, only being in any degree near to unfaithfulness +when, on _Aida_ nights, he sang to vivacious little Madam Villenauve; +but on _Carmen_ nights he was devotedly, passionately, madly in love +with the divine Car-r-r-r-avaggio! Else how could he sing the +magnificent second act aria? Life without her on those nights would be +a hollow mockery, the glance of any possible rival in her direction a +desecration. Why, he even had to restrain himself to keep from doing +actual damage to Philippi, who, though on the shady side of +forty-five, still sang a most dashing Escamillo; nor was his jealousy +less poignant because Philippi and Caravaggio were sworn enemies. + +Thus it may be understood--by any one, at least, who has ever loved +ecstatically and fervidly and even hectically, like the great +Ricardo--how on Monday and Wednesday nights and the Thursday matinee, +all of which were Caravaggio performances, he resented Biff's +presence. From dark corners he more darkly watched them chatting in +frank enjoyment of each other's company; he made unexpected darts in +front of their very eyes to greet them with the most alarming scowls; +and because he insolently brushed the shoulder of the peaceably +inclined and self-sure Biff upon divers occasions, and Biff made no +sign of resentment, he imagined that Biff trembled in his boots +whenever he noted the approach of the redoubtable Ricardo with his +infinitesimal but ferocious mustachios. Great, then, was his wonder, +to say nothing of his rage, when Biff, after all the scowls and +shoulderings that he had received on Thursday, actually came around +for Friday night's _Carmen_ performance! + +Even before the fierce Ricardo had gone into his dressing-room he was +already taking upon himself the deadly character of Don Jose, and his +face surged red with fury when he saw Biff Bates, gaily laughing as if +no doom impended, come in at the stage door with the equally gay and +care-free Caravaggio. But after Signor Ricardo had donned the costume +and the desperateness of the brigadier Don Jose--it was then that the +fury sank into his soul! And that fury boiled and seethed as, during +the first and second acts, he found in the wings Signorina +Car-r-r-r-r-r-avaggio absorbed in pleasant but very significant chat +with his deadly enemy, the crude, unmusical, inartistic, soulless +Biffo de Bates-s-s-s! But, ah! There was another act to come, the +third act, at the beginning of which the property man handed him the +long, sharp, wicked-looking, bloodthirsty knife with which he was to +fight Escamillo, and with which in the fourth act he was to kill +Carmen. The mere possession of that knife wrought the great tenor's +soul to gory tragedy; so much so that immediately after the third act +curtain calls he rushed directly to the spot where he knew the +contemptible Signor Biffo de Bates-s-s-s to be standing, and with +shrill Latin imprecations flourished that keen, glistening blade +before the eyes of the very much astounded Biff. + +For a moment, thoroughly incredulous, Biff refused to believe it, +until a second demonstration compelled him to acknowledge that the +great Ricardo actually meant threatening things toward himself. When +this conviction forced its way upon him, Biff calmly reached out, and, +with a grip very much like a bear-trap, seized Signor Ricardo by the +forearm of the hand which held the knife. With his unengaged hand Biff +then smacked the Signor Ricardo right severely on the wrist. + +"You don't mean it, you know, Sig-nor Garlic," he calmly observed. "If +I thought you did I'd smack you on both wrists. Why, you little red +balloon, I ain't afraid of any mutt on earth that carries a knife like +that, as long as I got my back to the wall." + +Still holding the putty-like Signor by the forearm, he delicately +abstracted from his clasp the huge knife, and, folding it up gravely, +handed it back to him; then deliberately he turned his back on the +Signor and pushed his way through the delightedly horror-stricken +emotionalists who had gathered at the fray, and strolled over to where +Signorina Caravaggio had stood an interested and mirth-shaken +observer. + +"You mustn't think all Italians are like that, Biff," she said, her +first impulse, as always, to see justice done; "but singers are a +different breed. I don't think he's bluffing, altogether. If he got a +real good chance some place in the dark, and was sure that he wouldn't +be caught, he might use a stiletto on you." + +"If he ever does I'll slap his forehead," said Biff. "But say, he uses +that cleaver again in the show?" + +The Signorina Nora shrugged her shoulders. + +"He's supposed to stab me with it in this next act." + +"He is!" exclaimed Biff. "Well, just so he don't make any mistake I'm +going over and paste him one." + +It was not necessary, for Signor Ricardo, after studying the matter +over and seeing no other way out of it, proceeded to have a fit. No +one, not even the illustrious Signor, could tell just how much of that +fit was deliberate and artificial, and just how much was due to an +overwrought sensitive organization, but certain it was that the Signor +Ricardo was quite unable to go on with the performance, and Monsieur +Noire himself, as agitated as a moment before the great Ricardo had +been, frantically rushed up to Biff and grabbed him roughly by the +shoulders. + +"Too long," shrieked he, "we have let you be annoying the artists, by +reason of the Caravaggio. But now you shall do the skidooing." + +With a laugh Biff looked back over his shoulder at the Caravaggio, and +permitted Monsieur Noire to eject him bodily from the stage door upon +the alley. + +The next morning, owing to the prompt action and foresightedness of +Spratt, all the papers contained the very pretty story that the great +Ricardo had succumbed to his own intensity of emotions after the third +act of _Carmen_, and had been unable to go on, giving way to the +scarcely less great Signor Dulceo. That same morning Bobby was +confronted by the first of a long series of similar dilemmas. The +Signorina Caravaggio must leave the company or Signor Ricardo would do +so. No stage was big enough to hold the two; moreover, Ricardo meant +to have the heart's blood of Signor Biffo de Bates-s-s-s! + +With a sigh, Bobby, out of his ignorance and independence, took the +only possible course to preserve peace, and emphatically told Signor +Ricardo to pack up and go as quickly as possible, which he went away +vowing to do. Naturally the great tenor thought better of it after +that, and though he had already been dropped from the cast of _Il +Trovatore_ on Saturday afternoon, he reported just the same. And he +went on with the company. + +It was not until they went upon the road, however, that Bobby fully +realized what a lot of irresponsible, fretful, peevish children he had +upon his hands. With the exception of serene Nora McGinnis, every one +of the principals was at daggers drawn with all the others, sulking +over the least advantage obtained by any one else, and accepting +advantage of their own as only a partial payment of their supreme +rank. The one most at war with her own world was Madam Villenauve, +whose especial _bete noire_ was the MeeGeenees, whom, by no +possibility, could she ever under any circumstance be induced to call +Caravaggio. + +On the second day of their next engagement, as Bobby strode through +the corridor of the hotel, shortly after luncheon, he was stopped by +Madam Villenauve, who had been waiting for him in the door of her +room. She was herself apparently just dressing to go out, for her +coiffure was made and she had on a short underskirt, a kimono-like +dressing-jacket and her street shoes. + +"I wish to speak wiz you on some beezness, Meester Burnit," she told +him abruptly, and with an imperatively beckoning hand stepped back +with a bow for him to enter. + +With just a moment of surprised hesitation he stepped into the room, +whereupon the Villenauve promptly closed the door. A week before Bobby +would have been a trifle astonished by this proceeding, but in that +week he had seen so many examples of unconscious unconventionalities +in and about the dressing-rooms and at the hotel, that he had +readjusted his point of view to meet the peculiar way of life of these +people, and, as usual with readjustments, had readjusted himself too +far. He found the room in a litter, with garments of all sorts cast +about in reckless disorder. + +"I have been seeing you last night," began Madam Villenauve, shaking +her finger at him archly as she swept some skirts off a chair for him +to sit down, and then took her place before her dressing-table, where +she added the last deft touch to her coiffure. "I have been seeing you +smiling at ze reedeec'lous Carmen. Oh, la, la! Carmen!" she shrilled. +"It is I, monsieur, I zat am ze Carmen. It was zis Matteo, the +scoundrel who run away wiz our money, zat allow le Ricardo to say whom +he like to sing to for Carmen. Ricardo ees in loaf wiz la MeeGeenees. +Le Ricardo is a fool, so zis Ricardo sing Carmen ever tam to ze great, +grosse monstair MeeGeenees; an' ever'body zey laugh. Ze chorus laugh, +ze principals laugh, le Monsieur Noire he laugh, even zat +Fruehlingsvogel zat have no humair, he laugh, an' ze audience laugh, +an' las' night I am seeing you laugh. Ees eet not so? _Mais!_ It is +absurd! It is reedeec'lous. Le Ricardo make fool over la MeeGeenees. +_I_ sing ze Carmen! I _am_ ze Carmen! You hear me sing Aida? Eet ees +zat way. I sing Carmen. Now I s'all sing Carmen again! Ees eet not?" + +As Madam Villenauve talked, punctuating her remarks with quick, +impatient little gestures, she jerked off her dressing-jacket and +threw it on the floor, and Bobby saved himself from panic by reminding +himself that her frank anatomical display was, in the peculiar ethics +of these people, no more to be noticed than if she were in an evening +gown, which was very reasonable, after all, once you understood the +code. Still voicing her indignation at having been displaced in the +role of Carmen by the utterly impossible and preposterous Caravaggio, +she caught up her waist and was about to slip it on, while Bobby, with +an amused smile, reflected that presently he would no doubt be +nonchalantly requested to hook it in the back, when some one tried the +door-knob. A knock followed and Madam Villenauve went to the door. + +"Who ees it?" she asked with her hand on the knob. + +"It is I; Monsieur Noire," was the reply. + +"Oh, la, come in, zen," she invited, and threw open the door. + +Monsieur Noire entered, but, finding Bobby in the chair by the +dresser, stopped uncertainly in the doorway. + +"Oh, come on een," she gaily invited; "we are all ze good friends; +_oui_?" + +It appeared that Monsieur Noire came in all politeness, yet with rigid +intention, to inquire about a missing piece of music from the score of +_Les Huguenots_, and Madam Villenauve, in all politeness and yet with +much indignation, assured him that she did not have it; whereupon +Monsieur Noire, with all politeness but cold insistence, demanded that +she look for it; whereupon Madam Villenauve, though once more +protesting that she had it not, in all politeness and yet with +considerable asperity, declared that she would not search for it; +whereupon Monsieur Noire, observing the piece of music in question +peeping out from beneath a conglomerate pile of newspapers, clothing +and toilet articles, laid hands upon it and departed. Madam +Villenauve, entirely unruffled now that it was all over, but still +chattering away with great volubility about the crime of Carmen, +finished her dressing and bade Bobby hook the back of her waist, and +by sheer calmness and certainty of intention forced him to accompany +her over to rehearsal. + +Whatever annoyance he might have felt over this was lost in his +amusement when he reached the theater in finding Biff Bates upon the +stage waiting for him; and Biff, while waiting, was quite excusably +whiling the time away with the adorable Miss McGinnis. + +"You see, Young Fitz lives here," Biff brazenly explained, "and I run +up to see him about that exhibition night I'm going to have at the +gym. I'm going to have him go on with Kid Jeffreys." + +"Biff," said Bobby warmly, "I want to congratulate you on your +business enterprise. Have you seen Young Fitz yet?" + +"Well, no," confessed Biff. "I just got here about an hour ago. I +didn't know your hotel, but it was a cinch from the bills to tell +where the show was, so I came right around to the theater to see you +first." + +"Exactly," admitted Bobby. "Do you _expect_ to see Young Fitz?" + +"Well, maybe, if I get time," said Biff with a sheepish grin. "Just +now I'm going out for a drive with Miss McGinnis." + +"Caravaggio," corrected that young lady with a laugh. + +"McGinnis for mine," declared Biff. "By the way, Bobby, I saw a +certain party before I left town and she gave me this letter for you. +Certain party is as cheerful as a chunk of lead about your trip, +Bobby, but she makes the swellest bluff I ever saw that she's tickled +to death with it." + +With this vengeful shot in retaliation for his excuse about Young Fitz +having been doubted he sailed away with the Caravaggio, who, though +required to report at every rehearsal, was not in the cast for that +night and was readily excused from further attendance. Since Bobby had +received a very pleasant letter from Agnes when he got up that morning +he opened this missive with a touch of curiosity added to the thrill +with which he always took in his hands any missive, no matter how +trivial, from her. It was but a brief note calling attention to the +enclosed newspaper clipping, and wishing him success in his new +venture. The clipping was a flamboyant article describing the decision +of the city council to install a magnificent new ten-million-dollar +waterworks system, and the personally interesting item in it, ringed +around with a pencil mark, was that Silas Trimmer had been appointed +by Mayor Garland as president of the waterworks commission. + +It was not news that could alter his fortunes in any way so far as he +could see, but it did remind him, with a strange whipping of his +conscience, that, after all, his place was back home, and that his +proper employment should be the looking after his home interests. For +the first time he began to have a dim realization that a man's place +was among his enemies, where he could watch them. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +WHEREIN THE FINE ARTS PRESENT BOBBY WITH A MOST EMBARRASSING DILEMMA + + +It had become by no means strange to Bobby, even before the company +"took the road," that some one of the principals should attach +themselves to him in all his possible goings and comings, for each and +every one of them had some complaint to make about all the others. +They wanted readjustments of cast, better parts to sing, better +dressing-rooms, better hotel quarters, better everything than the +others had, and with the unhappy and excited Monsieur Noire he shared +this unending strife. At first he saw it all in a humorous light, but, +by and by, he came to a period of ennui and tried to rebel. This +period gave him more trouble than the other, so within a short time he +lapsed into an apathetic complaint-receptacle and dreamed no more of +walking or riding to and from the hotel without one of these impulsive +children of art, who seethed perpetually in self-prodded artificial +emotions, attached to him. If it seemed strange at times that Madam +Villenauve was more frequently with him than any of the others he only +reflected that the vivacious little Frenchwoman was much more +persistent; nor did he note that, presently, the others came rather to +give way before her and to let her monopolize him more and more. + +It was during the third week that Professor Fruehlingsvogel was to +endure another birthday, and Bobby, full of generous impulses as +always, announced at rehearsal that in honor of the Professor's +unwelcome milestone he intended to give a little supper that night at +the hotel. Madam Villenauve, standing beside him, suddenly threw her +arms around his neck and kissed him smack upon the lips, with a quite +enthusiastic declaration, in very charmingly warped English, that he +was "a dear old sing." Bobby, reverting quickly in mind to the fact of +the extreme unconventionally of these people, took the occurrence +quite as a matter of course, though it embarrassed him somewhat. He +rather counted himself a prig that he could not sooner get over this +habit of embarrassment, and every time Madam Villenauve insisted on +calling him into her dressing-room when she was in much more of +dishabille than he would have thought permissible in ordinary people, +he felt that same painful lack of sophistication. + +At the supper that night, Madam Villenauve, with a great show of +playful indignation, routed Madam Kadanoff from her accidental seat +next to Bobby, and, in giving up the seat, which she did quite +gracefully enough, Madam Kadanoff dropped some remark in choice +Russian, which, of course, Bobby did not understand, but which Madam +Villenauve did, for she laughed a little shrilly and, with an engaging +upward smile at Bobby, observed: + +"I theenk I shall say it zat zees so chairming Monsieur Burnit is soon +to marry wiz me; ees eet not, monsieur?" + +Whereupon Bobby, with his customary courtesy, replied: + +"No gentleman would care to deny such a charming and attractive +possibility, Madam Villenauve." + +But the gracious speech was of the lips alone, and spoken with a +warning glare against "kidding" at the grinning Biff Bates, who had +found business of urgent importance for that night in the city where +the company was booked. Bobby, in fact, had begun to tire very much of +the whole business. To begin with, he found the organization a much +more expensive one to keep up than he had imagined. The route, badly +laid out, was one of tremendous long jumps; of his singers, like other +rare and expensive creatures, extravagant care must be taken, and not +every place that they stopped was so eager for grand opera as it might +have been. At the end of three weeks he was able to compute that he +had lost about a thousand dollars a week, and in the fourth week they +struck an engagement so fruitless that even the cheerful Caravaggio +became dismal. + +"It's a sure enough frost," she confided to Bobby; "but cheer up, for +the worst is yet to come. Your route sheet for the next two months +looks like a morgue to me, and unless you interpolate a few coon songs +in _Tannhaeuser_ and some song and dance specialties between the acts +of _Les Huguenots_ you're gone. You know I used to sing this route in +musical comedy, and, on the level, I've got a fine part waiting for me +right now in _The Giddy Queen_. I like this highbrow music all right, +but the people that come to hear it make me so sad. You're a good +sport, though, and as long as you need me I'll stick." + +"Thanks," said Bobby sincerely. "It's a pleasure to speak to a real +human being once in a while, even if you don't offer any +encouragement. However, we'll not be buried till we're dead, +notwithstanding that we now enter upon the graveyard route." + +Doleful experience, however, confirmed the Caravaggio's gloomy +prophecy. They embarked now upon a season of one and two and three +night stands that gave Bobby more of the real discomforts of life than +he had ever before dreamed possible. To close a performance at eleven, +to pack and hurry for a twelve-thirty train, to ride until five +o'clock in the morning--a distance too short for sleep and too long to +stay awake--to tumble into a hotel at six and sleep until noon, this +was one program; to close a performance at eleven, to wait up for a +four-o'clock train, to ride until eight and get into a hotel at nine, +with a vitally necessary rehearsal between that and the evening +performance, was another program, either one of which wore on health +and temper and purse alike. The losses now exceeded two thousand +dollars a week. Moreover, the frequent visits of Biff Bates and his +constant baiting of Signor Ricardo had driven that great tenor to such +a point of distraction that one night, being near New York, he drew +his pay and departed without notice. There was no use, in spite of +Monsieur Noire's frantic insistence, in trying to make the public +believe that the lank Dulceo was the fat Ricardo; moreover, +immediately upon his arrival in New York, Signor Ricardo let it be +known that he had left the Neapolitan Company, so the prestige of the +company fell off at once, for the "country" press pays sharp attention +to these things. + +A letter from Johnson at just this time also had its influence upon +Bobby, who now was in an humble, not an antagonistic mood, and quite +ripe for advice. Mr. Johnson had just conferred with Mr. Bates upon +his return from a visit to the Neapolitan Company, and Mr. Bates had +detailed to Mr. Johnson much that he had seen with his own eyes, and +much that the Caravaggio had told him. Mr. Johnson, thereupon, begging +pardon for the presumption, deemed this a fitting time, from what he +had heard, to forward Bobby the inclosed letter, which, in its gray +envelope, had been left behind by Bobby's father: + + _To My Son in the Midst of a Losing Fight_ + + "Determination is a magnificent quality, but bullheadedness is + not. The most foolish kind of pride on earth is that which + makes a man refuse to acknowledge himself beaten when he is + beaten. It takes a pretty brave man, and one with good stuff + in him, to let all his friends know that he's been licked. + Figure this out." + +Bobby wrestled with that letter all night. In the morning he received +one from Agnes which served to increase and intensify the feeling of +homesickness that had been overwhelming him. She, too, had seen Biff +Bates. She had asked him out to the house expressly to talk with him, +but she had written a pleasant, cheerful letter wherein she hoped that +the end of the season would repay the losses she understood that he +was enduring; but she admitted that she was very lonesome without him. +She gave him quite a budget of gay gossip concerning all the young +people of his set, and after he had read that letter he was quite +prepared to swallow his grit and make the announcement that for a week +had been almost upon his tongue. + +Through Monsieur Noire, at rehearsal that afternoon, he declared his +intention of closing the season, and offered them each two weeks' +advance pay and their fare to New York. It was Signorina Caravaggio +who broke the hush that followed this announcement. + +"You're a good sort, Bobby Burnit," she said, with kindly intent to +lead the others, "and I'll take your offer and thank you." + +It appeared that the majority of them had dreaded some such denouement +as this; some had been prepared for even less advantageous terms, and +several, upon direct inquiry, announced their willingness to accept +this proposal. A few declared their intention to hold him for the full +contract. These were the ones who had made sure of his entire +solvency, and these afterward swayed the balance of the company to a +stand which won a better compromise. When Monsieur Noire, with a +curious smile, asked Madam Villenauve, however, she laughed very +pleasantly. + +"Oh, non," said she; "it does not apply, zis offair, to me. I do not +need it, for Monsieur Burnit ees to marry wiz me zis Christmastam." + +"I am afraid, Madam Villenauve, that we will have to quit joking about +that," said Bobby coldly. + +"Joking!" screamed the shrill voice of madam. "Eet ees not any joke. +You can not fool wiz me, Monsieur Burnit. You mean to tell all zese +people zat you are not to marry wiz me?" + +"I certainly have no intention of the kind," said Bobby impatiently, +"nor have I ever expressed such an intention." + +"We s'all see about zat," declared the madam with righteous +indignation. "We s'all see how you can amuse yourself. You refuse to +keep your word zat you marry me? All right zen, you do! I bring suit +to-day for brich promise, and I have here one, two, three, a dozen +weetness. I make what you call subpoena on zem all. We s'all see." + +"Monsieur Noire," said Bobby, more sick and sore than panic-stricken, +"you will please settle matters with all these people and come to me +at the hotel for whatever checks you need," and, hurt beyond measure +at this one more instance that there were, really, rapacious schemers +in the world, who sought loathsome advantage at the expense of decent +folk, Bobby crept away, to hide himself and try to understand. + +They were here for the latter half of the week, and, since business +seemed to be fairly good, Bobby had decided to fill this engagement, +canceling all others. In the morning it seemed that Madam Villenauve +had been in earnest in her absurd intentions, for, in his room, at +eleven o'clock, he was served with papers in the breach-of-promise +suit of Villenauve _versus_ Burnit, and the amount of damages claimed +was the tremendous sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, an +amount, of course, only commensurate with Madam Villenauve's standing +in the profession and her earning capacity as an artist, her pride and +shattered feelings and the dashing to earth of her love's young dream +being of corresponding value. Moreover, he learned that an injunction +had been issued completely tying up his bank account. That was the +parting blow. Settling up with the performers upon a blood-letting +basis, he most ignominiously fled. Before he went away, however, +Signorina Nora McGinnis Caravaggio called him to one side and confided +a most delicate message to him. + +"Your friend, Mr. Bates," she began with an embarrassed hesitation +quite unusual in the direct Irish girl; "he's a nice boy, from the +ground up, and give him an easy word from me. But, Mr. Burnit, give +him a hint not to do any more traveling on my account; for I've got a +husband back in New York that ain't worth the rat poison to put him +out of his misery, but I'm not getting any divorces. One mistake is +enough. But don't be too hard on me when you tell Biff. Honest, up to +just the last, I thought he'd come only to see you; but I enjoyed his +visits." And in the eyes of the Caravaggio there stood real tears. + +A newsboy met Bobby on the train with the morning papers from home, +and in them he read delightfully flavored and spiced accounts of the +great Villenauve breach-of-promise case, embellished with many details +that were entirely new to him. He had not counted on this phase of the +matter, and it struck him almost as with an ague. The notoriety, the +askance looks he would receive from his more conservative +acquaintances, the "ragging" he would get at his clubs, all these he +could stand. But Agnes! How could he ever face her? How would she +receive him? From the train he took a cab directly home and buried +himself there to think it all over. He spent a morning of intense +dejection and an afternoon of the utmost misery. In the evening, not +caring to dine in solitary gloom at home nor to appear yet among his +fellows, he went out to an obscure restaurant in the neighborhood and +ate his dinner, then came back again to his lonely room, seeing +nothing ahead of him but an evening of melancholy alone. His butler, +however, met him in the hall on his return. + +"Miss Elliston called up on the 'phone while you were out, sir." + +"Did you tell her I was at home?" asked Bobby with quick apprehension. + +"Yes, sir; you hadn't told me not to do so, sir; and she left word +that you were to come straight out to the house as soon as you came +in." + +"Very well," said Bobby, and went into the library. + +He sat down before the telephone and rested his hand upon the receiver +for perhaps as much as five long minutes of hesitation, then abruptly +he turned away from that unsatisfactory means of communication and had +his car ordered; then hurriedly changed to the evening clothes he had +not intended to don that night. + +In most uncertain anticipation, but quite sure of the most vigorous +"blowing up" of his career, he whirled out to the home of the +Ellistons and ascended the steps. The ring at the bell brought the +ever imperturbable Wilkins, who nodded gravely upon seeing that it was +Bobby and, relieving him of his coat and hat, told him: + +"Right up to the Turkish room, sir." + +There seemed a strange quietness about the house, and he felt more and +more as if he might be approaching a sentence as he climbed the silent +stairs. At the door of the Turkish room, however, Agnes met him with +outstretched hands and a smile of welcome which bore traces of quite +too much amusement for his entire comfort. When she had drawn him +within the big alcove she laughed aloud, a light laugh in which there +was no possible trace of resentment, and it lifted from his mind the +load that had been oppressing it all day long. + +"I'm afraid you haven't heard," he began awkwardly. + +"Heard!" she repeated, and laughed again. "Why, Bobby, I read all the +morning papers and all the evening papers, and I presume there will be +excellent reading in every one of them for days and days to come." + +"And you're not angry?" he said, astounded. + +"Angry!" she laughed. "Why, you poor Bobby. I remember this Madam +Villenauve perfectly, besides seeing her ten-years-ago pictures in the +papers, and you don't suppose for a minute that I could be jealous of +her, do you? Moreover, I can prove by Aunt Constance and Uncle Dan +that I predicted just this very thing when you first insisted upon +going on the road." + +He looked around, dreading the keen satire of Uncle Dan and the +incisive ridicule of Aunt Constance, but she relieved his mind of that +fear. + +"We were all invited out to dinner to-night, but I refused to go, for +really I wanted to soften the blow for you. There is nobody in the +house but myself and the servants. Now, do behave, Bobby! Wait a +minute, sir! I've something else to crush you with. Have you seen the +evening papers?" + +No; the morning papers had been enough for him. + +"Well, I'll tell you what they are doing. The Consolidated +Illuminating and Power Company has secured an order from the city +council compelling the Brightlight Electric Company to remove their +poles from Market Street." + +Bobby caught his breath sharply. Stone and Sharpe and Garland, the +political manipulators of the city, and its owners, lock, stock and +barrel were responsible for this. They had taken advantage of his +absence. + +"What a fool I have been," he bitterly confessed, "to have taken up +with this entirely irregular and idiotic enterprise, a venture of +which I knew nothing whatever, and let go the serious fight I had +intended to make on Stone and his crowd." + +"Never mind, Bobby," said Agnes. "I have a suspicion that you have cut +a wisdom-tooth. I rather imagined that you needed this one last folly +as a sort of relapse before complete convalescence, to settle you down +and bring you back to me for a more serious effort. I see that the +most of your money is tied up in this embarrassing suit, and when I +read that you were on your way home I went to Mr. Chalmers and got him +to arrange for the release of some bonds. Following the provisions of +your father's will your next two hundred and fifty thousand is waiting +for you. Moreover, Bobby, this time I want you to listen to your +trustee. I have found a new business for you, one about which you know +nothing whatever, but one that you must learn; I want to put a weapon +into your hands with which to fight for everything you have lost." + +He looked at her in wonder. + +"I always told you I needed you," he declared. "When _are_ you going +to marry me?" + +"When you have won your fight, Bobby, or when you have proved entirely +hopeless," she replied with a smile in which there was a certain +amount of wistfulness. + +"You're a good sort, Agnes," he said a little huskily, and he pondered +for some little time in awe over the existence of women like this. "I +guess the governor was mighty right in making you my trustee, after +all. But what is this business?" + +"The _Evening Bulletin_ is for sale, I have learned. Just now it is an +independent paper, but it seems to me you could not have a better +weapon, with your following, for fighting your political and business +enemies." + +"I'll think that over very seriously," he said with much soberness. "I +have refused everybody's advice so far, and have taken only my own. I +have begun to believe that I am not the wisest person in the world; +also I have come to believe that there are more ways to lose money +than there are to make money; also I've found out that men are not the +only gold-brick salesmen. Agnes, I'm what Biff Bates calls a 'Hick'!" + +"Look what your father has to say about this last escapade of yours," +she said, smiling, and from her desk brought him one of the familiar +gray envelopes. This was the letter: + + _To My Daughter Agnes, Upon Bobby's Entanglement with a + Blackmailing Woman_ + + "No man can guard against being roped in by a scheming woman + the first time; but if it happens twice he deserves it, and he + should be turned out to stay an idiot, for the signs are so + plain. A man swindler takes a man's money and makes a fool of + him; but a woman swindler takes a man's money and leaves a + smirch on him. Only a man's nearest and dearest can help him + live down such a smirch; so, Agnes, if my son has been this + particular variety of everlasting blank fool, don't turn + against him. He needs you. Moreover, you'll find him improved + by it. He'll be so much more humble." + +"I didn't really need that letter," Agnes shyly confessed; "but maybe +it helped some." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +AGNES FINDS BOBBY A SLING AND BOBBY PUTS A STONE IN IT + + +The wonderful change in a girl who, through her love, has become all +woman, that was the marvel to Bobby; the breadth of her knowledge, the +depth of her sympathy, the boundlessness of her compassionate +forgiveness, her quality of motherliness; and this last was perhaps +the greatest marvel of all. Yet even his marveling did not encompass +all the wonder. In his last exploit, more full of folly than anything +into which he had yet blundered, and the one which, of all others, +might most have turned her from him, Agnes had had the harder part; to +sit at home and wait, to dread she knew not what. The certainty which +finally evolved had less of distress in it than not to know while day +by day passed by. One thing had made it easier: never for one moment +had she lost faith in Bobby, in any way. She was certain, however, +that financially his trip would be a losing one, and from the time he +left she kept her mind almost constantly upon the thought of his +future. She had become almost desperately anxious for him to fulfill +the hopes of his father, and day by day she studied the commercial +field as she had never thought it possible that she could do. There +was no line of industry upon which she did not ponder, and there was +scarcely any morning that she did not at the breakfast table ask Dan +Elliston the ins and outs of some business. If he was not able to tell +her all she wanted to know, she usually commissioned him to find out. +He took these requests in good part, and if she accomplished nothing +else by all her inquiries she acquired such a commercial education as +falls to the lot of but few home-kept young women. + +One morning her uncle came down a trifle late for breakfast and was in +a hurry. + +"The Elliston School of Commercial Instruction will have a recess for +this session," he observed as he popped into his chair. "I have an +important engagement at the factory this morning and have about seven +minutes for breakfast. During that seven minutes I prefer to eat +rather than to talk. However, I do not object to listening. This being +my last word except to request you to gather things closely about my +plate, you may now start." + +"Very well," said she, dimpling as she usually did at any evidence of +briskness on the part of her Uncle Dan, for from long experience she +knew the harmlessness of his bark. "Nick Allstyne happened to remark +to me last night that the _Bulletin_ is for sale. What do you think of +the newspaper business for Bobby?" + +"The time necessary to answer that question takes my orange from me," +objected Uncle Dan as he hastily sipped another bite of the fruit and +pushed it away. "The newspaper business for Bobby!" He drew the +muffins toward him and took one upon his plate, then he stopped and +pondered a moment. "Do you know," said he, "that's about the best +suggestion you've made. I believe he could make a hummer out of a +newspaper. I've noticed this about the boy's failures; they have all +of them been due to lack of experience; none of them has been due to +any absence of backbone. Nobody has ever bluffed him." + +Agnes softly clapped her hands. + +"Exactly!" she cried. "Well, Uncle Dan, this is the last word _I'm_ +going to say. For the balance of your seven minutes I'm going to help +stuff you with enough food to keep you until luncheon time; but +sometime to-day, if you find time, I want you to go over and see the +proprietor of the _Bulletin_ and find out how much he wants for his +property, and investigate it as a business proposition just the same +as if you were going into it yourself." + +Uncle Dan, dipping voraciously into his soft boiled eggs, grinned and +said: "Huh!" Then he looked at his watch. When he came home to dinner, +however, he hunted up Agnes at once. + +"Your _Bulletin_ proposition looks pretty good," he told her. "I saw +Greenleaf. He's a physical wreck and has been for two years. He has to +get away or die. Moreover, his physical condition has reacted upon his +paper. His circulation has run down, but he has a magnificent plant +and a good office organization. He wants two hundred thousand dollars +for his plant, good will and franchises. I'm going to investigate this +a little further. Do you suppose Bobby will have two hundred thousand +left when he gets through with grand opera?" + +"I hope so," replied Agnes; "but if he hasn't I'll have him waste the +balance of this two hundred and fifty thousand so that he can draw the +next one." + +Uncle Dan laughed in huge enjoyment of this solution. + +"You surely were cut out for high finance," he told her. + +She smiled, and was silent a while, hesitating. + +"You seem to think pretty well of the business as a business +proposition," she ventured anxiously, by and by; "but you haven't told +me what you think of it as applicable to Bobby." + +"If he'll take you in the office with him, he'll do all right," he +answered her banteringly; but when he went up-stairs and found his +wife he said: "Constance, if that girl don't pull Bobby Burnit through +his puppyhood in good shape there is something wrong with the scheme +of creation. There is something about you women of the Elliston family +that every once in a while makes me pause and reverence the Almighty," +whereupon Aunt Constance flushed prettily, as became her. + +With the same earnestness of purpose Agnes handled the question of +Bobby's breach-of-promise suit in so far as it affected his social +reception. The Ellistons went to the theater and sat in a box to +exhibit him on the second night after his return, and Agnes took +careful count of all the people she knew who attended the theater that +night. The next day she went to see all of them, among others Mrs. +Horace Wickersham, whose social word was social law. + +"My dear," said the redoubtable Mrs. Wickersham, "it does Bobby Burnit +great credit that he did not marry the creature. Of course I shall +invite him to our affair next Friday night." + +After that there could be no further question of Bobby's standing, +though without the firm support of Agnes he might possibly have been +ostracised, for a time at least. + +It was with much less certainty that she spread before Bobby the facts +and figures which Uncle Dan had secured about the condition and +prospects of the _Bulletin_. She did not urge the project upon him. +Instead, though in considerable anxiety, she left the proposition open +to his own judgment. He pondered the question more soberly and +seriously than he had yet considered anything. There were but two +chances left to redeem himself now, and he felt much like a gambler +who has been reduced to his last desperate stake. He grew almost +haggard over the proposition, and he spent two solid weeks in +investigation. He went to Washington to see Jack Starlett, who knew +three or four newspaper proprietors in Philadelphia and elsewhere. He +obtained introductions to these people and consulted with them, +inspected their plants and listened to all they would say; as they +liked him, they said much. Ripened considerably by what he had found +out he came back home and bought the _Bulletin_. Moreover, he had very +definitely made up his mind precisely what to do with it. + +On the first morning that he walked into the office of that paper as +its sole owner and proprietor, he called the managing editor to him +and asked: + +"What, heretofore, has been the politics of this paper?" + +"Pale yellow jelly," snapped Ben Jolter wrathfully. + +"Supposed to be anti-Stone, hasn't it been?" Bobby smilingly inquired. + +"But always perfectly ladylike in what it said about him." + +"And what are the politics of the employees?" + +At this Mr. Jolter snorted. + +"They are good newspaper men, Mr. Burnit," he stated in quick defense; +"and a good newspaper man has no politics." + +Bobby eyed Mr. Jolter with contemplative favor. He was a stout, +stockily-built man, with a square head and sparse gray hair that would +persist in tangling and curling at the ends; and he perpetually kept +his sleeves rolled up over his big arms. + +"I don't know anything about this business," confessed Bobby, "but I +hope to. First of all, I'd like to find out why the _Bulletin_ has no +circulation." + +"The lack of a spinal column," asserted Jolter. "It has had no policy, +stood pat on no proposition, and made no aggressive fight on +anything." + +"If I understand what you mean by the word," said Bobby slowly, "the +_Bulletin_ is going to have a policy." + +It was now Mr. Jolter's turn to gaze contemplatively at Bobby. + +"If you were ten years older I would feel more hopeful about it," he +decided bluntly. + +The young man flushed uncomfortably. He was keenly aware that he had +made an ass of himself in business four successive times, and that +Jolter knew it. By way of facing the music, however, he showed to his +managing editor a letter, left behind with old Johnson for Bobby by +the late John Burnit: + + The mere fact that a man has been foolish four times is no + absolute proof that he is a fool; but it's a mighty + significant hint. However, Bobby, I'm still betting on you, + for by this time you ought to have your fighting blood at the + right temperature; and I've seen you play great polo in spite + of a cracked rib. + + "P. S. If any one else intimates that you are a fool, trounce + him one for me." + +"If there's anything in heredity you're a lucky young man," said +Jolter seriously, as he handed back the letter. + +"I think the governor was worried about it himself," admitted Bobby +with a smile; "and if he was doubtful I can't blame you for being so. +Nevertheless, Mr. Jolter, I must insist that we are going to have a +policy," and he quietly outlined it. + +Mr. Jolter had been so long a directing voice in the newspaper +business that he could not be startled by anything short of a +presidential assassination, and that at press time. Nevertheless, at +Bobby's announcement he immediately sought for his pipe and was +compelled to go into his own office after it. He came back lighting it +and felt better. + +"It's suicide!" he declared. + +"Then we'll commit suicide," said Bobby pleasantly. + +Mr. Jolter, after long, grinning thought, solemnly shook hands with +him. + +"I'm for it," said he. "Here's hoping that we survive long enough to +write our own obituary!" + +Mr. Jolter, to whom fighting was as the breath of new-mown hay, and +who had long been curbed in that delightful occupation, went back into +his own office with a more cheerful air than he had worn for many a +day, and issued a few forceful orders, winding up with a direction to +the press foreman to prepare for ten thousand extra copies that +evening. + +When the three o'clock edition of the _Bulletin_ came on the street, +the entire first page was taken up by a life-size half-tone portrait +of Sam Stone, and underneath it was the simple legend: + + THIS MAN MUST LEAVE TOWN + +The first citizens to awake to the fact that the _Bulletin_ was born +anew were the newsboys. Those live and enterprising merchants, with a +very keen judgment of comparative values, had long since ceased to +call the _Bulletin_ at all; half of them had even ceased to carry it. +Within two minutes after this edition was out they were clamoring for +additional copies, and for the first time in years the alley door of +the _Bulletin_ was besieged by a seething mob of ragged, diminutive, +howling masculinity. Out on the street, however, they were not even +now calling the name of the paper. They were holding forth that black +first page and screaming just the name of Sam Stone. + +Sam Stone! It was a magic name, for Stone had been the boss of the +town since years without number; a man who had never held office, but +who dictated the filling of all offices; a man who was not ostensibly +in any business, but who swayed the fortune of every public +enterprise; a self-confessed grafter whom crusade after crusade had +failed to dislodge from absolute power. The crowds upon the street +snapped eagerly at that huge portrait and searched as eagerly through +the paper for more about the Boss. They did not find it, except upon +the editorial page, where, in the space usually devoted to drivel +about "How Kind We Should Be to Dumb Animals," and "Why Fathers Should +Confide More in Their Sons," appeared in black type a paraphrase of +the legend on the outside: "_Sam Stone Must Leave Town._" Beneath was +the additional information: "Further issues of the _Bulletin_ will +tell why." Above and below this was nothing but startlingly white +blank paper, two solid columns of it up and down the page. + +Down in the deep basement of the _Bulletin_, the big three-deck +presses, two of which had been standing idle since the last +presidential election, were pounding out copies by the thousand, while +grimy pressmen, blackened with ink, perspired most happily. + +By five o'clock, men and even girls, pouring from their offices, and +laborers coming from work, had all heard of it, and on the street the +bold defiance created first a gasp and then a smile. Another attempt +to dislodge Sam Stone was, in the light of previous efforts, a +laughable thing to contemplate; and yet it was interesting. + +In the office of the _Bulletin_ it was a gleeful occasion. Nonchalant +reporters sat down with that amazing front page spread out before +them, studied the brutal face of Stone and chuckled cynically. Lean +Doc Miller, "assistant city editor," or rather head copy reader, lit +one cigarette from the stub of another and observed, to nobody in +particular but to everybody in general: + +"I can see where we all contribute for a beautiful Gates Ajar floral +piece for one Robert Burnit;" whereupon fat "Bugs" Roach, "handling +copy" across the table from him, inquired: + +"Do you suppose the new boss really has this much nerve, or is he just +a damned fool?" + +"Stone won't do a thing to _him_!" ingratiatingly observed a "cub" +reporter, laying down twelve pages of "copy" about a man who had +almost been burglarized. + +"Look here, you Greenleaf Whittier Squiggs," said Doc Miller most +savagely, not because he had any particular grudge against the +unfortunately named G. W., but because of discipline and the custom +with "cubs," "the next time you're sent out on a twenty-minute +assignment like this, remember the number of the _Bulletin_, 427 Grand +Street. The telephone is Central 2051, and don't forget to report the +same day. Did you get the man's name? Uh-huh. His address? Uh-huh. +Well, we don't want the item." + +Slow and phlegmatic Jim Brown, who had been city editor on the +_Bulletin_ almost since it was the _Bulletin_ under half a dozen +changes of ownership and nearly a score of managing editors, sauntered +over into Jolter's room with a copy of the paper in his hand, and a +long black stogie held by some miracle in the corner of his mouth, +where it would be quite out of the road of conversation. + +"Pretty good stuff," he drawled, indicating the remarkable first page. + +"The greatest circus act that was ever pulled off in the newspaper +business," asserted Jolter. "It will quadruple the present circulation +of the _Bulletin_ in a week." + +"Make or break," assented the city editor, "with the odds in favor of +the break." + +A slenderly-built young man, whose red face needed a shave and whose +clothes, though wrinkled and unbrushed, shrieked of quality, came +stumbling up the stairs in such hot haste as was possible in his +condition, and without ceremony or announcement burst into the room +where Bobby Burnit, with that day's issue of the _Bulletin_ spread out +before him, was trying earnestly to get a professional idea of the +proper contents of a newspaper. + +"Great goods, old man!" said the stranger. "I want to congratulate you +on your lovely nerve," and seizing Bobby's hand he shook it violently. + +"Thanks," said Bobby, not quite sure whether to be amused or +resentful. "Who are you?" + +"I'm Dillingham," announced the red-faced young man with a cheerful +smile. + +Bobby was about to insist upon further information, when Mr. Jolter +came in to introduce Brown, who had not yet met Mr. Burnit. + +"Dill," drawled Brown, with a twinkle in his eye, "how much money have +you?" + +"Money to burn; money in every pocket," asserted Mr. Dillingham; +"money to last for ever," and he jammed both hands in his trousers' +pockets. + +It was an astonishing surprise to Mr. Dillingham, after groping in +those pockets, to find that he brought up only a dollar bill in his +left hand and forty-five cents in silver in his right. He was still +contemplating in awed silence this perplexing fact when Brown handed +him a five-dollar bill. + +"Now, you run right out and get stewed to the eyebrows again," +directed Brown. "Get properly pickled and have it over with, then show +up here in the morning with a headache and get to work. We want you to +take charge of the Sam Stone expose, and in to-morrow's _Bulletin_ we +want the star introduction of your life." + +"Do you mean to say you're going to trust the whole field conduct of +this campaign to that chap?" asked Bobby, frowning, when Dillingham +had gone. + +"This is his third day, so Dill's safe for to-morrow morning," Brown +hastened to assure him. "He'll be up here early, so penitent that +he'll be incased in a blue fog--and he'll certainly deliver the +goods." + +Bobby sighed and gave it up. This was a new world. + +Over in his dingy little office, up his dingy flight of stairs, Sam +Stone sat at his bare and empty old desk, looking contemplatively out +of the window, when Frank Sharpe--his luxuriant gray mustache in an +extraordinary and most violent state of straggling curliness--came +nervously bustling in with a copy of the _Bulletin_ in his hand. + +"Have you seen this?" he shrilled. + +"Heard about it," grunted Stone. + +"But what do you think of it?" demanded Sharpe indignantly, and spread +the paper out on the desk before the Boss, thumping it violently with +his knuckles. + +Stone studied it well, without the slightest change of expression upon +his heavy features. + +"It's a swell likeness," he quietly conceded, by and by. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +BOBBY BEGINS TO GIVE TESTIMONY THAT HE IS OLD JOHN BURNIT'S SON + + +Closeted with Jolter and Brown, and mapping out with them the +dangerous campaign into which they had plunged, Bobby did not leave +the office of the _Bulletin_ until six o'clock. At the curb, just as +he was about to step into his waiting machine, Biff Bates hailed him +with vast enthusiasm. + +"Go to it, Bobby!" said he. "I'm backing you across the board, win, +place and show; but let me give you a hot tip right from the stables. +You want to be afraid to go home in the dark, or Stone's lobbygows +will lean on you with a section of plumbing." + +"I've thought of that, Biff," laughed Bobby; "and I think I'll +organize a band of murderers of my own." + +Johnson, whom Bobby had quite forgotten in the stress of the day, +joined them at this moment. Thirty years as head bookkeeper and +confidential adviser in old John Burnit's merchandise establishment +had not fitted lean Johnson for the less dignified and more flurried +work of a newspaper office, even in the business department, and he +was looking very much fagged. + +"Well, Johnson, what do you think of my first issue of the +_Bulletin_?" asked Bobby pleasantly. + +Johnson looked genuinely distressed. + +"To tell you the truth, Mr. Burnit," said he, "I have not seen it. I +never in all my life saw a place where there were so many +interruptions to work. If we could only be back in your father's +store, sir." + +"We'll be back there before we quit," said Bobby confidently; "or I'll +be in the incurable ward." + +"I hope so, sir," said Johnson dismally, and strode across the street +to catch his car; but he came back hastily to add: "I meant about the +store; not about the asylum." + +Biff Bates laughed as he clambered into the tonneau with Bobby. + +"If you'd make a billion dollars, Bobby, but didn't get back your +father's business that Silas Trimmer snaked away from you, Johnson +would think you'd overlooked the one best bet." + +"So would I," said Bobby soberly, and he had but very little more to +say until the chauffeur stopped at Bobby's own door, where puffy old +Applerod, who had been next to Johnson in his usefulness to old John +Burnit, stood nervously awaiting him on the steps. + +"Terrible, sir! Terrible!" spluttered Applerod the moment he caught +sight of Bobby. "This open defiance of Mr. Stone will put entirely out +of existence what little there is left of the Brightlight Electric +Company." + +"Cheer up, Applerod, for death must come to us all," encouraged Bobby. +"Such shreds and fragments of the Brightlight as there are left would +have been wiped out anyhow; and frankly, if you must have it, I put +you in there as general manager, when I shifted Johnson to the +_Bulletin_ this morning, because there was nothing to manage." + +Applerod threw up his hands in dismay. + +"And there will be less. Oh, Mr. Burnit, if your father were only +here!" + +Bobby, whose suavity Applerod had never before seen ruffled, turned +upon him angrily. + +"I'm tired hearing about my father, Applerod," he declared. "I revere +the governor's memory too much to want to be made angry by the mention +of his name. Hereafter, kindly catch the idea, if you can, that I am +my own man and must work out my own salvation; and I propose to do it! +Biff, you don't mind if I put off seeing you until to-morrow? I have a +dinner engagement this evening and very little time to dress." + +"His own man," said Applerod sorrowfully when Bobby had left them. +"John Burnit would be half crazy if he could know what a botch his son +is making of things. I don't see how a man could let himself be +cheated four times in business." + +"I can tell you," retorted Biff. "All his old man ever did for him was +to stuff his pockets with kale, and let him grow up into the sort of +clubs where one sport says: 'I'm going to walk down to the corner.' +Says the other sport: 'I'll bet you see more red-headed girls on the +way down than you do on the way back.' Says the first sport: 'You're +on for a hundred.' He goes down to the corner and he comes back. 'How +about the red-headed girls?' asks the second sport. 'I lose,' says the +first sport; 'here's your hundred.' Now, when Bobby is left real +money, he starts in to play the same open-face game, and when one of +these business wolves tells him anything Bobby don't stop to figure +whether the mut means what he says, or means something else that +sounds like the same thing. Now, if Bobby was a simp they'd sting him +in so many places that he'd be swelled all over, like an exhibition +cream puff; but he ain't a simp. It took him four times to learn that +he can't take a man's word in business. That's all he needed. Bobby's +awake now, and more than that he's mad, and if I hear you make another +crack that he ain't about all the candy I'll sick old Johnson on you," +and with this dire threat Biff wheeled, leaving Mr. Applerod +speechless with red-faced indignation. + +It was just a quiet family dinner that Bobby attended that night at +the Ellistons', with Uncle Dan and Aunt Constance Elliston at the head +and foot of the table, and across from him the smiling face of Agnes. +He was so good to look at that Agnes was content just to watch him, +but Aunt Constance noted his abstraction and chided him upon it. + +"Really, Bobby," said she, "since you have gone into business you're +ruined socially." + +"Frankly, I don't mind," he replied, smiling. "I'd rather be ruined +socially than financially. In spite of certain disagreeable features +of it, I have a feeling upon me to-night that I'm going to like the +struggle." + +"You're starting a stiff one now," observed Uncle Dan dryly. +"Beginning an open fight against Sam Stone is a good deal like being +suspended over Hades by a single hair--amidst a shower of Roman +candles." + +"That's putting it about right, I guess," admitted Bobby; "but I'm +relying on the fact that the public at heart is decent." + +"Do you remember, Bobby, what Commodore Vanderbilt said about the +public?" retorted Uncle Dan. "They're decent, all right, but they +won't stick together in any aggressive movement short of gunpowder. In +the meantime, Stone has more entrenchments than even you can dream. +For instance, I should not wonder but that within a very short time I +shall be forced to try my influence with you in his behalf." + +"How?" asked Bobby incredulously. + +"Well, I am trying to get a spur track from the X. Y. Z. Railroad to +my factory on Spindle Street. The X. Y. Z. is perfectly willing to put +in the track, and I'm trying to have the city council grant us a +permit. Now, who is the city council?" + +"Stone," Bobby was compelled to admit. + +"Of course. I have already arranged to pay quite a sum of money to the +capable and honest city councilman of that ward. The capable and +honest councilman will go to Stone and give up about three-fourths of +what I pay him. Then Stone will pass the word out to the other +councilmen that he's for Alderman Holdup's spur track permit, and I +get it. Very simple arrangement, and satisfactory, but, if they do not +shove that measure through at their meeting to-morrow night, before +Stone finds out any possible connection between you and me, the price +of it will not be money. I'll be sent to you." + +"I see," said Bobby in dismay. "In other words, it will be put flatly +up to me; I'll either have to quit my attacks on Stone, or be directly +responsible for your losing your valuable spur track." + +"Exactly," said Uncle Dan. + +Bobby drew a long breath. + +"I'm very much afraid, Mr. Elliston, that you will have to do without +your spur." + +Uncle Dan's eyes twinkled. + +"I'm willing," said he. "I have a good offer to sell that branch of my +plant anyhow, and I think I'll dispose of it. I have been very frank +with you about this, so that you will know exactly what to expect when +other people come at you. You will be beset as you never were before." + +"I have been looking for an injunction, myself." + +"You will have no injunction, for Stone scarcely dares go publicly +into his own courts," said Uncle Dan, with a pretty thorough +knowledge, gained through experience, of the methods of the "Stone +gang"; "though he might even use that as a last resort. That will be +after intimidation fails, for it is quite seriously probable that they +will hire somebody to beat you into insensibility. If that don't teach +you the proper lesson, they will probably kill you." + +Agnes looked up apprehensively, but catching Bobby's smile took this +latter phase of the matter as a joke. Bobby himself was not deeply +impressed with it, but before he went away that night Uncle Dan took +him aside and urged upon him the seriousness of the matter. + +"I'll fight them with their own weapons, then," declared Bobby. "I'll +organize a counter band of thugs, and I'll block every move they make +with one of the same sort. Somehow or other I think I am going to +win." + +"Of course you will win," said Agnes confidently, overhearing this +last phrase; and with that most prized of all encouragement, the faith +in his prowess of _the_ one woman, Bobby, for that night at least, +felt quite contemptuous of the grilling fight to come. + +His second issue of the _Bulletin_ contained on the front page a +three-column picture of Sam Stone, with the same caption, together +with a full-page article, written by Dillingham from data secured by +himself and the others who were put upon the "story." This set forth +the main iniquities of Sam Stone and his crew of municipal grafters. +In the third day's issue the picture was reduced to two columns, +occupying the left-hand upper corner of the front page, where Bobby +ordered it to remain permanently as the slogan of the _Bulletin_; and +now Dillingham began his long series of articles, taking up point by +point the ramifications of Stone's machine, and coming closer and +closer daily to people who would much rather have been left entirely +out of the picture. + +It was upon this third day that Bobby, becoming apprehensive merely +because nothing had happened, received a visit from Frank Sharpe. Mr. +Sharpe was as nattily dressed as ever, and presented himself as +pleasantly as a summer breeze across fields of clover. + +"I came in to see you about merging the Brightlight Electric Company +with the Consolidated, Mr. Burnit," said Mr. Sharpe in a chatty tone, +laying his hat, cane and gloves upon Bobby's desk and seating himself +comfortably. + +From his face there was no doubt in Mr. Sharpe's mind that this was a +mere matter of an interview with a satisfactory termination, for Mr. +Sharpe had done business with Bobby before; but something had happened +to Bobby in the meantime. + +"When I get ready for a merger of the Brightlight with the +Consolidated I'll tell you about it; and also I'll tell you the +terms," Bobby advised him with a snap, and for the first time Mr. +Sharpe noted what a good jaw Bobby had. + +"I should think," hesitated Sharpe, "that in the present condition of +the Brightlight almost any terms would be attractive to you. You have +no private consumers now, and your contract for city lighting, which +you can not evade except by bankruptcy, is losing you money." + +"If that were news to me it would be quite startling," responded +Bobby, "but you see, Mr. Sharpe, I am quite well acquainted with the +facts myself. Also, I have a strong suspicion that you tampered with +my plant; that your hired agents cut my wires, ruined my dynamos and +destroyed the efficiency of my service generally." + +"You will find it very difficult to prove that, Mr. Burnit," said +Sharpe, with a sternness which could not quite conceal a lurking +smile. + +"I'm beginning to like difficulty," retorted Bobby. "I do not mind +telling you that I was never angry before in my life, and I'm +surprised to find myself enjoying the sensation." + +Bobby was still more astonished to find himself laying his fist +tensely upon his desk. The lurking smile was now gone entirely from +Mr. Sharpe's face. + +"I must admit, Mr. Burnit, that your affairs have turned out rather +unfortunately," he said, "but I think that they might be remedied for +you a bit, perhaps. Suppose you go and see Stone." + +"I do not care to see Mr. Stone," said Bobby. + +"But he wants to see you," persisted Sharpe. "In fact, he told me so +this morning. I'm quite sure you would find it to your advantage to +drop over there." + +"I shall never enter Mr. Stone's office until he has vacated it for +good," said Bobby; "then I might be induced to come over and break up +the furniture. If Stone wants to see me I'm keeping fairly regular +office hours here." + +"It is not Mr. Stone's habit to go to other people," bluffed Sharpe, +growing somewhat nervous; for it was one of Stone's traits not to +forgive the failure of a mission. He had no use for extenuating +circumstances, He never looked at anything in this world but results. + +Bobby took down the receiver of his house telephone. + +"I'd like to speak to Mr. Jolter, please," said he. + +Sharpe rose to go. + +"Just wait a moment, Mr. Sharpe," said Bobby peremptorily, and Sharpe +stopped. "Jolter," he directed crisply, turning again to the 'phone, +"kindly step into my office, will you?" + +A moment later, while Sharpe stood wondering, Jolter came in, and +grinned as he noted Bobby's visitor. + +"Mr. Jolter," asked Bobby, "have we a good portrait of Mr. Sharpe?" + +Jolter, still grinning, stated that they had. + +"Have a three-column half-tone made of it for this evening's +_Bulletin_." + +Sharpe fairly spluttered. + +"Mr. Burnit, if you print my picture in the _Bulletin_ connected with +anything derogatory, I'll--I'll--" + +Bobby waited politely for a moment. + +"Go ahead, Mr. Sharpe," said he. "I'm interested to know just what you +will do, because we're going to print the picture, connected with +something quite derogatory. Now finish your threat." + +Sharpe gazed at him a moment, speechless with rage, and then stamped +from the office. + +Jolter, quietly chuckling, turned to Bobby. + +"I guess you'll do," he commented. "If you last long enough you'll +win." + +"Thanks," said Bobby dryly, and then he smiled. "Say, Jolter," he +added, "it's bully fun being angry. I'm just beginning to realize what +I have been missing all these years. Go ahead with Sharpe's picture +and print anything you please about him. I guess you can secure enough +material without going out of the office, and if you can't I'll supply +you with some." + +Jolter looked at his watch and hurried for the door. Minutes were +precious if he wanted to get that Sharpe cut made in time for the +afternoon edition. At the door, however, he turned a bit anxiously. + +"I suppose you carry a gun, don't you?" + +"By no means," said Bobby. "Never owned one." + +"I'd advise you to get a good one at once," and Jolter hurried away. + +That evening's edition of the _Bulletin_ contained a beautiful +half-tone of Mr. Sharpe. Above it was printed: "The _Bulletin's_ +Rogues' Gallery," and beneath was the caption: "Hadn't this man better +go, too?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +EDITOR BURNIT DISCOVERS THAT HE IS FIGHTING AN ENTIRE CITY INSTEAD OF +ONE MAN + + +At four o'clock of that same day Mr. Brown came in, and Mr. Brown was +grinning. In the last three days a grin had become the trade-mark of +the office, for the staff of the _Bulletin_ was enjoying itself as +never before in all its history. + +"Stone's in my office," said Brown. "Wants to see you." + +Bobby was interestedly leafing over the pages of the _Bulletin_. He +looked leisurely at his watch and yawned. + +"Tell Mr. Stone that I am busy, but that I will receive him in fifteen +minutes," he directed, whereupon Mr. Brown, appreciating the joke, +grinned still more expansively and withdrew. + +Bobby, as calmly as he could, went on with his perusal of the +_Bulletin_. To deny that he was somewhat tense over the coming +interview would be foolish. Never had a quarter of an hour dragged so +slowly, but he waited it out, with five minutes more on top of it, and +then he telephoned to Brown to know if Stone was still there. He was +relieved to find that he was. + +"Tell him to come in," he ordered. + +If Stone was inwardly fuming when he entered the room he gave no +indication of it. His heavy face bore only his habitually sullen +expression, his heavy-lidded eyes bore only their usual somberness, +his heavy brow had in it no crease other than those that time had +graven there. With the deliberateness peculiar to him he planted his +heavy body in a big arm-chair opposite to Bobby, without removing his +hat. + +"I don't believe in beating around the bush, Mr. Burnit," said he, +with a glance over his shoulder to make sure that the door was closed. +"Of course you're after something. What do you want?" + +Bobby looked at him in wonder. He had heard much of Stone's bluntness, +and now he was fascinated by it. Nevertheless, he did not forget his +own viewpoint. + +"Oh, I don't want much," he observed pleasantly, "only just your +scalp; yours and the scalps of a few others who gave me my education, +from Silas Trimmer up and down. I think one of the things that +aggravated me most was the recent elevation of Trimmer to the +chairmanship of your waterworks commission. Trivial as it was, this +probably had as much to do with my sudden determination to wipe you +out, as your having the Brightlight's poles removed from Market +Street." + +Stone laid a heavy hand easily upon Bobby's desk. It was a strong +hand, a big hand, brown and hairy, and from the third pudgy finger +glowed a huge diamond. + +"As far as Trimmer is concerned," said he, quite undisturbed, "you can +have his head any minute. He's a mutt." + +"You don't need to give me Mr. Trimmer's head," replied Bobby, quite +as calmly. "I intend to get that myself." + +"And as for the Brightlight," continued Stone as if he had not been +interrupted, "I sent Sharpe over to see you about that this morning. I +think we can fix it so that you can get back your two hundred and +fifty thousand. The deal's been worth a lot more than that to the +Consolidated." + +"No doubt," agreed Bobby. "However, I'm not looking, at the present +moment, for a sop to the Brightlight Company. It will be time enough +for that when I have forced the Consolidated into the hands of a +receiver." + +Stone looked at Bobby thoughtfully between narrowed eyelids. + +"Look here, young fellow," said he presently. "Now, you take it from +me, and I have been through the mill, that there ain't any use holding +a grouch. The mere doing damage don't get you anything unless it's to +whip somebody else into line with a warning. I take it that this ain't +what you're trying to do. You think you're simply playing a grouch +game, table stakes; but if you'll simmer down you'll find you've got a +price. Now, I'd rather have you with me than against me. If you'll +just say what you want I'll get it for you if it's in reach. But don't +froth. I've cleaned up as much money as your daddy did, just by +keeping my temper." + +"I'm going to keep mine, too," Bobby informed him quite cheerfully. "I +have just found that I have one, and I like it." + +Stone brushed this triviality aside with a wave of his heavy hand. + +"Quit kidding," he said, "and come out with it. I see you're no piker, +anyhow. You're playing for big game. What is it you want?" + +"As I said before, not very much," declared Bobby. "I only want to +grind your machine into powder. I want to dig up the rotten municipal +control of this city, root and branch. I want to ferret out every bit +of crookedness in which you have been concerned, and every bit that +you have caused. I want to uncover every man, high or low, for just +what he is, and I don't care how well protected he is nor how shining +his reputation, if he's concerned in a crooked deal I'm going after +him--" + +"There won't be many of us left," Stone interrupted with a smile. + +"--I want to get back some of the money you have stolen from this +city," continued Bobby; "and I want, last of all, to drive you out of +this town for good." + +Stone rose with a sigh. + +"This is the only chance I'll give you to climb in with the music," he +rumbled. "I've kept off three days, figuring out where you were +leading to and what you were after. Now, last of all, what will you +take to call it off?" + +"I have told you the price," said Bobby. + +"Then you're looking for trouble and you must have it, eh?" + +"I suppose I must." + +"Then you'll get it," and without the sign of a frown upon his brow +Mr. Stone left the office. + +The next morning things began to happen. The First National Bank +called up the business office of the _Bulletin_ and ordered its +advertisement discontinued. Not content alone with that, President De +Graff called up Bobby personally, and in a very cold and dignified +voice told him that the First National was compelled to withdraw its +patronage on account of the undignified personal attacks in which the +_Bulletin_ was indulging. Bobby whistled softly. He knew De Graff +quite well; they were, in fact, upon most intimate terms, socially. + +"I should think, De Graff," Bobby remonstrated, "that of all people +the banks should be glad to have all this crookedness rooted out of +the city. As a matter of fact, I intended shortly to ask your +cooeperation in the formation of a citizens' committee to insure honest +politics." + +"I really could not take any active part in such a movement, Mr. +Burnit," returned De Graff, still more coldly. "The conservatism +necessary to my position forbids my connection with any sensational +publicity whatsoever." + +An hour later, Crone, the advertising manager, came up to Bobby very +much worried, to report that not only the First National but the +Second Market Bank had stopped their advertising, as had Trimmer and +Company, and another of the leading dry-goods firms. + +"Of course," said Crone, "your editorial policy is your own, but I'm +afraid that it is going to be ruinous to your advertising." + +"I shouldn't wonder," admitted Bobby dryly, and that was all the +satisfaction he gave Crone; but inwardly he was somewhat disturbed. + +He had not thought of the potency of this line of attack. While he +knew nothing of the newspaper business, he had already made sure that +the profit was in the advertising. He sent for Jolter. + +"Ben," he asked, "what is the connection between the First National +and the Second Market Banks and Sam Stone?" + +"Money," said the managing editor promptly. "Both banks are +depositories of city funds." + +"I see," said Bobby slowly. "Do any other banks enjoy this patronage?" + +"The Merchants' and the Planters' and Traders' hold the county funds, +which are equally at Stone's disposal." + +Bobby heard this news in silence, and Jolter, after looking at him +narrowly for a moment, added: + +"I'll tell you something else. Not one of the four banks pays to the +city or the county one penny of interest on these deposits. This is +well known to the newspapers, but none of them has dared use it." + +"Go after them," said Bobby. + +"Moreover, it is strongly suspected that the banks pay interest +privately to Stone, through a small and select ring in the court-house +and in the city hall." + +"Go after them." + +"I suppose you know the men who will be involved in this," said +Jolter. + +"Some of my best friends, I expect," said Bobby. + +"And some of the most influential citizens in this town," retorted +Jolter. "They can ruin the _Bulletin_. They could ruin any business." + +"The thing's crooked, isn't it?" demanded Bobby. + +"As a dog's hind leg." + +"Go after them, Jolter!" Bobby reiterated. Then he laughed aloud. "De +Graff just telephoned me that 'the conservatism of his position +forbids him to take part in any sensational publicity whatsoever.'" + +Comment other than a chuckle was superfluous from either one of them, +and Jolter departed to the city editor's room, to bring joy to the +heart of the staff. + +It was "Bugs" Roach who scented the far-reaching odor of this move +with the greatest joy. + +"You know what this means, don't you?" he delightedly commented. "A +grand jury investigation. Oh, listen to the band!" + +Before noon the Merchants' and the Planters' and Traders' Banks had +withdrawn their advertisements. + +At about the same hour a particularly atrocious murder was committed +in one of the suburbs. Up in the reporters' room of the police +station, Thomas, of the _Bulletin_, and Graham, of the _Chronicle_, +were indulging in a quiet game of whist with two of the morning +newspaper boys, when a roundsman stepped to the door and called Graham +out. Graham came back a moment later after his coat, with such studied +nonchalance that the other boys, eternally suspicious as police +reporters grow to be, looked at him narrowly, and Thomas asked him, +also with studied nonchalance: + +"The candy-store girl, or the one in the laundry office?" + +"Business, young fellow, business," returned Graham loftily. "I guess +the _Chronicle_ knows when it has a good man. I'm called into the +office to save the paper. They're sending a cub down to cover the +afternoon. Don't scoop him, old man." + +"Not unless I get a chance," promised Thomas, but after Graham had +gone he went down to the desk and, still unsatisfied, asked: + +"Anything doing, Lieut.?" + +"Dead as a door-nail," replied the lieutenant, and Thomas, still with +an instinct that something was wrong, still sensitive to a certain +suppressed tingling excitement about the very atmosphere of the place, +went slowly back to the reporters' room, where he spent a worried +half-hour. + +The noonday edition of the _Chronicle_ carried, in the identical +columns devoted in the _Bulletin_ to a further attack on Stone, a +lurid account of the big murder; and the _Bulletin_ had not a line of +it! A sharp call from Brown to Thomas, at central police, apprised the +latter that he had been "scooped," and brought out the facts in the +case. Thomas hurried down-stairs and bitterly upbraided Lieutenant +Casper. + +"Look here, you Thomas," snapped Casper; "you _Bulletin_ guys have +been too fresh around here for a long time." + +In Casper's eyes--Casper with whom he had always been on cordial +joking terms--he saw cruel implacability, and, furious, he knew +himself to be "in" for that most wearing of all newspaper jobs--"doing +police" for a paper that was "in bad" with the administration. He +needed no one to tell him the cause. At three-thirty, Thomas, and +Camden, who was doing the city hall, and Greenleaf Whittier Squiggs, +who was subbing for the day on the courts, appeared before Jim Brown +in an agonized body. Thomas had been scooped on the big murder, Camden +and G. W. Squiggs had been scooped, at the city hall and the county +building, on the only items worth while, and they were all at white +heat; though it was a great consolation to Squiggs, after all, to find +himself in such distinguished company. + +Brown heard them in silence, and with great solemnity conducted them +across the hall to Jolter, who also heard them in silence and +conducted them into the adjoining room to Bobby. Here Jolter stood +back and eyed young Mr. Burnit with great interest as his two +experienced veterans and his ambitious youngster poured forth their +several tales of woe. Bobby, as it became him to be, was much +disturbed. + +"How's the circulation of the _Bulletin_?" he asked of Jolter. + +"Five times what it ever was in its history," responded Jolter. + +"Do you suppose we can hold it?" + +"Possibly." + +"How much does a scoop amount to?" + +"Well," confessed Jolter, with his eyes twinkling, "I hate to tell you +before the boys, but my own opinion is that we know it and the +_Chronicle_ knows it and Stone knows it, but day after to-morrow the +public couldn't tell you on its sacred oath whether it read the first +account of the murder in the _Bulletin_ or in the _Chronicle_." + +Bobby heaved a sigh of relief. + +"I always had the impression that a 'beat' meant the death, cortege +and cremation of the newspaper that fell behind in the race," he +smiled. "Boys, I'm afraid you'll have to stand it for a while. Do the +best you can and get beaten as little as possible. By the way, Jolter, +I want to see you a minute," and the mournful delegation of three, no +whit less mournful because they had been assured that they would not +be held accountable for being scooped, filed out. + +"What's the connection," demanded Bobby, the minute they were alone, +"between the police department and Sam Stone?" + +"Money!" replied Jolter. "Chief of Police Cooley is in reality chief +collector. The police graft is one of the richest Stone has. The +rake-off from saloons that are supposed to close at one and from +crooked gambling joints and illegal resorts of various kinds, amounts, +I suppose, to not less than ten to fifteen thousand dollars a week. Of +course, the patrolmen get some, but the bulk of it goes to Cooley, who +was appointed by Stone, and the biggest slice of all goes to the +Boss." + +"Go after Cooley," said Bobby. Then suddenly he struck his fist upon +the desk. "Great Heavens, man!" he exclaimed. "At the end of every +avenue and street and alley that I turn down with the _Bulletin_ I +find an open sewer." + +"The town is pretty well supplied," admitted Jolter. "How do you feel +now about your policy?" + +"Pretty well staggered," confessed Bobby; "but we're going through +with the thing just the same." + +"It's a man's-size job," declared Jolter; "but if you get away with it +the _Bulletin_ will be the best-paying piece of newspaper property +west of New York." + +"Not the way the advertising's going," said Bobby, shaking his head +and consulting a list on his desk. "Where has Stone a hold on the +dry-goods firm of Rolands and Crawford?" + +"They built out circular show-windows, all around their big block, and +these extend illegally upon two feet of the sidewalk." + +"And how about the Ebony Jewel Coal Company?" + +"They have been practically allowed to close up Second Street, from +Water to Canal, for a dump." + +Bobby sighed hopelessly. + +"We can't fight everybody in town," he complained. + +"Yes, but we can!" exclaimed Jolter with a sudden fire that surprised +Bobby, since it was the first the managing editor displayed. "Don't +weaken, Burnit! I'm with you in this thing, heart and soul! If we can +hold out until next election we will sweep everything before us." + +"We will hold out!" declared Bobby. + +"I am so sure of it that I'll stand treat," assented Mr. Jolter with +vast enthusiasm, and over an old oak table, in a quiet place, Mr. +Jolter and Mr. Burnit, having found the sand in each other's craws, +cemented a pretty strong liking. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +AN EXCITING GAME OF TIT FOR TAT WITH HIRED THUGS + + +The _Bulletin_, continuing its warfare upon Stone and every one who +supported him, hit upon names that had never before been mentioned but +in terms of the highest respect, and divers and sundry complacent +gentlemen who attended church quite regularly began to look for a +cyclone cellar. They were compromised with Stone and they could not +placate Bobby. The four banks that had withdrawn their advertisements, +after a hasty conference with Stone put them back again the first day +their names were mentioned. The business department of the _Bulletin_ +cheerfully accepted those advertisements at the increased rate +justified by the _Bulletin's_ increased circulation; but the editorial +department just as cheerfully kept castigating the erring conservators +of the public money, and the advertisements disappeared again. + +Bobby's days now were beset from a hundred quarters with agonized +appeals to change his policy. This man and that man and the other man +high in commercial and social and political circles came to him with +all sorts of pressure, and even Payne Winthrop and Nick Allstyne, two +of his particular cronies of the Idlers', not being able to catch him +at the club any more, came up to his office. + +"This won't do, old man," protested Payne; "we're missing you at +billiards and bridge whist, but your refusal to take part in the +coming polo tourney was the last straw. You're getting to be a regular +plebe." + +"I am a plebe," admitted Bobby. "What's the use to deny it? My father +was a plebe. He came off the farm with no earthly possessions more +valuable than the patches on his trousers. I am one generation from +the soil, and since I have turned over a furrow or two, just plain +earth smells good to me." + +Both of Bobby's friends laughed. They liked him too well to take him +seriously in this. + +"But really," said Nick, returning to the attack, "the boys at the +club were talking over the thing and think this rather bad form, this +sort of a fight you're making. You're bound to become involved in a +nasty controversy." + +"Yes?" inquired Bobby pleasantly. "Watch me become worse involved. +More than that, I think I shall come down to the Idlers', when I get +things straightened out here, organize a club league and make you +fellows march with banners and torch-lights." + +This being a more hilarious joke than the other the boys laughed quite +politely, though Payne Winthrop grew immediately serious again. + +"But we can't lose you, Bobby," he insisted. "We want you to quit this +sort of business and come back again to the old crowd. There are so +few of us left, you know, that we're getting lonesome. Stan Rogers is +getting up a glorious hunt and he wants us all to come up to his lodge +for a month at least. You should be tired of this by now, anyhow." + +"Not a bit of it," declared Bobby. + +"Oh, of course, you have your money involved," admitted Payne, "and +you must play it through on that account; but I'll tell you: if you do +want to sell I know where I could find a buyer for you at a profit." + +Bobby turned on him like a flash. + +"Look here, Payne," said he. "Where is your interest in this?" + +"My interest?" repeated Payne blankly. + +"Yes, your interest. What have you to gain by having me sell out?" + +"Why, really, Bobby--" began Payne, thinking to temporize. + +"You're here for that purpose, and must tell me why," insisted Bobby +sternly, tapping his finger on the desk. + +"Well, if you must know," stammered Payne, taken out of himself by +sheer force of Bobby's manner, "my respected and revered--" + +"I see," said Bobby. + +"The--the pater is thinking of entering politics next year, and he +rather wants an organ." + +"And Nick, where's yours?" + +"Well," confessed Nick, with no more force of reservation than had +Payne when mastery was used upon him, "mother's city property and +mine, you know, contains some rather tumbledown buildings that are +really good for a number of years yet, but which adverse municipal +government might--might depreciate in value." + +"Just a minute," said Bobby, and he sent for Jolter. + +"Ben," he asked, "do you know anything about Mr. Adam Winthrop's +political aspirations?" + +"I understand he's being groomed for governor," said Jolter. + +"Meet his son, Mr. Jolter--Mr. Payne Winthrop. Also Mr. Nick Allstyne. +I suppose Mr. Winthrop is to run on Stone's ticket?" continued Bobby, +breaking in upon the formalities as quickly as possible. + +"Certainly." + +"Payne," said Bobby, "if your father wants to talk with me about the +_Bulletin_ he must come himself. Jolter, do you know where the +Allstyne properties are?" + +Jolter looked at Nick and Nick colored. + +"That's rather a blunt question, under the circumstances, Mr. Burnit," +said Jolter, "but I don't see why it shouldn't be answered as bluntly. +It's a row of two blocks on the most notorious street of the town, +frame shacks that are likely to be the start of a holocaust, any windy +night, which will sweep the entire down-town district. They should +have been condemned years ago." + +"Nick," said Bobby, "I'll give you one month to dispose of that +property, because after that length of time I'm going after it." + +This was but a sample. Bobby had at last become suspicious, and as old +John Burnit had shrewdly observed in one of his letters: "It hurts to +acquire suspiciousness, but it is quite necessary; only don't overdo +it." + +Bobby, however, was in a field where suspiciousness could scarcely be +overdone. When any man came to protest or to use influence on Bobby in +his fight, Bobby took the bull by the horns, called for Jolter, who +was a mine of information upon local affairs, and promptly found out +the reason for that man's interest; whereupon he either warned him off +or attacked him, and made an average of ten good, healthy enemies a +day. He scared Adam Winthrop out of the political race entirely, he +made the Allstynes tear down their fire-traps and erect better-paying +and consequently more desirable tenements, and he had De Graff and the +other involved bankers "staggering in circles and hoarsely barking," +as "Bugs" Roach put it. + +So far, Bobby had been subjected to no personal annoyances, but on the +day after his first attack on the chief of police he began to be +arrested for breaking the speed laws, and fined the limit, even though +he drove his car but eight miles an hour, while his news carriers and +his employees were "pinched" upon the most trivial pretexts. Libel +suits were brought wherever a merchant or an official had a record +clear enough to risk such procedure, and three of these suits were +decided against him; whereupon Bobby, finding the money chain which +bound certain of the judges to Sam Stone, promptly attacked these +members of the judiciary and appealed his cases. + +His very name became a red rag to every member of Stone's crowd; but +up to this point no violence had been offered him. One night, however, +as he was driving his own car homeward, men on the watch for him +stepped out of an alley mouth two blocks above the Burnit residence +and strewed the street thickly with sharp-pointed coil springs. One of +these caught a tire, and Bobby, always on the alert for the first sign +of such accidents, brought his car to a sudden stop, reached down for +his tire-wrench and jumped out. Just as he stooped over to examine the +tire, some instinct warned him, and he turned quickly to find three +men coming upon him from the alley, the nearest one with an uplifted +slung-shot. It was with just a glance from the corner of his eye as he +turned that Bobby caught the import of the figure towering above him, +and then his fine athletic training came in good stead. With a +sidewise spring he was out of the sphere of that descending blow, and, +swinging with his heavy wrench, caught the fellow a smash upon the +temple which laid him unconscious. Before the two other men had time +to think, he was upon them and gave one a broken shoulder-blade. The +other escaped. There had been no word from any of the three men which +might lead to an explanation of this attack, but Bobby needed no +explanation; he divined at once the source from which it came, and in +the morning he sent for Biff Bates. + +"Biff," said he, "I spoke once about securing some thugs to act as a +counter-irritant against Stone, but I have neglected it. How long will +it take to get hold of some?" + +"Ten minutes, if I wait till dark," replied Biff. "I can go down to +the Blue Star, and for ten iron men apiece can get you as fine a bunch +of yeggs as ever beat out a cripple's brains with his own wooden leg." + +Bobby smiled. + +"I don't want them to go quite that far," he objected. "Are they men +you can depend upon not to sell out to Stone?" + +"Just one way," replied Biff. "The choice line of murderers that hang +out down around the levee are half of them sore on Stone, anyhow; but +they're afraid of him, and the only way you can use them is to give +'em enough to get 'em out of town. For ten a throw you can buy them +body and soul." + +"I'll take about four, to start on duty to-night, and stay on duty +till they accomplish what I want done," and Bobby detailed his plan to +Biff. + +Stone had one peculiarity. Knowing that he had enemies, and those +among the most reckless class in the world, he seldom allowed himself +to be caught alone; but every night he held counsel with some of his +followers at a certain respectable beer-garden where, in the +summer-time, a long table in a quiet, half-screened corner was +reserved for him and his followers, and in the winter a back room was +given up for the same purpose. Here Stone transacted all the real +business of his local organization, drinking beer, reviving +strange-looking callers, and confining his own remarks to a grunted +yes or no, or a brief direction. Every night at about nine-thirty he +rose, yawned, and, unattended, walked back through the beer-garden to +the alley, where he stood for some five minutes. This was his retreat +for uninterrupted thought, and when he came back from it he had the +day's developments summed up and the necessary course of action +resolved upon. + +On the second night after the attempted assault upon Bobby he had no +sooner closed the alley door behind him than a man sprang upon him +from either side, a heavy hand was placed over his mouth, and he was +dragged to the ground, where a third brawny thug straddled his chest +and showed him a long knife. + +"See it?" demanded the man as he passed the blade before Stone's eyes. +"It's hungry. You let 'em clip my brother in stir for a three-stretch +when you could have saved him with a grunt, and if I wasn't workin' +under orders, in half an hour they'd have you on slab six with ice +packed around you and a sheet over you. But we're under orders. We're +part of the reform committee, we are," and all three of them laughed +silently, "and there's a string of us longer than the Christmas +bread-line, all crazy for a piece of this getaway coin. And here's the +little message I got to give you. This time you're to go free. Next +time you're to have your head beat off. This thuggin' of peaceable +citizens has got to be stopped; see?" + +A low whistle from a man stationed at the mouth of the alley +interrupted the speech which the man with the knife was enjoying so +much, and he sprang from the chest of Stone, who had been struggling +vainly all this time. As the man sprang up and started to run, he +suddenly whirled and gave Stone a vicious kick upon the hip, and as +Stone rose, another man kicked him in the ribs. All three of them ran, +and Stone, scrambling to his feet with difficulty, whipped his +revolver from his pocket and snapped it. Long disused, however, the +trigger stuck, but he took after them on foot in spite of the pain of +the two fearful kicks that he had received. Instead of darting +straight out of the alley, the men turned in at a small gate at the +side of a narrow building on the corner, and slammed the gate behind +them. He could hear the drop of the wooden bolt. He knew perfectly +that entrance. It was to the littered back yard of a cheap saloon, at +the side of which ran a narrow passageway to the street beyond, where +street-cars passed every half-minute. + +Just as he came furiously up to the gate a policeman darted in at the +alley mouth, and, catching the glint of Stone's revolver, whipped his +own. He ran quite fearlessly to Stone, and with a dextrous blow upon +the wrist sent the revolver spinning. + +"You're under arrest," said he. + +For just one second he covered his man, then his arm dropped and his +jaw opened in astonishment. + +"Why, it's Stone!" he exclaimed. + +"Yes, damn you, it's Stone!" screamed the Boss, livid with fury, and +overcome with anger he dealt the policeman a staggering blow in the +face. "You damned flat-foot, I'll teach you to notice who you put your +hands on! Give me that badge!" + +White-faced and with trembling fingers, and with a trickle of blood +starting slowly from a cut upon his cheek, the man unfastened his +badge. + +"Now, go back to Cooley and tell him I broke you," Stone ordered, and +turned on his heel. + +By the time he reached the back door of the beer-garden he was limping +most painfully, but when he rejoined his crowd he said nothing of the +incident. In the brief time that it had taken him to go from the alley +mouth to that table he had divined the significance of the whole +thing. For the first time in his career he knew himself to be a +systematically marked man, as he had systematically marked others; and +he was not beyond reason. Thereafter, Bobby Burnit was in no more +jeopardy from hired thugs, and for a solid year he kept up his fight, +with plenty of material to last him for still another twelvemonth. It +was a year which improved him in many ways, but Aunt Constance +Elliston objected to the improvement. + +"Bobby, they _are_ spoiling you," she complained. "They're taking your +suavity away from you, and you're acquiring grim, hard lines around +your mouth." + +"They're making him," declared Agnes, looking fondly across at the +firm face and into the clear, unwavering eyes. + +Bobby answered the look of Agnes with one that needed no words to +interpret, and laughed at Aunt Constance. + +"I suppose they are spoiling me," he confessed, "and I'm glad of it. +I'm glad, above all, that I'm losing the sort of suavity which led me +to smile and tell a man politely to take it, when he reached his hand +into my pocket for my money." + +"You'll do," agreed Uncle Dan. "When you took hold of the _Bulletin_, +your best friends only gave you two months, But are you making any +money?" + +Bobby's face clouded. + +"Spending it like water. We have practically no advertising, and a +larger circulation than I want. We lose money on every copy of the +paper that we sell." + +Uncle Dan shook his head. + +"Is there a chance that you will ever get it back?" he asked. + +"Bobby's so used to failure that he doesn't mind," interjected Aunt +Constance. + +"Mind!" exclaimed Bobby. "I never minded it so much in my life as I do +now. The _Bulletin_ must win. I'm bound that it shall win! If we come +out ahead in our fight against Stone I'll get all my advertising back, +and I'll keep my circulation, which makes advertising rates." + +The telephone bell rang in the study adjoining the dining-room, and +Bobby, who had been more or less distrait all evening, half rose from +his chair. In a moment more the maid informed them that the call was +for Mr. Burnit. In the study they could hear his voice, excited and +exultant. He returned as delighted as a school-boy. + +"Now I can tell you something," he announced. "Within five minutes the +_Bulletin_ will have exclusive extras on the street, announcing that +the legislature has just appointed a committee to investigate +municipal affairs throughout the state. That means this town. I have +spent ten thousand dollars in lobbying that measure through, and +charged it all to improvements' on the _Bulletin_. Sounds like I had +joined the ranks of the 'boodlers,' don't it? Well, I don't give a +cooky for ethics so long as I know I'm right. I'd have been a simp, as +Biff Bates calls it, to go among that crowd of hungry law jugglers +with kind words and the ten commandments. I'm not using crossbows +against cannon, and as a result I'm winning. I got my measure through, +and now I think we'll put Stone and his crew of freebooters on the +grill, with some extra-hot coals for my friend De Graff and the other +saintly sinners who have been playing into Stone's hands. I have been +working a year for this, and the entire politics of this town, with +wide-reaching results in the state, is disrupted." + +"You selfish boy," chided Aunt Constance. "You have been here with us +for more than an hour, expecting this all the time, and have not +breathed one word of it to us. Don't you trust anybody any more?" + +"Oh, yes," replied Bobby easily; "but only when it is necessary." + +Agnes smiled across at him in calm content. She had but very little to +say now. She was in that blissful happiness that comes to any woman +when the man most in her mind is reaping his meed of success from a +long and hard-fought battle. + +"Spoken like your father, Bobby," laughed Uncle Dan. "You're coming to +look more and more like him every day. You talk like him and act like +him. You have the same snap of your jaws. Your father, however, never +dabbled in politics. He always despised it, and I see you're bound to +be knee-deep in it." + +"My father would have succeeded in politics," said Bobby confidently, +"as he succeeded in everything else, after he once got started. I have +his confession in writing, however, that he made a few fool mistakes +himself along at first. As for politics, I _am_ in it knee-deep, and +I'm going to elect my own slate next fall." + +"Another reform party, of course," suggested Uncle Dan with a smile. + +"Not for Bobby," replied that decided young gentleman. "I am forming +an affiliation with Cal Lewis." + +"Cal Lewis!" exclaimed Uncle Dan aghast. Then he closed his eyes and +laughed softly. "As notorious in his way as Sam Stone himself. Why, +Bobby, that's fighting fire with gasolene." + +"It's setting a thief to catch a thief. You must remember that for +fifteen years Cal hasn't had any of the pie except in a minor way, and +all this time he's been fighting Stone tooth and toe-nail. The late +reform movement, which failed so lamentably to carry out its gaudy +promises after it had won, left him entirely out of its calculations, +and Lewis actually joined with Stone in overturning it. I propose to +use Lewis' knowledge of political machinery, but in my own way. As a +matter of fact, I have already engaged him and put him on salary; a +good, stiff one, too. His business is to organize my political +machine. I'm going to have a slate of clean men, who will not only +conduct the business of this county and city with probity but with +discretion, and I do not mind telling you that my candidate for mayor +is Chalmers." + +Agnes gave a little cry of delight, and even Aunt Constance clapped +her hands lightly, for Chalmers, a young lawyer of excellent social +connections, was a prime favorite with the Ellistons, and in the +business he had transacted for the Burnit estate Bobby had found in +him sterling qualities. + +"Chalmers is a good man," agreed Uncle Dan, "though he is young, and +practically without political influence; but, if you can make him +mayor, I predict a brilliant political future for him." + +"He will have it," said Bobby confidently, "for I intend to make him +the attorney for the investigating committee, and through his work I +expect to have not less than a hundred thousand dollars of stolen +money turned back into the city and county treasuries." + +As Bobby announced this he rose mechanically, and, still absorbed in +the details of his big fight, walked out into the hall. It was not +until he had his coat on and his hat in his hand that he came to +himself; and with the deepest confusion found that he had been about +to walk out without making any adieus whatever. + +"Why, where are you going?" inquired Agnes, as he came back into the +drawing-room. + +He laughed sheepishly. + +"Why," he explained, "ever since I received that telephone message I +have been seeing before me the _Bulletin_ extra that they are throwing +on the street right now, and I forgot everything else. I'll simply +have to go down and hold a copy of it in my hands." + +"You're just a big boy," laughed Aunt Constance. "Will you ever grow +up?" + +"I hope not," declared Agnes, and taking his arm she strolled with him +to the door in perfect peace and confidence. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +MR. STONE LEAVES BOBBY A PARTING COMMISSION AND A LEFT-HANDED BLESSING + + +It looked good to Bobby, that late extra of the _Bulletin_, and the +force that he had kept on duty to get it out greeted him, as he walked +through the office, with a running fire of comment and congratulation +that was almost like applause. He had bought a copy on the street as +he came in, and as he spread it out there came upon him a thrill of +realization that this ought to be the beginning of the end. + +It was. The fact that Bobby, through the _Bulletin_, had forced this +action, made him a power to be reckoned with; and straws, whole bales +of them, began to show which way the wind was blowing. + +One morning a delegation headed by the Reverend Doctor Larynx waited +upon him. The Reverend Doctor was a minister of great ingenuity and +force, who sought the salvation of souls through such vital topics as +Shall Men Go Coatless in Summer? The Justice of Three-Cent Car Fares, +and The Billboards Must Go. All public questions, civic, state or +national, were thoroughly thrashed out in the pulpit of the Reverend +Larynx, and turned adrift with the seal of his condemnation or +approval duly fixed upon them; and he managed to get his name and +picture in the papers almost as often as the man who took eighty-seven +bottles of Elixo and still survived. With him were four thoroughly +respectable men of business, two of whom wore side-whiskers and the +other two of whom wore white bow-ties. + +"Fine business, Mr. Burnit," said the Reverend Doctor Larynx in a +loud, hearty voice, advancing with three strides and clasping Bobby's +hand in a vise-like grip; for he was a red-blooded minister, was the +Reverend Doctor Larynx, and he believed in getting down among the +"pee-pul." "The _Bulletin_ has proved itself a mighty fine engine of +reform, and the reputable citizens of this municipality now see a ray +of hope before them." + +"I'm afraid that the reputable citizens," ventured Bobby, "have no one +but themselves to blame for their past hopeless condition. They're too +selfish to vote." + +"You have hit the nail on the head," declaimed the Reverend Larynx +with a loud, hearty laugh, "but the _Bulletin_ will rouse them to a +sense of duty. Last night, Mr. Burnit, the Utopian Club was formed +with an initial membership of over seventy, and it selected a +candidate for mayor of whom the _Bulletin_ is bound to approve. Shake +hands with Mr. Freedom, the Utopian Club's candidate for mayor, Mr. +Burnit." + +Bobby shook hands with Mr. Freedom quite nicely, and studied him +curiously. + +He was one of the two who wore side-whiskers and a habitual Prince +Albert, and he displayed a phenomenal length from lower lip to chin, +which, by reason of his extremely high and narrow forehead, gave his +features the appearance of being grouped in tiny spots somewhere near +the center of a long, yellow cylinder. Mr. Freedom, he afterward +ascertained, was a respectable singing-teacher. + +"Professor Freedom," went on the Reverend Doctor Larynx, still loudly +and heartily, "has the time to devote to this office, as well as the +ideal qualifications. He has no vices whatever. He does not even smoke +nor use tobacco in any form, and under his regime the saloons of this +town would be turned into vacant store-rooms, if there are laws to +make possible such action." + +"I do not want the saloons put out of business," declared Bobby. "I +merely want them vacated at twelve every night, without exception." + +When Doctor Larynx and his delegation went away in wrath the leader +was already preparing his sermon upon The Iniquity of the Sons of Rich +Fathers. + +On the following day a delegation from the business men's club waited +upon him. The business men's club wanted a business administration. +This crowd Bobby handled differently. Upon his desk, tabulated in +advance against just such an emergency, he had statistics concerning +all the business men's administrations that had been tried in various +cities, and he submitted this statement without argument. It needed +none. + +"Politics is in itself a distinct business," he explained. "You would +not one of you take up the duties of a surveyor without previous +training. The only trouble is that there are no restrictions placed +upon politicians. I propose to use them, but to regulate them." + +He did not convert the delegation by this one interview, but he did by +cultivating these men and others of their kind separately. He ate +luncheons and dinners with them at the Traders' Club, played billiards +with them, smoked and talked with them; and the burden of his talk was +Chalmers. When he finally got ready for his campaign the business men +were with him unanimously, at least outwardly. Inwardly, there were +reservations, for the matter of special privileges was one to be very +gravely considered; and special privileges, at a price not entirely +prohibitive, was the bulwark of Stone's regime. + +"But the Stone regime," Bobby advised them, coming brutally to the +point and telling them what he knew of their own affairs and Stone's, +"is about to come to an end. The handwriting is on the wall, and you +might just as well climb into the band wagon, for at last I have the +public on my side." + +At last he had. For a solid year he had been trying to understand the +peculiar apathy of the public, and he did not understand it yet. They +seemed to like Stone and to look upon his wholesale corruption as a +joke; but by constant hammering, by showing the unredeemable +cussedness of Stone and his crowd, he had produced some impression--an +impression that, alas! was of the surface only--until the +investigating committee began its sessions. When it became understood, +however, that certain of the thieves might actually be sent to the +penitentiary, then who so loud in their denunciation as the public? +Why, Stone had robbed them right and left; why, Stone was an enemy to +mankind; why, Stone and all his friends were monsters whom it were a +good and a holy thing to skewer and flay and cast into everlasting +brimstone! + +Facts were uncovered that set the entire city in turmoil. More than +fifty men who had never been born had been carried upon the city and +county pay-rolls, and half of their salaries went directly into +Stone's pocket, the other half going to the men who conducted this +paying enterprise. Contracts for city paving and other improvements +were let to favored bidders at an enormous figure, and Stone +personally had one-fourth of the huge profits on "scamped" work, +another fourth going to those who arranged the details and did the +collecting. Innumerable instances of this sort were brought out; but +the biggest scandal of all, in that it involved men who should have +been unassailable, was that of the banks. The relentless probe brought +out the fact that all city and county funds had been distributed among +four banks, the deposits yielding no revenue whatever to either +commonwealth. These funds, however, had paid privately two per cent. +interest, and this interest was paid in cash, in sealed envelopes, to +the city and county auditors and treasurers, who took the envelopes +unbroken to Stone for distribution. The amounts thus diverted from the +proper channels totaled to an enormous figure, and, as this money was +the most direct and approachable, Chalmers, who had the interesting +role of inquisitor, set out to get it. The officials who had been +longest at the crib, grown incautious were now men of property, and by +the use of red-hot pincers Chalmers was able to restore nearly sixty +thousand dollars of stolen money, with the possibility of more in +sight. + +It was upon the heels of this that Chalmers' candidacy for mayor was +announced, and the manner in which the Stone machine dropped to pieces +was laughable. Chalmers, and the entire slate so carefully prepared by +Bobby in conjunction with the shrewd old fox, Cal Lewis, won by a +majority so overwhelming as to be almost unanimous. Immediately upon +Chalmers' election heads began to drop, and the first to go was +Cooley, chief of police, in whom, four years later, Bobby recognized +the driver of his ice wagon. Coincident with the election came +well-founded rumors of grand jury indictments. Two of Stone's closest +and busiest lieutenants, who were most in danger of being presented +with nice new suits of striped clothing, quietly converted their +entire property into cash and then just as quietly slipped away to +Honduras. + +Late one afternoon, as Bobby sat alone in his room in the almost +deserted _Bulletin_ building, so worried over his business affairs +that he had no time for elation over his political and personal +triumphs, the door opened and Stone stood before him. The pouches +under Stone's eyes were heavier and darker, his cheeks drooped +flabbily and he seemed to have fallen away inside his clothes, but +upon his face there sat the same stern impassiveness. Bobby instantly +rose, having good cause to want to be well planted upon his feet with +this man near him. Stone carefully closed the door behind him and +advanced to the other side of Bobby's desk. + +"Well, you win," he said huskily. + +Bobby drew a long breath. + +"It has cost me a lot of money, Mr. Stone. It has left me almost flat +broke--but I got you." + +"I give you credit," admitted Stone. "I didn't think anybody could do +it, least of all a kid; but you got me and you got me good. It's been +a hard fight for all of us, I guess. I'm a little run down," and he +hesitated curiously; "my doctor says I got to take an ocean trip." He +suddenly blazed out: "Damn it, you might as well be told! I'm running +away!" + +Bobby found himself silent. For two years he had planned and hoped for +this moment of victory. Now that the exultant moment had come he found +himself feeling strangely sorry for this big man, in spite of his +unutterable rascality. + +"I ain't coming back," Stone went on after a pause, "and there's +something I want to ask you to do for me." + +"I should be glad to do it, Mr. Stone, if it is anything I can allow +myself to do." + +"Aw, cut it!" growled Stone. "Look here. I got a list of some poor +mutts I been looking out for, and I've just set aside a wad to keep it +going. I want you to look after 'em and see that the money gets spread +around right. I know you're square. I don't know anybody else to give +it to." + +To Bobby he handed a list of some fifty names and addresses, with +monthly amounts set down opposite them. They were widows and orphans +and helpless creatures of all sorts and conditions, blind and deaf and +crippled, whom Stone, in the great passion that every man has for some +one to love and revere him, and in the secret tenderness inseparable +from all big natures, had made his pensioners. + +"There ain't a soul on earth knows about these but me, and every one +of 'em is wise to it that if they ever blat a word about it the pap's +cut off. I don't want a thing, not even a hint, printed about +this--see? I ain't afraid that you'll use it in the paper after me +asking you not to, so I don't ask you for any promise." + +"I'll do it with pleasure," offered Bobby. + +"Well, I guess that's about all," said Stone, and turned to go. + +Bobby came from behind his desk. + +"After all, Stone," he said, with some hesitation, "I'm sorry to lose +an enemy so worth while. I wish you good luck wherever you are going," +and he held out his hand. + +Stone looked at the proffered hand and shook his head. + +"I'd rather smash your face," he growled, and passed out of the door. + +It was the last that Bobby ever saw of him, and all that the +_Bulletin_ carried about his flight was the "fact," not at all too +prominently displayed for the man's importance as a public figure, +that Stone's health was in jeopardy and that he was about to take an +ocean voyage upon the advice of his physician; and on that day Stone's +picture disappeared from the place it had occupied upon the front page +of the _Bulletin_. + +It was a victory complete and final, but it was not without its sting, +for on that same day Bobby faced an empty exchequer. It was Johnson +who brought him the sad but not at all unexpected tidings, at a moment +when Chalmers and Agnes happened to be in the office. Seeing them, +Johnson hesitated at the door. + +"What is it, Johnson?" asked Bobby. + +"Oh, nothing much," said Mr. Johnson with a pained expression. "I'll +come back again." + +He had a sheet of paper with him and Bobby held out his hand for it. +Still hesitating, old Johnson brought it forward and laid it down on +Bobby's desk. + +"You know you told me, sir, to bring this to you." + +Had the others not been present he would have added the reminder that +he had been instructed to bring this statement a week in advance of +the time when Bobby should no longer be able to meet his payroll. +Bobby looked up from the statement without any thought of reserve +before these three. + +"Well, it's come. I'm broke." + +"Not so much a calamity in this instance as it has been in others," +said Agnes sagely. "Fortunately, your trustee is right here, and your +trustee's lawyer, who has two hundred and fifty thousand dollars still +to your account." + +Bobby listened in frowning silence, and old Johnson, who had prepared +himself before he came upstairs for such a contingency, quietly laid +upon Bobby's desk one of the familiar gray envelopes and withdrew. It +was inscribed: + + _To My Son Robert, Upon the Turning Over to Him of His Sixth + and Last Experimental Fund_ + + "If a man fails six times he'd better be pensioned and left to + live a life of pleasant ease; for everybody has a right to be + happy, and not all can gain happiness through their own + efforts. So, if you fail this last time, don't worry, my boy, + but take measures to cut your garment according to the income + from a million and a half dollars, invested so safely that it + can yield you but two per cent. If the fault of your ill + success lies with anybody it lies with me, and I blame myself + bitterly for it many times as I write this letter. + + "Remember, first, last and always, that I want you to be + happy." + +Bobby passed the letter to Agnes and the envelope to Chalmers. + +"This is a little premature," he said, smiling at both of them, "for +I'm not applying for the sixth portion." + +Agnes looked up at him in surprise. + +"Not applying for it?" + +"No," he declared, "I don't want it. I understand there is a provision +that I can not use two of these portions in the same business." + +Both Chalmers and Agnes nodded. + +"I don't want money for any other business than the _Bulletin_," +declared Bobby, "and if my father has it fixed so that he won't help +me as I want to be helped, I don't want it at all." + +"There is another provision about which you perhaps don't know," +Chalmers informed him; "if you refuse this money it reverts to the +main fund." + +Bobby studied this over thoughtfully. + +"Let it revert," said he. "I'll sink or swim right here." + +The next day he went to his bank and tried to borrow money. They liked +Bobby very much indeed over at the bank. He was a vigorous young man, +a young man of affairs, a young man who had won a great public +victory, a young man whom it was generally admitted had done the city +an incalculable amount of good; but they could not accept Bobby nor +the _Bulletin_ as a business proposition. Had they not seen the +original fund dwindle and dwindle for two years until now there was +nothing left? Wouldn't another fund dwindle likewise? It is no part of +a bank's desire to foreclose upon securities. They are quite well +satisfied with just the plain interest. Moreover, the _Bulletin_ +wasn't such heavy security, anyhow. + +Bobby tried another bank with like results, and also some of his firm +business friends at the Traders' Club. In the midst of his dilemma +President De Graff of the First National came to him. + +"I understand you have been trying to borrow some money, Burnit?" + +It sounded to Bobby as if De Graff had come to gloat over him, since +he had been instrumental in dragging De Graff and the First National +through the mire. + +"Yes, sir, I have," he nevertheless answered steadily. + +"Why didn't you come to us?" demanded De Graff. + +"To you?" said Bobby, amazed. "I never thought of you in that +connection at all, De Graff, after all that has happened." + +De Graff shrugged his shoulders. + +"That was like pulling a tooth. It hurt and one dreaded it, but it was +so much better when it was out. Until you jumped into the fight Stone +had me under his thumb. The minute the exposure came he had no further +hold on me. It is the only questionable thing I ever did in my life, +and I'm glad it was exposed. I admire you for it, even though it will +hurt me in a business way for a long time to come. But about this +money now. How much do you need at the present time?" + +"I'd like an account of about twenty-five thousand." + +"I can let you have it at once," said De Graff, "and as much more as +you need, up to a certain reasonable point that I think will be amply +sufficient." + +"Is this Stone's money?" asked Bobby with sudden suspicion. + +De Graff smiled. + +"No," said he, "it is my own. I have faith in you, Burnit, and faith +in the _Bulletin_. Suppose you step over to the First National with me +right away." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +AUNT CONSTANCE ELLISTON LOSES ALL HER PATIENCE WITH A CERTAIN PROSAIC +COURTSHIP + + +That night, with a grave new responsibility upon him and a grave new +elation, sturdier and stronger than he had ever been in his life, and +more his own master, Bobby went out to see Agnes. + +"Agnes, when my father made you my trustee," he said, "he laid upon +you the obligation that you were not to marry me until I had proved +myself either a success or a failure, didn't he?" + +"He did," assented Agnes demurely. + +"But you are no longer my trustee. The last money over which you had +nominal control has reverted to the main fund, which is in the hands +of Mr. Barrister; so that releases you." + +Agnes laughed softly and shook her head. + +"The obligation wasn't part of the trusteeship," she reminded him. + +"But if I choose to construe it that way," he persisted, "and declare +the obligation null and void, how soon could you get ready to be +married to the political boss of this town and one of its leading +business men? Agnes," he went on, suddenly quite serious, "I can not +do without you any longer. I have waited long enough. I need you and +you must come to me." + +"I'll come if you insist," she said simply, and laid both her hands in +his. "But, Bobby, let's think about this a minute. Let's think what it +means. I have been thinking of it many, many days, and really and +truly I don't like to give up, because of its bearing upon our future +strength. Yesterday I drove down Grand Street and looked up at that +Trimmer and Company sign, and so long as that is there, Bobby, I could +not feel right about our deserting the colors, as it were; that is, +unless you have definitely given up the fight." + +"Given up!" repeated Bobby quickly. "Why, I have just begun. I've been +to school all this time, Agnes, and to a hard school, but now I'm sure +I have learned my lesson. I have won a fight or two; I have had the +taste of blood; I'm going after more; I'm going to win." + +"I'm sure that you will," she repeated. "Think how much better +satisfied we will be after you have done so." + +"Yes, but think, too, of the time it will take," he protested. "First +of all I must earn money; that is, I must make the _Bulletin_ pay. I +can do that. It is on the edge of earning its way right now, but I owe +twenty-five thousand dollars. It is going to take a long, long time +for me to win this battle, and in it I need you." + +"I am always right here, Bobby," she reminded him. "I have never +failed you when you needed me, have I? But maybe it won't take so +long. You say you are going to make the _Bulletin_ pay. If you do that +counts for a business success, enough to release you on that side. But +really, Bobby, how difficult a task would it be to get back control of +your father's store?" + +"Hopeless, just now," said he. + +"How much money would it take?" + +"Well, not so very much in comparison with the business itself," he +told her. "I own two hundred and sixty thousand dollars' worth of +stock, Trimmer owns two hundred and forty thousand, while sixty +thousand more are scattered among his relatives and dependents. That +stock is not for sale, that is the trouble; but if I could buy +twenty-one thousand dollars of it I could do what I liked with the +entire concern." + +"Then Bobby, let's not think of anything else but how to get that +stock. Let's insist on having that for our wedding present." + +Bobby regarded her gravely for a long time. + +"Agnes, you're a brick!" he finally concluded. "You're right, as you +have always been. We'll wait. But you don't know, oh, you don't know +how hard that is for me!" + +"It is not the easiest thing in the world for me," she gently reminded +him. + +From the time that she had laid her hands in his he had held them, and +now he had gathered them to him, pressing them upon his breast. +Suddenly, overcome by his great longing for her, he clasped her in his +arms and held her, and pressed his lips to hers. For a moment she +yielded to that embrace and closed her eyes, and then she gently drew +away from him. + +"We mustn't indulge in that sort of thing very much," she reminded +him, "or we're likely to lose all our good resolutions." + +"Good resolutions," declared Bobby, "are a nuisance." + +She smiled and shook her head. + +"Look at the people who haven't any," she reminded him. + +It was perhaps half an hour later when an idea which brought with it a +smile came to her. + +"We've definitely resolved now to wait until you have either +accomplished what you set out to do, or completely failed, haven't +we?" + +"Yes," he assented soberly. + +"Then I'm going to open one of the letters your father left for us. I +have been dying with curiosity to know what is in it," and hurrying up +to her secretary she brought down one of the inevitable gray +envelopes, addressed: + + _To My Children Upon the Occasion of Their Deciding to Marry + Before the Limit of My Prohibition_ + + "What I can not for the life of me understand is why the devil + you didn't do it long ago!" + +Bobby was so thoroughly awake to the underlying principle of Agnes' +contention that even this letter did nothing to change his viewpoint. + +"For it isn't him, it is us, or rather it is me, who is to be +considered," he declared. "But it does seem to me, Agnes, as if for +once we had got the better of the governor." + +They were still laughing over the unexpectedness of the letter when +Aunt Constance came in, and they showed it to her. + +"Good!" she exclaimed, dwelling longer upon the inscription than upon +the letter itself. "I think you're quite sensible, and I'll arrange +the finest wedding for Agnes that has ever occurred in the Elliston +family. You must give me at least a couple of months, though. When is +it to come off? Soon, I suppose?" + +Carefully and patiently they explained the stand they had taken. At +first she thought they were joking, and it took considerable +reiteration on their part for her to understand that they were not. + +"I declare I have no patience with you!" she avowed. "Of all the +humdrum, prosaic people I ever saw, you are the very worst! There is +no romance in you. You're as cool about it as if marriage were a +commercial partnership. Oh, Dan!" and she called her husband from the +library. "Now what do you think of this?" she demanded, and explained +the ridiculous attitude of the young people. + +"Great!" decided Uncle Dan. "Allow me to congratulate you," and he +shook hands heartily with both Agnes and Bobby, whereat Aunt Constance +denounced him as being a sordid soul of their own stripe and went to +bed in a huff. She got up again, however, when she heard Agnes retire +to her own room for the night, and came in to wrestle with that young +lady in spirit. She found Agnes, however, obdurate in her content, and +ended by becoming an enthusiastic supporter of the idea. "Although I +did have my heart so set on a fine wedding," she plaintively +concluded. "I have been planning it for ages." + +"Just keep on planning, auntie," replied Agnes. "No doubt you will +acquire some brilliant new ideas before the time comes." + +So this utterly placid courtship went on in its old tranquil way, with +Bobby a constant two and three nights a week visitor to the Elliston +home, and with the two young people discussing business more +frequently than anything else; for Bobby had learned to come to Agnes +for counsel in everything. Just now his chief burden of conversation +was the letting of the new waterworks contract, which, with public +sentiment back of him, he had fought off until after the Stone +administration had ended. Hamilton Ferris, an old polo antagonist of +his, represented one of the competing firms as its president, and +Bobby had been most anxious that he should be the successful bidder, +as was Agnes; for Bobby had brought Ferris to dinner at the Ellistons +and to call a couple of times during his stay in the city, and all of +the Ellistons liked him tremendously. Bobby was quite crestfallen when +the opening of the bids proved Ferris to be the second lowest man. + +"I've tried hard enough for it," declared Ferris during a final dinner +at the Ellistons that night. "There isn't much doing this year, and I +figured closer than anybody in my employ would dared to have done. In +view of my estimate I can not for the life of me see how your local +company overbid us all by over a million dollars." + +"It is curious," admitted Bobby, still much puzzled. + +"It's rather unsportsmanlike in me to whine," resumed Ferris, "but I +am bound to believe that there is a colored gentleman in the woodpile +somewhere." + +"That would be no novelty," returned Bobby. "Ever since I bought the +_Bulletin_ I have been gunning for Ethiopians amid the fuel and always +found them. The Middle West Construction Company, however, is a new +load of kindling to me. I never heard of it until it was announced +this morning as the lowest bidder." + +"Nobody ever heard of it," asserted Ferris. "It was no doubt organized +for the sole purpose of bidding on this job. Probably when you delve +into the matter you will discover the fine Italian hand of your +political boss." + +"Hardly," chuckled Uncle Dan, indulging in his recent propensity to +brag on Bobby. "Our local boss was Sam Stone, and Bobby has just +succeeded in running him and two of his expert wire workers out of the +country." + +"If anybody here is the political boss it is Bobby," observed Agnes, +laughing. + +"I'm sorry to have to suspect him," laughed Ferris. "Well, there is no +use crying over spilled milk; but I had hoped to bring Mrs. Ferris out +for a good long visit." + +"Give your wife my regards, Mr. Ferris, and tell her she must come +anyhow," insisted Mrs. Elliston. "Since I have heard that you married +the daughter of my old schoolmate, I have been wanting the Keystone +Construction Company to have a big contract here more than you have, I +think." + +"Sounds very nice, Constance," said her husband dryly, "but I doubt if +any woman ever wanted to see the daughter of her old schoolmate as +badly as any man ever wanted to make a million dollars. Bobby, I'll +make you a small bet. I'll bet your new construction company is +composed of the shattered fragments of the old Stone crowd. I'll even +bet that Silas Trimmer is in it." + +"If he is," suddenly declared Agnes, "I'm going to go into the +detective business," whereat Uncle Dan enjoyed himself hugely. Her +vindictiveness whenever the name of Silas Trimmer was mentioned had +become highly amusing to him, in spite of the fact that he admired her +for it. + +"Go right ahead," said Bobby approvingly. "If you find anything that +will enable me to give that gentleman a financial backset I'll see +that you get a handsome reward. In the meantime I'm going to find out +something about the Middle West Construction Company myself." + +Accordingly he asked his managing editor about that concern the first +thing in the morning. + +Ben Jolter lit his old pipe, folded his bare arms and patted them +alternately in speculative enjoyment. + +"I have something like two pages of information about them, if we +could use it," he announced. "I have been getting reports from the +entire scouting brigade ever since the contract was let yesterday, and +you may now prepare for a shock. The largest stock-holders of the +concern are Silas Trimmer and Frank Sharpe, and the minor +stock-holders, almost to a man, consist of those who had their little +crack at the public crib under your old, time-tried and true friend, +Sam Stone." + +"I admit that I am properly shocked," responded Bobby. + +"It hinges together beautifully," Jolter went on. "The whole +waterworks project was a Stone scheme, and Stone people--even though +Stone himself is wiped out--secure the contract. The last expiring act +of the Stone administration was to employ Ed Scales as chief engineer +until the completion of the waterworks, which may occupy eight or ten +years, and the contract with Scales is binding on the city unless he +can be impeached for cause. Scales was city engineer under the +previous reform spasm, but Stone probably found him good material and +kept him on. The waterworks plans were prepared under his supervision +and he got them ready for bidding. Now what's the answer?" + +"Easy," returned Bobby. "The city loses." + +"Right," agreed Jolter; "but how? I don't see that we can do anything. +Scales, having prepared the plans, is the logical man to see that they +are carried out, and he is perfectly competent. His record is clean, +so that he owns no property, nor does any of his family--although that +may be because he never had a chance. The Middle West Construction +Company, though just incorporated, is financially sound, thoroughly +bonded, and, moreover, has put into the hands of the city ample +guarantee for its twenty per cent. forfeit as required by the terms of +the contract. There isn't a thing that the _Bulletin_ can do except to +boost local enterprise with a bit of reservation, then lay low and +wait for developments." + +"I dislike to do it," objected Bobby. "It hurts me to think of +mentioning Stone or Trimmer in any complimentary way whatsoever." + +Jolter laughed. "You're a fine and consistent enemy," he said. + +"I guess I came by it honestly," smiled Bobby, and from a drawer in +his desk took one of the gray John Burnit letters. + +"'Always forgive your enemies,'" read Jolter aloud; "'that is, after +you are good and even with them.'" + +"Here goes for them, then," said Jolter, passing back the letter with +an approving chuckle. "We'll let them go right ahead, and in the +meantime the _Bulletin_ will do a lot of real nifty old sleuthing." + +But the _Bulletin's_ sleuthing brought nothing wrong to light, and +work upon the big waterworks contract was begun with a rush. + +In the meantime Agnes, true to her threat, was doing some +investigating on her own account. She renewed her girlhood +acquaintance with Trimmer's daughter, who was now Mrs. Clarence +Smythe, and with others of the Trimmer connection, and she saw these +women folk frequently for the sole purpose of gathering up any scraps +of information that might drop. The best she could gather, however, +was that Clarence Smythe and Silas Trimmer were no longer upon very +friendly terms; that Mrs. Smythe had quarreled with her father about +Clarence; also that Clarence's Trimmer and Company stock was in Mrs. +Smythe's name. These scraps of information, slight as they were, she +religiously brought to Bobby. When the new waterworks began Agnes +saved all the newspaper clippings relating to that tremendous +undertaking, and she frequently drove out there of evenings after the +workmen had all gone home; with just what purpose she could not say, +but she felt impelled, as she half-sheepishly confessed to her Uncle +Dan, to "keep an eye on the job." She kept up her absurd surveillance +in spite of all Uncle Dan's ridicule, and one evening she came home in +a state of quivering excitement. She called up Bobby at once. + +"Bobby," she wanted to know, "has the city decided to cut down +expenses on the waterworks, or have the plans been changed for any +reason?" + +"Not that the public knows about," replied Bobby. "Why?" + +"The pumping station is not so big as the newspapers said it was to +be. It is over thirty feet shorter and over twenty feet narrower." + +"How do you know?" demanded Bobby. + +"I took Wilkins out there with me to-night and had him measure it for +me with a yard-stick while the watchman had gone for his supper," +replied Agnes triumphantly. + +Bobby stopped to laugh. + +"Impossible," said he. "You have measured it wrong or misunderstood it +in some way or other." + +"You go out and measure it for yourself," insisted Agnes. + +Partly to humor her and partly because his interest had been aroused, +Bobby went out the next night and measured the pumping station, the +excavation for which was already completed, and to his astonishment +found that Agnes' measurements were correct. He immediately wrote to +Ferris about it, told him the present dimensions and asked him upon +what basis he had figured. In place of replying Ferris came on. +Arriving in the city on Saturday, on Sunday he and Bobby went out to +the site, and Ferris examined the new waterworks with a deliberation +which well-nigh got him into serious trouble with the watchman. + +"Well, young man, your fair city is stung," declared Ferris. "The +trenches are not so deep as specified by two feet, and from their +width I can tell that the foundation walls are to be at least six +inches thinner. I bid on the best grade of Portland cement for that +job. It was spelled with a _B_, however, in my copy of the +specification, and I asked your man Scales about it. 'Oh,' said he, +'that's a misprint in the typewriting,' and he changed the _B_ to _P_ +with a lead pencil. Under that shed are about a thousand barrels of +_Bortland_ cement. I never heard of that brand, but I can tell cement +when I see it, and this stuff will have no more adhesive power than +plain mud. Bedford stone was specified. They have several car-loads of +stone dumped down here which is not Bedford stone at all. I could tell +a piece of Bedford in the dark. This is an inferior rock which will +discolor in six months and will disintegrate in five years." + +Bobby thought the thing over quietly for some minutes. + +"About the dimensions of the building, Ferris, you might possibly be +mistaken, might you not?" asked Bobby. + +"Impossible," returned Ferris. "I have not figured on many jobs for +years, but our chief estimator had been sent down to Cuba when this +thing came up and I did the work myself, so I have a very vivid memory +of it and can not possibly have it confused with any other bid. +Moreover, we have all those things on record in our office and I +looked it up before I came away. The dimensions of the power house and +pumping station were to be one hundred and ninety by one hundred and +sixty feet. The present dimensions are one hundred and fifty-eight by +one hundred and thirty-three." + +Bobby was thoughtfully silent for a while. + +"Do you remember who else bid on the contract?" he inquired presently. + +"Every one of them," smiled Ferris. "I can give you their addresses +and the names of the people to wire to if that is what you want. We +meet them on every big job." + +"Do you mind wiring yourself?" asked Bobby. "They would be more apt to +give you confidential information." + +"With pleasure," agreed Ferris, and wrote the telegrams. + +On the following morning Bobby received answers at his office to all +but one of his telegrams, and the information was unanimous that the +original plans had called for a building one hundred and ninety by one +hundred and sixty feet. + +"Now I begin to understand," said Ferris. "This was the first set of +important plans I ever saw in which the dimensions were not marked, +but they were most accurately drawn to scale, one-fourth inch to the +foot. They are probably using the same drawings with an altered scale, +although it would be an absurdly clumsy trick. If that is the case it +is easy to see how the Middle West Construction Company could +under-bid us by more than a million dollars and still make more money +than we figured on." + +Bobby reached for the telephone. + +"Get me the mayor's office," he called to the girl at his private +telephone exchange. "Will you 'stick around' to see the fuss?" he +inquired with grim pleasure, as he hung up the receiver. + +Ferris grinned as he noted the light of battle dawning in Bobby's +eyes. + +"I don't know," he replied. "It depends on the size and duration of +the fuss." + +"If you don't stay I'll have you subpoenaed. I may have to, anyhow. +As for the size of the fuss, I can promise you a bully one if what you +surmise is correct." + +His telephone bell rang and Bobby turned to it quickly. + +"Hello, Chalmers!" he began, then laughed. "Beg pardon, Agnes; I +thought it was the mayor's office;" he apologized, then listened +intently. There were a few eager queries, and when Bobby hung up the +telephone receiver it was with great satisfaction. "I haven't seen as +much fun in sight since I began my fight on Stone," he declared. "Miss +Elliston, who has developed a marvelous new capacity for finding out +other men's business secrets through their women folk, has just +telephoned me the results of her last night's detective work. It seems +that Silas Trimmer, one of the heavy backers of the Middle West +Construction Company, has just negotiated a loan upon his stock in the +mercantile establishment of Trimmer and Company, my share of which was +known as the John Burnit Store until Trimmer beat me out of control. I +understand that Trimmer has mortgaged everything to the hilt to go +into this waterworks deal." + +The bell rang again. This time it was Chalmers. + +[Illustration: I'd be tickled black in the face to make good any day] + +"Say, Chalmers," said Bobby, "I want you to get me some sort of a +legal document that will allow me to take possession of and examine +all the books, papers and drawings of the city engineer's department, +including the waterworks engineer's office.... Yes, you can, +Chalmers," he insisted, against an obvious protest. "There is some +legal machinery you can put in motion to get it, and I want it right +away. Moreover, I want you to secure me somebody to serve the writ and +to keep it quiet." + +Then he explained briefly what had been partly discovered and partly +surmised. Next Bobby sent for Jolter and laid the facts before him, to +the great joy of that aggressive gentleman. Then he called up Biff +Bates, and made an appointment with him to meet him at Jimmy Platt's +office in half an hour. He would have telephoned Platt, but the +engineer had no telephone. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +BIFF RENEWS A PLEASANT ACQUAINTANCE AND BOBBY INAUGURATES A TRAGEDY + + +"Is Mr. Platt in?" + +Biff stood hesitantly in the door when he found the place occupied +only by a brown-haired girl, who was engaged in the quiet, +unprofessional occupation of embroidering a shirtwaist pattern. + +The girl looked up with a smile at the young man's awkwardness, and +felt impelled to put him at his ease. + +"He's not in just now, but I expect him within ten or fifteen minutes +at the outside. Won't you sit down, Mr. Bates?" + +He looked at her much mystified at this calling of his name, but he +mumbled his thanks for the chair which she put forward for him, and, +sitting with his hat upon his knees, contemplated her furtively. + +"I guess you don't remember me," she said in frank enjoyment of his +mystification, "but I remember you perfectly. I used to see you quite +often out at Westmarsh when Mr. Burnit was trying to redeem that +persistent swamp. I am Mr. Platt's sister." + +"No!" exclaimed Biff in amazement. "You can't be the kid that used to +ride on the excavating cars, and go home with yellow clay on your +dresses every day." + +"I'm the kid," said she with a musical laugh; "and I'm afraid I +haven't quite outgrown my hoydenish tendencies even yet." + +Biff had no comment to make. He was lost in wonder over that eternal +mystery--the transformation which occurs when a girl passes from +fourteen to eighteen. + +"Don't you remember?" she gaily went on. "You gave me a boxing lesson +out there one afternoon and promised to give me more of them, but you +never did." + +Biff cleared a sudden huskiness from his throat. + +"I'd be tickled black in the face to make good any day," he urged +earnestly, and then hastily corrected the offer to: "That is, I mean +I'll be very glad to--to finish the job." + +Immediately he turned violently red. + +"I don't seem to care as much for the accomplishment as I did then," +observed the girl with a smile, "but I do wish I could learn to swing +my nice Indian clubs without cracking the back of my head." + +"I got a medal for club swinging," said Biff diffidently. "I'll teach +you any time you like. It's easy. Come right over to the gym on +Tuesday and Friday forenoons. Those are ladies' mornings, and I've got +nothing but real classy people at that." + +The entrance of Mr. Platt interrupted Biff just as he was beginning to +feel at ease, and threw that young gentleman, who always appropriated +and absorbed other people's troubles, into much concern; for Mr. Platt +was hollow-eyed and sunken-cheeked from worry. His coat was very +shiny, and his hat was shabby. The dusty and neglected drawing on his +crude drawing-table told the story all too well. The engineering +business, so far as Mr. Platt was concerned, seemed to be a total +failure. Nevertheless, he greeted Mr. Bates warmly, and inquired after +Mr. Burnit. + +"He's always fine," said Biff. "He had me come up here to meet him." + +"I should scarcely think he would care to come here after the +unfortunate outcome of the work I did for him," said Mr. Platt. + +"You mean on old Applerod's Subtraction?" + +"You couldn't hardly call it the Applerod Addition, could you?" +responded Jimmy with a smile. "That was a most unlucky transaction for +me as well as for Mr. Burnit." + +Biff looked about the room comprehendingly. + +"I guess it put you on the hummer, all right," said he. "It don't look +as if you done anything since." + +"But very little," confessed Mr. Platt. "My failure on that job hurt +my reputation almost fatally." + +Biff gravely sought within himself for words of consolation, one of +his fleeting ideas being to engage Mr. Platt on the spot to survey the +site of Bates' Athletic Hall, although there was not the slightest +possible need for such a survey. In the midst of his sympathetic gloom +came in Mr. Ferris and Bobby. + +"Jimmy, how would you like to be chief construction engineer of the +new waterworks?" asked Bobby, with scant waste of time, after he had +introduced Ferris. + +Mr. Platt gasped and paled. + +"I think I could be urged, from a sense of public duty, to give up my +highly lucrative private practice," he said with a pitiful attempt at +levity, though his voice was husky, and his tightly clenched hand, +where the white knuckles rested upon his drawing-table, trembled. + +"Don't build up too much hope on it, Jimmy; but if what we surmise is +correct you will have a chance at it," and he briefly explained. +"We're going right out there," concluded Bobby, "and I want you to go +along to help investigate. We have to find some incriminating +evidence, and you'd be more likely to know how and where to look for +it than any of us." + +It is needless to say that Jimmy Platt took his hat with alacrity. +Before he went out, with new hope in his heart, he turned and shook +hands ecstatically with his sister. Still holding Jimmy's hand she +turned to Bobby impulsively: + +"I do hope, Mr. Burnit, that this turns out right for Jimmy." + +Bobby turned to her abruptly and with a trace of a frown. It was a +rather poorly trained office employee, he thought, who would intrude +herself into conversation that it was her duty to forget, but Biff +Bates caught that look and stepped into the breach. + +"This is Nellie, Bobby--that is, it used to be Nellie," he stated with +a quick correction, and blushed violently. + +"It is Nellie still," laughed that young lady to Bobby, and the +puzzled look upon his face was swiftly driven away by a smile, as he +suddenly recognized in her traces of the long-legged girl who had been +always present at the Applerod Addition, who had ridden in his +automobile, and had confided to him most volubly, upon innumerable +occasions, that her brother Jimmy was about the smartest man who ever +sighted through a transit. + +In the hastily constructed frame office out at the waterworks site, Ed +Scales, pale and emaciated and with black rings under his eyes, looked +up nervously as Bobby's little army, reenforced from four to six by +the addition of a "plain clothes man" and Dillingham, the _Bulletin's_ +star reporter, invaded the place. Before a word was spoken, Feeney, +the plain clothes man, presented Scales with a writ, which the latter +attempted to read with unseeing eyes, his fingers trembling. + +"What does this mean?" + +"That I have come to take possession," said Bobby, "with power to make +an examination of every scrap of paper in the place. Frankly, Scales, +we expect to find something crooked about the waterworks contract. If +we do you know the result. If we do not, the interruption will be only +temporary, and you will have very pretty grounds for action; for I am +taking a long shot, and if I don't find what I am after I have put +myself and the mayor into a bad scrape." + +Scales thrice opened his mouth to speak, and thrice there came no +sound from his lips. Then he laid a bunch of keys upon his desk, +shoving them toward Feeney, and rose. He half-staggered into the large +coat room behind him. He had scarcely more than disappeared when there +was the startling roar of a shot, and the body of Scales, with a round +hole in the temple, toppled, face downward, out of the door. It was +Scales' tragic confession of guilt. They sprang instantly to him, but +nothing could be done for him. He was dead when they reached him. + +"Poor devil," said Ferris brokenly. "It is probably the first crooked +thing he ever did in his life, and he hadn't nerve enough to go +through with it. I feel like a murderer for my share in the matter." + +Bobby, too, had turned sick; his senses swam and he felt numb and +cold. He was aroused by a calm, dispassionate voice at the telephone. +It was Dillingham, sending to the _Bulletin_ a carefully lurid account +of the tragedy, and of the probable causes leading up to it. + +"We'll have an extra on the street in five minutes," he told Bobby +with satisfaction as he rose. "That means that the _Chronicle_ men +will come out in a swarm, but it will take them a half-hour to get +here. We have that much time, then, to dig up the evidence we are +after, and if we hustle we can have a second extra out before the +_Chronicle_ can get a line. It's the biggest beat in years. Come on, +boys, let's get busy," and he took up the keys that Scales had left on +the desk. + +Dillingham had no sooner left the telephone than Feeney took up the +receiver and called for a number. The reporter turned upon him like a +flash, recognizing that call as the number of the coroner's office. +Dillingham suddenly caught himself before he had spoken, and looked +hastily about the room. In the corner near the floor was a little box +with the familiar bells upon it, and binding screws that held the +wires. Quickly Dillingham slipped over to that corner just as Feeney +was saying: + +"Hello! Coroner's office, this is Feeney. Is that you, Jack?... +Well----" + +At that instant Dillingham loosened a binding screw and slipped off +the loop of the wire. + +"Hello, coroner!" repeated Feeney. "I say, Jack! Hello! Hello! Hello, +there! _Hello! Hello!_" Then Feeney pounded the mouthpiece, jerked the +receiver hook up and down, yelled at exchange, and worked himself into +a vast fever. + +"What's the matter with this thing, anyhow, Dill?" he finally +demanded. + +"Exchange probably went to sleep on you," said Dillingham. + +Easily he was now opening one by one the immense flat drawers of a +drawing-case, and with much interest delving into the huge drawings +that it contained. + +"Come here, Mr. Platt," Dillingham went on. "You cast your eagle eye +over these drawings while I do a little job of interviewing," and he +walked over to the employees of the office, who, since they had been +roughly warned by Feeney not to go near "that body," had huddled, +scared and limp, in the far corner of the room. + +Perspiring and angry, Feeney tried for five solid minutes to obtain +some response from the dead telephone, then he gave it up. + +"I've got to go out and hunt up another 'phone," he declared. "Biff, +I'll appoint you my deputy. Don't let anybody touch the corpse till +the coroner comes." + +"I'll go with you," said Bobby hastily, very glad to leave the room, +and both he and Mr. Ferris accompanied Feeney. No sooner was Feeney +out of the place than Dillingham reconnected the telephone and went +back to his investigations. He was thoroughly satisfied, after a few +questions, that the present employees knew nothing whatever, and Platt +reported to him that every general drawing he could find was marked +three-tenths inch to the foot, none being marked one-fourth. + +"That doesn't matter so much," mused Dillingham. "It will be easy +enough to prove that these are the same drawings that were provided +the contestants, and six firms will swear that they were marked +one-fourth of an inch to the foot. What we have to do is to prove that +the drawings the Middle West Company used as the basis of their bid +were marked one-fourth inch to the foot." + +The telephone bell rang violently while Dillingham was puzzling over +this matter, and one of the employees started to answer it. + +"No, you don't!" shouted Dillingham. "You fellows are dispossessed." + +He took down the receiver. + +"Waterworks engineer's office?" came a brisk voice through the +telephone. + +"Yes," said Dillingham. + +"This is the _Chronicle_. The _Bulletin_ has an extra----" + +Dillingham waited to hear no more. He hung up the receiver with a +grin, and it was music in his ears to hear those bells impatiently +jangling for the next ten minutes. It seemed to quicken his +intelligence, for presently he slapped his hand upon his leg and +jumped toward the group of employees in the corner. + +"Say!" he demanded. "Who figured on this job for the Middle West +Company?" + +"Dan Rubble, I suppose," answered a lanky draftsman, who, still +wearing his apron, had slipped his coat on over his oversleeves and +retained his eye-shade under his straw hat. "At least, he seemed to +know all about the plans. He's the boss contractor. There he is now." + +Looking out of the window Dillingham saw a brawny, red-haired giant +running from the tool-house, carrying a cylindrical tin case about +five feet long. He pulled off the cap of this as he came and began to +drag from the inside of the case a thick roll of blue-prints. He was +hurrying toward a big asphalt caldron underneath which blazed a hot +wood fire. + +"Come on, Biff," yelled Dillingham, and hurried out of the door, +closely followed by Bates. + +They both ran with all their might toward the caldron, but before they +could reach the spot Rubble had shoved the entire roll into the fire. +Biff wasted no precious moments, but, glaring Mr. Rubble in the eye as +he ran, doubled his fist with the evident intention of damaging that +large gentleman's countenance with it. He suddenly ducked his round +head as he approached, however, and plunged it into the middle of Mr. +Rubble's appetite; whereupon Mr. Rubble grunted heavily, and sat down +quite uncomfortably near to the caldron. Biff, though it scorched his +hands, dragged the blazing roll of blue-prints from the flames and, +seizing a near-by pail of water, started for the drawings, just as big +Dan regained his feet and made a rush for him. + +Dillingham, slight and no fighter but full of sand, jumped crosswise +into that melee, and with a flying leap literally hung himself about +Rubble's neck. Big Dan, roaring like a bull at this unexpected and +most unprofessional mode of warfare, placed his two hands upon +Dillingham's hips and tried to force him away; failing in this, he ran +straight forward with all this living clog hanging to him, and planted +a terrific kick upon Biff's ribs, just as Biff had dashed the pail of +water from end to end of the blazing roll of drawings. He poised for +another kick, but Biff had dropped the pail by this time, and as the +foot swung forward he grabbed it. Rubble, losing his balance, pitched +forward, landing squarely upon the top of the unhappy Dillingham, who +signified his retirement from the game with an astonishingly large +"Woof!" to come from so small a body; moreover, he released his arms; +but Rubble, freed from the weight on his chest, found another one on +his back. Biff felt quite competent to manage him, but by this time +half a dozen men came running from different directions, and as there +were a hundred or more of them on the job, all beholden for their +daily bread and butter to Mr. Rubble, things looked bad for Biff and +Dillingham. + +"Back up there, you mutts, or I'll make peek-a-boo patterns out of the +lot of you!" howled a penetrating voice, and Mr. Feeney, heading the +relief party, which consisted only of Bobby and Mr. Ferris, whipped +from each hip pocket a huge blue-steel revolver, at the same time +brushing back his coat to display his badge. + +Those men might have fought Mr. Feeney's guns, but they had no mind to +fight that badge, and they held back while Bobby and Mr. Ferris helped +to calm Mr. Rubble by the simple expedient of sitting on him. + +Three days later Bobby induced Messrs. Sharpe, Trimmer and all of +their associates, without any difficulty whatever, to meet with him in +the office of the mayor. + +"Gentlemen of the Middle West Construction Company," said Bobby; "I am +sorry to say that you are not telling the truth when you claim that +you figured _in good faith_ on this absurd and almost unknown +three-tenths-inch scale, when all the others figured on the same +drawings at one-fourth inch. The rescue of these prints, covered with +Rubble's marginal figures, does not leave you a leg to stand on," and +Bobby tapped his knuckles upon the charred-edged blueprints that lay +unrolled on the desk before him. Fortunately the three inside prints +were left fairly intact, and these were plainly marked one-fourth inch +to the foot. "Moreover, rolled up inside the blueprints was even +better evidence," went on Bobby; "evidence that Mr. Trimmer has +perhaps forgotten. Nothing has been said about it until now, and +nothing has been published since we saved them from the fire." + +From the drawer of his desk he drew several sheets of white paper. +They were letter-heads of Trimmer and Company and were covered with +Rubble's figures. + +"Here's a note from Mr. Trimmer to Mr. Rubble, requesting him to +prepare a statement showing the difference in cost '_between +three-tenths and one-fourth_.' He does not say three-tenths or +one-fourth what, but that is quite enough, taken in conjunction with +these summaries on another sheet of paper. They are set down in two +columns, one headed three-tenths and the other one-fourth. I have had +Mr. Platt go over these figures, and he finds that the first number in +one column exactly corresponds to the number of yards of excavating in +this job when figured on the scale of three-tenths inch to the foot. +The first number in the next column exactly corresponds to the +excavating when figured at the one-fourth-inch scale. Every item will +compare in the same manner: concrete, masonry, face-brick, and all. +Now, if you chaps want to take this clumsy and almost laughable +attempt at a steal into the courts I'm perfectly willing; but I should +advise you not to do so." + +Mr. Sharpe cleared his throat. He, the first one to declare that the +Middle West would "go into court and stand upon its rights," was now +the first one to recant. + +"I don't suppose it's worth while to contest the matter," he admitted. +"We have no show with your administration, I see. We lose the contract +and will step down and out quite peaceably; although there ought to be +some arrangement by which we might get credit for the amount of work +already done." + +"No," declared Chalmers, with quite a reproving smile, "you may just +keep on using the available part of it; for the point is that _you +don't lose the contract_! You keep the contract, and you will build +the power-house upon the original scale of one-fourth inch to the +foot. Also you will carry out the rest of the work on the same basis +as figured by other contractors. I want to remind you that you are +well bonded, well financed, and that the city holds a guarantee of +twenty per cent. of the contract price as a forfeit for the due and +proper completion of this job." + +"Why, it means bankruptcy!" shrieked Silas Trimmer, the deeply-graven +circle about his mouth now being but the pallid and piteous caricature +of his old-time sinister smile. + +"That is precisely what I intend," retorted Bobby with a snap of his +jaws. "I have long, long scores to settle with both of you gentlemen." + +"But you haven't against the other members of this company," protested +Sharpe. "Our other stockholders are entirely innocent parties." + +"They have my sincere sympathy for being caught in such dubious +company," replied Bobby with a contemptuous smile. "I happen to have a +roster of your stock-holders, and every man of them has been mixed up +in crooked deals in combination with Stone or Stone enterprises; so +whatever they lose on this contract will be merely by way of +restitution to the city." + +"Look here, Mr. Burnit," said Sharpe, dropping his tone of +remonstrance for one intended to be wheedling; "I know there are a +number of financial matters between us that might have a tendency to +make you vindictive. Now why can't we just get together nicely on all +of these things and compromise?" + +Chalmers rapped his knuckles sharply upon his desk. + +"Kindly remember where you are," he warned. + +"When I get around to settling day there will be no such thing as a +compromise," declared Bobby with repressed anger. "I'll settle all +those other matters in my own way and at my own time." + +"One thing more, gentlemen," said Chalmers, as the chopfallen +committee of the Middle West Construction Company rose to depart; "I +wish to remind you that there is a forfeit clause in your contract for +delay, so I should advise you to resume operations at once. Mr. Platt +succeeds the unfortunate Mr. Scales as constructing engineer, and he +will see that the plans and specifications of the entire contract are +carried out to the letter." + +Platt, who had said nothing, walked away with Bobby. + +"You were speaking about following the plans exactly, Mr. Burnit," he +said when they were alone upon the street. "I find on an examination +of the subsoil that there will be a few minor changes required. The +runway, for instance, which goes down to the river northward from the +power-house for the purpose of unloading coal barges, would be much +better placed on the south side, away from the intake. There is +practically no difference in expense, except that in running to the +southward the riprap work will need to be carried about three feet +deeper and with concreted walls, in place of being thrown loosely in +the trenches as originally planned." + +"All those things are up to you, Jimmy," said Bobby indifferently. +"You must use your own judgment. Any changes of the sort that you deem +necessary just bring before the city council, and I am quite sure that +you can secure permission to make them." + +"Very well," said Platt, and he left Bobby at the corner with a +curious smile. + +He was a different looking Jimmy Platt from the one Bobby had found in +his office a week before. He was clean-shaven now, and his clothing +was quite prosperous looking. Bobby, surmising the condition of +affairs, had delicately insisted on making Platt a loan, to be repaid +from his salary at a conveniently distant period, and the world looked +very bright indeed to him. + +The next day work on the new waterworks was resumed. In bitter +consultation the Middle West Construction Company had discovered that +they would lose less by fulfilling their contract than by forfeiting +their twenty per cent., and they dispiritedly turned in again, kept +constantly whipped up to the mark by Platt and by the knowledge that +every day's non-completion of the work meant a heavy additional +forfeit, which they had counted on being able to evade so long as the +complaisant Mr. Scales was in charge. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +JIMMY PLATT ENJOYS THE HAPPIEST DAY OF HIS LIFE + + +The straightening out of the waterworks matter left Bobby free to turn +his attention to the local gas and electric situation. The _Bulletin_, +since Bobby had defeated his political enemies, had been put upon a +paying basis and was rapidly earning its way out of the debt that he +had been compelled to incur for it; but the Brightlight Electric +Company was a thorn in his side. Its only business now was the street +illumination of twelve blocks, under a municipal contract which lost +him money every month, and it had been a terrific task to keep it +going. + +The Consolidated Illuminating and Power Company, however, Bobby +discovered by careful inquiry, was in even worse financial straits +than the Brightlight. To its thirty millions of stock, mostly water, +twenty more millions of water had been added, making a total +organization of fifty million dollars; and the twenty million dollars' +stock had been sold to the public for ten million dollars, each +purchaser of one share of preferred being given one share of common. +As the preferred was to draw five per cent., this meant that two and +one-half million dollars a year must be paid out in dividends. The +salary roll of the company was enormous, and the number of non-working +officers who drew extravagant stipends would have swamped any company. +Comparing the two concerns, Bobby felt that in the Brightlight he had +vastly the better property of the two, in that there was no water in +it at its present, half-million-dollar capitalization. + +It was while pondering these matters that Bobby, dropping in at the +Idlers' Club one dull night, found no one there but Silas Trimmer's +son-in-law, the vapid and dissolute Clarence Smythe, which was a +trifle worse than finding the place entirely deserted. To-night +Clarence was in possession of what was known at the Idlers' as "one of +Smythe's soggy buns," and despite countless snubs in the past he +seized upon Bobby as a receptacle for his woes. + +"I'm going to leave this town for good, Burnit!" he declared without +any preliminaries, having waited so long to convey this startling and +important information that salutations were entirely forgotten. + +"For good! For whose good?" inquired Bobby. + +"Mine," responded Clarence. "This town's gone to the bow-wows. It's in +the hands of a lot of pikers. There's no chance to make big money any +more." + +"Yes, I know," said Bobby dryly; "I had something to do with that, +myself." + +"It was a fine lot of muck-raking you did," charged Clarence. "Well, +I'll give you another item for your paper. I have resigned from the +Consolidated." + +"It was cruel of you." + +"It was time," said Clarence, ignoring the flippancy. "Something's +going to drop over there." + +Bobby smiled. + +"It's always dropping," he agreed. + +"This is the big drop," the other went on, with a wine-laden man's +pride in the fact of possessing valuable secrets. "They're going to +make a million-dollar bond issue." + +"What for?" inquired Bobby. + +"They need the money," chuckled Mr. Smythe. "Those city bonds, you +know." + +"What bonds?" demanded Bobby eagerly, but trying to speak +nonchalantly. + +Mr. Smythe suddenly realized the solemn gravity of his folly. Once +more he was talking too much. Once more! It was a thing to weep over. +"I'm a fool," he confessed in awe-stricken tones; "a rotten fool, +Burnit. I'm ashamed to look anybody in the face. I'm ashamed----" + +"It's highly commendable of you, I'm sure," Bobby agreed, and took his +hasty leave before Clarence should begin to sob. + +Immediately he called up Chalmers at his home. + +"Chalmers," he demanded, "why must the Consolidated Illuminating and +Power Company purchase city bonds?" + +Chalmers laughed. + +"Originally so Sam Stone could lend money to the Consumers' Electric. +It is a part of their franchise, which is renewable at their option in +ten-year periods, and which became a part of the Consolidated's +property when the combine was effected. To insure 'faithful +performance of contract,' for which clause every crooked municipality +has a particular affection, they were to purchase a million dollars' +worth of city bonds. Each year one hundred thousand dollars' worth +were retired. In the tenth year, in renewing their franchise for the +next ten years, they were compelled to renew also their million +dollars of city bonds. These bonds they then used as collateral. Stone +carried all that he could, at enormous usury, I understand, and let +some of his banker friends in on the rest; and I suppose the banks +paid him a rake-off. The ten-year period is up this fall, and their +bonds are naturally retired; but, of course, they will renew." + +"I'm not so sure about that," said Bobby. "Look up everything +connected with it in the morning, and I'll see you at noon." + +When they met the next day at noon, however, before Bobby could talk +about the business in hand, Chalmers, with a suppressed smile, handed +him a folded slip of paper. + +Bobby examined that legal document--a dissolution of the injunction +which had tied up a hundred and fifty thousand dollars in his bank for +more than two years--with a sigh of relief. + +"It seems," said Chalmers dryly, "that at the time you laid yourself +liable to Madam Villenauve's breach-of-promise suit she had an +undivorced husband living, Monsieur Villenauve complacently hiding +himself in France and waiting for his share of the money. Let this be +a lesson to you, young man." + +Bobby hotly resented that grin. + +"I'll swear to you, Chalmers," he asserted, "I never so much as +thought of the woman except as a nuisance." + +"I apologize, old man," said Chalmers. "But at least this will teach +you not to back any more grand opera companies." + +"I prefer to talk about the electric situation," said Bobby severely. +"What have you found out about it?" + +"That the Ebony Jewel Coal Company, a former Stone enterprise, has +threatened suit against the Consolidated for their bill. The +Consolidated is in a pinch and must raise money, not only to buy that +allotment of the new waterworks bonds, but to meet the Ebony's and +other pressing accounts. It must also float this bond issue, for it is +likely to fall behind even on its salary list." + +"Fine!" said Bobby. "I can see a lot of good citizens in this town +holding stock in a bankrupt illuminating concern. Just watch this +thing, will you, Chalmers? About this nice, lucky hundred and fifty +thousand, we may count it as spent." + +"What in?" asked Chalmers, smiling. "Do you think you can trust +yourself with all that money?" + +"Hush," said Bobby. "Don't breathe it aloud. I'm going to buy up all +the Brightlight Electric stock I can find. It's too bad, Chalmers," he +added with a grin, "that as mayor of the city you could not, with +propriety, hold stock in this company," and although Chalmers tried to +call him back Bobby did not wait. He was too busy, he said. + +His business was to meet Agnes and Mrs. Elliston for luncheon +down-town, and during the meal he happened to remark that Clarence +Smythe had determined to shake the dust of the city from his feet. + +"I thought so," declared Agnes. "Aunt Constance, I'm afraid you'll +have to finish your shopping without me. I must call upon Mrs. +Smythe." + +Mrs. Elliston frowned her disapproval, but she knew better than to +protest. Before Agnes called upon Mrs. Smythe, however, she dropped in +at the manufacturing concern of D. A. Elliston and Company. + +"Uncle Dan, how much money of mine have you in charge just now?" she +demanded to know. + +"Cash? About five or six thousand." + +"And how much more could you raise on my property?" + +"Right away? About fifteen, on bonds and such securities. This is no +time to sacrifice real estate." + +"It isn't enough," said Agnes, frowning, and was silent for a time. +"You'll just have to loan me about ten thousand more." + +"Oh, will I?" he retorted. "What for?" + +"I want to make an investment." + +"So I judged," he dryly responded. "Well, young lady, as your steward +I reckon I'll have to know something more about this investment before +I turn over any money." + +With sparkling eyes and blushes that would come in spite of her, she +told him what she intended to do. When she had concluded, Dan Elliston +slapped his knees in huge joy. + +"You shall have all the money you want," he declared. + +Upon that same afternoon Bobby started to buy up, here and there, +nearly the entire stock of the Brightlight, purchasing it at an +absurdly low price. Then he went to De Graff, to Dan Elliston, and to +others to whose discretion he could trust. His own plans were well +under way when the Consolidated Illuminating and Power Company +announced, with a great flourish of trumpets, its new bond issue. The +_Bulletin_ made no comment upon this. It merely published the news +fact briefly and concisely--an unexpected attitude, which brought +surprise, then wonder, then suspicion to the office of the +_Chronicle_. The _Chronicle_ had been a Stone organ during the heydey +of Stone's prosperity; the _Bulletin_ had fought the Consolidated +tooth and toe-nail; the already criminally overcapitalized +Consolidated was about to float a new bond issue; the _Bulletin_ did +not fight this issue; _ergo_, the _Bulletin_ must have something to +gain by the issue. + +The _Chronicle_ waited three days, then began to fight the bond issue +itself, which was precisely the effect for which Bobby had planned. +Grown astute, Bobby realized that if the bond issue failed the +Consolidated would go bankrupt at once instead of a year or so later. +The newspaper, however, which would force that bankruptcy would, by +that act, be the apparent means of losing a vast amount of money to +the poor investors of the town, and Bobby left that ungrateful task to +the _Chronicle_. He even went so far as to defend the Consolidated in +a mild sort of manner, a proceeding which fanned the _Chronicle_ into +fresh fury. + +For three months desperate attempts were made by the Consolidated to +make the new bonds attractive to the public, but less than one hundred +thousand dollars was subscribed. Bobby was tabulating the known +results of this subscription with much satisfaction one morning when +Ferris walked into his office. + +"I hope you didn't come into town to dig up another scandal, old man," +said Bobby, greeting his contractor-friend with keen pleasure. + +"No," said Ferris; "came in to give you a bit of news. The Great +Eastern and Western Railroad wants to locate its shop here, and is +building by private bid. I have secured the contract, subject to +certain alterations of price for distance of hauling and difficulty of +excavation; but the thing is liable to fall through for lack of a +location. They can't get the piece of property they are after, and +there is only one other one large enough and near enough to the city. +The chief engineer and I are going out to look at it again to-day. +Come with us. If we decide that the property will do, and if we can +secure it, you may have an exclusive news-item that would be very +pretty, I should judge." And Ferris smiled at some secret joke. + +"I'll go with pleasure," said Bobby, "and not by any means just for +the news. When do you want to go?" + +"Oh, right away, I guess. I'll telephone to Shepherd and have him +order a rig." + +"What's the use?" demanded Bobby, much interested. "My car's right +within call. I'll have it brought up." + +Shepherd, the chief engineer of the G. E. and W., when they picked him +up at the hotel, proved to be an entire human being with red whiskers +and not a care in the world. Bobby was enjoying a lot of preliminary +persiflage when Shepherd incidentally mentioned their destination. + +"It is known as Westmarsh," he observed. "I suppose you know where it +is." + +Bobby, who had already started the machine and had placed his hand on +the steering wheel, gave a jerk so violent that he almost sent the +machine diagonally across the street, and Ferris laughed aloud. His +little joke was no longer a secret. + +"Westmarsh!" Bobby repeated. "Why, I own that undrainable swamp." + +"Swamp?" exclaimed Shepherd. "It's as dry as a bone. I looked it over +last night and am going out to-day to study the possible approaches to +it." + +"But you say it is dry!" protested Bobby, unable to believe it. + +"Dry as powder," asserted Shepherd. "There has been an immense amount +of water out there, but it has been well taken care of by the splendid +drainage system that has been put in." + +"It cost a lot of money to put in that drainage system," commented +Bobby; "but we found it impracticable to drain an entire river." + +It was Shepherd's turn to be puzzled, a process in which he stopped to +laugh. + +"This is the first time I ever heard an owner belittle his own +property," he declared. "I suppose that next you'll only accept half +the price we offer." + +Bobby kept up his part of the conversation but feebly as they whirled +out to the site of the old Applerod Addition. He was lost in +speculation upon what could possibly have happened to that unfortunate +swamp area. When they arrived, however, he was surprised to find that +Shepherd had been correct. The ground, though sunken in places and +black with the residue of one-time stagnant water, was firm enough to +walk upon, and after many tests he even ran the machine across and +across it. Moreover, grass and weeds, forcing their way here and +there, were already beginning to hide and redeem the ugly earthen +surface. + +Bobby surveyed the miracle in amazement. It was the first time he had +seen the place in a year. Even in his trips to the waterworks site, +which was just north, beyond the hill, he had chosen the longer and +less solid river road rather than to come past this spot of +humiliating memories. + +"I can't understand it," he said again and again to the two men. "Why, +Mr. Shepherd, I spent thousands of dollars in filling this swamp and +draining it, with the idea of making a city subdivision here. Silas +Trimmer, the man from whom I bought the place, imagined it to be fed +by underground springs, but he let me spend a fortune to attract +people out to see my new building lots so that he could, without cost, +sell his own. That is his addition up there on the hills, and I'm glad +to say he has recently mortgaged it for all that it will carry." + +"How about the springs?" asked Shepherd with a frown. "Did you find +them? You must have stopped them. Are they liable to break out again?" + +"That's the worst of it," replied Bobby, still groping. "It wasn't +springs at all. It was a peculiar geological formation, some +disarranged strata leading beneath the hill from the river and +emptying into the bottom of this pond. All through the year it seeped +in faster than our extensive drainings could carry it away, and in the +spring and fall, when the river was high, it poured in. I don't see +what could have happened. Suppose we run over and see the engineer who +worked on this with me. He is now in charge of the new waterworks." + +In five minutes they were over there. Jimmy Platt, out in his +shirt-sleeves under a broad-brimmed straw hat, greeted them most +cordially, but when Bobby explained to him the miracle that had +happened to the old Applerod Addition, Platt laughed until the tears +came into his eyes; and even after he stopped laughing there were +traces of them there. + +"Come down here and I'll show you," said he. + +Leading south from the pumping station, diagonally down the steep bank +to the river, had been built a splendid road, flanked on both sides by +very solid, substantial-looking retaining walls. + +"You see this wall?" asked Jimmy, pointing to the inside one. "It runs +twenty feet below low-water level, and is solidly cemented. You +remember when I got permission to move this road from the north side +to the south side of the pumping station? I did that after an +examination of the subsoil. This wall cuts off the natural siphon that +fed the water to your Applerod Addition. I have been going past there +in huge joy twice a day, watching that swamp dry up." + +"In other words," said Bobby, "you have been doing a little private +grafting on my account. How many additional dollars did that +extra-deep wall cost?" + +"I'm not going to tell you," asserted Jimmy stoutly. "It isn't very +much, but whatever it is the city good and plenty owes you for saving +it over a million on this job. But if I'd had to pay for it myself I +would have done it to correct the mistake I made when I started to +drain that swamp for you. I guess this is about the most satisfactory +minute of my life," and he looked it. + +"A fine piece of work," agreed Shepherd, casting a swift eye over the +immense and busy waterworks site, and then glancing at the hill across +which lay Bobby's property. "You're lucky to have had this chance, Mr. +Platt," and he shook hands cordially with Jimmy. "I'm perfectly +satisfied, Mr. Burnit. Do you want to sell that property?" + +"If I can get out at a profit," replied Bobby. "Otherwise I'll regrade +the thing and split it up into building lots as I originally +intended." + +"Let's go back down to the hotel and talk 'turkey,'" offered Shepherd +briskly. "What do you think of the place, Ferris? Will it do?" + +"Fine!" said Ferris. "The property lies so low that we won't have to +cart away a single load of our excavation. If we can only get a +right-of-way through that natural approach to the northeast--" + +"I think I can guarantee a right-of-way," interrupted Bobby, smiling, +with his mind upon the city council which had been created by his own +efforts. + +"All right," said Shepherd. "We'll talk price until I have browbeaten +you as low as you will go. Then I'll prepare a plat of the place and +send it on to headquarters. You'll have an answer from them in three +days." + +As they whirred away Bobby's eyes happened to rest upon a young man +and a young woman rowing idly down-stream in a skiff, and he smiled as +he recognized Biff Bates and Nellie Platt. + +On the day Bobby got the money for his Westmarsh property old Applerod +came up from the office of the Brightlight Electric Company, where he +held a lazy, sleepy afternoon job as "manager," and with an +ingratiating smile handed Bobby a check for five thousand dollars. + +"What's this for?" asked Bobby, puzzled. + +"I have decided to give you back the money and take up again my +approximate one-fifth share in the Applerod Addition," announced that +gentleman complacently. + +Bobby was entirely too much surprised at this to be amused. + +"You're just a trifle too late, Mr. Applerod," said he. "Had you come +to me two weeks ago, when I thought the land was worthless, out of +common decency I would not have let you buy in again. Since then, +however, I have sold the tract at a profit of forty thousand dollars." + +"You have?" exclaimed Applerod. "I heard you were going to do +something of the kind. I'm entitled to one-fifth of that profit, Mr. +Burnit--eight thousand dollars." + +"You're entitled to a good, swift poke in the neck!" exclaimed the +voice of wizened old Johnson, who stood in the doorway, and who, since +his friendship with Biff Bates, had absorbed some of that gentleman's +vigorous vernacular. "Applerod, I'll give you just one minute to get +out of this office. If you don't I'll throw you downstairs!" + +"Mr. Johnson," said Applerod with great dignity, "this office does not +belong to you. I have as much right here--" + +Mr. Johnson, taking a trot around Bobby's desk so as to get Mr. +Applerod between him and the door, made a threatening demonstration +toward the rear, and Applerod, suddenly deserting his dignity, rushed +out. Bobby straightened his face as Johnson, still blazing, came in +from watching Applerod's ignominious retreat. + +"Well, Johnson," said he, ignoring the incident as closed, "what can I +do for you to-day?" + +"Nothing!" snapped Johnson. "I have forgotten what I came for!" and +going out he slammed the door behind him. + +In the course of an hour Bobby was through with his morning allotment +of mail and his daily consultation with Jolter, and then he called +Johnson to his office. + +"Johnson," said he, "I want you to do me a favor. There is one block +of Brightlight stock that I have not yet bought up. It is in the hands +of J. W. Williams, one of the old Stone crowd, who ought to be wanting +money by this time. He holds one hundred shares, which you should be +able to buy by now at fifty dollars a share. I want you to buy this +stock in your own name, and I want to loan you five thousand dollars +to do it with. I merely want voting power; so after you get it you may +hold it if you like and still owe me the five thousand dollars, or +I'll take it off your hands at any time you are tired of the +obligation. You'd better go to Barrister and have him buy the stock +for you." + +"Yes, sir," said Johnson. + +Bobby immediately went to De Graff. + +"I came to subscribe for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars' worth +of additional stock in the New Brightlight. I have just deposited two +hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars in your bank." + +"You're becoming an expert," said De Graff with a quizzical smile. +"With the million dollars' valuation at which we are to buy in the +present Brightlight, the two hundred and fifty thousand subscribed for +by Dan Elliston, and the ten thousand held by Miss Elliston, this new +subscription about gives you control of the New Brightlight, don't +it?" + +"That's what I want," Bobby exulted. "You don't object, do you?" + +"Not on my own account," De Graff assured him; "but you'd better have +Barrister buy this in for you until we are organized. Then you can +take it over." + +"I guess you're right," agreed Bobby. "I'll send Barrister right over, +and I think I shall make him take up the remaining ten thousand on his +own account. A week from to-night is the council meeting at which the +Consolidated must make good to renew their franchise, and we don't +want any hitch in getting our final incorporation papers by that time. +The members of the Consolidated are singing swan songs in seven +simultaneous keys at this very moment." + +Bobby's description of the condition of the Consolidated was scarcely +exaggerated. It was a trying and a hopeless period for them. The bond +issue had failed miserably. It had not needed the _Chronicle_ to +remind the public of what a shaky proposition the Consolidated was, +for Bobby had thoroughly exposed the corporation during the +_Bulletin's_ campaign against Sam Stone. Bond-floating companies from +other cities were brought in, and after an examination of the books +threw up their hands in horror at the crudest muddle they had ever +found in any investigation of municipal affairs. + +On the night of the council meeting, Sharpe and Trimmer and Williams, +representing the Consolidated, were compelled to come before the +council and confess their inability to take up the bonds required to +renew their franchise; but they begged that this clause, since it was +an entirely unnecessary one and was not enjoined upon gas or electric +companies in other cities, be not enforced. Council, however, was +obdurate, and the committee thereupon begged for a further extension +of time in which to raise the necessary amount of money. Council still +was obdurate, and by that obduracy the franchise of the Consumers' +Electric Company, said franchise being controlled by the Consolidated +Illuminating and Power Company, became null and void. + +Thereupon Bobby Burnit, President De Graff and Dan Elliston, +representing the New Brightlight Electric Company, recently organized +for three million dollars, came forward and prayed for a franchise for +the electric lighting of the entire city, agreeing to take over the +poles and wiring of the Consolidated at a fair valuation; and council +was not at all obdurate, which was scarcely strange when one reflected +that every member of that municipal body had been selected and put in +place through the direct instrumentality of Bobby Burnit. It was +practical politics, true enough, but Bobby had no qualms whatever +about it. + +"It may be quite true that I have not been actuated by any highly +noble motives in this," he confessed to a hot charge by Williams, "but +so long as in municipal affairs I am not actuated by any ignoble +motives I am doing pretty fairly in this town." + +There was just the bare trace of brutality in Bobby as he said this, +and he suddenly recognized it in himself with dismay. What pity Bobby +might have felt for these bankrupt men, however, was swept away in a +gust of renewed aggressiveness when Trimmer, arousing himself from the +ashen age which seemed all at once to be creeping over him, said, with +a return of that old circular smile which had so often before +aggravated Bobby: + +"I am afraid I'll have to draw out of my other ventures and retire on +my salary as president and manager of Trimmer and Company." + +Vengefulness was in Bobby's eyes as he followed Trimmer's sprawling +figure, so much like a bloated spider's in its bigness of +circumference and its attenuation of limbs, that suddenly he shuddered +and turned away as when one finds oneself about to step upon a toad. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +IN WHICH, BEING THE LAST CHAPTER, EVERYTHING TURNS OUT RIGHT, AND +EVERYBODY GETS MARRIED + + +At the offices of the New Brightlight Electric Company there was +universal rejoicing. Johnson was removed from the _Bulletin_ to take +charge of the new organization until it should be completed, and Bobby +himself, for a few days, was compelled to spend most of his time +there. During the first week after the granting of the franchise Bobby +called Johnson to him. + +"Mr. Johnson," said he quite severely, "you have been so careful and +so faithful in all other things that I dislike to remind you of an +overlooked duty." + +"I am sorry, sir," said Johnson. "What is it?" + +"You have neglected to make out a note for that five-thousand-dollar +loan. Kindly draw it up now, payable in ten years, with interest at +four per cent. _after_ the date of maturity." + +"But, sir," stammered Johnson, "the stock is worth par now." + +"Would you like to keep it?" + +"I'd be a fool to say I wouldn't, sir. But the stock is not only worth +par,--it was worth that in the old Brightlight; and I received an +exchange of two for one in the New Brightlight, which is also worth +par this morning; so I hold twenty thousand dollars' worth of stock." + +"It cost me five thousand," insisted Bobby, "and we'll settle at that +figure." + +"I don't know how to thank you, sir," trembled Johnson, but he +stiffened immediately as Applerod intruded himself into the room with +a bundle of papers which he laid upon the desk. + +"I beg your pardon, Mr. Burnit," began Applerod, "but I have five +thousand dollars I'd like to invest in the New Brightlight Company if +you could manage it for me." + +"I'm sorry, Applerod," said Bobby, "but there isn't a share for sale. +It was subscribed to the full capitalization before the incorporation +papers were issued." + +Applerod was about to leave the room in deep dejection when Johnson, +with a sudden happy inspiration, called him back. + +"I think I know where you can buy five thousand," said Johnson; "but +you will have to hurry to get it." + +"Where?" asked Applerod eagerly, while Bobby went to the window to +conceal his broad smiles. + +"Just put on your hat and go right over to Barrister," directed +Johnson; "and take a blank check with you. I'll telephone him, to save +time for you. The stock is worth par, and that lonesome fifty shares +will be snapped up before you know it." + +"You will excuse me till I go up-town, Mr. Burnit?" inquired Applerod, +and bustled out eagerly. + +He had no sooner left the building than Johnson grabbed Bobby's +telephone and called up Barrister. + +"This is Johnson," he said to the old attorney. "I have just sent +Applerod over to you to buy fifty shares of New Brightlight at par. +Take his check and hold it for delivery of the stock. I'll have it +over to you within an hour, or as soon as I can have the transfer +made. It is my stock, but I don't want him to know it." + +Hanging up the receiver old Johnson sat in the chair by Bobby's desk +and his thin shoulders heaved with laughter. + +"Applerod will be plumb crazy when he finds that out," he said. "To +think that I have fifteen thousand dollars' worth of this good stock +that didn't cost me a cent, all paid for with Applerod's own five +thousand dollars!" + +Johnson laughed so hard that finally he was compelled to lay his head +on the desk in front of him, with his lean old fingers over his eyes. + +"Thanks to you, Robert; thanks to you," he added after a little +silence. + +Bobby, turning from the window, saw the thin shoulders still heaving. +There was a glint of moisture on the lean hands that had toiled for so +many years in the Burnit service, and as Bobby passed he placed his +hand on old Johnson's bowed head for just an instant, then went out, +leaving Johnson alone. + +It was Applerod who, returning triumphantly with Barrister's promise +of the precious block of New Brightlight for delivery in the +afternoon, brought Bobby a copy of his own paper containing so much +startling news that the front page consisted only of a hysteria of +head-lines. Sudden proceedings in bankruptcy had been filed against +the Consolidated Illuminating and Power Company. These proceedings had +revealed the fact that Frank L. Sharpe, supposed to have left the city +on business for the company, had in reality disappeared with the +entire cash balance of the Consolidated. This disappearance had +immediately thrust the Middle West Construction Company into +bankruptcy. By Stone's own acts the Stone enterprises had crumpled and +fallen, and all his adherents were ruined. + +Out of the chaos that the startling facts he was able to glean created +in Bobby's mind there came a thought of Ferris, and he immediately +telephoned him, out at the site of the new G. E. and W. shops, where +ground was already being broken, that he would be out that way. + +Half an hour later he took Ferris into his machine and they whirled +over to the waterworks site, where the work had stopped as abruptly as +if that scene of animation had suddenly been stricken of a plague and +died. On the way Bobby explained to Ferris what had happened. + +"You were the lowest legitimate bidder on the job, I believe," he +concluded. + +"Yes, outside of the local company." + +"If I were you I'd get busy with Jimmy Platt on an estimate of the +work already done," suggested Bobby. "I think it very likely that the +city council will offer the Keystone Construction Company the contract +at its former figure, with the proper deductions for present progress. +We will make up the difference between their bid and yours, and +whatever loss there is in taking up the work will come out of the +forfeit put up by the Middle West Company." + +Jimmy Platt ran out to meet them like a lost soul. The waterworks +project had become his pet. He lived with it and dreamed of it, and +that there was a prospect of resuming work, and under such skilful +supervision as that of Ferris, delighted him. While Jimmy and Mr. +Ferris went into the office to prepare a basis of estimating, Bobby +stayed behind to examine the carbureter of his machine, which had been +acting suspiciously on the way out, and while he was engaged in this +task a voice that he knew quite well saluted him with: + +"Fine work, old pal! I guess you put all your lemons into the squeezer +and got the juice, eh?" + +Biff had a copy of the _Bulletin_ in his hand, which was sufficient +explanation of his congratulations. + +"Things do seem to be turning out pretty lucky for me, Biff," Bobby +confessed, and then, looking at Mr. Bates, he immediately apologized. +"I beg pardon for calling you Biff," said he. "I should have said Mr. +Bates." + +"Cut it!" growled Biff, looking himself over with some complacency +nevertheless. + +From his nice new derby, which replaced the slouch cap he had always +preferred, to his neat and uncomfortably-pointed gun-metal leathers +which had supplanted the broad-toed tans, Mr. Bates was an epitome of +neatly-pressed grooming. White cuffs edged the sleeves of his gray +business suit, and--wonder of wonders!--he wore a white shirt with a +white collar, in which there was tied a neat bow of--last wonder of +all--modest gray! + +"I suppose that costume is due to distinctly feminine influence, eh, +Biff?" + +"Guilty as Cassie Chadwick!" replied Biff with a sheepish grin. "She's +tryin' to civilize me." + +"Who is?" demanded Bobby. + +"Oh, _she_ is. You know who I mean. Why, she's even taught me to cut +out slang. Say, Bobby, I didn't know how much like a rough-neck I used +to talk. I never opened my yawp but what I spilled a line of +fricasseed gab so twisted and frazzled and shredded you could use it +to stuff sofa-cushions; but now I've handed that string of talk the +screw number. No more slang for your Uncle Biff." + +"I'm glad you have quit it," approved Bobby soberly. "I suppose the +next thing I'll hear will be the wedding bells." + +"No!" Biff denied in a tone so pained and shocked that Bobby looked up +in surprise to see his face gone pale. "Don't talk about that, Bobby. +Why, I wouldn't dare even think of it myself. I--I never think about +it. Me? with a mitt like a picnic ham? Did you ever see her hand, +Bobby? And her eyes and her hair and all? Why, Bobby, if I'd ever +catch myself daring to think about marrying that girl I'd take myself +by the Adam's apple and give myself the damnedest choking that ever +turned a mutt's map purple." + +"I'm sorry, after all, that you are through with slang, Biff," said +Bobby, "because if you were still using it you might have expressed +that idea so much more picturesquely;" but Biff did not hear him, for +from the office came Nellie Platt with a sun-hat in her hand. + +"Right on time," she said gaily to Biff, and, with a pleasant word for +Bobby, went down with Mr. Bates to the river bank, where lay the neat +little skiff that Jimmy had bought for her. + +Bobby and Ferris and Platt, standing up near the filters, later on, +were startled by a scream from the river, and, turning, they saw the +skiff, in mid-stream, struck by a passing steamer and splintered as if +it were made of pasteboard. Nellie had been rowing. Biff had called +her attention to the approaching steamer, across the path of which +they were passing. There had been plenty of time to row out of the way +of it, but Nellie in grasping her oar for a quick turn had lost it. +Fortunately the engines had been stopped immediately when the pilot +had seen that they must strike, so that there was no appreciable +underdrag. Biff's head had been grazed slightly, enough to daze him +for an instant, but he held himself up mechanically. Nellie, clogged +by her skirts, could not swim, and as Biff got his bearings he saw her +close by him going down for the second time. Two men sprang from the +lower deck of the steamer, but Biff reached her first, and, his senses +instantly clearing as he caught her, he struck out for the shore. + +The three men on shore immediately ran down the bank, and sprang into +the water to help Biff out with his burden. He was pale, but strangely +cool and collected. + +"Don't go at it that way!" he called to them savagely, knowing neither +friend nor foe in this emergency. "Get her loosened up someway, can't +you?" + +Without waiting on them, Biff ripped a knife from his pocket, opened +it and slit through waist and skirt-band and whatever else intervened, +to her corset, which he opened with big fingers, the sudden deftness +of which was marvelous. Directing them with crisp, sharp commands, he +guided them through the first steps toward resuscitation, and then +began the slow, careful pumping of the arms that should force breath +back into the closed lungs. + +For twenty minutes, each of which seemed interminable, Jimmy and Biff +worked, one on either side of her, Biff's face set, cold, +expressionless, until at last there was a flutter of the eyelids, a +cry of distress as the lungs took up their interrupted function, then +the sharp, hissing sound of the intake and outgo of natural, though +labored, breath; then Nellie Platt opened her big, brown eyes and +gazed up into the gray ones of Biff Bates. She faintly smiled; then +Biff did a thing that he had never done before in his mature life. He +suddenly broke down and cried aloud, sobbing in great sobs that shook +him from head to foot and that hurt him, as they tore from his throat, +as the first breath of new life had hurt Nellie Platt; and, seeing and +understanding, she raised up one weak arm and slipped it about his +neck. + +It was about a week after this occurrence when Silas Trimmer, coming +back from lunch to attend the annual stock-holders' meeting of Trimmer +and Company, stopped on the sidewalk to inspect, with some curiosity, +a strange, boxlike-looking structure which leaned face downward upon +the edge of the curbing. It was three feet wide and full sixty feet +long. He stooped and tried to tilt it up, but it was too heavy for his +enfeebled frame, and with another curious glance at it he went into +the store. + +The meeting was set for half-past two. It was now scarcely two, and +yet, when he opened the door of his private office, which had been set +apart for that day's meeting, he was surprised at the number of people +he found in the room. A quick recognition of them mystified him the +more. They were Bobby Burnit and Agnes, Johnson, Applerod and +Chalmers. + +"I came a little early, Mr. Trimmer," said Bobby, in a polite +conversational tone, "to have these three hundred shares transferred +upon the books of Trimmer and Company, before the stock-holders' +meeting convenes." + +"What shares are they?" inquired Silas in a voice grown strangely +shrill and metallic. + +"The stock that was previously controlled by your son-in-law, Mr. +Clarence Smythe. Miss Elliston bought them last week from your +daughter, with the full consent of your son-in-law." + +"The dog!" Trimmer managed to gasp, and his fingers clutched +convulsively. + +"Possibly," admitted Bobby dryly. "At any rate he has had to leave +town, and I do not think you will be bothered with him any more. In +the meantime, Mr. Trimmer, I'd like to call your attention to a few +very interesting figures. When you urged me, four years ago, to +consolidate the John Burnit and Trimmer and Company Stores, my +father's business was appraised at two hundred and sixty thousand +dollars and yours at two hundred and forty. On your suggestion we took +in sixty thousand dollars of additional capital. I did not know as +much at that time as I do now, and I let you sell this stock where you +could control it, virtually giving you three thousand shares to my two +thousand six hundred. You froze me out, elected your own board, made +yourself manager at an enormous salary, and voted your son-in-law +another one so ridiculous that it was put out of all possibility for +my stock ever to yield any dividends. All right, Mr. Trimmer. With the +purchase of this three hundred shares I now control two thousand nine +hundred shares and you two thousand seven hundred. I presume I don't +need to tell you what is going to happen in today's meeting." + +To this Silas returned no answer. + +"I am an old man," he muttered to himself as one suddenly stricken. "I +am an old, old man." + +"I am going to oust you," continued Bobby, "and to oust all your +relatives from their fat positions; and I am going to elect myself to +everything worth while. I have brought Mr. Johnson with me to inspect +your books, and Mr. Chalmers to take charge of certain legal matters +connected with the concern immediately after the close of to-day's +meeting. I am going to restore Applerod to his position here from +which you so unceremoniously discharged him, and make Johnson general +manager of this and all my affairs. I understand that your stock in +this concern is mortgaged, and that you will be utterly unable to +redeem it. I intend to buy it and practically own the entire company +myself. Are there any questions you would like to ask, Mr. Trimmer?" + +There was none. Silas, crushed and dazed and pitiable, only moaned +that he was an old man; that he was an old, old man. + +Bobby felt the gentle pressure of Agnes' hand upon his arm. There was +a moment of silence. + +Trimmer looked around at them piteously. Once more Bobby felt that +touch upon his sleeve. Understanding, he went over to Silas and took +him gently by the arm. + +"Come over here to the window with me a minute," said he, "and we will +have a little business talk." + +"Business! Oh, yes; business!" said Silas, brightening up at the +mention of the word. + +He rose nervously and allowed Bobby to lead him, bent and almost +palsied, over to the window, where they could look out on the busy +street below, and the roofs of the tall buildings, and the blue sky +beyond where it smiled down upon the river. It was only a fleeting +glance that Silas Trimmer cast at the familiar scene outside, and +almost immediately he turned to Bobby, clutching his coat sleeve +eagerly. "You--you said something about business," he half-whispered, +and over his face there came a shadow of that old, shrewd look. + +"Why, yes," replied Bobby uncomfortably. "I think we can find a place +for you, Mr. Trimmer. You have kept this concern up splendidly, no +matter how much beset you were outside, and--and I think Johnson will +engage you, if you care for it, to look after certain details of +buying and such matters as that." + +"Oh, yes, the buying," agreed Silas, nodding his head. "I always was a +good buyer--and a good seller, too!" and he chuckled. "About what do +you say, now, that my services would be worth?" and with the prospect +of bartering more of his old self came back. + +"We'll make that satisfactory, I can assure you," said Bobby. "Your +salary will be a very liberal one, I am certain, and it will begin +from to-day. First, however, you must have a good rest--a vacation +with pay, understand--and it will make you strong again. You are a +little run down." + +"Yes," agreed Silas, nodding his head as the animation faded out of +his eyes. "I'm getting old. I think, Mr. Burnit, if you don't mind +I'll go into the little room there and lie on the couch for a few +minutes." + +"That is a good idea," said Bobby. "You should be rested for the +meeting." + +"Oh, yes," repeated Silas, nodding his head sagely; "the meeting." + +They were uncomfortably silent when Bobby had returned from the little +room adjoining. The shadow of tragedy lay upon them all, and it was +out of this shadow that Bobby spoke his determination. + +"I am going to get out of business," he declared. "It is a hard, hard +game. I can win at it, but--well, I'd rather go back, if I only could, +to my unsophistication of four years ago. I don't like business. Of +course, I'll keep this place for tradition's sake, and because it +would please my father--no, I mean it _will_ please him--but I'm going +to sell the _Bulletin_. I have an offer for it at an excellent profit. +I'm going to intrust the management of the electric plant to my good +friend Biff, here, with Chalmers and Johnson as starboard and larboard +bulwarks, until the stock is quoted at a high enough rating to be a +profitable sale; then I'm going to turn it into money, and add it to +the original fund. I think I shall be busy enough just looking after +and enjoying my new partnership," and he smiled down at Agnes, who +smiled back at him with a trusting admiration that needed no words to +express. + +"Beg your pardon, sir," said old Johnson, "but I have a letter here +for you," and from his inside pocket he drew one of the familiar +steel-gray envelopes, which he handed to Bobby. + +It was addressed: + + _To My Son Bobby, Upon His Regaining His Father's Business_ + +The message inside was so brief that one who had not known well old +John Burnit would never have known the full, full heart out of which +he penned it: + + "I knew you'd do it, dear boy. Whatever mystery I find in the + great hereafter I shall be satisfied--for I knew you'd do it." + +That was all. + +"Johnson," said Bobby, crumpling up the letter in his hand, and +speaking briskly to beat back his emotion, "we will move our offices +to the same old quarters, and we will move back, for my use, my +father's old desk with my father's portrait hanging above it, just as +they were when Silas Trimmer ordered them removed." + +Two of the stock-holders came in at this moment, and Agnes went down +into the store to find Biff Bates and Nellie Platt, for there was much +shopping to do. Agnes had taken pretty Nellie under her chaperonage, +and every day now the girls were busy with preparations for certain +events in which each was highly interested. + +Up in the office there was a meeting that was a shock to all the +stock-holders but one, and after it was over Bobby joined the +shoppers. When the four of them had clambered into Bobby's automobile +and were rolling away, Bobby stopped his machine. + +"Look," he said in calm triumph, and pointed upward, his hand clasping +a smaller hand which was to rest contentedly in his through life. + +Over the Grand Street front of the building from which they had +emerged, workmen were just raising a huge electric sign, and it bore +the legend: + + THE JOHN BURNIT'S SON STORES + + + + +Popular Copyright Books + +AT MODERATE PRICES + + +Any of the following titles can be bought of your bookseller at the +price you paid for this volume + + Alternative, The. By George Barr McCutcheon. + Angel of Forgiveness, The. By Rosa N. Carey. + Angel of Pain, The. By E. F. Benson. + Annals of Ann, The. By Kate Trimble Sharber. + Battle Ground, The. By Ellen Glasgow. + Beau Brocade. By Baroness Orczy. + Beechy. By Bettina Von Hutten. + Bella Donna. By Robert Hichens. + Betrayal, The. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + Bill Toppers, The. By Andre Castaigne. + Butterfly Man, The. By George Barr McCutcheon. + Cab No. 44. By R. F. Foster. + Calling of Dan Matthews, The. By Harold Bell Wright + Cape Cod Stories. By Joseph C. Lincoln. + Challoners, The. By E. F. Benson. + City of Six, The. By C. L. Canfield. + Conspirators, The. By Robert W. Chambers. + Dan Merrithew. By Lawrence Perry. + Day of the Dog, The. By George Barr McCutcheon. + Depot Master, The. By Joseph C. Lincoln. + Derelicts. By William J. Locke. + Diamonds Cut Paste. By Agnes & Egerton Castle. + Early Bird, The. By George Randolph Chester. + Eleventh Hour, The. By David Potter. + Elizabeth in Rugen. By the author of Elizabeth and Her German Garden. + Flying Mercury, The. By Eleanor M. Ingram. + Gentleman, The. By Alfred Ollivant. + Girl Who Won, The. By Beth Ellis. + Going Some. By Rex Beach. + Hidden Water. By Dane Coolidge. + Honor of the Big Snows, The. By James Oliver Curwood. + Hopalong Cassidy. By Clarence E. Mulford. + House of the Whispering Pines, The. By Anna Katherine Green. + Imprudence of Prue, The. By Sophie Fisher. + In the Service of the Princess. By Henry C. Rowland. + Island of Regeneration, The. By Cyrus Townsend Brady. + Lady of Big Shanty, The. By Berkeley F. Smith. + Lady Merton, Colonist. By Mrs. Humphrey Ward. + Lord Loveland Discovers America. By C. N. & A. M. Williamson. + Love the Judge. By Wymond Carey. + Man Outside, The. By Wyndham Martyn. + Marriage of Theodora, The. By Molly Elliott Seawell. + My Brother's Keeper. By Charles Tenny Jackson. + My Lady of the South. By Randall Parrish. + Paternoster Ruby, The. By Charles Edmonds Walk. + Politician, The. By Edith Huntington Mason. + Pool of Flame, The. By Louis Joseph Vance. + Poppy. By Cynthia Stockley. + Redemption of Kenneth Galt, The. By Will N. Harben. + Rejuvenation of Aunt Mary, The. By Anna Warner. + Road to Providence, The. By Maria Thompson Davies. + Romance of a Plain Man, The. By Ellen Glasgow. + Running Fight, The. By Wm. Hamilton Osborne. + Septimus. By William J. Locke. + Silver Horde, The. By Rex Beach. + Spirit Trail, The. By Kate & Virgil D. Boyles. + Stanton Wins. By Eleanor M. Ingram. + Stolen Singer, The. By Martha Bellinger. + Three Brothers, The. By Eden Phillpotts. + Thurston of Orchard Valley. By Harold Bindloss. + Title Market, The. By Emily Post. + Vigilante Girl, A. By Jerome Hart. + Village of Vagabonds, A. By F. Berkeley Smith. + Wanted--A Chaperon. By Paul Leicester Ford. + Wanted: A Matchmaker. By Paul Leicester Ford. + Watchers of the Plains, The. By Ridgwell Cullum. + White Sister, The. By Marion Crawford. + Window at the White Cat, The. By Mary Roberts Rhinehart. + Woman in Question, The. By John Reed Scott. + Anna the Adventuress. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + Ann Boyd. By Will N. Harben. + At The Moorings. By Rosa N. Carey. + By Right of Purchase. By Harold Bindloss. + Carlton Case, The. By Ellery H. Clark. + Chase of the Golden Plate. By Jacques Futrelle. + Cash Intrigue, The. By George Randolph Chester. + Delafield Affair, The. By Florence Finch Kelly. + Dominant Dollar, The. By Will Lillibridge. + Elusive Pimpernel, The. By Baroness Orczy. + Ganton & Co. By Arthur J. Eddy. + Gilbert Neal. By Will N. Harben. + Girl and the Bill, The. By Bannister Merwin. + Girl from His Town, The. By Marie Van Vorst. + Glass House, The. By Florence Morse Kingsley. + Highway of Fate, The. By Rosa N. Carey. + Homesteaders, The. By Kate and Virgil D. Boyles. + Husbands of Edith, The. George Barr McCutcheon. + Inez. (Illustrated Ed.) By Augusta J. Evans. + Into the Primitive. By Robert Ames Bennet. + Jack Spurlock, Prodigal. By Horace Lorimer. + Jude the Obscure. By Thomas Hardy. + King Spruce. By Holman Day. + Kingsmead. By Bettina Von Hutten. + Ladder of Swords, A. By Gilbert Parker. + Lorimer of the Northwest. By Harold Bindloss. + Lorraine. By Robert W. Chambers. + Loves of Miss Anne, The. By S. R. Crockett. + Marcaria. By Augusta J. Evans. + Mam' Linda. By Will N. Harben. + Maids of Paradise, The. By Robert W. Chambers. + Man in the Corner, The. By Baroness Orczy. + Marriage A La Mode. By Mrs. Humphry Ward. + Master Mummer, The. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + Much Ado About Peter. By Jean Webster. + Old, Old Story, The. By Rosa N. Carey. + Pardners. By Rex Beach. + Patience of John Moreland, The. By Mary Dillon. + Paul Anthony, Christian. By Hiram W. Hays. + Prince of Sinners, A. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + Prodigious Hickey, The. By Owen Johnson. + Red Mouse, The. By William Hamilton Osborne. + Refugees, The. By A. Conan Doyle. + Round the Corner in Gay Street. Grace S. Richmond. + Rue: With a Difference. By Rosa N. Carey. + Set in Silver. By C. N. and A. M. Williamson. + St. Elmo. By Augusta J. Evans. + Silver Blade, The. By Charles E. Walk. + Spirit in Prison, A. By Robert Hichens. + Strawberry Handkerchief, The. By Amelia E. Barr. + Tess of the D'Urbervilles. By Thomas Hardy. + Uncle William. By Jennette Lee. + Way of a Man, The. By Emerson Hough. + Whirl, The. By Foxcroft Davis. + With Juliet in England. By Grace S. Richmond. + Yellow Circle, The. By Charles E. Walk. + + +Any of the following: titles can be bought of your bookseller at 50 +cents per volume. + + The Shepherd of the Hills. By Harold Bell Wright. + Jane Cable. By George Barr McCutcheon. + Abner Daniel. By Will N. Harben. + The Far Horizon. By Lucas Malet. + The Halo. By Bettina von Hutten. + Jerry Junior. By Jean Webster. + The Powers and Maxine. By C. N. and A. M. Williamson. + The Balance of Power. By Arthur Goodrich. + Adventures of Captain Kettle. By Cutcliffe Hyne. + Adventures of Gerard. By A. Conan Doyle. + Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. By A. Conan Doyle. + Arms and the Woman. By Harold MacGrath. + Artemus Ward's Works (extra illustrated). + At the Mercy of Tiberius. By Augusta Evans Wilson. + Awakening of Helena Richie. By Margaret Deland. + Battle Ground, The. By Ellen Glasgow. + Belle of Bowling Green, The. By Amelia E. Barr. + Ben Blair. By Will Lillibridge. + Best Man, The. By Harold MacGrath. + Beth Norvell. By Randall Parrish. + Bob Hampton of Placer. By Randall Parrish. + Bob, Son of Battle. By Alfred Ollivant. + Brass Bowl, The. By Louis Joseph Vance. + Brethren, The. By H. Rider Haggard. + Broken Lance, The. By Herbert Quick. + By Wit of Women. By Arthur W. Marchmont. + Call of the Blood, The. By Robert Hitchens. + Cap'n Eri. By Joseph C. Lincoln. + Cardigan. By Robert W. Chambers. + Car of Destiny, The. By C. N. and A. M. Williamson. + Casting Away of Mrs. Leeks and Mrs. Aleshine. By Frank R. Stockton. + Cecilia's Lovers. By Amelia E. Barr. + Circle, The. By Katherine Cecil Thurston (author of "The + Masquerader," "The Gambler"). + Colonial Free Lance, A. By Chauncey C. Hotchkiss. + Conquest of Canaan, The. By Booth Tarkington. + Courier of Fortune, A. By Arthur W. Marchmont. + Darrow Enigma, The. By Melvin Severy. + Deliverance, The. By Ellen Glasgow. + Divine Fire, The. By May Sinclair. + Empire Builders. By Francis Lynde. + Exploits of Brigadier Gerard. By A. Conan Doyle. + Fighting Chance, The. By Robert W. Chambers. + For a Maiden Brave. By Chauncey C. Hotchkiss. + Fugitive Blacksmith, The. By Chas. D. Stewart. + God's Good Man. By Marie Corelli. + Heart's Highway, The. By Mary E. Wilkins. + Holladay Case, The. By Burton Egbert Stevenson. + Hurricane Island. By H. B. Marriott Watson. + In Defiance of the King. By Chauncey C. Hotchkiss. + Indifference of Juliet, The. By Grace S. Richmond. + Infelice. By Augusta Evans Wilson. + Lady Betty Across the Water. By C. N. and A. M. Williamson. + Lady of the Mount, The. By Frederic S. Isham. + Lane That Had No Turning, The. By Gilbert Parker. + Langford of the Three Bars. By Kate and Virgil D. Boyles. + Last Trail, The. By Zane Grey. + Leavenworth Case, The. By Anna Katharine Green. + Lilac Sunbonnet, The. By S. R. Crockett. + Lin McLean. By Owen Wister. + Long Night, The. By Stanley J. Weyman. + Maid at Arms, The. By Robert W. Chambers. + Man from Red Keg, The. By Eugene Thwing. + Marthon Mystery, The. By Burton Egbert Stevenson. + Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. By A. Conan Doyle. + Millionaire Baby, The. By Anna Katharine Green. + Missourian, The. By Eugene P. Lyle, Jr. + Mr. Barnes, American. By A. C. Gunter. + Mr. Pratt. By Joseph C. Lincoln. + My Friend the Chauffeur. By C. N. and A. M. Williamson. + My Lady of the North. By Randall Parrish. + Mystery of June 13th. By Melvin L. Severy. + Mystery Tales. By Edgar Allan Poe. + Nancy Stair. By Elinor Macartney Lane. + Order No. 11. By Caroline Abbot Stanley. + Pam. By Bettina von Hutten. + Pam Decides. By Bettina von Hutten. + Partners of the Tide. By Joseph C. Lincoln. + Phra the Phoenician. By Edwin Lester Arnold. + President, The. By Alfred Henry Lewis. + Princess Passes, The. By C. N. and A. M. Williamson. + Princess Virginia, The. By C. N. and A. M. Williamson. + Prisoners. By Mary Cholmondeley. + Private War, The. By Louis Joseph Vance. + Prodigal Son, The. By Hall Caine. + Quickening, The. By Francis Lynde. + Richard the Brazen. By Cyrus T. Brady and Edw. Peple. + Rose of the World. By Agnes and Egerton Castle. + Running Water. By A. E. W. Mason. + Sarita the Carlist. By Arthur W. Marchmont. + Seats of the Mighty, The. By Gilbert Parker. + Sir Nigel. By A. Conan Doyle. + Sir Richard Calmady. By Lucas Malet. + Speckled Bird, A. By Augusta Evans Wilson. + Spirit of the Border, The. By Zane Grey. + Spoilers, The. By Rex Beach. + Squire Phin. By Holman F. Day. + Stooping Lady, The. By Maurice Hewlett. + Subjection of Isabel Carnaby. By Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler. + Sunset Trail, The. By Alfred Henry Lewis. + Sword of the Old Frontier, A. By Randall Parrish. + Tales of Sherlock Holmes. By A. Conan Doyle. + That Printer of Udell's. By Harold Bell Wright. + Throwback, The. By Alfred Henry Lewis. + Trail of the Sword, The. By Gilbert Parker. + Treasure of Heaven, The. By Marie Corelli. + Two Vanrevels, The. By Booth Tarkington. + Up From Slavery. By Booker T. Washington. + Vashti. By Augusta Evans Wilson. + Viper of Milan, The (original edition). By Marjorie Bowen. + Voice of the People, The. By Ellen Glasgow. + Wheel of Life, The. By Ellen Glasgow. + When Wilderness Was King. By Randall Parrish. + Where the Trail Divides. By Will Lillibridge. + Woman in Grey, A. By Mrs. C. N. Williamson. + Woman in the Alcove, The. By Anna Katharine Green. + Younger Set, The. By Robert W. Chambers. + The Weavers. By Gilbert Parker. + The Little Brown Jug at Kildare. By Meredith Nicholson. + The Prisoners of Chance. By Randall Parrish. + My Lady of Cleve. By Percy J. Hartley. + Loaded Dice. By Ellery H. Clark. + Get Rich Quick Wallingford. By George Randolph Chester. + The Orphan. By Clarence Mulford. + A Gentleman of France. By Stanley J. Weyman. + Purple Parasol, The. By George Barr McCutcheon. + Princess Dehra, The. By John Reed Scott. + Making of Bobby Burnit, The. By George Randolph Chester. + Last Voyage of the Donna Isabel, The. By Randall Parrish. + Bronze Bell, The. By Louis Joseph Vance. + Pole Baker. By Will N. Harben. + Four Million, The. By O. Henry. + Idols. By William J. Locke. + Wayfarers, The. By Mary Stewart Cutting. + Held for Orders. By Frank H. Spearman. + Story of the Outlaw, The. By Emerson Hough. + Mistress of Brae Farm, The. By Rosa N. Carey. + Explorer, The. By William Somerset Maugham. + Abbess of Vlaye, The. By Stanley Weyman. + Alton of Somasco. By Harold Bindloss. + Ancient Law, The. By Ellen Glasgow. + Barrier, The. By Rex Beach. + Bar 20. By Clarence E. Mulford. + Beloved Vagabond, The. By William J. Locke. + Beulah. (Illustrated Edition.) By Augusta J. Evans. + Chaperon, The. By C. N. and A. M. Williamson. + Colonel Greatheart. By H. C. Bailey. + Dissolving Circle, The. By Will Lillibridge. + Elusive Isabel. By Jacques Futrelle. + Fair Moon of Bath, The. 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