Argosy All-Story Weekly, April 19, 1924 — page 147: what you’re looking at

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

THE CONFIDENCE MAN.° him that night; and he frowned at the knowledge that it had been Corvan’s hand that had preserved him. There were only Corvan and Margaret and Queritt left. They sat about the fire- place in the living room and listened to Wade's slow and halting speech. The big man frowned darkly into the fire, and his forehead was damp with his exertion. . ‘“T don’t know what it is that caught you, Dan,” he said. “I thought at first that it was the lady here; but when that boy walked over to you, and you just stood - like that and greeted him, f knew it was something deeper—something that’s got me called to a showdown. That’s what it was.” “It’s quicksand, Wade,” said Corvan. He was smiling a little smile and held Mar- garet’s hand in his while he spoke. “It’s the wide, clean waste of sands and mead- ows that stretch out from here to the sea. And it’s—well, you heard what Mrs. Hum- phrey said. It’s love—the quicksands of love. Sounds funny, doesn’t it?” “Yeah,” growled Wade distastefully. “ Let’s talk business.” “That’s what I’ve been waiting for.” The dry voice of Queritt broke in like the rustle of a wind. “I wanted to tell you, Dan, that I’ve been buying up land.” Corvan looked up with a new interest. “Where?” he asked. “The whole point. All except what you have bought in for that memorial.” “But what do you want with the point? A house?” “A hotel.” Queritt smiled pleasantly. ““ My boy, it’s the greatest idea in the world for this village. I’m going to put the finest hotel and country club on all the Atlantic coast on that point. There will be a golf course and a parkway that will run down to the memorial park. The best beach on Long Island. It’s immense.” Corvan and Wade sat up. It was the old call with a new turn. Their quick minds visualized immediately the possi- bilities. ‘“ Of course! It will be worth millions! ee cried Wade. ‘“ Will you swing it alone?” asked Cor- van. “No,” said Queritt. “It will be a lim- = % = * Pl ~ 7 ~~. - . a mee ie ~~~, « _ oa —- ee Po - = < rr. oe = +s et — > te << ~s . ap ae en are PO ca A se tN Re en oy pe eS el ie NE gl et ee tee 2S Ee te oe 617 ited stock company. A half interest will go to my friends, Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Corvan. It’s a wedding present!” he snapped quickly. ‘“ But we can’t!” gasped Margaret. “It would be too much.” “Oh, no,” laughed Queritt. “ There’s a string to it. The stockholders on the spot will have a huge task to perform; and you are the stockholders on the spot. Also, we must get a trustworthy manager; and I’m hoping you will be generous enough to give him a part of your share in the busi- ness.”’ “Oh, Lord!” breathed Corvan. This was fulfillment. “Oh, I know,” cried Margaret. She whispered excitedly to Corvan and Queritt. Wade, embarrassed, arose and walked clum- sily to the window where he looked into a - blackness made bright by stars. A voice recalled him. ‘Mr. Wade! Mr. Wade!” Margaret was crying. “ You will, won’t you?” “T will what?” he st “Be our manager. It’s all arranged. You will have a third oe and you'll work with us from the Start. You must! You must!” “Not for me!” he protested. “I’ve been too long— ~Anywav, you babies could never trust—”’ But he might have known it was useless to resist. He might have known that when he broke down his barrier of granite there at the dinner table he had accepted some- thing that would not give him peace in the old and harder world. He protested, and they scoffed at him. He questioned his own good faith, and they reassured him with a trust that clutched at a heart he did not know he had possessed. And finally Margaret drew him aside, and he was clinched. “ But you’d better put me on probation,” he said with unconscious pathos. “I’m a hard nut. I got the graft in me up to the hilt. It’s something that quicksands can’t pull out of aman. Corvan knows.” “ We'll trust you,” she said. And he could not argue longer. With a crash of doors Maddox returned. His face shone happily. cS Eomichboo com,