Adventure, December 1914 — page 145: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A Man With Nine Lives “And you are large—three-quarters of an inch taller than I am.” ‘Her microscopic dimensions don’t keep her from being active; you never know who she’ll be getting at next. Of course——” The wife in question cut him short. “Augustus, show Mr. Adair what you have invented. Mr. Adair, aren’t you in- terested in what Augustus has invented?” Adair smiled; he seemed to find the atti- _ tude of these two people towards each other amusing. “Tf it’s no secret, I should very much like to know how Mr. Bishop Guy proposes to make his millions.” “Then if he won’t tell you I will. It’s certainly no secret; the sooner the announce- ments of those two inventions are on the boardings and occupying whole pages in the papers the better. They’re very prac- tical inventions, Mr. Adair, as befits a dealer in Manchester goods. The first thing he has invented is the new-silk. It doesn’t sound very imposing, does it?”’ N—7q BEFORE the visitor could reply M6) the husband took up the tale where ™ his wife had left it—as she possibly knew would be the case. “It mayn’t sound imposing, but before many years have passed it will be a staple article in all the world’s markets. It will be found in all houses in civilized countries, and, in some form or other, on the person of every man, woman and child.” “The new-silk? What is it 2” “In the first place, I perhaps need not tell you that there’s no silk about it. It is a method I have discovered of treating sub- stances which do not contain silk so that they become more silk than if they were silk—that sounds Irish, but it is a fact. T’ll show you samples.”’ The little man put upon a table a cardboard box which contained a number of small pieces of mate- rial, of all textures and of all colors. ‘Now, are those silk, or aren’t they? Handle them; feel them; put them into water—do anything you like with them!”’ ‘‘They appear to me to be silk.” “Of course they do, and of the very finest quality, mind you. You couldn’t get silk like that, twenty-two inches wide, whole- sale, for less than four shillings a yard. Now I'll give it to you seventy-two inches wide for eighteenpence. “You pay sixty shillings a dozen for silk ‘ =~ PU, nS Dy) 143 handkerchiefs at least; I’ll give you a finer quality for eighteen. Think what a future there is for a thing like that—wear guaran- teed, fast colors, washable, fine as the finest linen, or thick and heavy as a blanket; and that’s the new-silk. Can’t you see it knocking the mediocre stuff for which the worms are responsible out of the market ?”’ “T can conceive of it having a great sale.”’ “T should think you could. There’s no commonplace fortune in it; there’s millions! I shouldn’t wonder if Carnegie, Rockefeller, Pierpont Morgan, and Rothschild, all those fellows, were taught a bit about what it means to have money. “There. That’s one of my inventions, Mr. Adair. The other is a very simple thing, yet a thing which the world has been looking for—well, since Eve sewed herself a garment of fig leaves. It’s afastener. A woman puts it down the back of her dress instead of hooks or buttons—with a touch it is locked. I call it the lock-fastener. There will be no gaping, no ventilated plackets. Here it is; see for yourself. It can’t come undone. Yet at a touch—you see! It’s open.” Mr. Bishop Guy placed a number of small articles, fashioned in different substances, beside the cardboard box. “The lock-fastener can be used for gloves, for boots, for masculine and female garments of every sort and kind; and what’s more, sir, it can be used for doors and win- dows. <A window secured by my lock-fast- ener won’t rattle, and a burglar will find it a tough proposition. It can be used for everything and ‘anything for which a fas- tener is required. ‘There’s a fortune in the new-silk, but I’m not sure that there isn’t a bigger one in the lock-fastener.”’ ‘‘And yet,” observed the lady, ‘‘we oc- cupy this sumptuous apartment on the third floor, dimensions twelve foot by ten and a half, and Augustus owes me one and nine.” ‘“‘And yet it seems to me that there might be money in your husband’s two inven- tions.” “Might be! Might be!’ Mr. Bishop Guy positively jumped in his desire to be emphatic. ‘You wait with your might be.”’ : _ “When are they coming on to the mar- ket?” ‘““That’s just it—when are they? They’re fully protected; every process and every MICLOOOK C©