Argosy, Vol. 123, No. 1 — page 54: what you’re looking at

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

44 for having allowed things to go along this way. For some six months now he had been waiting for Merkle to get the idea into shape. He had his own plans perfected —had purchased with his own money a very likely coal property near Scranton which he proposed to sell, at an enormous profit, to the Wentworth Company. Mr. Hope had never told Merkle about that. As a matter of fact the secretary was just getting ready to show Merkle that he didn’t figure in the scheme as largely as he thought he:did. But first. Mr. Hope wanted to be sure the chemist had finished his investigations. 2 Now with the realization that Jimmy Rand, the originator of the idea, was, in- stead of being fired, apparently in a fair way of obtaining a most unlooked-for prestige with the company, Mr. Leffingwell Hope cursed himself for a fool. Whatever he was going to do must be done quickly. He would tell the idea as his own to the president at once; after that, just let them try to prove he hadn’t originated it! That same evening Mr. Leffingwell Hope called on the chemist in his laboratory. Mr. Merkle, it appeared, was quite ready to go to the president at any time Mr.. Hope desired. He was indignant at the sec- retary’s implication that he had been laying down on the job. ‘““Any time you could ask me now, I go to R. G. and show him absolutely how this plan works to save him big ‘money. - What more could I do, I ask you? I do my ped ain’t done nothing yet pats I ‘can see.’ “Tl do enough, ” said Mr. Leffingwell Hope. “ Mr. Wentworth’s away,” he added. ‘He'll be back Tuesday noon. We'll see him Tuesday afternoon sure. About two o’clock. You'll be there?” —“ Positively Tl be there—two o’clock,”’ the chemist agreed. Mr. Hope hesitated. The time had come to show Merkle just where he stood. ‘‘ Oh, Ike,” he began thoughtfully. ‘“ Now that we’re all ready, we might as well un- derstand eacls other. As we agreed at the start, I’m to handle this thing absolutely, and I’m to give you ten per cent of all I make. Right?” ‘met. THE ARGOSY, The little chemist, his lower jaw drop- ping in astonishment, stared blankly at Mr, Hope. _ “* Ten per cent of any stock they give me, or anything I make on the initial deal. That’s right, isn’t it?” It wasn’t right, and as soon as he re- covered his power of speech, Mr. Merkle said so, in the most emphatic words he could think of. F a aw was what they- had agreed. Mr. Hope, with an injured air, stated a remembrance of their first agreement that was totally at .variance with what Mr. Merkle’s own memory told him were the. facts. And he remained obdurate—ten per cent or nothing. Hadn’t he originated the plan? Wasn’t he prepared now to handle all the business details? If Mr. Merkle didn’t like the ten per cent he needn’t accept it; Mr. Hope oe consult another technical man. The chemist, seeing that anger got him nothing, turned to appeal. He -wheedled; he cajoled; he pleaded friendship—all to no avail. Ten per cent or nothing! Then Mr. Merkle, seeing he was. beaten, suddenly capitulated. ‘‘ You could make it ten per cent,” he said with a sigh. ‘‘ But in writing; when you say it, with me it’s no good any more—that ain’t business.” And Mr. Hope, smiling triumphantly, wrote it out in due form. Estelle’s opera party that next evening was a great success. Jimmy found himself, to his great surprise, liking Estelle. She was different from any girl he had ever She made,him feel small and inade- quate, somehow, and he knew he would never quite lose the awe she inspired in him. But he liked her. Estelle, on her part, liked Jimmy, mostly because it enhanced her own: self-impor- tance to feel how she must appear to him. And so, on the surface at least, they got along famously. During the opera Jimmy’s mind, in spite of, his efforts, wandered from the stage. He found himself once looking back over his shoulder at the wonderful ‘‘ horse-shoe ” over his head—that long, curving line of boxes where the most brilliant ladies of the comiclboool< C©