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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/29657-8.txt b/29657-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7bc093b --- /dev/null +++ b/29657-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6705 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mixed Faces, by Roy Norton + +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: Mixed Faces + +Author: Roy Norton + +Release Date: August 10, 2009 [EBook #29657] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MIXED FACES *** + + + + +Produced by David Garcia and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + + + +MIXED FACES + +BY + +ROY NORTON + + +GROSSET & DUNLAP + +PUBLISHERS NEW YORK + +Made in the United States of America + +COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY + +W. J. WATT & COMPANY + +_Printed in the United States of America_ + + + + +MIXED FACES + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +If Nature is infallible, there should be some philosophic or eugenic +professor arise and explain why she made such a grievous error in the +personal appearance, vocal qualities, and general gestures of the +learned judge, astute politician and hopeful statesman, Hon. J. +Woodworth-Granger and Mr. James Gollop, perigrinating drummer for a +chocolate house. Either the Honorable Judge should have been a +commercial traveler, or the commercial traveler a judge. Outwardly they +could have passed for specimen twins, given handicaps to all comers, and +easily won the blue ribbon. Inwardly their characteristics were as +different as those of any two animals could be, the Judge having the +ponderous gravity of a camel, whilst Mr. James Gollop was as sedate as +a monkey and twice as ebullient. The Judge suffered from a prodigious +sense of responsibility and dignity, whilst his double was given to +frivolities, a distressing sense of the ridiculous and was as +irresponsible and happy as a flea hurdling from one boarding house to +another in a dog pound. + +The first intimation the Judge had that some other person dared to look +like him was when, as he strode into the lobby of the Media City hotel +in the best city in his state, a grinning porter rushed up, seized his +suit case and said affably, "Righto, Old Sport! Got here just in time +this trip and I'll send your cases to number two sample room, and open +'em up if you'll gimme the burglar's kit. The room you kicked for last +month--remember." + +The Hon. J. Woodworth-Granger, who from force of habit never said +anything until he had formulated the complete sentence and then edited +it, and having a mind that moved with the frantic speed and wild agility +of a tractor engine pulling a carload of coal, glared ponderously at the +porter who took it as a joke. Gollop sometimes assumed that prodigious +seriousness when about to pass out specimens of his best humor. + +"Spring it! Spring it! I'm ready to laugh," the porter encouraged him. + +"Young man," said the Judge, "I am not accustomed to having those in +your evident station of life address me with any such familiarity. You +should be old enough to know that it is unseemly. You can not succeed, +even in a menial occupation, unless you cultivate that respect which is +due not only to your superiors, but to those who patronize the hotel, or +any other undertaking in which you are employed." + +He might have gone ahead and imposed a fine for contempt of court, or +sentenced the unfortunate porter to ten years in the penitentiary, had +not other arrivals come surging through the door, which reminded him +that perhaps it were wiser to register ahead of all newcomers and thus +endeavor to secure the choicest room for himself. The Judge had the +trait which is shared alike by some human beings and many hogs, that he +demanded the best though every other human--or hog--has to suffer. He +liked to make sure that his own feet were firmly planted in the choice +end of the trough; so he hurried to the desk, leaving the jovial porter +still grinning, still expectant and quite hopeful that the tip would be +of its usual generous proportions. Jim tipped liberally, because his +firm was what is known as "easy on the tabs." Anybody can be liberal if +someone else furnishes the platinum. That's why trust magnates and +drummers can't be distinguished, because somebody else always pays the +bills, although there has never yet been invented any painless dentistry +for extraction of the purse. The room clerk in the hotel was new to her +job, and so was the boy who conducted the Judge to his room; but, sad to +relate, the chambermaid winked at the Judge and blew him a kiss. She was +rather pretty too. Now to have a pretty chambermaid blow one a kiss when +he arrives in a fine hotel is not objectionable to most travelers. It +shows such a friendly spirit, and makes one feel at home, or else fancy +that he is still in the running and not so old and ugly as he had begun +to believe. Some men immediately adjust their ties and brush their hair +and grin into the mirror; but the Judge wasn't that sort at all. The +proof that he was no gentleman lies in the fact that he scowled in +outraged dignity at that pretty chambermaid who had most prettily blown +him a kiss, and that she gasped, sniffed, simpered and said, "You ain't +forgot me, have you?" + +"Forgotten you! Damn it! I never saw you before in my life!" said the +Judge, annoyed and exasperated to the rare point where his temper +overcame his language. + +"G'wan Jimmy, you little josher! You'll be round chuckin' me under the +chin before the lights come on. Gee! There goes the bell again! I'll bet +my switch it's that scraggy old hen in forty-four, wantin' me to run out +and buy her some hair pins, or to hook her up so she'll look like a +prize winner at a wasp show. She makes me sick, she does! But I'll--Yes +Ma'am! Coming right away," she answered in a honeyed voice, as the lady +guest was heard calling her name through a transom somewhere in the +distance. + +The Judge carefully shut and locked his door. He was a church member in +good standing and an unmarried man, so had to lock the girl out or +perhaps thought it best to lock himself in. One never knows! The porter +appeared with his suit case in his hand and perturbation in his soul, +the double burden sufficing to render him serious. + +"The baggageman says your sample trunks ain't come. He says he went to +the baggage master and they had a look. He says you orter get busy on +the wires because maybe they carried 'em through on sixty-two and her +next stop is at Chicago, and you can't get your layout back before----" + +"I have no trunks, I tell you," interrupted the Judge, with freezing +dignity. "Put that suit case over there in the corner and get out. Who +do you think I am, may I ask? A commercial traveler?" + +He had intended this as a stern piece of sarcasm; but it had the effect +of causing the porter to blink, stare, drop the suit case and then blurt +out, "Good Lord! You're Jimmy Gollop what travels for the Columbus +Chocolate Company, ain't you? You're Jim Gollop what has stopped here +for years, ain't you? If you ain't----" He jerked off his cap, scratched +his red head and added--"If you ain't---- For the Lord's sake don't say +nothin'----" + +"Jimmy Gollop! A commercial traveler! Me?" the Judge actually spluttered +and then, recovering all his overpowering magisterial arrogance, +responded loftily, "I am J. Woodworth-Granger, Judge of the Fourth +District Court. You go down and tell the manager of this hotel to come +here at once. I wish to see him. I demand an explanation for all this +outrageous flippancy. If his guests are to be subjected to such coarse +impoliteness, discourtesy, annoyance and familiarity, he should be +notified or ousted from his position. It is an imposition on the public +which can not be condoned by any one with a sense of propriety, or any +citizen with regard for public welfare. Go and get him!" + +The manager, anticipating some rare practical joke, or perhaps +apprehensive of such, having experienced some of Mr. Jimmy Gollop's +freakish efforts in the past, appeared and greeted the Judge with, "Look +here, old man, for my sake let go. Don't pull anything this time. My +board of directors is to have a meeting this afternoon and----" But the +stern eye of the angry judge checked him. + +The manager in his turn blinked, and gasped and then exclaimed, "Jordon +says you told him you were the Judge of the Fourth District Court. You +look to me like Jim Gollop. If you're really Judge Woodworth-Granger, I +beg your pardon and think you ought to get your face changed for your +own protection. If you're Jimmy Gollop--and I'm a Dutchman if you +aren't--have some sense and quit your kidding. This has gone far enough! +Look here, Jimmy, there's a limit to even one of your jokes. I can't +stand for it to-day when my board of directors is coming. The last time +you were here and put red fire on the roof and then turned in a fire +alarm cost me twenty-five iron men and the hotel company a round dozen +of Pommery. It's going too strong, I tell you! I'm a joke hound myself +but a starving Dutchman can get too much limburger if he's locked up in +a cheese factory." + +Mutual explanations, and abject apologies on the part of the manager and +the porter followed. Everybody apologized, except the pretty +chambermaid, and the judge never saw her again. Also that was a detail +he didn't mention. He rather hoped she would come and apologize. In fact +he thought hopefully of what he might say to her in his kindliest +judicial manner, and occasionally took furtive glances into the hall to +see if she was coming. He was disappointed, perhaps, because she didn't +come, for he was positive he could say things for the good of her soul, +and--Oh, well!--he always subscribed for the Home Missionary Society. +Moreover she was a particularly pretty girl as chambermaids go, and +there is never an orchard without its peach. + +So, in due time, the Judge got away from that hotel unscathed; but to +his extreme annoyance, now that he had openly plunged into politics and +felt the necessity for becoming acquainted with the larger cities in the +state despite the consequent discomforts of travel and sojourn, this man +Gollop always intruded. That unfortunate similarity in appearance and +gesture, voice and manner, was proven on a dozen occasions. That the +habits of the Judge and the drummer were divergent made it all the more +annoying. The Judge never had associated with, nor understood, what some +persons called "A bully good fellow." He thought it was a rank and +preposterous assumption on the part of a mere drummer to look, and talk, +and act like a real judge who nursed an ambition to be governor of the +state. It preyed upon his mind and caused him occasionally to say things +that he wouldn't have said if he hadn't lost his temper, become +momentarily a real human being, and found an unexpected safety valve in +speech. Men merely vary in the choice of words. One says "Oh, dear me!" +Another "Oh, Fudge!" another "Oh, Pshaw!" and so on down to the common, +vulgar, horny-handed sonofagun who blurts out "Damn it all!" or worse +and--the judge finally got to the limit. One writes this with glad, +cheerful hopefulness for the entire human race because it's a fine thing +to be natural and human, after all. + +In the meantime Mr. James Gollop was working his Eastern territory. +Working it both ways and up and down the middle; selling chocolates to +people who thought they might do better with So-and-So, inducing some +men to overorder, others to underorder, tipping porters, buying--sody +pop (?)--now and then, spinning yarns, peddling the latest funny story, +explaining to his house why his expense account should be passed without +those querulous protests, and generally comporting himself according to +his own erratic and sometimes pyrotechnical ideas. And when Jimmy +breezed westward again and heard that the Judge of the Fourth Judicial +District was his double he chuckled, laughed, and finally beat his plump +legs at what was told him. + +"By Gosh!" he chuckled to a confrère, "if that judge looks and sounds so +much like me, I'll make a trip up to Princetown just to have a look at +him and shake his paw, and congratulate him. We ought to make a right +good team, although I can't exactly recommend him for his judgment in +the choice of faces. I never yet won a beauty prize, although once upon +a time I did win a family photograph album at a pie eating contest. +Huckleberry too! Spoiled a forty-dollar suit of clothes and a two-dollar +tie to win a sixty-cent album at a town fair. Got the album to prove it. +Got it on the parlor table with the marble top down home in Maryland, +and every time Maw looks at it she smiles and says 'Jimmy may be not +much good at anything he's tried yet, but he can eat pie!'" + +Now the peculiar part of Jim Gollop's makeup was that underneath all his +banter, and his lightness, and his irresponsible sense of humor, there +lurked something which made him keep his resolutions. He was a pretty +good sort after all. Just a very human, contented, work-a-day man who +liked other good fellows, was sorry for those who took life too +seriously, never did any person a contemplated harm, knew neither malice +nor envy, was always a booster and never a knocker, and whose sense of +humor was generously given out for expansion rather than preserved to +harass his own soul. So, one day, he made a sixty-mile journey out of +his way to see, become acquainted with, and felicitate this judge whom +he so startlingly resembled. For sixty miles he chuckled and bubbled +with anticipation and curiosity. He even thought of a forgotten joke or +two to spring and resolved that what he spent in entertainment for this +meeting should come from his own purse and never appear on the expense +account. True, it cost him a pang to forego that expense account, but he +didn't see how he could ever explain to his firm that it had been +necessary to travel sixty miles and entertain a judge of a state court +in the hope of selling him a big order of chocolate drops. He was afraid +the firm might be skeptical. Some people can't be convinced. + +And so, picturing a mutual hand shaking, some lively interchanges and +facetious comments on what constituted good looks and bad looks, perhaps +a luncheon or a dinner, and a new friend through the strange accident of +nature, he climbed the stairs to Judge J. Woodworth-Granger's office +with a cheerful smile on his face, and after a gasp from the office boy +and some stares of astonishment from a clerk or two, was ushered in. He +had expected to enter the tropics. He found himself as "happy as a +Mexican hairless dog in the Arctic regions" as Marshall would say. Cold? +There may be in the vast, dead planets of space places much colder than +the North pole; but these would have been warm and comfortable compared +with the atmosphere of Judge Woodworth-Granger's austere office when he +turned his eyes on the person of Mr. James Gollop. Here before him, +grinning and sticking out a plump, friendly hand, was the man to whose +personal similarity he strongly objected, and of whose personal ways he +disapproved. + +"And so, sir," said the Judge icily, as he stood up and scrutinized the +drummer, "you are the man who has caused me so much personal +embarrassment, indignity, familiarity, and--if I never loathed my own +appearance before, I can do so now after looking at you!" + +Jimmy's grin froze on his face, became hard, and slowly changed to +something very different. His well-meaning hand slowly came back as if +half-paralyzed by such a reception. It had never before been rebuffed. +It was a liberal hand that had gone into its pocket many times to help +those in hard luck. It had never been slow in friendliness or that +courtesy which prevails between well-meaning and generous hands +throughout the sad old world. It had seldom been hastily raised in +anger. But now it shut hard and its owner said, "So that's the way of +it, eh? You're sore because I look like you. Why shouldn't I get hot +under the collar because you look like me? About the only difference +between us is that you're a judge and I'm a drummer. That doesn't keep +you from being a good sport, does it? I came a long way to get +acquainted with you and I like most people. It's not my fault that you +look so much like me, is it?" + +"Look like you? It's your fault that you look like me!" snapped the +Judge as if that fault were an impertinence. + +"Phew!" said Jimmy, puffing out his cheeks. "That's the sort you are, +eh? Guess I made a mistake." + +"I guess you did," grimly said the Judge, mimicking Jimmy's voice +without in the least realizing it. And then he added, "Good day, Mr. +Gollop. I hope I may not see you again and that you travel in some +other territory than this." + +As if incredulous, Jimmy stared at him for a full quarter minute and +then, recovering his good humor, clapped his hat on his head and +assuming a highly melodramatic air in imitation of the Judge's ponderous +methods said, "Harold, beware! Beware! I say! It's a long worm that has +no turning. Them papers shall be mine! I swear it on me lyfe." And with +a boisterous shout of laughter turned out through the door and down the +stairs. That ribald laughter still floated upward as he made his +departure, and the Judge was annoyed. Very much annoyed. He felt himself +soiled; quite as if the garbage van man had suddenly tried to kiss him +with brotherly affection. It was outrageous! Impossible! And a mere +drummer, too! + +Jimmy retired to an hotel, pausing on the way to buy a pair of blue +goggles, and to fit them on, and to pull his hat down over his eyes. + +"I don't intend to look like that old catamount in his own town anyhow," +he said to himself. "If he's as popular with his fellow citizens as he +is with me it might not be safe. Wish I had a set of false whiskers to +wear during my sojourn. Wonder when the next train leaves? I'm like the +chap that got pinned down under a burning railway wreck and said he +thought he really ought to get away from there. That's me! I want to get +away from here." + +In the hotel room he dug his pocket time table from his grip, and no +hungry reader ever plunged into the pages of the latest "Best Seller" +more avidly than did he thumb those flimsy pages. His capable fingers +turned the leaves rapidly and, being expert and highly trained in +working out the abstruse puzzles and problems with which time table +people always try to fill their books so that people will get tired of +seeking information and look at the advertisements, in less than five +minutes he slammed the book shut and almost viciously hurled it back +into his bag. + +"By Heck!" he muttered, despairingly, "no train out till four o'clock +to-morrow morning and--I'll bet it smells of new laid milk and long laid +cows. There'll be an hour's delay while they fill the baggage car with +chickens in coops. Serves the chickens right for getting up that early. +Ought to go some place and have their heads chopped off. There'll be +one combination smoker car filled with yawning farm hands who wear +fertilizer on their boots. But it's me for that train!" + +Then, recovering his cheerfulness, he sallied out to visit all the +confectionary shops; but met with no success and attributed his failure +to the hideous goggles and the fact that his customary happy and +seductive grin was slightly stiff about the corners as if his face +needed oiling. "Hang it all! Nobody but an undertaker could look happy +in this town," Jimmy thought after his final effort. "No wonder that old +cuss is so solemn. I'd be too, if I lived in a morgue!" + +To escape the town he decided to make a pedestrian trip to where the +only big enterprise near Princetown was in full blast. It was spoken of +as "out at the falls" as if they were the only ones on earth. It was two +and a half miles from the town and the day was hot. "Thank Heaven it +might be worse," thought Jimmy. "I might have to tote a hundred pound +grip this far in the hope of getting an order, and now all I've got to +lug is my goggles." He took them off, wiped the sweat from his face, +stopped to watch some fish in a stream, regretted that he hadn't +brought some string and a fish hook, contemplated a swim, and then +trudged onward, whistling as he went and wholly forgetful of his woes. +He came in sight of "The Falls," and stopped. + +"Whew!" he puffed. "Of course they're not as big as Niagara--except to +the folks of Princetown; but by Heck! They're some falls after all. And, +what's more, some live individual knows it. Bet he wasn't born in +Princetown anyhow. This looks like business." + +He leaned on the railing of a bridge and speculatively regarded the +considerable manufacturing plant that was in full industry, saw that its +prosperity was evidenced by some big new buildings under course of +construction, and deliberated over a long white sign on top that read +"Sayers Automobiles." + +He rather objected to that sign. If he had designed it it would have +been twice as high, twice as long and might have read "Sayers +Automobiles, best on earth for the money. Cheapest at any price. No home +complete without one." + +He remembered that he had ridden in one a few days before and that it +was what he called "nifty and nippy." In fact he had thought he would +like to have one--just a very small one to suit his purse, and had +intended to ask what they cost. All his automobiling experience had been +at the expense of his firm; but he had done quite a lot of riding. In +fact the cashier had once asked him, sarcastically, whilst checking up +his expense account, if he took an automobile to bed with him. + +Jimmy got out his goggles, and visited the works. He was fascinated by +the machinery, the noise, the way things were made. He wished that his +line was automobiles instead of chocolates; but regretfully concluded +that probably it took a long time to learn the patter, and how to run +one, and that the only hopeless individual in the world was a candy +drummer, because, "once a candy drummer always a candy drummer" was the +proverb of the road. + +A whistle blew and with a start he looked at his watch, scarcely +believing it possible that he had passed the afternoon so quickly. He +walked out through the big gates and started his homeward journey, and +was surprised to realize that he was as tired as if he had done a heavy +day's work. Absorbed in reflections concerning automobiles, and trade, +he suddenly brought up with a jerk and heard behind him a man jamming +on the brakes of a car, and using several shining expletives. Jimmy made +the jump of his life and got out of the road just in time. + +"Gee Whizz!" he exclaimed. "If I've got to be run down by a taxi let it +be on Broadway, not on a rube trail. Thank the Lord it wasn't a hay +cart, because it'd have got me, sure!" + +The motorist, looking back in exasperation, abruptly brought his car to +a halt and turning half round in his seat shouted, "Sorry I missed you +so close." + +"Why, did you want to get me? It was close enough to suit me," replied +Jimmy, recovering his grin. + +"Of course I didn't know you were blind, sir. I'm very sorry," said the +man. + +"Why? Do you prefer to run down the blind ones?" queried Jimmy, coming +abreast of the car and then laughing when he remembered that he was +still wearing those ridiculous blue goggles. "I'm not blind. I just wear +these for ornament. But it's all right, old chap. Don't you worry. I +reckon I was so busy thinking that I didn't hear you coming at all. I +get rather fond of myself when I think, which isn't often enough so but +that it surprises me to catch myself doing it. It's all right. No harm +done." + +The man surrendered to that entrancing smile and the glitter of exposed +and perfect white teeth. + +"Well the least I can do is to give you a lift, if you're going toward +town," he said, with a return grin. "Get in, can't you?" + +"Can't I? Watch me, as the drunk said when the policeman tapped him and +told him he couldn't sleep sitting against a lamp post," and, grateful +for conveyance, he climbed aboard. "It's the first time I ever won +anything by missing anything," he said, laughing at his own paradox. "My +feet are so sore from walking over these country roads that after this +I'll never be able to look at a farm horse without tears in my eyes, and +I'll take him by the hand and give the poor chap a box of corn salve. +Phew! Pavements for mine. Do automobiles ever get sore feet out here?" + +Jimmy learned that the driver was a foreman at the Sayers plant and was +very enthusiastic about the merits of the car. + +"It's not old enough or advertised enough to be well known yet," he +said, "but she will be. I know. Been in automobile factories all my +life. Worked for some of the best of 'em. These are A-1. And Sayers is a +live one. Fine old feller, too. That's his house up there on the hill. +Some swell, eh?" + +Jimmy looked up and saw a fine home that he had admired on his way out +and had deduced that it belonged to the nabob of the town. + +"I could do with it first rate," Jimmy assented. "All except the society +stunt and that----" He concluded with a little cluck of his tongue. + +The driver laughed. + +"You don't know old Tom Sayers," he said. "Old Tom doing society stunts! +Humph! He began as a machinist. Then got to be a designing engineer and +now--well--there you are! Self-made man, Old Tom, and as fine as they +make 'em. I don't reckon he'd care for a house as grand as that but you +see he's married. Funny how some women first want to get married, then +want their men to get rich, then instead of bein' satisfied get the +society itch and after that are forever scratchin', ain't it? Mrs. +Sayers spends about half her time in Europe. Schools here weren't good +enough for her girl Margaret, so she took her over to some of those +nunneries in France and Switzerland, and goodness knows where. Gone +some time now. Mighty pretty girl. But Old Tom? If you think he's ever +gallivantin' anywhere except around his works, you ought to be up there +loafin' some day when you think no one's about to see you! Old Tom can +say things in five minutes that you don't have to learn by heart to +remember the rest of your life. He works four hundred men now and he +knows 'em all. Don't you doubt that!" + +Jimmy, who was so keenly alive and imaginative that he was interested in +nearly everything and everybody, looked back over his shoulder at the +fine old remodeled colonial house on the hill with its broad sweep of +lawns, its background of splendid trees, mountains in the distance, and +the lively river at its feet, and, distinctly urban as he was, thought +that if Mrs. Sayers knew when she was well off she'd stay at home. + +"If I had a place like that with Maw in it--say sitting up there on the +veranda, knitting--she's great on knitting, Maw is!--I reckon the show +hasn't hit Broadway yet that could drag me out for a single night. +No-sir-ee! Not if the whole chorus had chocolate legs!" he said to the +foreman, who vociferously agreed. + +"Beats the Dutch how some folks get everything, and others nothin'," he +half grumbled. + +"Cheer up, son!" said Jimmy. "You never get anything by envying somebody +else. Why, look at me! I haven't even ever owned a run-about! And I'm +not kicking! I like to see others have a lot of things I can't have +myself, because it makes me glad to think that most likely they're happy +owning things I'd like to have too, if I could afford 'em. By gosh! It's +the finest feeling in the world to know that other folks are happy. +Keeps you from feeling unhappy yourself. Makes it a mighty pleasant +world for all of us. All the money I've got in the world, if made into +cloth, wouldn't make me a patch if I had a hole in the seat of my pants +as big as a postage stamp; but I don't lay awake nights grieving for +fear I'll be pinched for indecent exposure. Not me! I just thank God the +hole's not any bigger and keep plugging along, and I whistle while I +plug. It helps. Plug & Whistle, I reckon, is the best firm on earth." + +His benefactor had become so engrossed in his quaint passenger that the +car was driven squarely up to the hotel door to let him out. + +"Got any kids at home?" Jimmy asked, and on being told there were three, +said cheerfully, "Wait a minute," and ran up the steps three at a time +to return with a box of chocolates purloined from his samples. + +"Take that to 'em," he said to the driver. "They're all right, I know. +I'm a candy drummer. Good thing you've only got three because I couldn't +spare a bigger box. My boss isn't a bad old chap, but he did ask me one +time if I went on the road to sell candy or to give it away. The only +man in the world I'd like to change jobs with is Santa Claus. Much +obliged for the ride." + +He loitered in the hotel lobby long enough to read a bill announcing +that there would be a mass meeting that night in the "Grand Opera House" +under the auspices of the Princetown Municipal Improvement League and +then saw in big letters, that the meeting would be addressed by "His +Honor, Judge J. Woodworth-Granger." + +Jimmy had forgotten his rebuff, but now frowned a trifle at the +recollection aroused by that name. He was entertained at supper by his +sole fellow guest who sold machinery and hoped to get an order from the +Sayers' plant. And although the technical part was as foreign as Greek +to Jimmy, he was mightily interested and wanted to know all about it. +After dinner he sat alone on the veranda in front of the hotel and +watched people coming down the drowsy, shaded street or loitering in the +town square. There was nothing else to do. No theaters, cinema shows but +three nights a week, and this an off night. Some wandering fireflies +absorbed him for a while, and then they flew away, leaving him alone. +Suddenly he dropped his chair from where it had been tilted back against +the wall, and said, "Well, I reckon I'll have to go and hear what the +judge has to say about improving this place. It needs it!" He found the +Grand Opera House readily enough by following the slowly moving people +who traveled in but one direction. Also he found on entering that +there's not much in a name, its grandeur consisting of a lot of badly +worn wooden seats, dingy painting, and some strips of jute carpet in the +aisles that looked as if they had been collected after a cyclone. The +stage was the bright spot, due to the decorations of flags, banners and +bunting. Jimmy got a seat in the back row after some difficulty. The +Opera House was full, perhaps because there was no charge for admission, +perhaps because there was no other place to go; but Jimmy charitably +thought the town should be patted on the back for its interest in public +improvements. Two girls played a duet on a piano and played it rather +badly. And then there came in from the wings those who were to occupy +the chairs on the stage. They entered as solemnly as if each was alone +and about to recite Hamlet's soliloquy. Some of them threw out their +chests and glared at the audience, others slunk in like harness makers +visiting a lace factory. All were seated before there stalked in the +counterpart of the drummer in the back row, and there was some evidence +in the Judge's deportment that he had the dramatic sense to wait for a +proper pause so that the spectators might see him in all his aloof +magnificence. Had the two girls played "See the Conquering Hero Comes," +he might have accepted it as befitting. + +"Stranger here, ain'tchu?" Jimmy's neighbor, a dried up little old man, +queried. + +"Yes, why?" Jimmy mumbled back. + +"Come to stay long?" + +"Never can tell," replied Jimmy aloud, and mentally added, "Hope not." + +"Goin' inter business?" + +"No." + +"Lookin' fer a job? I hear as how old Tom Sayers is hirin' all the men +he can git to work on his new buildin's." A moment's wait and then, +"Ain't a bricklayer, be you? You don't look like one. Look more +like--like a feller that don't know much about hard work. Interested in +autymobiles?" + +"Yes," said Jimmy, telling the truth. + +The old man cackled and said, "By gum! I thought so--I can spot 'em." + +"How do you do that?" queried Jimmy, instantly curious concerning this +new psychological art. + +"They all wear goggles and scarf pins," said the old man, triumphantly, +and then, as a speaker got up to open the meeting, whispered, "That's +old Smith. He's the mayor. He can't talk. Wait till you hear the Jedge +spout. Then you'll hear somethin' if he gets goin' good. He can talk so +loud that when he was in court before he was elected jedge, you could +hear him four blocks away from the square. Best lawyer in the state +because you could hear him the furdest." + +"Hope he doesn't get going to-night," said Jimmy, and listened to the +mayor, who mumbled something about "Distinguished fellow townsmen," +"Ardent believers in City Beautiful," "Great and growing city of +Princetown," and "Future metropolis of the state." + +"The object of this meeting is to raise money enough to build a band +stand in the middle of the square. Mr. Sayers has kindly agreed in +consideration of the city's building such, to donate the cost of the +instruments." + +Jimmy's neighbor had cupped his hand behind his ear and was evidently +disappointed. He started to ask Jimmy for an explanation but was +interrupted by the applause which greeted the introduction of the Judge +and relapsed, doubtless, hoping that he could enjoy such a golden +tongued orator as one who could be plainly heard for four blocks when he +"got goin'." + +The Judge got up and bowed as the audience applauded. He stalked stiffly +to the little center table in the forefront of the stage, buttoned his +coat, shot his cuffs, and said "Ahem!" After that he took a long pause, +carefully poured himself a glass of water, daintily wiped his lips with +his pocket handkerchief, and in a louder tone said, "Ahem!" + +"It's a mighty fine speech so far all right," commented Jimmy to the old +man, who began excitedly, "You just wait! If he gets goin', I tell +you----" + +"S-s-sh" hissed someone in front of them, turning and glaring at the +offender, and the conversationalist subsided and looked at Jimmy and +glared and said, "S-s-sh!" as if the latter were the culprit. + +"Friends and fellow citizens," said the Judge, condescendingly, "I +esteem it a great honor to be called upon to address you to-night on a +subject so near and dear to my heart as the welfare of this, my home +city, the greatest city in the world as far as my affections can be +bestowed. I have lived amongst you for nearly ten years ever since +leaving the great universities beyond our borders, and I crave your +indulgence for putting some of my larger views before you ere I speak +on purely local topics. Friends and fellow citizens, we must make the +world free for democracy. Let freedom of the seas be that shining +shibboleth which through its ulterior meaning, when considerately +scrutinized to its utmost and ultimate, and defined as we Americans who +are fully cognizant of our grave responsibilities toward humanity and +the affairs of other nations, races, and peoples of this globe, which is +round--those responsibilities handed down to us by the father of our +country, George Washington--interpret as meaning that we wish freedom of +the seas. Not in the abstract, but in the concrete, not in modicum but +in unconditional unobstruction and under such international statutes and +regulations as shall confine sea spaces to neither the individual, to +the group, to those who live within certain prescribed boundaries which +constitute government by the people for the people and of the people, +nor yet again for any comity, compact, or treaty-tied group of nations. +Small nations must be free by the exercises of their God-given processes +of reasoning and power of thought to so constitute their affairs that +they may, by their own approval and their own desires, succeed in +securing that power of growth and expression which can come to a people +solely and singularly when permitted the right of self-government." + +"What's that?" whispered the old man, cupping his hand to his ear and +looking a trifle bewildered. + +"He means people ought to be allowed to govern themselves," explained +Jimmy. + +"Good Gawd! Did it take him all that time to say that?" questioned the +old man. + +"S-s-s-sh!" cautioned a highly impressed person in front, impatient lest +he lose any of these obfuscated words of supposed wisdom. + +"The way to be a good citizen is to be a good citizen," said the Judge +impressively. "We learn by learning. The man who lives the longest is +the oldest. All of us who do our best do our best. Our country is the +home of the free and the brave, let us cherish its traditions. The best +townsman is the man who does the best for his town. I can not stand +before you to-night without feeling that the entire sentiment of the +people is with me, my fellow citizens, and I should deem myself unworthy +of addressing you here to-night, upon this platform, did I not make it +plain to you, or as plainly as I can, that I consider myself as one of +those in the vanguard of that high and lofty motive whose purity of +purpose none dare assail, municipal improvements!" + +In the tumultuous burst of applause that followed the old man croaked to +Jimmy, "What was that he said?" + +"He says he's for the band stand," Jimmy interpreted with great brevity. +"That is, that's the way I understand it. Maybe that's not exactly what +he means. It takes a lot of hard thinking and consideration to find out +what some men really do mean when they talk." + +"To hell with the band stand. I been here forty year and we got along +all right without it, say I! If that's what he's talkin' about, I'm +goin' home. I understood it was somethin' about taxes we was to hear. +They got me taxed plumb out of my socks and----" + +"S-s-sh!" cautioned those in the vicinity. + +"And if they tax us for this I can't have any underwear at all! Lemme +outer this. I'm goin'!" said the veteran and Jimmy was compelled to +stand up to let him pass, and then, thinking this an excellent +opportunity to escape, himself fled. The Judge was still uttering +profound nothings when his last words were audible, and that proved that +he was a great and blossoming statesman for whom no dignity was too +high! + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +Jimmy found the train all that he had anticipated, and then some; but +being one of that fortunate cult who arise happily, sing in bathrooms to +the annoyance of neighbors who waken with a grouch, enjoy breakfast, and +tackle each day as if it were certain to be filled with sunshine, soon +found the position entertaining. Although he knew nothing at all about +the subject, he even indulged in a learned discussion on cattle with his +seat mate, and held his own until he suggested that if milch cows were +put in nice comfortable homes and liberally fed with condensed cream +mixed with flour paste they would give pure cream instead of pure milk. + +The farmer stared at Jimmy wondering whether he was seated with an +insane man or not, and if so whether the latter might develop homicidal +mania. + +"I've always believed that cows were badly treated," Jimmy explained +very soberly. "Their esthetic development isn't looked after properly. +Now milk ought to be rich, creamy, sweet, and fragrant. Feed a cow on +onions and her milk smells like onions, doesn't it?" + +The farmer admitted that it did. + +"Well then, here's an idea you could make a fortune out of. By Jove! I +don't believe it's ever been tried! Why not raise flowers on a dairy +farm. Pick out cows with naturally sweet and kindly dispositions. Make +nature fit nature. For instance, take a nice red cow and feed her on red +roses. Nothing but red roses. Her milk is specially bottled and sold as +rose milk. By and by, maybe, its color would be a beautiful red. It +would smell like red roses. White cows should have lilacs and lilies of +the valley. Yellow cows ought to be fed on daisies and such. Think of +the advertising possibilities. 'Try our Rose milk, or Lily of the Valley +milk or Daisy milk.' And say, what's the matter with feeding violets to +blue cows? Violet brand would of course be the favorite for blonde +women, and Rose milk for the brunettes. Make the cow's home surroundings +lovely. Don't shut her up in a filthy stall but give her a room, and a +nice bed, and pictures on the wall so she can have something to look at +besides the doggoned scenery she has to see during working hours, when +she's busy making milk and wishing the whistle would blow so she could +lay off her overalls and go home to her family. Cows, I tell you, +are----" + +He turned towards his seat mate to find a vacant space and to discover a +man with wild eyes and hasty furtiveness making his way toward the door +of the other compartment, as if seeking safety. + +"Well what do you think of that!" exclaimed Jimmy, sotto voice. +"Confound it. It's the darned farmers that need educating; not the cows. +I swear I believe cows have more sense of humor than some men. And I was +just beginning to get good, too!" + +And then, chuckling, he consulted his watch, and began leisurely +collecting his belongings. + +All his leisureliness vanished, however, from the moment when he issued +from his hotel, and he became as brisk and busy as a cricket intent on +ravaging an entire wheat field in a series of swift swoops. + +"You seem to be in a mighty big hurry, Jim," complained one customer, +later in the day, "What's the rush?" + +Jimmy, mopping his forehead, for the first time appeared a trifle +diffident, flushed like a school boy and then blurted, "Well, to tell +the honest truth I am in a hurry. I'm trying to clean up and catch the +six-thirty train east. You see--I don't know as there is anything to be +ashamed of--I've got to get home to my mother." + +Observing that this statement provoked no ridicule, he expanded. + +"I suppose I've got as fine a mother as ever lived. She's down in +Baltimore and she's due to have a birthday in just three days, and--you +know, I've been with Maw on her birthday ever since she was born! That +is--I mean ever since I was born. No sir-e-ee! Never missed once. We +always looked forward to it, Maw and I do. Seems as if it was just our +day, and nobody else's at all! Maybe it's more important to her because +it happens to be my birthday too. I go home because I want to be with +her on her birthday, I reckon, and she likes to have me come home +because it's mine. So, come rain or shine, loss of business or train +wrecks, I'm home on that day, and--and the minute I step inside the +front door, I'm--I'm just a kid again." + +Two days later there leapt up the cement steps of a neat old-fashioned +house in the suburbs of Baltimore a man who had come home to "feel like +a kid again," and with a shout bolted inside to be received by a gentle +gray-haired woman whom he picked up in his arms and kissed with boyish +demonstrativeness. + +"By Gosh, Maw! You're looking younger and prettier, every time I see +you!" he exclaimed, holding her off at arm's length and studying her +solicitously. "I never see you without wishing I could stay here all the +time--just you and me. All alone! Just we two." + +"Jims," she said, using an old pet name, "you'll get over that sometime. +And--it's about time, too, isn't it, that you stopped courting your own +mother, and began to remember that you're grown up. You will be +thirty-four years old to-morrow and I shall be----" + +"Twenty-four! Always twenty-four." + +"Sixty-four!" + +"Twenty-four! Don't I know? Haven't I kept count?" + +"I can keep my own count. Sixty-four. I hope you didn't bring me +another foolish thing for a birthday present. I always think of that +hat!" And she lifted her fine chin and laughed amusedly. + +"That hat," Jimmy expostulated, "was bought in the best shop on Fifth +avenue and the girl that sold it to me put it on to show me how well it +looked." + +"It must have been the girl rather than the hat that hypnotized you into +paying fifty dollars for something that would look better on someone of +about sixteen rather than sixty." + +Jimmy did not appear to take the joke in his usual good tolerance but +soberly insisted that the hat was "A peach." + +"No, the trouble with you is, Maw, that you don't realize how young you +look, and how handsome you are. It's not my fault you look like twenty, +is it? I told that lady hat drummer that I was going to give the hat to +somebody that was a darned sight better looking than she was, and she +said 'How old is the lady?' and I told her I wasn't discussing a horse +and that the age was none of her business, but that if she'd think of +someone who looked twenty, and get me a hat that would be the best in +the shebang in the twenty-year-old class, and tell me the price +and----" + +"Well, Jims, don't you mind what I say," she interrupted with a smile. +"You are a good son, though terribly extravagant. You bought sealskin +furs that I can't wear, and a grand piano on which I can't play. +But----" and she went over and put her hands on his shoulders and looked +into his eyes with ineffable fondness--"Jims, what you gave didn't +matter because I knew that your heart, all of it, was there in the gift! +And often, when you are away, I thank God for giving me a son so +unselfish, so loyal, so thoughtful, so true!" + +There were many of Jim Gollop's customers who would scarcely have known +him then; for there was a strange softening and adoration of his rugged +face, quite as if beneath that careless, half-cynical, humorous mask +there dwelt, abashed, seldom visible, some great tenderness of soul that +now issued forth without reserve. He bent forward with a sudden +reverence, very gently, with shining eyes, and then, folding her still +more gently to his arms, kissed her white hair, and for a moment held +her very close. + +"Well, Jims," she said at last, slowly disengaging herself, "your room +is just as you left it. No--not quite. I take it back. We had to remove +your discarded shoes from the bed where you left them, and I think you +left one slipper in the bath room and the other in the grate. Also some +collars on the floor, some more scattered over the dresser, and a rather +smelly pipe on a chair. Otherwise it's ready for you and Bessie has by +this time drawn your bath, and----" + +"I'm mighty glad about that pipe! I thought I'd lost it somewhere +between Plattsburg and Buffalo. Funny, isn't it, how you become fond of +a particular pipe? I always liked that one. This is a real home coming! +You see that pipe was given to me by Billy Baker. I've told you about +Billy, haven't I? He's the chap that lives down in Greenville, +Pennsylvania, who used to make the same ground I did, and sold that +Florodora line. Poor chap! Married now. Got a kid he calls Arture Davis +Baker! Now if he'd called that kid Jim----" + +"It might have been as foolish as you! Hurry and come down stairs. We +have chicken Maryland, oysters out of season, and corn cakes, and--don't +moon about the bath room and try to sing, Jims!" His mother thrust him +towards the stairs and as he ascended like a bell boy expecting a tip, +watched him from sight. + +Jimmy paused to look through his open window of his room at a big elm +whose branches he could almost touch. "Hello Bill, old feller. Glad to +see you looking well. How's the birds' nest business this summer? Oh. +Got a dozen aboard have you, and you say mostly robins? Well, well, +well! That's good! Tell 'em to sing to me at six o'clock to-morrow +morning, will you? Thanks!" + +He smiled fondly at the lawns and homely flower beds in the rear and +thrust his head far out of the window to estimate the growth of a +creeper that he had planted with his own hands. It seemed to him that +there was no home, anywhere, as homelike as this old-fashioned house +that since the death of his father he had gradually modernized inside to +suit his tastes, despite his mother's protests against his extravagance. +He rarely thought of those hard years following the death of his father, +when the home was learned to be the sole remaining asset of what had +been regarded as a fine prosperity; of how he had insisted on its +retention; of how he had been compelled to work out of school hours; of +his and his mother's reluctant surrender of the cherished dream that he +might go through Yale; of how, long after he had found employment to +support his mother, he had doggedly insisted on night study to complete +his education following the foolish traditions of nearly every old +Southern family that its male members must have a profession. Sometimes +he remembered how reluctantly he had abandoned his dream of becoming a +lawyer because he could not afford to let an opening "on the road" at a +good salary pass by; but he was secretly proud of the fact that he had +bravely concealed all the disappointment. + +"My mother, our home, a few good friends, a little more in the bank at +the end of each year and something each day to give me a laugh. What +more could a man wish!" This had become his creed and he lived up to it +in all ways, even if he had to create the laugh for his own amusement. +He had gradually learned the hard lesson that a wise man cuts his suit +to fit the cloth at his disposal and was thereby content. He had learned +to lose with a grin and win without a boast. + +Mr. James Gollop, despite his unserious demeanor when abroad, never +departed from his home to resume his never ending circle "on the road" +without a sigh. It was so on the day when, his birthday holiday over, he +tripped down the steps throwing a parting joke over his shoulder at his +mother, and hastened to the end of the quiet residential street to board +a street car; but in the street car and later, in the train, he sat +soberly thinking and wondering if there was no way on earth by which he +could be at home each day. + +"Maw's not getting any younger," he thought to himself. "Every day I'm +not with her is one day less on my account that I can never catch up. +And all accounts sometimes come to an end when the Big Auditor decides +it's time to close them." + +He threw off his brooding when he reached New York, and was the old, +alert, bubbling Jimmy when he reached his firm's headquarters, where he +was prepared to wrangle with the auditor over items on his expense list, +demand better samples than the last lot, suggest some special cartoons +for a special trade, cajole the house in sending out some special +souvenirs for some special customers, and find out from the credit man +what he thought of Jones Jobbing Co. for a little larger order. And +then, all these affairs adjusted diplomatically, he went out to make +some personal purchases. He was reflecting on the fact that everybody in +New York seemed in a hurry to get to some place or another when he was +arrested by a cheerful voice so evidently aimed in his direction that he +looked up with a start; a rich voice that said, "Well for goodness sake! +Fancy seeing you here; but of course that is foolish, because I know you +have to come here on business at long intervals. How are you?" + +"Very well, thank you," said Jimmy, accepting the proffered hand and +shaking it warmly, but at the same time mentally perturbed because he +could not think of the charming young lady's name, nor whence she came. +"And I am somewhat surprised to meet you here, too." + +"Oh, Mother had to come to do a lot of silly things and dragged me along +to chaperone her, I suppose," said the girl with a laugh that exposed +teeth fascinatingly small, white and regular, between lips fascinatingly +generous and well formed. "And what is more, I hate New York and like +the country, and--I'm bored stiff with tagging around into millineries, +and shops, and such. I can get enough of shops at home!" + +"Of course! Of course!" agreed Jimmy affably, but feeling himself a +little pompous through his failure to remember where such a charming +creature dealt out chocolates when on her job. His mind was working like +lightning and speculated, "Plague on it all! They look so different in +their go-away-duds from what they do behind the counters with nice white +aprons and nice little white caps and nice white linen gloves and--why +can't I remember!--Where does she work? She's familiar but--ummh!--It +never does to let 'em think you've forgotten 'em, because they resent it +and knock your sales when you come around again. Isn't she the +manageress at Bodley's out in Cincinnati? No-o--I think--I think she's +at the Bijou in Pittsburgh. Ummmh! It's up to me to make her believe +I've been thinking about her ever since I sold her place my last order." + +Aloud he said, "Well you're no more bored stiff than I am. And I, too, +only come to New York because I have to. Which way are you going?" + +"Nowhere in particular just now," she said, "except to look in that +shop window up there. Are you interested in windows?" + +"If they've got chocolates in them," he replied with a wry grin, and she +laughed. + +"Chocolates? I detest them!" she exclaimed, and Jimmy knew just how she +must feel about chocolates when all day long she saw people buying them, +and sometimes gobbling them. + +They looked in the window and Jimmy was glad that it was a leather show +that had not only gloves and knickknacks but some good horse furniture +as well. His companion seemed to know all about saddlery and went into +raptures over a pigskin creation; but with a sigh, remarked that she +didn't feel able to afford it, and they explored farther. She kept Jimmy +too busy mentally to permit even his agile mind to indulge in continued +speculations as to her identity. He knew that his first duty was to +prove entertaining, and in some distress as to what might be the best +tack, suddenly took advantage of a sandwich man's conspicuous overcoat +that read, "The Marvelous Age. Matinee to-day. Royalty Theater." + +"Oh, I'd love to see that!" exclaimed his companion, and that gave him +his cue. + +"Off we go then," he said. + +"What? You take me to a theater without a chaperone? I'm astonished!" +And then she laughed as if highly amused by something extraordinary. + +"Mabel," he said, gravely, "you don't know me when I'm in New York. It's +the matinee for ours." + +"The 'Mabel' settles it," she declared mischievously, and went with him +gayly down the cross street leading to the theater. + +Dexterously as he fished to glean from her where she worked when at +home, he was still ignorant of that important point when, the +performance over, they emerged into the street. + +"Now," she said, "you can leave me at the Holland House. That is, unless +you wish to come up and pay your respects to Mother; but come to think +of it, she may not be home yet." + +"No," said Jimmy, in perplexity, "I have an appointment. You must extend +my respects and good wishes. But--say! There's the big Horse Show on in +Madison Square Garden to-morrow afternoon. Can't we see that? If you +will but say 'yes,' I'll book seats for your mother, and for you, and +for me. How about it?" + +"Get Mother to a Horse Show? Heavens! But--I'd like to go." She spoke +with bright wistfulness that absolutely finished him. + +"Well, your mother will let you, won't she?" he asked hopefully. + +"Let me see," she said thoughtfully as they stood in the hotel entrance, +and drew from her bag a tiny silver mounted appointment book and +consulted its pages. "Oh, goody! Mamma has an appointment up town that I +can easily beg off from. Yes. Do get two tickets and we'll go." + +"I'll call here for you at two o'clock," said Jimmy. "Will that do?" + +"Excellently. But, mind you, no box! I like to see a horse show from +close down to the ground. They don't look so dressed up and silly as +they do from the boxes. I rather suspect that the horses don't like +those in the boxes," she said with a smile. + +"Agreed," he answered, and made his devoirs. + +He walked briskly as far as the corner, then turned and looked back to +make certain that she had disappeared. He hastened back, intent on +gaining the desk before others had reached it, but found himself too +late. He was compelled to bide his time whilst several people +registered, and then sidled up to the desk. A very haughty young man +swung the register toward him but he ignored it and, leaning +confidentially across, said, "There's a young lady and her mother +stopping here and I can't remember their names. Perhaps you could tell +me what----" + +"Sorry! There are probably fifty young ladies and their mothers stopping +here," said the hotel clerk, icily. "If you're on the square in asking +for such information, I'm sorry I can't give it; but if you've got some +lay of your own, you're in the wrong nest. This isn't the Sports +Half-way House, you know." + +"But see here. I'm in earnest about this, you know, and----" began +Jimmy, and was interrupted with a curt "Sorry! Nothing doing!" + +He might have argued the point had not there been another interruption +and after a moment he left, shrugging his shoulders a trifle, and +condemning himself as an ass for his failure to remember who this +"Mabel" was. The failure rendered him doubly keen, for it was a part of +his business training, self-imposed, to remember names and faces. He +went to his own hotel and for an hour ran through the pages of his blue +book. It was a peculiar creation of his own. It was strictly private. It +contained details concerning customers. It was like a highly developed +"Who's Who," diary in his trade and made interesting reading. + +"Barclay, James W. 114z Chestnut, Philadelphia. Credit AAA1. Rather +stiff. Likes to be Mistered. Teetotaler. Chief entertainment, Y. M. C. +A. lectures. Home mission movements and prayer meetings. Hot stuff on +religion. Show him the Zoo. P. S. Five children, all girls, oldest named +Martha. P. S. On Oct. 14 youngest kid, Ruth, suffering from the flu. +Note--don't forget mention it when next see him and express hope she has +recovered satisfactorily. + +"Barnes, Thomas R. 1627A La Salle St., Chicago. Credit fair. Called +'Tommy.' Red hot sport. Horseraces. Prize fights. Poker. (Go easy on +stakes because unless careful will boost the comein.) Likes Pommery Sec. +P. S. Likes chorus girls. P. S. Dangerous josher when loaded. P. S. When +he expresses desire to spend quiet evening skidoo. P. S. Oct. +27th--Bailed Tommy out for hitting a policeman. Policeman not much hurt, +Tommy a wreck. P. S. Jan. 15th, sent bell boy 3 a. m. to my room to +borrow fifty bucks. P. S. Jan 17--Tommy paid the fifty. P. S. Jan 19, +got Tommy off on Century Limited, and separated him from girl named +Lulu. P. S. Feb 1, letter from Tommy thanking me for separating him from +girl named Lulu. + +"Coldwell, Henry J.; Mgr. Fountain Conf. Co., Savannah. Credit A1. Likes +a decent show. No legs. Moony about wife and family when away from home. +Spiritualist. Wife a blonde who likes to think she's reforming lower +classes. Grandfather old cuss named Poindexter who was defeated for +Congress by but seventeen votes. P. S. Nov. 5, great grandmother a +Fairfax of which very proud. P. S. Dec. 7, great great grandmother a +Lee. P. S. Jan. 15, great aunt a Washington. P. S. Feb. 4, great +grandmother danced with Lafayette. Mar. 15, brought ugly old painting of +joker in wig and stock at second-hand shop Bowery and expressed to H. J. +C., with note that was assured this was portrait of ancestor. Total cost +$1.15, charged exs. Mar. 23--Enthusiastic letter thanks from J. H. C. in +which says exactly like miniature portrait in possession his aunt and no +doubt of its authenticity. Mar. 28, got biggest order ever received +from J. H. C. Hope cr. man will O. K. it" + +There were some names and records in this interesting book that dealt +with employees. For instance: + +"Bangs, Reginald, 1 R Mohawk St., Buffalo. AA1. Sentimental cuss. Quotes +poetry. Thinks has artistic temperament. Not much business head. Place +made a success by head clerk, Miss Norah Cahill, who runs it and him as +well. Play Norah to win, for first, second, and place. P. S. Jan. 13, +gifts and hot air wasted on Norah and no good. Got to have the goods and +the prices. P. S. Mar. 4, Cahill nearly scalped me over seventeen cents +difference in accts. LOOK OUT FOR THE LOCOMOTIVE when dealing with this +Cahill person. P. S. Cahill can be influenced by clerk named Mary +Mooney. $1.50 Dr. Exs. flowers for Mooney." + +In nearly all cases where clerks or counter girls had influence on +orders, their names and foibles and identifications were carefully +registered as they were learned; and these were scattered through as +appurtenances to the different shops. "Mary Smith. Red-headed. Does +hair up like a Hottentot. Jingles with bangles and is color blind"; or +"Chief salesgirl Freda Isenheimer. Nose like prow of ship. Warts on her +neck, grin like a cellar door, teeth like an old horse. Flaps hands when +talks. Voice like saw mill and waddles like a duck lost on a desert." +And "Jenny Gray. All peach. Goo-goo blue eyes. About thirteen hands high +and chestnut in color. Well-gaited and has boss under thumb." But +although Jimmy carefully read all these and pondered each, he was still +uncertain regarding whither the name or place of the young lady he was +to entertain at the horse show. And, the most annoying part of it all +was that he, confirmed bachelor, suffered from an unwonted sense of +liking for this same girl. Her conversation seemed to him peculiarly +bright and entertaining. She looked so much more attractive than any +other girl he had ever entertained. There was something about her face, +and the line of her throat that he had discovered while surreptitiously +studying her there in the half darkness of the theater that was so much +more graceful, so much more refined, so much more beautiful than he had +ever observed in any other girl. It began to seem difficult to believe +that he could ever before have seen her, and yet failed to note such a +combination of charms. He thought he must have been blind as a bat when +he passed her by; but again he fell back on the excuse that a girl in a +shop uniform was an entirely different appearing person from the same +girl out on a holiday. He did not at all realize that his interest in +this unidentified queen of chocolates was becoming less and less of a +business nature until he finally blurted in desperation, "I don't give a +cuss where she peddles the sweets; but by gosh! I've just got to learn +her name and address because--Oh, hang it! Because!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Jimmy Gollop, like most commercial travelers of the first flight, not +only knew how to wear clothes but what clothes to wear. And on this day +of days paid particular care to his appearance. He rather anticipated +that the candy girl would appear in some plain, tailormade gown. Her +hair, one of her chief charms of personal appearance, was heavy and +beautiful, and of a most baffling shade of color that shone brown in +darker shadows and yet in full light glinted as if subtly suggesting +gold. Jimmy, who had a natural sense for color, pondered over this and +decided that the tailormade would be of navy blue and that therefore +violets would be the correct thing in the flower line to show his +appreciation. + +"But how in the deuce am I to send them up to her hotel when I don't +even know her name!" he thought. + +However, he was sufficiently independent to buy the finest violets he +could find and to appear at the hotel entrance with them in his hand. +The young lady was not there. Jimmy tried to appear unconcerned, and for +a time stood like a rather modern statue of "Cupid bearing flowers." Now +and then he peered into the hotel lobby and it seemed to him that +whenever he did so the human icicle behind the desk was glaring in his +direction as if contemplating a call for the police, or sending a +message to the Ladies' Protective Association for Attractive Young +Females. + +At last when he was becoming fidgety and consulting his watch at +intervals of not longer than three minutes, the girl appeared. + +"Well, in the name of common sense," she demanded, "why didn't you send +your card up, or have the desk call me? I hope you're not in the habit +of expecting young ladies to meet you on the corner. I waited and +waited, and then was just about to----" She stopped at sight of his +lugubrious face, relented, and laughed. "Never mind! Don't take it to +heart, and--are those violets for me? You are a dear, after all! I love +them." She took them from his outstretched hand and buried her face in +them, whilst he, usually so nimble of tongue and ready of word, was +striving to overcome this alarming confusion and embarrassment that +rendered him about as quick of wit as a soft-shelled clam. In fact, he +felt like a jelly fish save that he was twice as incompetent. + +"You see," he began lamely, "I didn't quite know what to do. I was +afraid that maybe your mother had objected to your going to the horse +show, and----" + +"Why, you're not afraid of her, are you? You never seemed so before. I +thought--I thought you and she were rather good friends." There was a +vague tinge of sarcasm in her words and tone but like a wobbly legged +pup trying to catch a butterfly he mentally leaped at this offering and +began cudgeling his memory in quest of women who ran chocolate shops. +Could it be that she was the daughter of the widow Haynes who owned the +Bon-Ton in Detroit? Impossible! The widow was not more than thirty. +Maybe Mrs. Harris of Miami? No, if Mrs. Harris had a daughter she would +have that unmistakable Southern peculiarity of speech. This girl was +from somewhere farther north. It couldn't be that she was the daughter +of Mrs. Schumann of Milwaukee? Heaven forbid! For Mrs. Schumann was so +fat she shook like an unsupported pyramid of blanc-mange whenever she +moved. + +"I had hopes for you yesterday," a voice aroused him from his lapse. +"You acted as if you could talk when you turned loose; but now you're +back in your old hopeless form. Come on! Wake up! Oh, I forgot to tell +you the great news. Like to hear it?" + +"I like to hear you say anything," said Jimmy, hopelessly at her mercy +and speaking the truth, and nothing but the truth so help him Bob! and +glancing at her with that unmistakable sick-calf expression that seems +to be the inevitable accomplishment of all lovers, and that the original +Eve must have noticed in the eyes of Adam as he stood lolling around +Eden in his red flannel underwear. + +"Mamma got an invitation to spend the winter down in St. Augustine with +the Charles K. Wilmarths, and she knows I hate them. She wanted to go +because, as you know, she thinks she's not at all well, and also because +the Charles K. Wilmarths are rather swagger. Either because she wished +to get rid of me, or because I raised such a fuss, she compromised. I'm +to be allowed to stay here for the next four months and take painting +lessons from Jorgensen. I intend to have a studio of my own. I'm to live +at the Martha Putnam hotel, which, as you know, never, never allows a +man farther through its doors than the waiting room. Happy? I'm so happy +I could shout!" + +"Then you've no longer any interest in the business?" inquired Jimmy, +for the want of something better to say. + +She looked out of the taxi-window for an instant, as if recalling +something and then said, slowly, "Yes, to tell the truth I have. It +means so much. I'll admit that I'm more or less a business person. I +like to see things grow bigger and bigger, and sell more and more, and +get to mean something. Not that the dollars and cents count so much, +after a time, but because a name somehow becomes a standard. Yes, I +shall miss what you call the business; but, after all, it will not stop +because I'm not there to enthuse over it, and----" She interrupted +herself with a half-suppressed laugh--"Mother doesn't look at things +exactly as I do. She detests it and is ashamed of it, I have an ideal!" + +Jimmy never quite idealized the chocolate trade before; but there was +something rather fine in what she said, he thought. After all, maybe it +was one form of Americanism that she had voiced, and it became a trifle +nobler when he considered that it meant industry, energy, and honesty. +To do something and do it well. To be proud of doing something well. To +be proud that one wasn't a loafer or a drone, or a parasite on the body +economic. He was striving to correlate all this when made aware that the +taxi had stopped and that they were at their destination. He actually +submitted to an overcharge of a half-dollar inflicted by the +hatchet-faced brigand who had jerked his taxi-meter over with a bang +before his fares had time to inspect it. And then, resolving to forget +everything save the fact that they were entering the Horse Show, and +that he was somehow treading in ether because he had found a girl who +was different from all others, he became himself again. + +"We're not so very late after all," he exclaimed as he glanced up at the +big tower clock. "I thought I waited an hour for you. But, anyhow, here +we are, and now for it!" + +They sauntered in and he was proud to observe that many eyes were +turned in the direction of his companion. It made him feel rather +egotistical, for there were many girls there well worth looking at, and +people don't always go to horse shows to look at horses. Jimmy forgot +all about chocolates. Unconsciously he relapsed to his habitual self, +and, inasmuch as most any one who is unassuming and entirely natural is +entertaining, seemed to keep his companion happy. + +"I like it all," she said, in an interval. "I like to look at those in +the boxes who came here for nothing else than to be looked at. It makes +them happy to see others looking at them. I suppose they must feel for +the moment that they are as good as the horses. Some people will make +mistakes of that sort, you know, and never learn the truth. And I like +the horses for themselves. They are so unlike. So like people. Some of +them are shy, some of them nervous, some of them conceited, and others +are as self-satisfied as if already they had won the blue ribbons. +Funny, isn't it, that I never suspected that you had any interest at all +in them?" + +"Well, you see," said Jimmy. "We never had much of a chance to +understand really what either of us enjoys or dislikes before we met +here. It makes a lot of difference when, how and where people meet. I +suppose you'll laugh if I tell you when I first fell in love, because it +was with a horse. Honestly, it was! I'm in earnest about it. Things +didn't come any too easy around our house--I mean Maw's and mine--after +my father died. Somehow his death sort of changed me from a boy into a +man, and,--well, I just couldn't think of enough ways to keep her from +wanting anything. I felt as if I'd have to be a man big enough to fill +my father's place and to take care of her. There wasn't a way to make a +penny that I didn't consider just on her account. And I got a job after +school hours delivering stuff for a grocery store, down in our town. I +had to care for and drive a poor old feller with the string halt, and +spavins, and I used to wonder why I couldn't get his tail to grow +longer. Honestly, I thought all horses' tails were about eight inches +long until an old horse trader looked my friend over one day and said, +'Hello! That nag's been docked sometime! He didn't always pull a grocery +cart. Shouldn't wonder if there'd been some class and pedigree to him +sometime.' Then he had the impertinence to stick his dirty fingers into +my friend's mouth and hoist his upper lip and say, 'Methusalem was old, +but this plug could make him look like a suckling,' I remember that I +was angry, and that I wished that my friend had bitten him. I'd have +done it myself if I had been big enough, or a horse. You see, I was +proud of that horse, and liked him, and he loved me. As a joke the +hostlers down at the boarding stable where we kept him called him +Bovolarapus; but I called him Bo for short, because it didn't seem fair +that we shouldn't be familiar with each other. I'm sure he thought of me +as Jim for short; so I called him Bo. He used to take a kick at anybody +else who came near him, but I could put a hot iron on his poor old heels +without a single vicious jerk from him. He bit nearly everyone who got +too close or too curious, but he'd put his lips up to my cheek and kiss +me when something had hurt my feelings, and I'd get into some quiet lane +and tell him all about it--sometimes with my arms around his tired old +neck! I tell you he was mighty comforting to me when everything went +wrong. You won't believe it, but I used to fancy that sometimes he tried +to whisper into my ear and that he said, 'Take it quietly, boy! Just do +the best you can. I know that sometimes the hill is terribly hard to +climb, and bitterly long, but somewhere there is always a top. Don't +think of the load, the whip, or the hill, but keep thinking, always, of +what it's like on top. Many times they'll hurt you when you're doing +your best, because they're cruel, or don't understand. But most of those +who drive you--and someone or something must drive you as long as you +live,--don't really mean to be hard. It's merely because they don't +understand. Sometimes you'll be very tired, and out of breath, and the +sweat of hard work will drip and trickle from your ears down over your +eyes, and you'll think that another yard is beyond all you can do. But +keep on! Stick it! You can always do a little more than you think you +can if you've the courage to try. And there's always a top to every +hill, lad! It's only up there that you can breathe, and that the load is +light, and that there is rest!'" + +A band that had been playing off up in the balcony at the far end +stopped, as if waiting for the next event, and abruptly aware that he +had said so much, and surprised by his own unmeasured loquacity, he, +too, stopped, abashed, and for the first time in his speech looked at +her and met her eyes. They were soft, filled with wonder, absorbed. He +could not have defined why he was so swiftly ashamed of thus openly +flouting that boyhood heart of his upon his sleeve. He could not have +explained what strange lapse had overpowered him to thus unbosom long +forgotten things. He looked away from her toward the entrance. Men were +bringing tall hurdles outward to place them in the arena. The jumpers +were coming for exhibit. + +"But," she insisted breathlessly, leaning toward him, and her hushed +voice sounding distinct from all the murmur surrounding them, "Tell me +the rest of it!" + +"Tell you the rest of it? There's nothing more to tell! Nothing +except--except----" He hesitated, then laughed as if in self-derision. +"My friend fell down one day, half way up a hill. The top was there, +just above him. The top for which he had so valiantly tried. I, a boy, +his only friend, got his tired old head up on my knees and cried. A +policeman came and shook his head and went away and phoned. A vet came +and said, 'The best thing to do is to shoot him,' and then the +policeman pulled out a gun, and went toward Bo's head and bent over the +brave and tired old eyes of my friend, and--I fought! Fought so hard +that they had to give us a chance, Bo and me. They laughed, but the vet +phoned my employers and what they said, I never knew; but I do know that +they gave me my friend, and that about midnight I got him home, weak and +tottering, and put him out in our back garden, and told Maw all about +it. I thought she would understand and she did. She understands +everything. Everything! No one else ever could. And so--um-m-mh! +Bovolarapus was the first horse I ever owned and the last. We had to go +without some few things, Maw and I, to pay pasturage for a year or two +until he died, but it doesn't at all matter now. You see he was a sort +of inspiration to me because he told me so many things, and--that +somewhere, a long way I fear from where I've ever reached, there's a top +to the hill. He taught me that be we driver or driven there's a heart of +things that has to be learned. That the driver may learn from the driven +and that there is always the promise that the driven may drive. And so +may God pity the man who thinks that he can drive his world alone, +because, as far as I can dope it out, everything in life is made up of +give if you would take, and take only when you give. I may be wrong. One +never knows. That's the pity of it all. But that's the way it looks to +me, and--that's the way communing with a poor old horse taught me, the +only game I try to play. It's only when we've lost the true sense of +things that we say 'Life's nothing but a horse show--after all!'" + +Staring at the arena, and bringing his thoughts back to their +surroundings, he waited for her to speak; but for the moment they seemed +fixed in a little oasis of silence, embodying but them alone. It was the +girl who broke the peculiar stillness. + +"I--I--never thought you were like that," she said, almost as if +soliloquizing. "I thought you were out for yourself and nothing else! I +didn't in the least think you could ever feel anything beyond yourself. +You humiliate me--in a way--my stupidity! And I feel like apologizing +for my past unkindness, because I didn't; as you say--because I didn't +at all understand!" + +He couldn't quite grasp it all, although her every word had been audible +and distinct. To what did she refer? "Past unkindness?" He strove to +think when she had been unkind to him and where. The baffling sense of +having forgotten something he should have remembered, again disturbed +him and drove him to jest. + +"Don't say that!" he cried in pretended alarm. "You make me feel like +the coon who was sentenced for stealing chickens when the judge said, +'You are incorrigible. This is the twenty-seventh time we've had you up +for this heinous, fearsome crime. But now you have gone the limit! You +stole two black hens on the night of April seventh.' Then he stopped and +glared at the nigger who leaned over the dock rail, hopefully, yet +frightened, and said, 'I think you should be sentenced to ninety-nine +years in the penitentiary!' And the nigger thought it over and looked at +the judge, then around the court and gasped, and said, 'Jedge, sah! I +thank my Gawd them chickens was black. It must have been the color, sah, +that made you so kind, because I reckon if they'd been white you'd have +sure had me hanged!'" + +But she did not seem to accept it as a joke. + +"I have been unkind," she said, with a shake of her head. "I had no idea +you could be like--well--like you are. So there! And besides, I don't +like to be made fun of." + +"I'm not making fun of you," he declared. "I'm making fun of myself. I +can't help it. I've a sense of proportion. I know what a mut I am better +than anyone else does. It does me good to admit it whenever I get a +proper chance." + +For another interval she studied him, curiously, looked away, and again +turned toward him as if still unconvinced of something, and then said, +"Well, if you were wise, you would keep on being just yourself. You've +something to learn from horses yet. I believe they are always natural, +and unassuming, and sincere. That's a beautiful animal there now, isn't +it? Well done! What a jump! Seven bars! That's pretty good for a +practice take-off, I should say. What do you think?" + +"I'd jump higher than that to remember something I've forgotten," Jim +murmured; but his remark went unchallenged, due to a second splendid +leap in the arena that was so swift and graceful that it resembled +nothing so much as a glistening bay flash, a compound of splendidly +correlated muscle, nerve and sinew, and the spectators burst into a +storm of applause as the horse, proudly and daintily stepping on +springing hocks, lifted a beautiful head, pricked sensitive ears, and +stared through big, intelligent eyes at the boxes. + +Even the perplexed and infatuated Jimmy forgot his secret questionings +and gave himself up to the joys of the display. Event followed event in +such rapid succession that he was astonished when the military band +struck up its dispersing air, and he and his companion "The Candy Girl" +as he had come to think of her, were caught into the leisurely maelstrom +that surged slowly toward the exits. He had even forgotten the fact that +he had as yet failed to learn his companion's name; but at the hotel +entrance maneuvered for another chance. + +"Isn't it possible to induce you and your mother to see a show, or hear +a concert, or something of that sort to-night?" he asked wistfully. + +"I wish we could," she said; "but I'm afraid it's quite impossible. We +are dining with some friends." + +"What about to-morrow, then?" he insisted, somewhat crestfallen. + +"To-morrow we are going to visit some relatives in Connecticut where we +shall spend the week-end." + +His face, usually so cheerful and optimistic, might have competently +served for an artist's study of "Gloom." He felt as if the props had +been kicked from beneath a line on which swung all his best linen. + +"I've got to get back to my work not later than day after to-morrow," he +lamented. "In fact I ought to take the five o'clock flyer west to-morrow +afternoon to keep up with my dates. I've sent out my cards that I am +coming." + +"Then for goodness sake, go!" she insisted. "I'll see you at home--no--I +forgot I shall not be there for weeks, or perhaps months. I mustn't let +this Jorgensen opportunity go to waste. I'm very keen on it. But you +will be in town again and must come and call for me at the Martha +Putnam. I shall--I shall look forward to it!" + +She suddenly flushed as if she had somehow committed herself, and before +he could reply had almost run from him into the hotel lobby. But he had +caught a look in her eyes that caused his heart to lose a beat, then to +thump like a bass drum in martial band. He was made suddenly aware that +he was gawking after her with his mouth hanging open and his eyes +bulging, by the delighted snickers of a pair of impertinent door boys +and the suppressed comment of one, "Betchu a nickel she's thrown him +down! Gee! Ain't he got it bad!" + +And Jimmy, turning away with a heavy-villain air of dignity, was ashamed +of himself because he had blushed profusely in sight of two mere urchins +in brass buttons. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +"I suppose," said the buyer for one of the biggest middle Western +jobbing houses, addressing a friendly competitor across the table at +their club, "that Jim Gollop comes as near to being the synonym for +sunshine as any man can be." + +"Yes, and that's why he succeeds so well. Somehow when I'm tired, or +depressed, I like to see Jim Gollop coming through the door. And he's +about the only commercial traveler I would ever say howdy to at those +times. He's like a tonic, Jim Gollop is. He just seems to radiate good +will, and friendliness, and optimism wherever he goes. I think I noticed +that surprising faculty of his more on this last round of his than ever +before." + +The manager looked up thoughtfully, and said, "Come to think of it, I +noticed that, too. Not that he wasn't always cheerful, and persistent, +and smart enough in his business, but this last time he seemed to +fairly outdo himself. I asked him if his aunt was dead. 'Why?' says he. +'Oh, you're so happy I thought maybe you'd fallen heir to an unexpected +fortune,' I told him." + +"What did he say?" + +"Said 'Old man, I've found something that beats that all hollow. I've +found the philosopher's stone. I've found the back door at least to the +house of happiness.' And I'll swear I don't believe he was joking, +although it's sometimes hard to tell when Jimmy is in earnest." + +"Humph! Must be in love," said the other man. + +"Well, he might be worse off," said the manager. "If he draws as luckily +as I did--well--You've met my wife and kiddies." + +And it did seem as if Jimmy, making his long rounds, was meeting with +inordinate success; for life smiles on those who smile and the happy +salesman is like the Happy Warrior, because all things, sooner or later, +come to his feet. The art of salesmanship is the art of winning, and +there is no such animal as a successful drummer with a perpetual grouch. +But just the same the astute Jimmy's progress was not so easily +profitable from the personal point as he had conceived, and as he had +ardently hoped. He had left New York in his customary optimism with the +boastful prediction, "I'll learn the candy girl's name, and where she +lives when she's at home, and when her birthday is, and all about her, +before I get back. And on the day I get her name I'll telegraph an order +to a New York florist to take her the biggest bunch of violets she ever +saw." + +At the end of the first week he felt that the next week must surely +bring the coveted information, and at the end of the second week he made +a bet with himself that he'd find it out in the third. Then when the +third week proved equally barren, he doubled the stakes and lost them on +the fourth week. + +"Anyhow," he communed with himself, "I'm more than half way through, and +shall win on the next stretch." + +But his hopes, increasing as his tour of elimination progressed, began +to turn to anxieties as his margin for developments narrowed until he +was almost feverishly eager in his pursuit when he entered his last and +final week. Everywhere he went there were the same old names and the +same old faces. One or two customers had sold out, but invariably they +were men. It was on his last day, when hope had waned, that he found +what he hoped was a clue. Mrs. Ellen Sturgis, of Lansing, Michigan, who, +according to his blue book, was "quite a lady, credit A1, tall, good +dresser, very quiet, somewhat standoffish, fond of horses, because, owns +her own trap outfit and nice little cob," had sold out and gone to parts +unknown. + +"Didn't she leave any address?" inquired Jimmy of the new owner, who was +an affable, elderly gentleman given to loquacity. + +"Not with me. Probably at the post office. Hope I can do as well with +this business as she did, and I think I can do better. But she made +money here, all right. Of course she had a society pull to start with +because you see she was the widow of a man who was thought to be pretty +well heeled until he died; then she had to go into business to support +herself, and all the best people in the town patronized her and--anyone +can do business with that kind of a pull." + +Jimmy closed his order and loitered around the mirror-garnished shop +until he got an opportunity to talk with a girl whose face was +familiar. + +"Let me see," said Jimmy, thoughtfully, "Didn't Mrs. Sturgis have a +daughter who was 'most always here?" + +"Nellie? Sure. You remember her, don't you? Nice looking girl with brown +hair and wonderful teeth. We all liked Nellie a lot more than we did her +mother. Stuck-up old dame, I called her. But Nellie was all to the +good." + +Jimmy suddenly developed a mad desire to get away from there. He got as +far as the corner and was tempted to turn into an alleyway and do a +brief but sprightly dance on his own; but decided that he would lose no +time in finding the telegraph office. + +"Got her! Got her at last!" he jubilated mentally. "Now for the violets, +then it's me for the hotel, and the long letter apologizing for not +writing sooner and--um-m-mh!--I'll tell her I broke my wrist in +Ashtabula. That's a good place to break one's wrist in. No--that won't +do. She'd wonder why I didn't dictate a letter to some blonde +hop-o-my-thumb in some nice quiet hotel. How about the flu? +Um-m-mh--afraid that wouldn't square up with my keeping on the road. +Urgent and continual business sounds too cold--considering how warm I +feel. I must never tell her the truth that I'd forgotten her name, and +what she looked like, and be the boob I am by admitting that I'd never +paid enough attention to her before then to take notice of her. Girls +don't like to think that anyone could possibly forget them after one +good, square look. Hurts their vanity, I reckon. And she's not the sort +I can write to and say, 'Kid, you made a hit with me and I'm your little +stick of candy from now until I go to some place so hot I melt!' No, +I've got to get some excuse that'll get by, or--go out into somebody's +town park and cut my throat. I'm hit so badly it hurts! And if anything +goes wrong with this deal it's--it's all off with Yours Truly. It just +seems to me that would be the one thing I've ever had happen that I +couldn't recover from!" + +He had thought of her so much, by day and night, that he entertained a +strange sense of familiarity, as if he had known and loved her all +through life. So vivid were his impressions that he could not forget +little inflections of her musical voice, tiny feminine gestures, stray +sparkles of her eyes, the very echoes of her modulated laughter. All the +weeks of his search, forever arousing in him by disappointment an +increased determination, were but additions to their acquaintanceship. +All the smothered, dormant sentiment accumulated throughout his life had +been exploded, as by a spark, to burst into a brilliancy that filled his +entire horizon. Life was filled with dazzling and unexpected stars of +shining gold. There was but one moon in all his heavens, a warm, +friendly, almost mystic moon that rendered gentle and fine everything +upon which it bestowed benignancy. His universe could scarcely note the +extinguishment of a sun. He had never paused to analyze it, but had +fallen upon the truth that the love of a man of thirty-four makes or +breaks far more irrevocably than does the evanescent love of a boy. The +latter patient recovers amazingly. The former seeks a hospital alone, +and the soul of him dies! + +Jimmy found less difficulty in telegraphing an extravagant order for +violets to be sent to "Miss Nellie Sturgis, care Martha Putnam Hotel, +New York," than he did in the composition of a suitable letter of +apology. + +"I've never been so darned particular about what kind of stationery I +used before," he thought, as he stared at the display in a shop and +cogitated over what was the best. "In fact, come to think of it, hotels +have paid for all I've ever used, and most times I didn't care much +whether it came in reams or in rolls. Just so it would show where the +lead pencil had traveled across. About all I ever thought of a letter +was that one begins writing in the upper right hand corner, writes +straight across, then goes back to the left hand again and does it over +until the page is full, then turns it over and does some more, and at +last thinks whether he ought to sign 'Yours truly,' 'Yours sincerely,' +'Your friend,' or 'Your old pal.'" + +He wished now that he had time to secure something in blue with his +monogram embossed either in the corner or the center, and with some +special envelopes to match. Ordinary paper, purchasable from a regular +shop, didn't seem good enough to be handled by those slender white +fingers he had longed to kiss. There was nothing good enough for them, +and anything less than the unattainable good enough might soil them. + +"Dear me! What a particular, hard-to-please old crank!" said the young +thing who served him after he, the traveling ray of sunshine, had +departed with the most exclusive box of paper in the shop under his arm. + +The fortunate, but to Jimmy Gollop unappreciated, fact is that this +world is at the present moment filled with men who have tried to write +just such letters, and that probably it always has been so since the +first cave man tried to write an excuse to the first cave girl on a +block or stone. Probably that cave man, too, lied with laborious +misgivings. Probably he pleaded everything from urgent business to a +broken head, or explained that the posts were delayed because for +thirty-four days a dinosaurus had been blocking the traffic. And +probably, just as now, the cave girl knew he lied, pouted, sulked, and +then forgave him. Perhaps in those vigorous days she swore. Perhaps some +of them do now. There are things of which, alas! one can never be +certain. + +At 6:32 o'clock, p.m., after fortifying himself with dinner, James +Gollop retired to the writing room of the hotel and began. At 7:35 +o'clock James Gollop thought he could write better in the privacy of his +room where there were no distractions intervened by a lot of fools who +should have been born dumb, but were unfortunately gifted with speech +that was devoted to subjects that were of no importance at all in +comparison with the epistolatory efforts of one James Gollop. By +midnight the persistent correspondent had used a box of stationery, and +had composed letters enough to have formed a book in the style of the +"Ready Letter Writers' Friend," containing everything from letters of +condolence to congratulation, and from stern business to effusive +sentiment The sole letter missing might have been one pertaining to the +birth of twins. And this was what he mailed: + + "DEAR MISS STURGIS: I have atoned for my seeming negligence by + having some violets sent you to-day, fortunately remembering that + those were the flowers for which you expressed a preference on that + memorable occasion when we together visited the horse show. I am + hoping to be in New York by Thursday next when I trust I shall have + the great pleasure of seeing you at your hotel. Please transmit my + cordial good wishes to your mother, and believe me, + + "Most sincerely your friend, + + "J. R. GOLLOP." + +In the morning he blithely whistled and sang as he packed his samples, +and, following his custom, left his route card at the desk when he paid +his bill. + +"Harrisburg, Philadelphia, and then home," he confided as he tossed the +card across to the clerk. "I don't suppose you'll get any mail for me; +but one never knows what the management of the biggest chocolate company +on earth might do. So I always play safe. Business first! That's my +motto. Got it hung on the lattice in my arbor in the garden down home in +Maryland. Keeps me from forgetting that I'm a drummer instead of a +millionaire and that I owe my feed to the firm that gives me work. So +long! Wish you house full and that you keep full too. Good-bye!" + +He danced his merry way through Harrisburg so ebulliently that a string +of dazed patrons breathed not until after he had gone, and in +Philadelphia outdid all his former efforts and doubled his previous +orders. The world was filled with glory and happiness. New York was but +a little way distant and above it there arched a sky of promise. He +returned to his hotel that evening and was handed two telegrams. The +first was from his firm and read: + + "Mrs. Ellen Sturgis, formerly Lansing, opening new place in Easton, + Pennsylvania, wishes you to take full order. Important." + +The second was from the New York florists: + + "Must be mistaken address. Miss Nellie Sturgis unknown at Martha + Putnam. Please advise." + +For a moment he was stunned, then his optimism, buoying him above all +rebuffs, caused him to laugh at himself. + +"Poor girl! Something happened! The New York studio, and the lessons in +painting by that chap with the crazy name blew up and she's had to go +back to work. Sorry! But--by heck--if she wants to take lessons in +painting she shall have a chance some day if I have to teach her myself! +Wonder what happened to the old lady's bank roll? Must have been +something unexpected. Hard luck! Will I go to Easton? By the first train +unless they've got an aeroplane service!" + +At an early hour on the following forenoon Jimmy stood outside a shop in +the fashionable quarter of Easton and read the neat sign: + + The Elite Confectionery will occupy these premises Dec. 10th. + Fittings and decorations being done by Merthyn Cabinet Co. + +Eagerly he advanced to the open door through which the sounds of +industrious hammering and sawing issued, and paused for a moment to +admire the growing interior. + +"She's going to have a nice place, all right," he thought. "It's +harmonious and strictly first class. That's the way to do it." + +He spoke to a man who was polishing some newly laid tile, who replied, +"Mrs. Sturgis? I think she's in her office. It's straight back through +the door. She was there a minute ago, with her daughter." + +Not Mercury of the winged heels advanced more swiftly than did Jimmy +Gollop, nor was Mercury's heart ever fluttering so gladly. In a +disorderly little office, plainly make-shift for the time being, sat the +proprietress whom he instantly recognized as "Mrs. Sturgis, formerly of +Lansing," and at a littered table beside her, checking up a collection +of bills, sat a redheaded girl wearing glasses and whose honest face was +illuminated by a friendly grin showing fine teeth, but who Jimmy +remembered as one always to be seen behind the counter in Lansing. + +"I hope you remember me too, Mr. Gollop," she said, after he had +automatically shaken hands with her mother. "I'm Nellie Sturgis. The one +you used to call 'Sturgis Number Two,'" and the friendly simper she gave +him was about as welcome as a punctured tire in a road race. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +Had Jim Gollop kept a diary, the entries for certain dates might have +ran thus: "Friday: Stood all day in front of Martha Putnam Hotel, +waiting for Candy Girl to come in or out. Very observant small boys in +neighborhood, and policeman who begins to suspect. No luck. + +"Saturday: Stood all day in front of Martha Putnam hotel, waiting for +Candy Girl to come in or out. Small boys a nuisance. Policeman asked me +if I'd lost anything in that neighborhood. No luck. + +"Sunday: Stood all day in front of Martha Putnam hotel waiting for Candy +Girl to come in or out. Boys not so bad. New cop asks questions. Gave +new cop a five. + +"Monday: Got to Martha Putnam early, and at ten o'clock saw taxi arrive +and ducked across street, and----" + +He never could have written the rest of it; for from the taxi there +descended a young lady who handed a light suit case to the porter, asked +him to pay the bill, and would have entered the Martha Putnam had she +not discovered a man nearly blocking her path, with an extended hand, +and with an ingratiating smile on his face, who said, "How lucky to meet +you just as I was about to leave. How are you?" + +The policeman on the corner grinned, pulled his mustache, winked at +himself, jingled the change in his pocket left from that grateful five, +and then swung up his hand to caution the taxi driver as the latter +turned into the cross street. + +"You're a nice one, I must say," she remarked, half petulantly. "You +might at least have dropped me a note to ask how I am getting along, and +whether I am industrious, and all that rot! But did you? No! You took me +to the horse show, and back to the hotel, and then vanished as if you +had withdrawn yourself into your musty old shell!" + +It was on the very tip of his tongue to tell her there on the street of +his long days and nights of hope and fear, of his terrible remissness of +memory, and of his desperation; but he checked himself in time and +expostulated, "I did write you!" and then, his moment of honesty +passing to the tortuous ways of diplomacy asked, "Didn't you get the +letter?" And he inquired as sincerely as if he did not already know that +this was an impossibility because he had not addressed it to her real +name, whatever that might be. + +"No," she said, "I didn't." But he saw by her glance of indignation +toward the hotel entrance that she believed someone therein remiss, and +credited him with thoughtfulness. His spirits raised and he was himself +once more, fencing as best he might for an opening. + +"Well, it doesn't matter, now that I've found you," he said with such +profound gladness in his voice that it caused her to glance at him, half +bewildered, and half curiously, and then to play her own part, as if to +prevent him from betraying too much. + +"I've been away for three whole days. Went up to visit some friends in +Montreal. Had a glorious time. Had my first lesson in skating and----But +tell me, how long shall you be here in town?" + +He was swiftly depressed by the recollection that already he had +overstayed his time by a whole day, and must at the latest depart that +night or--resign his job! A job without her was nothing. She without a +job an impossibility! He bowed to necessity and said, almost somberly, +"I've got to pull out to-night. I must! I've been here now for three +days, most of the time right here in front of----" and then flushed like +an embarrassed boy, checked himself, and was immediately glad that she +did not seem to notice his unfinished sentence. + +"Well, then, this whole day is yours," she said, gayly. "First of all, +come in until I run upstairs a moment. You can wait in the reception +room. Second, I'm gorgeously, terribly, awfully hungry, and you can take +me somewhere to lunch, or if you wish to call it so--breakfast. Thirdly, +you can then think over what we can do. I refuse to go to Jorgensen's +this day. It's been rather a poky all-work and no-play time for me ever +since you were here and--come inside. I shan't be more than five +minutes. You dear old thing! You are an oasis in the desert and I'm as +happy to see you as if I had never had a friend on earth!" + +He was too stupefied with delight to take advantage of her temporary +absence to conduct adroit inquiries at the desk. Indeed, he was drugged +with happiness, and sat like a big half-embarrassed, half-dreaming +youth, twirling his hat in his hands, pulling off and putting on his +gloves, and tracing patterns with his stick on the carpet until she +reappeared, and then he was strangely lacking in self-confidence and +readiness. + +He took her to one of the best uptown restaurants for breakfast and she +ate with an appetite that pleased him, giving, as it did, evidence of +glorious health. And then came his second fortunate moment of the day. + +"I'd tell you a secret, Mr. Sobersides," she said with a brisk little +laugh, "if I wasn't a little bit afraid you'd give me away to Mamma, You +know how horribly conventional she is--and--and it's only lately that I +came to think one could trust you with a secret of this sort." + +"Secrets," he assured her with a grin, "are my specialty. Secrets. Why +it's my business to know secrets!" + +"All right! Here goes!" she said, leaning toward him and displaying a +mischievous smile. "You remember I told you I intended to have a studio +of my own? Well, Mother set her foot down on it as if I had invited her +to share partnership in a snake. Oh, you should have heard her. You +know how she can freeze one out! She said that if I thought she would +permit me to become one of a crowd of mongrel Bohemians and such, she +would drag me off to the Wilmarths' with her, or cancel all painting +lessons, or--Honestly! I think she threatened to have me sent to an +Orphans' Home, or a hospital for the feeble minded. Well, I'm twenty-two +years old, and Mamma doesn't seem to know it yet. Also, I'm able to take +care of myself, and to have an idea of what I want. I'm going to be a +painter, Jorgensen himself says I have talent, and between you and me, +my sketches were the only ones done by his pupils that caused the +critics to say much at his last exhibition. They gave me a quarter of a +column and all the other girls together got a paragraph. Wasn't it +lovely? So I'm going to have a studio of my own, and that's the secret! +Understand?" + +"Not quite," he admitted. + +"Stupid! Don't you see, Mamma mustn't know I have one, and so no one +else must, either. Honestly, you're the only one within the charmed +circle up to now. Listen! I've taken a studio in MacDougall alley under +the name of Mary Allen. No one must know but what a real Mary Allen +really has that studio. Down Acre I'm going to be Mary Allen and no one +else. Now don't you start in to shake your head and look shocked." + +It dawned on him that this to him was like an anchor to a ship adrift. +He was in the conspiracy! He was participant in a location and a name! +He leaned back and laughed softly with exultation which she mistook for +amused support. + +"I swear to you," he said, lifting his right hand with mock solemnity, +"that as long as you have the lease on this place, wherever it is, I +shall know you only as Mary Allen! I shall write you there as Mary +Allen! I shall send cards and flowers to Mary Allen! And I hereby +solemnly swear never to divulge to anyone, even the queen's torturers, +who Mary Allen is, that she is any other than Mary Allen, a poor +struggling artist who lives by work on pickles, jam, and paté de foie +gras! Is that oath enough?" + +"Good," she responded, gleefully. "First rate! All we need to complete +the plot is some perfectly absurd title for you, and we have it +complete. How would Percival St. Clair do?" + +"Make it Bill Jones, the Pirate, and I'll agree!" he declared. + +"Bill Jones, Pirate, you are henceforth," she laughed. "Just fancy you, +of all people, leading a double life under the name of Bill Jones!" and +again she laughed so merrily that he joined in without reserve. +Fortunately there was none near save a staid old waiter to criticize +their freedom, and of him they were unaware. + +He was still desirous, however, of inducing her to betray her real name, +and so rather adroitly asked, "But I can't see why you didn't take the +lease under your own name. Surely this town is big enough so that all +leases aren't published, or if so, it seems a safe bet that your mother +never would read them daily. Why not under your own name?" + +"There you go, spoiling the sport!" she declared. "Do you know where +MacDougall Alley is? No? Well, I'll tell you. It's but a little way west +of Washington Square, is a blind alley in an old section, and is now one +of the best studio districts in New York. It's so famous that every once +in so often it is written up by enterprising special writers, and I have +seen pictures of it and its studios and frequent comments on the work +being done there by this or that artist or sculptor. So you see that, +sooner or later, Mamma would certainly hear of it if I used my own name. +That's the reason for Mary Allen!" + +"And for Bill Jones. Don't forget that low-browed ruffian, Bill Jones, +the pirate of the piece," he replied, secretly baffled, but outwardly +amused. + +Thinking it over afterward, Jimmy frequently wondered what ever became +of that wonderful day. He was assured that he had met the Candy Girl at +ten o'clock in the forenoon, and that he had bade her good-by in front +of the Martha Putnam Hotel at four fifteen, leaving himself not one +second to spare for reaching the railway station and by mathematical +computation that meant that he had been with her for six hours and +fifteen minutes; but as far as his sense of ecstasy was involved, that +day was certainly no longer than an hour in length. He recalled that she +took him to a private picture exhibit and that he was hopeful that her +signature on some of her work would give him knowledge of her name; but +that these were all signed with a funny little character rather than +with a name or initials; that he challenged her to show him the +published criticisms of her work, and that she again baffled him, +unwittingly, by declaring that she would mail them to him, and then +later decided that it was immodest to boast and would show them to him +only after she had repeated her success and felt her reputation +established. + +Looking into the doorway of the Pullman he saw two other commercial +travelers whom in other days he would have joyously rushed forward to +greet, glad of good companionship. Time and again he had altered his +route that he might journey with them; but now he withdrew through the +corridor into the adjoining sleeper, hailed the Pullman conductor and +exchanged his berth for a stateroom in another car whither he retired, +shut and locked the door, and sat down like a man in a dream. He craved +privacy that he might be alone to review that wonderful day and dream. +Furthermore, the complexities of his situation had been augmented by her +last and hastily uttered caution just before he had parted with her: +"I'm going to take Dad into my confidence the first time he comes to New +York where I can talk with him--or possibly I may do so by letter. But +don't you say anything to him when you see him. You might upset things. +I wrote him that you took me to the Horse Show, and--well--he replied +rather oddly, it struck me! And--see here, I may as well tell you +something! Dad doesn't like you. You see, he doesn't know you as well as +I do. Mother's all right but--If I were you I'd steer clear of Dad +until--I'm going to have a talk with him! You know how obstinate he can +be, and--He once said that you lived in a universe that had no stars and +but one sun, and that this single sun was yourself. Keep away from Dad!" + +His surmise that she was the daughter of a widow had thus been upset. It +was the first time he had been made aware that her father was alive. +Henceforth he must be circumspect with every male customer on his list +except jobbers and wholesalers. Any one of them might be the father of +Mary Allen, concealing a profound disapproval or active dislike. His +only hope was that this inimical one would betray his identity by +reference to the Horse Show! + +He was unaware that daylight had given way to dark, that the lights were +on, and that he was still staring blankly out of the window until the +steward from the dining car tapped on his door and asked if he wished +supper. + +"Yes, served in here," he replied, and so continued that pleasant +process of review and unpleasant consideration of obstacles. Not the +least ground for his happiness was the certainty that at last she did +have some name by which he could address her and a permanent address, +and--he liked that name, Mary Allen! + +When he arrived at the hotel in Media City he discovered a strange air +of depression in the demeanor of the porters, bellboys and clerks until +he signed his name, when the ice thawed to a noticeable degree. + +"What's the matter here?" he demanded of the girl behind the desk. "Am I +no longer popular around this caravanserai?" + +"You are, Mr. Gollop," she replied with a laugh, "but the truth is that +since there are two of you we have to act cautiously until we find out +which one of you it is! Here, boy! Show Mr. Gollop up to sixty-one." + +"I thought it was you, sir," said the boy with a grin that was at least +unrestrained. "I offered to bet it was you, and not that old stiff what +looks like you." + +"Hello, Jim. Glad to see you again," said the manager, appearing in his +private office door. "Since that last trip of yours your double has been +here twice. First time everybody called him 'Jimmy,' and I had to +apologize again. Since then we've all been rather shy." + +"Oh, you mean that judge, eh? Pleasant old party, isn't he!" + +"Pleasant and palatable as castor oil mixed with asafetida," replied the +manager with a scowl. "But see here, Jimmy, he cuts considerable ice +here in this state. Don't forget that. And he doesn't like you at all, +at all. What he said when I explained that there was a drummer named +Gollop who looked like him wasn't flattering to you or to my sense of +observation. Seemed to take it as an insult. Said you should be kept out +of this state. Called you an impertinent ass." + +Jimmy looked prodigiously hurt for a moment, and was then rather angry. + +"Shucks! That's no way to act," he declared. "I can't help how I look +any more than he can. I reckon that either of us, or at least it goes as +far as I'm concerned, would change his looks if he could. If I had my +way I'd be as pretty as a cinema star and twice as soulful. Anyhow, I'd +look as different from that Judge as I possibly could. His face and +disposition would raise storm waves on a lake if it were filled with +glue. And he'd better look out! If he thinks he can run around this end +of my territory knocking me everywhere he goes I'll give him something +to talk about. I tried to be a good fellow with him, and--well!--I'm +just as sore as he is!" + +The manager shook his head solemnly and rubbed his chin as if recalling +really unpleasant recollections. + +"Don't blame you," he sympathized. "He's a pompous buck, all right. He's +out to get the Republican nomination for the governorship. Papers all +mention him regularly now. And the nomination in this state's just about +as good as the election. That's a cinch. He's a standpatter of the +gilt-edged variety. The only issue on which he hasn't shot his mouth off +is on votes for women. Nobody quite knows how he stands on that issue, +because he keeps dumb as an oyster on that point. But--I'm telling you +all this so you can see that in a way it's unlucky you look so much +alike." + +"Good Lord!" declared Jimmy. "He ought to be mighty thankful he does +look like me. I'm a help, not a hindrance, to his campaign, if he had +sense enough to know it. Besides, as far as I can reason, politics isn't +of much more importance to the average individual than a rather pleasant +and easy dose of medicine he has to take about once every four years and +from which he never expects any benefit." + +"Not so in this state," asserted the manager. "If you think there's no +interest in politics here, you'll find out differently before you make +your territory. Politics? It's all anyone will think of or talk about +for the next six weeks!" + +"Politics may come and go, but chocolate runs forever!" declared Jim +with a wag of his finger, and then as the door blew open letting in a +draft of cold air, "Say, looks blizzardish, doesn't it?" + +"If we don't get four feet of snow within the next two days we'll be +lucky," grumbled the manager. "Last winter at this time half the +railways were blocked, and for eighteen hours the mails couldn't get +through." + +"Cheerful, merry cuss you are!" retorted Jimmy. "You certainly do fill +everyone you meet chuck full of hope and bright thoughts. Just the same, +I don't care to be snow bound here. But I think neither snow nor +politics will bother me at all." + +All of which proved him a bad prophet, as he learned within the next +forty-eight hours; for both snow and politics did enter into his +affairs, first because it snowed as if intent on smothering the earth, +and second, because every woman with whom he dealt insisted on bringing +up the subject of national suffrage for women, even the discussion of +chocolates being for the time relegated to a secondary place. + +"I traveled through the middle west after a drought; was on the coast +when they fought free silver; was in the northwest when it campaigned +for the referendum; in Wisconsin when they fought cigarettes and in +Maine when the original thirsty population tried to upset the +prohibition law; but of all places I've been in, and all campaigns I've +been through the outskirts of, this woman's vote thing here has the rest +looking friendly, peaceful and uninteresting!" he said to himself after +the second day. "I suppose women go to the polls in Heaven, and +according to reports it's a pretty well run sort of place, so maybe it'd +work down here." + +His soliloquy was brought to an end by the appearance of a bell boy +bearing a telegram. It was from his firm. + + "Go Yimville Saturday attend court proceedings re discharge of + Intermountain General Supply Company from bankruptcy Roncavour. + Matador our attorney Wetherby Carmen." + +He sat down on the edge of his sample case and said aloud, "Well, if +that isn't rotten luck! What in the deuce does Roncavour mean?" + +He rummaged through his grip and found the firm's code book and +interpreted therefrom, "'Important to show courtesy for future business +relations when credit fully restored.' And 'Matador' means 'Introduce +yourself to' and 'Carmen' means 'Have notified him you are coming.'" + +"Me the diplomat!" said Jimmy with a sigh, now opening a time table. And +again he was not particularly happy, because Yimville was a mountain +town up in another county, and the sole train he could take with any +degree of comfort was one that would land him at his destination at one +o'clock. A returning passenger train at 4:30 in the evening would bring +him back to his junction but it meant the loss of an entire day. It was +strange how much more important time had become to him--that is--how +much keener he was to return to New York at the earliest possible +moment. He had even begun the formation of a scheme whereby he had hoped +to steal two whole days out of his trip, and that, too, without the +knowledge of his firm. Such things have been done now and then by +gentlemen of the road. + +"The only thing that can save me from going up there is for the snow to +fall twice as fast," said Jimmy, and looked hopefully out through the +window of the sample room. The outside air was filled with big, gently +falling flakes, and already the street was deeply paved by its heavy +blanket. Groups of boys released from school were pelting one another +gleefully, and Jimmy observed that the snow on the pavement was already +high enough to cover their knees. A big electric sweeper was struggling +to keep the tram lines clear. Down past the corner he could glimpse a +tiny section of a park. The trees therein were like white pyramids, +their branches bending heavily beneath the weight. On the roof of the +building opposite the hotel a mass of telephone wires, each with its +little drift piled up as if the air had been rendered motionless, was +being scrutinized by a lineman on whose legs were spurs for climbing +poles. The man appeared to be quite anxious. Jimmy's spirits rose +bouyantly, finding in each view some hopeful sign. + +"Of course they'll keep the main railways open," he remarked, "and if it +blocks these branch lines I can have a good excuse for not going up +there. And it'll be all the better if the wires to Yimville fall down, +because it'll back up the account of the storm that I'll hand in as an +explanation why I didn't go. It's a good old world, after all!" + +Indeed he passed a happy evening, playing billiards with another drummer +who was a very good cue, and went hopefully to bed. He awoke hopefully, +and through his bedroom window saw that the snow was still falling and +that it was deep. Very deep! At the breakfast table the headlines of the +morning paper announced that traffic was disorganized for the time +being, and that the wires in many directions were down. Also that by +strenuous efforts and the aid of relays of snow plows the main lines of +railways had been kept open, although timetables were slightly +confused. And then after smoking his morning cigar and exchanging jokes +with anyone who looked pleasant and happy, he inquired at the desk as to +the possibilities of reaching Yimville. + +He loitered and whistled and hummed while the clerk phoned to the +station. + +"All right," said the clerk, smiling as if bestowing glad news. "Line up +that way will be clear by noon. Wires are down, but that doesn't matter +to you, I know. You're still in luck!" + +Jimmy's hopes went smash, and resignedly he turned away. He was in for +it, and was too conscientious to deliberately lie to his firm about the +impossibility of getting through. Promptly on time for his train he was +at the station and checked his baggage through to the "next jump," thus +relieving himself of impediments on this diplomatic side step of his to +Yimville. He boarded the train, but finding no one who looked very +approachable, and feeling eager for companionship, walked through its +entire length of three coaches, without discovering a single person he +had ever seen. Indeed, the coaches were nearly empty, as if traffic +were badly disrupted. The train caught up with a snow plow working +through great drifts in a cutting, and had to wait Jimmy got out and +watched proceedings with great interest. There was something fascinating +about the way those two locomotives drew back and then charged the snow +drifts furiously, and stirred up a miniature storm of white. Also, the +storm had ceased, and once the sun broke through for a few minutes. +Jimmy was glad for this, because now that a storm could no longer work +in his favor, he preferred everything to clear up. Sunshine fitted his +temperament. It was a good old sun, after all! + +He did not even complain when his train arrived at Yimville a full hour +late. He had never been there before. It was a pretty place, he thought, +with its white hills all around it, and its red station under a roof +that looked to be made of white stuff three feet in thickness, and a +town omnibus with fat driver who waddled importantly, and a half dozen +loafers drawling comments. He was the sole passenger to descend and was +starting toward the omnibus when accosted by a man in a full coat who +said, "This way, sir. Mr. Wetherby couldn't come to meet you, as he is +makin' a talk up there now. We wasn't any too sure you'd get here, on +account of this plaguey snow fall, but he sent me down to make sure that +if you did you'd get to the court house on the jump. Right around the +corner of the depot is our old bob sled." + +"That was decent of Wetherby. Hadn't expected to be met. Good old +Wetherby!" said Jimmy, climbing into the rear seat of the sleigh and +pulling a comfortable lap robe around his legs. A ripping team of bays, +sturdy, and eager to be off, fully occupied the driver's attention. The +sleigh bells sang a tune to thrill the blood. The steam from the horses' +nostrils blew out in regular spurts, ending in rhythmic and quickly +dissipating clouds. Jimmy Gollop enjoyed it all, and was glad he had +come. He leaned back and admired the road that stretched for a mile and +a half between the railway station and town. + +"Some town!" commented Jimmy with enthusiasm born of delight in +admiration for clean, well kept, modern houses. "And--Hello!--Pretty +good little stores, too. And there's certain to be a town square. Whole +town looks on it of course. Always that way in county seats. Square, +court house in the middle, lot of trees. Hitching posts, maybe, with a +chain around the square. Lot of farmer's teams tied there. Some place, +all right!" + +And his predictions were not far wrong, as was proven when the horses +came jingling out into the streets facing the square, the court house, +and the teams tied to the hitching posts. There were many of them, the +horses blanketed and unblanketed, drowsing where they stood. There were +stores and shops with a few pedestrians moving about their business--a +sleepy panorama of winter life in a nice, clean, comfortable little +town. + +The sleigh halted with a flourish in front of the court house steps and +two men rushed out as if astonished, then hastened to solicitously +welcome Jimmy, who was somewhat puzzled by their demeanor. + +"Mighty glad to see you, Judge!" declared the one who first clutched his +hand. "They told us down at the station that the railroad up to +Princetown from Media City was completely blocked. So we had given you +up. But you can see how interested in what you have to say the folks +around Yimville are when you get inside. Yes siree! Got the court house +full. Seems as if we had every farmer from forty miles around here, +and----" he stopped and chuckled loudly--"every farmer's wife and every +spinster! The women are certainly mighty anxious to know how you stand +on votes for 'em! Talk about home industries for the men, and the usual +bunk about protective tariff, but--go easy about national votes for +women, Judge!--Go easy. The men folks don't want it and they dassn't say +so for fear they'll get hit over the head with a maul or a fryin' pan at +home. Get me? If you say yes, that you're a woman's righter out and out, +you'll secretly lose the men's votes, but catch the women's. If you say +you're against 'em, Judge, it's most likely you're a plumb goner because +the women'll vote against you, and all the men that's for it'll vote +against you, and all them that dassn't do anything without askin' +permission from their wives'll hop you, and others won't count. So go +easy, Judge! Go easy! Keep on the fence as if you were a rooster that +had got frozen on the top rail. Bend a little this way and a little +that, so's to make both sides think you're for 'em. Say a heap that +means nothin' at all! Hurry up. They're waitin'!" + +At first Jimmy was half-paralyzed by misunderstanding. Next he was +half-hypnotized by the voluble man's stream of rapid talk. Then his eye +wandered to a big sign on a board wired up to a pillar of the court +house entrance, where he read: + +"GRAND PUBLIC RALLY! The distinguished Jurist, Hon. James +Woodworth-Granger, Judge of the Fourth District Court of Princetown, +will on Saturday, December 1st, address the voters of Yimville on the +issues of the campaign. TURNOUT! TURNOUT! and hear our next governor on +vital issues for the state welfare. COME ONE! COME ALL! EVERY MAN AND +WOMAN WELCOME! Time 2 o'clock P. M. sharp! Place, County Court House. +DON'T FORGET!" + +He digested this in a flash, and comprehended the situation. +"But--but--" he said, "Wetherby was to settle that affair of the +Intermountain General Supply Company to-day and----" + +"Oh, that was settled this forenoon, Judge," soothingly explained the +other welcomer. "Court got it out of the way so's the court room could +be open for the speech making this afternoon. Hello! Hear 'em? That's +the Yimville Silver Comet Band. Bill--I mean Mister Perry--has given the +band the tip you've got here. Come on! Now's the time!" + +Any man less jocular, less nimble witted, and self-possessed than Mr. +James Gollop, would have then and there declared himself, and his +identity; but Mr. James Gollop's wits and humor, running in team and +usually at a gallop, were now racing like lightning. It was too late to +be a diplomat in behalf of his firm's future business with the +Intermountain people; and this boob of a country judge, pompous, slow, +egotistical, had been carrying a hatchet for one Jim Gollop ever since +he had suffered through the peculiar likeness to this unmentionable +candy drummer and--Jimmy suddenly grinned, buttoned his coat, cleared +his throat and in ponderous dignity bent stiffly forward and said, "I am +here! I am at your disposal! It will afford me great pleasure to express +my views to such an attentive audience. Let us make haste!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +The distinguished Judge, as impersonated by that rank and, for the +moment, highly irresponsible, drummer, was led up a broad flight of +stone stairs and two men opened two big green baize doors in front of +him. The Silver Cornet Band played "See the Conquering Hero" with so +much zest that trombones cracked, clarionets made frantic goose-notes +and the cornets sounded as if made of anything other than silver. The +commodious court room was, despite the outer inclemency of road and +weather, packed with men and women who stood up and yelled a welcome +that for the moment dazed the impostor; but he recovered his nerve and +mischievousness instantly, and no actor ever fell into his part more +completely than did he. The Judge was ponderous, but Jimmy went him one +better. The Judge "threw a chest" when he had an audience, but Jimmy +swelled until his buttons strained. The Judge walked like the late +Henry Irving playing Mathias in The Bells, but Jimmy's feet dragged far +more lugubriously. Jimmy had observed that the Judge assumed what is +known as the "grave judicial" or otherwise "frozen face," and he +therefore looked as much like a wooden image as was possible. Not +immortal Caesar dead and turned to clay could have looked more claylike, +for Jimmy looked like a whole brickyard. He moved austerely up the main +aisle, now and then giving to right and left an imitation of the Judge's +peculiarly stiff and condescending bow, mounted the platform, +patronizingly shook hands with those thereon who hastened to greet him, +and then, when the band subsided for want of wind, advanced to the front +of the stage and was about to speak when he remembered the Judge's +procedure and deliberately buttoned his coat, shot his cuffs, barked a +stentorian "Ahem!" and poured himself a glass of water which he drank +with almost painful deliberation, still affecting the Judge's +mannerisms. + +"Fellow citizens, I stand before you this afternoon," began Jimmy, in +the hush, "first to apologize for my delay in reaching your welcoming +and friendly greetings which, as you who have traveled so far on this +momentous occasion, may appreciate as being unavoidable. Knowing that +you would be here regardless of winter's snows and winds to hear me +expound my views, I can assure you that had it been necessary to come on +snow shoes to prevent your loyalty to me from being in vain, I should +have made the attempt, and perhaps like the youth who cried 'Excelsior,' +might last have been seen plodding through the shades of night into your +Alpine fastness, still striving to reach you." + +Unwittingly he had made a flattering allusion to the locality, whose +residents firmly believed it a rival of the Alps in scenic glories and +hence he was well applauded. + +"Didn't know the Judge was such a good campaigner," whispered one of the +local politicians to his neighbor. + +"That's the mush for 'em," assented the other. + +Mr. James Gollop, beginning to feel more thoroughly at home, was now +thinking with ease and adroitness. Needless to note that he was mentally +grinning. + +"Inasmuch as I arrived so unavoidably late, and that the early darkness +of winter renders the roads so difficult for those who have long +journeys to make, I shall somewhat curtail the remarks I have in mind," +he said, pompously, and took another long drink of water. + +"The great issue before the nation to-day, my fellow citizens, is Tariff +Reform." And then he drawled and droned through a lot of stock arguments +familiar to every man, woman and child in America, but in the meantime +kept a furtive eye on the clock at the end of the court room, and +gleefully observed that the afternoon was waning, and that outside it +threatened an early twilight, intensified by a new fall of snow. He +decided that it was time to get in his precious work of assisting the +Judge's campaign with the final straws. + +"Now, my friends," he said, confidentially and observing that his +audience was growing restless, "I have given you the customary platform +remarks concerning tariff and free trade; but I feel that I am in the +hands of my friends, so I shall tell you that personally it doesn't +matter a hang to me whether we have free trade or protection or tariff +reform, or any of that wash!" + +A bomb shell dropped from a Zeppelin could have had but little more +effect. Everyone sat up and gasped; particularly the two or three local +politicians on the platform who half arose from their seats to protest. + +"All I care about, to tell the honest truth," said the ingenious Jimmy, +"is to get elected to the fat job of governing this state. It pays well, +and I, as well as you, are aware that in addition there are some few +pickings and perquisites which are well worth having." + +Somebody in the audience cried, "Shame! Shame!" and a few more hissed; +but Jimmy quelled the rising storm by holding up his hand for silence. + +"Listen and have patience, My Friends!" he appealed, oracularly. "Other +candidates from time immemorial have come to you with a lot of talk, but +I am the first one who has ever dared to be honest with you. Isn't that +true?" + +Some of his party adherents, doing their best to uphold him to the last, +loudly assented, and yelled, "Give the Judge a chance to finish! Let him +finish!" + +In tense silence and expectancy they settled back in their seats. + +"Politics are to me like the law," he said, thoughtfully. "All bunkum! A +man comes to a lawyer to get a tiny agreement drawn that if he had the +brains of a cow he could draw just as well himself. The lawyer looks +profoundly intellectual, terribly wise, considerably puzzled as if this +document might require a further course in a law school to be able to +handle, and so forth, but I tell you, My Friends, that down in his +innermost mind all he is thinking is, 'How much can I get out of this +gazabo for this simple little job?' and then he taps the poor victim for +all he thinks the latter will stand, pockets the fee, and after his +client has gone, hands a memorandum to a four-dollar-a-week clerk and +says, 'Jones, fill up a contract form with that stuff and mail it to +this John Doe person in Squashville.'" + +The crowd by this time was hopelessly divided, some believing the orator +facetious, and the others for the first time in their lives having +sympathy with a lawyer and believing they had for the first time met one +who told the truth. + +"Most judges, My Friends, are elected to the bench because their fellow +lawyers think they will prove easy marks after they get there, and not +because they are supposed to be particularly clever in the law. The best +judge is the one that whacks his decisions up so that Lawyer Skinem +wins this week, and Lawyer Squeezehard the next, and Lawyer Gouge the +next, and so on. If he can satisfy the lawyers he becomes renowned, and +as far as the litigants are concerned, they don't matter at all. If they +had any sense they wouldn't resort to the law anyway. Any fool knows +that!" + +Wetherby got up behind him, red faced and angry, to protest, but the +crowd howled him down. And Wetherby, muttering, stormed indignantly out +of the court room. Jimmy observed that he did so by a corner entrance +near at hand and saw through the door that had been left open that it +led into a cloak room and thence out to the street. He noted this with +satisfaction. It increased his daring. Also by now it was getting dusk +and someone turned on the electric lights. + +A tall, angular, mannish sort of woman, raw-boned, shrill, got up in +about the center of the audience, and said, "You've been honest I take +it, in what you said this far. But you don't dast to be honest, I'll +bet, if I ask you a plain out and out question, Mister?" + +"You ask it and see if I'm not," retorted Jimmy combatively. + +"Then what's your honest opinion about votes for women? That's what +interests a lot of us women more than all you've been talking about. +What about general national suffrage, eh?" + +The woman sat down and immediately around her was a group that +vociferously and shrilly applauded, and Jimmy knew at once that this +must be the militant suffragette party of that vicinity in full force +and that it had come to try to put the Judge on record. + +"First," he said, once more assuming great pomposity, "may I ask the +lady who just spoke, whether she does, or does not represent any +authoritative body of women of this grand and noble state?" + +"You should know that, Judge. Don't pretend you don't; because you have +seen me at a dozen meetings before, when I asked the same question and +you hemmed and hawed, and straddled the fence and gave no answer at all +that meant anything at all. You know well enough that I am the President +of the Women's Suffrage Society of this state, and that sooner or later +you've got to answer my question. Are you going to do it to-day, or do +we have to keep following you?" + +Jimmy looked carefully over to a chair at the edge of the stage where, +on his entry, he had deposited his hat and coat despite the invitation +of one of his supposed henchmen to hang them in the cloak room. Almost +involuntarily he edged closer toward that chair before making his reply, +and took time to drink another glass of water. + +"Since that question has been so repeatedly asked, and hitherto, I +admit, evaded, I shall now endeavor to make myself completely, plainly, +and fully understood on that subject," he said, impressively, and waited +until in the silence nothing could be heard save suppressed breathings. + +"As I understand it, I am asked what is my personal opinion concerning +the expediency and the justice of granting women of majority age the +right of franchise in both national as well as state elections. Am I +right?" + +"That's it, precisely," came the voice of the woman who had asked the +question, and there was a considerable note of triumph in her tone as if +at last she had run her fox to earth. + +"Then I say," said Jimmy, slowly, and emphatically, "that it is my +honest opinion that women should do as their mothers before them did, +stay home, work, and raise their families and keep out of politics. +Stop! Stop! Let me say what I have to say! I can't make myself heard if +you hiss and yell!" + +Some of them were on their feet. Some of the men applauded. Most of the +women hissed; but they slowly settled back to hear him conclude. + +"I say that a large majority--a very large majority!--of women don't +know enough about politics to vote, and that a big percentage haven't +brains enough to vote intelligently for a town dog catcher! And that if +I had my way any woman who wanted to vote would be arrested and given +six months in an imbecile asylum!" + +And then, before anyone could surmise his intention, and in the midst of +a wild pandemonium of noise he made a jump for his hat and coat, took a +flying leap for the cloak room door, jumped through, bolted it on the +inside, and like a flash was out in the street. The noise from the court +room he had left behind sounded as if a riot had broken loose. There +were shouts, screams, yells, and sundry intimations that a certain part +of Yimville's population wanted either his scalp, or to decorate him +with tar and feathers. A boy driving a delivery wagon reduced to sleigh +runners was passing by and Jimmy hastily waylaid him. + +"Sonny," he said, "I'm in a hurry to get to the railway station to catch +the four-thirty train. I've got just five minutes and if you make it for +me, you get a five dollar bill." + +That boy was a genius of finance. He lost small time in making a +decision. + +"Hop in, Mister. We'll make it or have a runaway!" + +But short as was the delay, it had given time for the crowd in the court +house to fairly heave itself into the street. And foremost in the lot +charged a tall, angular woman, screaming to her followers, "Come on! +Come on! Don't let him get away!" + +The boy brought his reins down on the horse's back with a loud thwack +and let out a yell for speed. The horse jumped like a sprinter taking +off the tape and it was then that the large angry woman who headed the +militant section of the state league, seeing that pursuit was futile, +found a pile of bricks conveniently left by some repairer and with +rather perfect aim let a chunk fly at the retreating orator. It caught +him neatly in its passage and although it barely grazed him, nearly +knocked him from his seat. + +"Wow!" he shouted. "That was a close one!" and then rubbing his scalp, +burst into roars of delighted laughter as the mob was left behind. "That +woman ought to get out of the bush league and pitch for the New Yorks! +Who said a woman could never throw a brick?" + +The boy, intent on earning the five, was on his feet and bending over +the dash board exhorting his horse into a run. The improvised sleigh was +careening madly as it took corners and an occasional bump, and in the +last glimpse Jimmy had of the court house square it looked as if a hive +of human beings had begun to swarm, or else that a nest of hornets had +been so badly disturbed that its occupants were undecided whither to +direct their stings. He looked hopefully forward as the station came in +sight, expecting to see the train standing there panting after its +previous run; but no train was in sight He began to speculate on which +way he could turn to escape the tempest of wrath he had aroused in case +he had missed the train. He doubted if he could induce the boy to take +him to the nearest town, and moreover, had no idea of the distance. +Also he doubted if he could escape a mob there, provided the news got +through. For once in his life he began to doubt the wisdom of practical +jokes. + +The boy brought the horse up skating on its heels, by throwing his full +weight back on the lines and shouting pacifyingly "Whoa-a-a! Who-oa, +Bill!" + +Jimmy leaped, out on the platform shouting, "Wait right there, son, till +I get some change. I think we're in time and--anyhow, you get the +fiver!" + +He ran into the station and, finding the window closed, opened the +office door. A placid, disinterested young man wearing an eyeshade, who +was sitting with his feet on a window desk and reading a novel, looked +up at him and said, "Well?" + +"Has that four-thirty train gone through?" demanded Jimmy, anxiously. + +"Sixteen? Naw! She's off the map as far as I know." + +Jimmy's spirits ebbed like mercury in a typhoon. + +"And--when will the next train come through?" he asked, striving to +speak calmly. + +"The next train? That'll be a freight. It's due now from Morgan City. +But you won't go on that?" + +"Why?" questioned Jimmy, grasping at straws. + +"Two reasons. One that she doesn't carry passengers, and the other that +she doesn't stop here at all. Just whistles up there by the tank, and +goes lobbin' along on her way." + +"But--but couldn't you stop her in case of emergency?" asked Jimmy, +feeling like a petitioner. + +"Only thing I could stop her for would be on an order from the train +despatcher," said the agent, with a grin of sympathy. "I'm not the owner +of the line, you know. They don't thank me for stoppin' heavy freights +on an upgrade such as they have to climb to get through here, just to +ask 'em how the weather is where they come from, or what time it is, or +to send a message to the engineer's beautiful daughter. Guess you'll +have to wait for Number Sixteen, Mister, or, if you're in too big a +hurry, hoof it. It's only eighteen miles to the next stop. Sorry!" + +And then he yawned as if bored, and deliberately resumed his interrupted +reading. Jimmy realized that he was knocking on the locked and unbending +doors of an inexorable fate, and backed out. He went outside and hailed +his rescuer, who had found a piece of gum that he was extricating from +some wrappings that indicated a rather dirty pocket. + +"Son, my brave youth, how far, I beseech thee, is it to the nearest town +from here?" Jimmy asked. + +"On a railroad?" queried the boy, biting off the tip end of the stick of +gum and testing its flavor. + +"Of course. What good is a town that's not on the railroad?" + +"I guess it's about seven miles to Mountain City up to the north, and +about eleven to Hargus. Hargus is down south." + +Jimmy thought for a moment and then said, winningly, "And do you think +you could drive me with old Bill as far as Mountain City?" + +"Not on your life! Me drive you there? Humph! What's the matter with +Jones? He runs a livery stable. I deliver groceries for the Emporium +and--say! Mister!--if they find out I drove you down here for that five +dollars I ain't got yet, I'd get fired! Now about that five, did you get +change?" + +Jimmy appreciated that boy's business sense and gave him a five dollar +bill that caused the young man much glee. + +"Now," said Jimmy, cajolingly, "if you were to drive me to Mountain +City, and I were to give you ten, and you were to go back to the +Emporium with a letter I would write them when we got to Mountain City, +a letter that would cause them to pat you on the back and maybe make you +a clerk in the store; or if they didn't do that and fired you, and I was +to get you a nice job somewhere in New York, maybe you might find the +way to Mountain City, eh?" + +The boy suddenly stopped masticating, and looked at him doubtfully. +Jimmy assumed his most seductive grin, took his wallet from his pocket +and exposed several bills, and fingered them with something like a +caress. + +"I could find the way all right, and I guess the roads could be got +across somehow, and I'd like to make that money--Gee! I never had that +much in my life! But--somehow it don't look square to treat the Emporium +that way!" + +Suddenly Jimmy was aware of a rumbling and roaring and puffing, and saw +the expected freight train approaching. It whistled at the tank, true to +form, and Jimmy ran across to the edge of the platform as it came +panting along, and stared at it wistfully. He wished that he were expert +in boarding trains, and then, as it passed, decided that it must be +traveling at a rate of at least a hundred miles an hour, although it was +barely doing fifteen. He made a desperate clutch at the rails of the +caboose, felt as if his arm had been jerked from its socket and his +heels into the air, and then found himself sitting in the middle of the +track with his hat some ten or fifteen feet away and a cooling mixture +of snow and cinders up his trousers legs. He got up, felt himself over +to learn that he was unbroken, and recovered his hat. + +"By gee whiz!" he exclaimed. "Never knew it was so hard to hop aboard +one of those things before. Hoboes have it on me all right! My +education's been neglected." + +His solicitous friend, the boy, had come to see if there was anything +left of him and said, "Hope you ain't hurted much, Mister? Humph! I +could have caught her all right, I bet you! You don't know how. The +minute you catch hold you want to jump. If you wait you can't do +nothin'. But I'll say you did look funny, all right, with your heels and +your coat tails and your hat all flyin' at onct!" + +"Well, I'm glad I amused you, anyway," said Jimmy, cheerfully. "Now +about going to Mountain City, where were we? Oh, yes! The Emporium. +Would you go if I got their consent--for a ten dollar bill you know?" + +The boy brightened visibly. + +"If you can get old Wade to say I can, you bet I'll go!" said the boy +with marked enthusiasm. "He's got a 'phone, and there's one in the +depot. Ask him!" + +Jimmy hastened inside as fast as his stiffness would permit and was +starting toward the ticket office to make a request for permission to +use the 'phone when he happened to glance through the window looking +toward the street. An arc light had sprung into being, and--he stopped +with a gasp. Down the street was coming a crowd that was evidently in +some haste and he recognized its leader. It was a large, bony woman, who +strode like a man, and Jimmy thought that she carried something in her +hand, something that he surmised might be a selected missile. + +"Good Lord!" he breathed. "If she hit me a clip with a little chunk +before, what'll she do with a full-grown brick? Why, it'd be murder I +I've got to get away from here if I have to steal the horse and kidnap +that boy!" + +Being quick in decision and swift in enterprise, and adaptable to sudden +emergency, he ran back out with great presence of mind and shouted to +the boy, "Come on, son! Get a move on you. Mr. Wade says it's all right +and for you to take me as fast as you can. Let's be off before that +crowd gets here looking for the train." + +The boy barely caught the tail of the sleigh and thus proved that he +might have boarded the train; for Jimmy, not waiting for him, had +clutched the lines and stirred the restless nag to action by a +surreptitious slap with his hand. + +"The shortest road is back the way we come," insisted the boy, as Jimmy +drove the horse recklessly across the end of the platform and into a +road that appeared fortuitously in front of him. + +"But I certainly do like this way best," insisted Jimmy, urging the +horse to speed. "I've always been fond of this road." + +"Well it's a mile outen the way," protested the boy. + +"What's a mile to us, eh? You see it's such a nice clean road and it's +been so well traveled that it's better than--what? Turn to the left you +say? I always thought we went straight ahead here." + +"Straight ahead would take us to the slaughter house," objected his +guide. + +"Oh! I thought the slaughter house was somewhere around the depot," said +Jimmy with a grin at his own joke, which was entirely unappreciated by +the boy. + +The station, with its menace, had by now been left behind in the whirl +of snow, and the heavy dusk of twilight. Jimmy was breathing again, and +cheerful, having escaped the most imminent peril. The horse was loping +steadily up the street as if imbued with the hope of a warm stall in a +warm stable. + +"Turn to the right! The right! That's the way," insisted the boy, and +Jimmy, after a single backward glance to convince him that they had +escaped the mob, said, "Son, I don't know these roads as well as you do. +Maybe it'd be better if you took the lines. But whatever you do, keep +going. Mr. Wade says you are to hurry--that is for the first few miles. +You see, he's afraid old Bill will catch cold if he's not kept moving, +and they tell me that it's an awful thing for a horse to catch cold on a +day like this for the want of exercise. Make him hustle!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +And Bill hustled them through the outskirts of the town, and into a road +that was fairly good going, and out to where snowladen fields and snow +weighted trees were on either hand before Jimmy's compassion swayed him +to suggest that after all there was no very great hurry. + +"I'm sort of glad of that," commented the boy. "Bill's about winded. +He's my friend, and--and I don't like to see him puffin' like that. I'm +right glad you'd just as soon slow down. I was worried about Bill." + +Jimmy thought about Bovolarapus, and then of Bill, and liked that boy. + +"To-night," he said, as he settled himself into his seat, "Bill shall +have a box of chocolate caramels for dinner. And--say! son, are you +cold?" + +"Not much," said the boy, looking up at him with a grin. "Just a little; +but I keep thinking about that fortune I'm to get and that sort of +keeps me warm." + +Jimmy opened his overcoat and gathered his driver inside, and pulled up +the tattered lap robe and said cheerfully, "Sporting life, this, eh?" +But at the same time he was thinking regretfully of his ill-spent +afternoon, and more than ever convinced that jests of a public nature +were not worth while. And yet, in the midst of his personal discomfort, +he did not miss the enjoyment of a chuckle at the thought of what he had +left behind, and that fine harvest which the pompous Judge must reap. In +fact, he began to find a certain pleasure in his adventure; for the snow +stopped, the storm clouds moved restlessly, becoming ever more pallid, +and then the newly risen moon broke through and made all his +surroundings beautiful. + +"The only things I miss," he muttered, "are sleigh bells and--Mary +Allen!" + +"Mary Allen? Who's she?" The voice of the boy disturbed him. + +"Mary Allen," said Jimmy grimly, "is a girl who isn't crazy to vote. She +likes horses. Probably she couldn't throw a brick. I've an idea she +never had a vote, and that if she had one she'd sell it as being the +quickest and easiest way to get rid of it. And--I hope to the Lord that +Mary Allen never visited Yimville before now, because if she hasn't, +I'll do all I can to spare her from ever going there in the future!" + +"I can't seem to remember that haystack over there," said the boy, with +entire irrelevance, "but there's a house with a light in it, and--maybe +we'd best ask if we're on the right road. They'll tell you." + +"Right road? Aren't you sure about it?" asked Jimmy, perturbed. + +"Well, you see, it looks different with all this snow and--better ask +'em in there, I think." + +"You go and ask them." + +"I got ter watch old Bill. He runs away sometimes." + +"I'll hold him. You ask." + +The boy got down and advanced to the house where, after a time, a woman +appeared in response to his rapping and then, to point out the way, came +to the gate and thence to the road. She pointed with an extended arm to +the skyline and gave cautions about land marks at a point where three +roads met. + +"If you'd taken the first road to the left instead of the second to the +right, down below there, you'd have been on the main track; but you're +not more than a half mile out of the way. And----" She stopped, suddenly +bent forward, and peered at Jimmy. "Oh, it's you, is it?" she said with +a toss of contempt. "You that believes women ain't got sense enough to +vote! Oh, I was down to the court house this afternoon and heard you! +And what's more, I can tell you it was mighty good for your precious +hide that they didn't catch you. If I'd known that it was you that +wanted to find the road to Mountain City I'd 'a' bit my tongue off +rather than let it tell you anything at all, you old puffed up smart +Alec! The only truth you ever told in your life, I'll bet, was when you +admitted that all lawyers is a lot of thieves. You, a judge! But let me +tell you that the women will get votes, and that when they do you +couldn't be elected judge at a chicken show. You're a mean-minded pig of +a man with no more manners than a pole cat! That's what the women who +heard you to-day think about you!" + +And with that she turned, banged the gate, and hastened toward her house +where, in turn, she banged the door. Jimmy, who had said never a word, +but had gradually withered into the farthest corner of his seat, said, +"Whew! She likes me all right! I could tell that by what she said." + +"Be you the man that made the speech in the court house?" asked the boy, +as he climbed into the sleigh and started Bill into action. + +"My son," said Jimmy, "I am that very unfortunate man. But you don't +care, do you? You don't give a hang about voting, do you?" + +"Not to-night," admitted the boy. "All I'm thinkin' about is how I'm to +get that ten dollars. It's a lot of money, ten dollars is. And--and," he +looked up at his companion rather speculatively, and added in a burst of +boyish confidence--"I don't think you're so bad as that woman said, +anyhow. I think I like you!" + +Jimmy, feeling for the moment rather friendless, vented a fervent "Lord +bless you, son! We'll keep on being friends." + +It began to seem to Jimmy that he was in for a chapter of accidents and +hardships. A snaffle gave away and they had to get out into the deep +snow and make repairs with fingers that were cold before the operation +was complete. They came to a stretch of unbroken road where the snow +was so deep that he had to climb out and break trail with the drift well +above his knees. + +They toiled along for another mile then Jimmy decided that it was rather +a lonesome place; but philosophized that any place without either a +crowd, or Mary Allen, would be lonesome, and then further cheered +himself with the reflection that if he had Mary Allen with him he +wouldn't miss the crowd, or that if he had a crowd he'd not for a moment +miss Mary Allen, all of which made it rather a cheerful if paradoxical +world. Now that he had escaped the clutches of the irate militants of +Yimville, it wasn't such a bad predicament after all. + +"Hello! What's that?" he exclaimed, sitting up with a jerk, as the boy +pulled the reins and yelled a loud "Whoa, Bill!" + +It seemed as if something had gone awry with the prow of their ship. +They climbed out to investigate. + +"They's a hame strap busted and Bill's loosin' all his furniture," +explained the boy. + +They got Bill's rig off to repair it as best they could. Again their +fingers got cold and their feet got cold, and the air got colder. Bill +was the only one who didn't seem to mind the delay and acted as if he +rather enjoyed a vacation. + +"Now we're off again," said Jimmy, as they resumed their journey. "After +all, breaking a hame strap's nothing. Bill gets extra feed for that. +Anybody that can work hard enough to bust a hame strap has my approval. +I never did. You see, son, it was in a way rather lucky, because I'd +never have guessed what a good old nag Bill is if he hadn't proved it by +snapping that strap! People most always get acquainted through accident. +I certainly made a lot of acquaintances to-day! Also a lot of people got +acquainted with me who might never, never, never have really known just +what I was like!" + +This pleasant reflection occupied his time for another mile, and then +suddenly Bill stumbled, his head went down and his heels flew up, he +seemed to stand on his neck for an instant, and then became a kicking, +obstreperous heap of horse and harness on the snow. + +"Hooray!" shouted Jimmy, again springing into action. "Hooray! I'll sit +on his head, son, while you see how many pieces you can unfasten in his +harness. Keep away from his heels. Tackle his belly band first. That's +the ticket! Now see if you can get the tugs loose. Got 'em? Now stand +back. William, arise!! Whoo-e-e! Come up like baking powder or patent +yeast, don't you, Old Sport? There! There! Steady now. You're all right. +Concentrate your thoughts on food and it'll ease your mind. I've tried +it." + +They restored Bill to his harness and backed him into the shafts. + +"Now everything's all right again," said Jimmy, quite happily. "Just +think what tough luck it would have been if he'd broken his neck. It +doesn't pay to drive a horse with a broken neck. Just a waste of time. +Never buy a horse with a broken neck, son, unless you are in the tallow +business." + +"Bill's all right, but--but--there seems to be somethin' wrong with the +shaft on this side. It wobbles," said the driver. + +Jimmy went around to the other side and inspected it. + +"Humph! Does wobble," he admitted. "It's cracked. However, that's all +right. Just think how bad it would have been if it had broken in two. +Now, as it is, maybe it'll last till we get to Mountain City, and I'll +pay for a new one. You see, partner, all these little things are sent +to try our fortitude and philosophy." + +Again they moved ahead, and Jimmy whimsically homilized that it wasn't +how a shaft looked or felt that counted, but whether it did its work. +"Why, if everybody in this world who is cracked was chucked aside as +useless, I reckon there'd be mighty few folks left to do things," he +insisted. "There'd be milk without crocks, and jobs without men; girls +without sweethearts and churches without bells, son. Being cracked isn't +a sin, it's just being common!" + +"Whoa! Whoa, Bill! She's busted for good now, Mister!" + +The damaged shaft had snapped ominously and the harassed Bill this time +threatened to kick the whole exasperating outfit to kindling wood if his +heels held out long enough to accomplish such a worthy job. + +"I'm getting used to this snow, now; I like it!" asserted Jimmy, as he +again got out to make an inspection. "We folks from Maryland always did +appreciate snow. It makes us understand the general air of chilliness +that seems to hover around New England Yanks. Well, looks as if we'd +have to steal a fence rail somewhere, boy, if we wish to continue this +delightful journey. Ah, there's a nice old stake-and-ridered layout over +there. I always knew they were the best kind of fences for country +roads. They do come in handy, all right. You hold William and explain +things to him while I grab one." + +He waded into a ditch where the snow was waist high, floundered up a +bank, and selected a fairly straight fence rail that would serve his +purpose, and wallowed back with it. Once he fell and got snow up his +sleeves as high as his elbows. + +"Now some folks would swear that was cold and uncomfortable," he +remarked as he shook it out in chunks, "but I like it, because I know +it's clean. It'd be awfully good in a cocktail just about now! Snow? Why +I've known time in a jay town down in Louisiana when I'd have cried with +joy for anything as cool as that to put in even plain water. 'We never +appreciate our blessings till we get 'em,' as the Mormon said just +before his seventeen wives swung him up on the limb of a tree." + +For a time he watched Bill struggling along dejectedly, but was glad +that his improvised shaft support served and contemplated the passage +of time that must intervene before they reached Mountain City. And then +Bill again stumbled, and stopped as if in despair. + +"I think maybe his feet's balled up," suggested the boy. + +Jimmy climbed out and lifted Bill's extremities, hoof by hoof, patiently +digging off the snow stilts with his pocket knife, until at last he +found one hoof with a shoe missing. + +"Well, well, well! No wonder you stumbled, old fellow," he sympathized. +"Cast a shoe, have you? Must have been back there where you fell! That's +too bad. You can't wear one of mine, or you'd be welcome. Must have +another put on up in Mountain City. Don't mention the expense. My firm's +rich. We often give horse shoes away on Christmas--paper ones, you +know!" + +And the faithful and valiant Bill, relieved of one shoe and four big +collections of snow, hobbled forward again until he came to the foot of +a hill that seemed to stretch clear to the moon, and then for the first +time acted as if he had given up entirely and succumbed to misfortune. + +"How far is Mountain City, now, son?" asked Jimmy, not without some +betrayal of anxiety. + +"It's right up on top of that hill," said the boy, "But that hill's just +one mile and a half long." + +"Good!" declared Jimmy, "you sit here and steer the beast, and I'll get +out and help and encourage him by leading him. I always was fond of +wading in snow. Cools off one's temper, walking in the snow does. If +every man who lost his temper had to walk a mile and a half uphill +through the snow, before he could say or do anything else, there would +never be a murder in this world, no divorces, and--by gosh!--maybe no +marriages either. That would be a calamity. Snow certainly does cool one +off." + +An hour later when, after frequent rests and short but strenuous +efforts, they halted at the top of the hill and saw the main street of +Mountain City ahead of them, Jimmy said to the boy as he climbed back, +panting, into the sleigh, "Son, we learn by experience; but it's only +the wise and experienced man who knows that ignorance is bliss. There's +a lot of things in this life that I don't want to know anything at all +about in the future. Alpine climbing; politics, and votes for women are +all off my list. The only things I'd like to investigate are warm +drinks, hot grub, and the insides of a pair of dry socks, shoes and +breeches! And with that knowledge I'd be content. If you can find the +way to the hotel without straying, I'll forgive you for what you didn't +know about the way up here, and we'll begin all over again. Once more +we're on our merry way!" + +Evidently Judge Granger was unknown to the hotel keeper of Mountain +City, for no comment was made on Jimmy's arrival and the place seemed +warm, comfortable, and luxurious after the snow drifts of the mountains. +Jimmy first phoned the railway station where he learned that Number +Sixteen was still belated but was expected through by midnight. Inasmuch +as Bad Fortune had been conquered by optimism, Good Fortune now smiled +upon the optimist. He purchased dry underwear, dry shoes, and dry +trousers for himself, and astonished the boy who had so valiantly +supported him by the presentation of a new suit of clothes, new red +flannel underwear, and new shoes. + +"Lord! It'd never do for me to send you back home sniffling with a +cold," he explained to the lad. "Your maw would never forgive me, and--I +reckon I've got enough enemies amongst the women of this locality +without adding her to my list. Heaven help me if ever I go back there +again! They'd boil me alive in a soap kettle, and feed my fat to the +pigs! Now we shall look after the requirements of Rosinante, my little +Sancho Panza. Then we shall eat." + +By liberal payment he succeeded in inducing the village wagon maker to +put in a new shaft that night, and the village blacksmith immediately +took on the work of replacing the lost shoe. Then he inspected the +stable where Bill was to sleep, bought a full bale of clean straw, a +double quantity of oats, and induced the hostler to give Bill an extra +rub and an extra blanket. + +"Nothing's too good for us to-night, son," he explained to his admiring +supporter. "I feel like going on a bat. Just the same as Daniel probably +did after he got out of the lion's den. I'll bet ten to one that the +first thing he said after they hoisted him out was to ask the king what +he'd have to drink. Hospitality, my boy, is the guarantee of +appreciation. Both those who give and those who accept are satisfied, +which is unlike nearly all other bargains made in this world. This is +applicable to everything except jails. Remember my preachments after I +am gone, and you'll never get into the latter--that is--if you can run +fast enough!" + +They still tell, in that hotel, of the meal he had specially prepared to +celebrate his escape from the Philistines. Long before it was through +the boy was speechless. + +"Gee! Can't eat any more," he declared after a third piece of hot mince +pie. + +"What's the matter? New suit of clothes too tight? Well, son, here's +another piece of advice," said Jimmy, as he helped himself. "Trouser +bands aren't made of rubber because all tailors are rich men who never +get hungry. By leaning toward the table and pretending to fool with your +serviette, it's easy to open the top buttons under your vest without +anybody noticing that you're going to make a fresh start. This is a form +of politeness that is necessary lest you alarm your host. Always do it +that way, and in the meantime, if you can think of one, tell a funny +story. It serves to distract attention from what you're doing, which is +the success of all card tricks, sleight-of-hand performances, and +getting a tummy full. Also that is probably the reason why napkins are +worn in the lap instead of in the neckband of your collar. Incidentally +I see there is a neglected raisin sticking to your chin, which leads me +to further observe that food is worn inside and not outside your face. +That's right! Don't waste it! I knew you wouldn't!" + +He stopped suddenly, looked at his watch and said, "Great Scott! I +forgot one thing! How late does the Emporium keep open? Nine o'clock? +Oh, then I've got time. I must telephone Mister--Umm-m-mh!--Wade, did +you say his name was?" + +The boy looked alarmed, but Jimmy explained. "You see he expected you +back to-night. He didn't know how bad the roads were. I must tell him +you'll not be back before to-morrow morning. What's the 'phone number? +37? Good. I'll go now and tell him. You stay here until I come back. +We're going to have coffee." + +Jimmy hastened out to the 'phone and was thankful that it was +conveniently placed in a cabinet, for he was rather uncertain what might +be said, or, indeed, whether the telephone might not explode from heat +generated at the other end of the line. He got Wade without difficulty, +and again Fortune smiled. + +"Mr. Wade," he said in his customary cheerful voice, "I made an address +at the court house this afternoon, and--er--the exigencies of my +departure led me to commandeer the services of your delivery boy, Tim, I +think his name is. What's that?" + +He stopped, puzzled for the moment by the loud burst of laughter from +the other end of the line, and then a question, cautiously uttered as if +the speaker were afraid of being overheard, "Where are you, Judge?" + +"Mountain City Hotel." + +"Oh, up there, eh? Glad you got away safely. I heard that you were last +seen eloping with Tim and my nag Bill. And--can you hear +me?--Yes?--well, secretly I was tickled to death that you got away! This +thing of votes for women--you understand! Glad you handed it out +straight. Of course I can't say so out loud, but----" + +"Thanks!" said the relieved Jimmy. "I'm sending Tim and Bill back in the +morning. Also I'd like to give Tim an envelope with a ten dollar note in +it to pay for the use of the rig if you'll accept it." + +"S-s-s-h!" came back over the telephone. "Don't say a word! I'll not +have it! You can pay the keep for the boy and horse up there. That's all +I'll accept. That and a promise that you'll not give me away! It +wouldn't do for me to let it be known that--you understand, Judge!" + +And Jimmy left the telephone box in an extraordinary good humor and +sauntered back to his coffee. + +He insisted on inspecting the room that he had engaged for his guest, +and extravagantly ordered a fire for it. He insisted on his guest +retiring, but the guest, reduced to a state of adoration, rebelled and +saw him off when the train pulled out from Mountain City at 11:30 that +night. + +Mr. James Gollop settled himself comfortably into a seat therein and +emitted a great sigh of content. + +"As the copy book used to say at school," he thought, "'Count that day +lost whose low descending sun, views o'er thy work without some worthy +person done.' And if in one place in his bailiwick I haven't fried that +codfish Granger to a crisp, it's not because I haven't been industrious. +I've been as busy as a horse with a wooden leg trying to win the +Derby!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +Recovering his luggage at the junction with the main line, and traveling +an additional forty miles after such a strenuous day, predisposed the +indefatigable Mr. Gollop for a long night's rest. Finding himself again +in a modern little city with a first class hotel, and a luxurious bed +aided the ministrations of nature, so that it was after ten o'clock in +the morning when he whistled his way to his bath and then carefully +selected a clean outfit for the day's work. He hummed like a +particularly lucky hummingbird while he shaved, and felt like +hoppity-skipping down to the grill room, where his healthy appetite +might have full play. He found himself a nicely cushioned alcove through +whose window he could look out on the clear, brilliant morning with its +dazzle of snow, and at the same time luxuriate in the steam heated +atmosphere within. The world seemed turning very well and happily, as +far as Mr. James Gollop could observe and feel, and he gave his order +and was rendered grateful when an excellently trained waiter laid before +him the morning papers. And then Mr. Gollop sat up and grinned with the +culminating joy of the morning! + +The paper he had first glanced at was rabidly Democratic and sported a +huge headline completely across the front page which read: + + "Gubernatorial Candidate Mobbed in Yimville." + +Then followed a series of banks and subheads: + + "Loses temper and offers insults to women voters! Excoriates his + own profession whilst in violent temper and ridicules bench of + which he is member! Admits that all he seeks is office. After + amazing outburst, proving unfitness for any public trust, narrowly + avoids tar and feathers and escapes. Present whereabouts unknown." + +Special passages from the now famous speech were carefully selected, +duly edited to make them sound the worst, and printed in black-faced +pica. Other passages in the speech were in italics. The whole plant of +the newspaper had been utilized to give adequate expression to this +unparalleled forensic outburst. A much garbled report "in full" was +given of the wording, and as lurid yellow as was ever mixed went to make +up the account of the incidents in Yimville. According to the report the +mob numbered thousands and strong men of both parties wept and gnashed +their teeth in their frantic craving to wreak vengeance on the orator +for the insults offered to their mothers, wives, daughters, and +sweethearts. Indignant women, forgetting the softness of sex, had arisen +in just wrath to execute this brazen-faced apostle of mammon. Half a +column was devoted to the mystery of the Judge's disappearance from the +scene and it was stated that he was believed to have terrorized a boy +into driving him away into the mountains, in which case, it was feared, +owing to the blizzard, that unless they found refuge in some isolated +farm house they might have perished. Jimmy noticed that most of the +concern expressed by the newspaper was for the welfare of the boy. He +was chuckling gleefully to himself when interrupted by the return of +the waiter. + +"Pity they didn't get that buzzard and hang him, isn't it, sir?" he +commented indignantly. + +"It certainly is," agreed Jimmy. + +"Not as I believe in votes for women myself," added the waiter, "but I +don't believe in openly insultin' 'em in public. And think of the likes +of him sayin' as all he wanted was to get elected and as if he didn't +care how! Why he ought to be in that Tammany Hall gang back in New York! +That's the only place in all this United States, I reckon, where folks +stand for that sort of stuff. It's understood back there that all they +want is a fat job and the people be damned, but people out here ain't +educated up to looking at things that way. They ain't any people in the +world that'd stand for what them people in New York does! I worked there +one time for about three year and I know. I'll bet that galoot murdered +that boy. Probably took him as far as he wanted to, then threw the poor +little feller out of the sled into the snow to freeze. All that they'll +ever find of that poor little kid'll be an icicle." + +"I'll bet you're right!" agreed Jimmy, again, vociferously. "This paper +says the Judge said some nasty things about Union Labor. I should think +some of you chaps would start something on what Union Labor thinks of +him and his kind." + +"By jingoes! You're right about that!" the waiter declared, and then +added, as if overcome by the brilliant opportunity for advertising +himself, "I'm president of the local Waiters' Union, and I'll lay off +this afternoon and look after that myself. We'll show them that thinks +they can knock us a thing or two before we've done with 'em! Down on +honest labor, is he? And he thinks he can get elected if all of us is +agin' him!" + +Jimmy read a column on the weather in which it was stated that the storm +was the most unprecedented in twenty years and that on nearly all the +branch lines, where wires were down and a snow blockade complete, +conditions would have to remain as they were until traffic was restored +on the main trunks; but that the railway company hoped to clear the +branch lines within twenty-four hours, and that already telephone and +telegraph linemen were out on snow shoes. + +At four o'clock that afternoon Jimmy boarded the train bound for the +last city he would visit in the state, and attracted by the cries of a +newsboy, "All about Judge Granger! Latest news from Yimville," bought a +paper and settled himself down to read. + +The latest advices from the scene of his latest escapade told of the +return of Tim. They were published in a Republican paper which began by +stating that the reports of the Judge's speech were mangled distortions +of what the speaker had, in his well known eloquent manner, expressed, +or deliberate lies manufactured by his enemies; that there had been no +riot at all, and that neither had there been a demonstration save a +small uproar created by a branch of the Militant Suffragettes, headed by +that modern prototype of Carrie Nation and her hatchet, the state leader +of that body, whose previous records of disturbances were sufficient in +themselves to convince all thoughtful-minded women, as well as men, that +probably the speaker was justified in whatever he had said to this +professional heckler. Furthermore, as evidence of the depths to which a +totally unscrupulous and irresponsible press could descend in its +efforts to ridicule a great leader, the whole story of flight was, from +the beginning to end, a malicious controversion of fact. This was proven +by the statement of the driver, Timothy Jones, who had that morning +returned to Yimville. The driver was known as completely trustworthy and +honest, and, furthermore, his statements were fully corroborated by his +employer, Mr. Wade, general manager of the Emporium, one of the most +prominent business men in that part of the state. + +Judge Granger, after making a most eloquent, lucid, and brilliant speech +which had been unduly prolonged by his patience in replying to questions +addressed by the disturbing element, had found his time for boarding the +regular train so curtailed that he had but a few minutes in which to +reach the station. He had very courteously asked young Jones if he could +drive him thither, there having been an unfortunate lack of foresight in +providing an equipage for his return. Jones drove him to the station, +where, to the Judge's distress, he learned that, owing to the storm, +there would be no train through for an indefinite time. Having other +highly important engagements, he found it necessary to drive to Mountain +City, where he could be more certain of catching a train near midnight. + +"All those who are familiar with the great punctiliousness and +responsibility of Judge Woodworth-Granger will therefore not be +surprised to learn that, despite all the fatigues of the day, and the +hardships of such traveling, he courageously braved the blizzard, +fearless in his sense of duty to be performed. That he made such a +difficult night drive merely to keep his pledged word and engagements, +when others might have quailed, or accepted the storm as sufficient +excuse for remaining comfortably in shelter, is in itself a sufficient +tribute to the sterling worth of this distinguished man's character. He +must have inherited from those ancesters of his, who with bleeding feet +trudged through the snows of Valley Forge, some of that patriotism and +high fealty to duty which has ever been the stamp of the true American. +This courageous self-sacrifice to public duty alone is sufficient +evidence that he is the man to guide the destinies of one of the +greatest states in the Union, and those who are to meet in convention +for the choice of a leader will do well to reflect upon what must be +considered as a sterling achievement bespeaking the character of this +honored and distinguished jurist who has somewhat reluctantly yielded to +the demands of his fellow citizens. Those who mendaciously accused him +of office seeking, should hide their heads for shame. Failing to find a +single flaw in the private, public, or professional life of this +distinguished man, his political enemies now seek by ridicule and +innuendo to attack him. To such depths as these has the Democratic party +in this state fallen. Had there ever been the slightest doubt that the +Hon. J. Woodworth-Granger will be the nominee for governor of this +state, it is now dissipated by the scurrilous attack made upon him--an +attack of desperation that must and shall inevitably bring its own +reward. Verily a man is known by the enemies he makes!" + +After reading this editorial Jimmy reverted to the news page where the +faithful Tim's defense was given. It was eulogistic. It was colorful. It +told of the vicissitudes of the trip, although it neglected to mention +the episode of losing their way and what was said by the farmer's wife. +Jimmy thought that either Tim or the reporter who wrote the alleged +interview had shown tact in that suppression. But it was beautifully +written! There was no doubt of that. Stinging sleets, biting winds, +desperately fatigued horses, valiant and persistent battles with snow +drifts, icy cold temperatures and everything pertaining to heroism in +the Arctics were there. + +"Tim and I have got Scott, Peary and Admunsen all looking like a lot of +pikers!" thought Jimmy as he read. "If the fellow who wrote this can +write stuff as warm, comforting and appetizing on chocolates as he can +about coldness, courage and cramps on that trip to Mountain City, he'll +make a world-beater in the advertising line! He's a whirlwind--no--a +cyclone--when it comes to throwing the guff." + +The interview told of the great man's magnanimity and generosity. Not +even his solicitude for old Bill's comfort was overlooked. In fact the +great man wouldn't trust the hostler, but fed Bill bran mash with a +spoon. The suit of clothes he bought "Mister Timothy Jones" was lined +with silk. The underwear might have been of red gold instead of red +flannel. Thus did a brave man reward those who served him in time of +stress. It even intimated that Timothy Jones might retire for life on +his monetary rewards. + +It was the next day at luncheon when the cheerful James was given reason +to think less happily of his exploit, and to wonder what happened to a +worm that turned once too often. The newspapers contained the statements +that the wires were now open to Princetown and that in that flourishing +city dwelt a man whose feelings were outraged, who was indignant, who +asserted he had not been in Yimville on the day of the speech, in fact +had never in his life made a speech in Yimville, and that if he had made +a speech in Yimville he most certainly would not--never, never, +never--have expressed the sentiments so brazenly attributed to him. He +was an office seeker in the interests of public rather than personal +welfare, and for no other reason. He had yielded to the overwhelming +petitions of his friends, indeed, not without considerable pain. And +then Jimmy read something that for the first time caused him to +appreciate the possible grave consequences of his ebullient imposture: + + "'I am not at the moment in a position to make any definite and + specific charges,' his Honor told the representative of the + _Morning Star_: 'but I have certain well-defined grounds for + believing that the citizens of Yimville, for whom I have the most + profound respect and admiration, knowing that they include some of + the most intellectual and patriotic ladies and gentlemen in the + whole of the United States, have been imposed upon by an individual + who (I have been told) faintly resembles me as far as personal + appearance is involved. Yet how this person, who is, I regret to + say, but a common, vulgar ignoramus, could have the barefaced + effrontery to address an intelligent audience either in his own or + an assumed character, I can not comprehend. Needless to say I shall + at once take steps to learn the truth, and the impostor shall be + made to suffer the extreme penalties of the law providing for the + punishment of such flagrant acts against the public and private + welfare of duly constituted citizens. The world must be made safe + for Democracy. Those who are guilty of lack of observance for those + common and well-defined and closely stipulated rules that govern + the intercourse existing between individuals or those collections + of individuals which are in turn by mutual consent formed into + committies, must hereafter be consistently regulated by those able + to dictate either by force of arms or the divine influence of + reason, until they can no longer prove a menace to the rules + governing, by consent of the governed and the voice of the + governed, human relations in general, in particular, and in + private.'" + +Jimmy pondered over the last sentence a long time. + +"I suppose he means 'The guilty shall be punished,'" he said, and then +added, admiringly, "By gosh! If he were a Democrat he'd be president of +the United States yet. He surely would! He can use more words to say +less than any other man living, and, come to think of it, he has the +greatest assets of stupidity, which are pompous silence, and a +patronizing grin. The art of so obfuscating his expression with words +that neither his friends nor his enemies can come to any positive +conclusion as to what he means. But if I'm not mistaken, this same J. +Woodworth-Granger, Judge by election, is after the scalp of one James +Gollop, drummer for a living, and--humph!--wonder when the next train +leaves that will take me out of this state's jurisdiction? It seems to +me, Jim, that you should be on your way. Good Lord! Some men can never +take a joke! The idea of raising such a fuss over a little thing like +that!" + +And, so potent was his increasing apprehension, Mr. James Gollop did not +actually smile again until seven-thirty that evening, when he received a +reply to a question addressed to the conductor of the eastbound train. + +"Are we over the state line yet?" was the question asked. + +"By about thirty miles, I should reckon," was the reply. + +"Thank heaven for that!" said Mr. Gollop, resuming a placid mental +attitude, and the celebrated Gollop grin. "It's a wise man who knows +where he's not welcome. Both celebrity and notoriety are distinctions to +be shunned. A mud-cat is the most secure of all fish because nobody +wishes to either catch and eat, or play with and caress him. His sole +virtue is his obscurity, the sharpness of his bones his only protection. +I'd rather be a catfish than a salmon after all!" + +And the conductor, passing on his way with his nickel-plated lantern +deftly anchored by his arm and his nickel-plated punch industriously +working in his hand, mumbled, "Happy man! He's got just what he wants. +Wish I was general passenger agent of this line. I'm not a catfish +because I want to be one. He seems to be--just that!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +Jimmy retired to the smoking compartment in the Pullman and sat down to +think it all over. It had but one other occupant, a huge man with heavy +shoulders who lowered the paper he had been reading and looked at Jimmy +through a pair of clear, gray, appraising eyes that conveyed such a +sense of directness as to slightly disconcert one with a guilty +conscience. + +"Great Scott!" thought Jimmy. "Hope he's not a sheriff or a United +States marshal looking for me," and then indulged in an inward smile at +the absurdity of his being of sufficient importance to have a federal +officer on his trail. He seated himself and took a furtive glance at the +man's face. It was a distinctly attractive face, due to its marked +indications of character. It expressed not only firmness and +intelligence but a sense of humor. Jimmy decided that this individual +should appreciate a joke and wondered who he was. + +"Funny old chap," he thought. "Might be a banker, but I think he's a +drummer. Wonder who he's out for? Somehow he's mighty familiar; but +surely I'd never forget an old Trojan like that. Maybe I've met him +sometime, and he's got all that gray around his temples since then. Gray +hairs do make a difference." + +He was still puzzling over this lost identity when the man laid the +newspaper to one side, lighted a fresh cigar and, turning toward Jimmy, +said, "Funny about that affair over in Yimville, isn't it? Have you read +about it?" + +Jimmy had to look away lest the twinkle in his eyes betray him, and then +decided his best policy would be to take it with a laugh. A laugh he +decided was the most disarming of human manifestations. He emitted one. + +"Yes, I read about it in the papers yesterday and to-day. That fellow at +Yimville does seem to have kicked up an amusing controversy. One set of +papers says he was mobbed, and the other that he made a hit. +But--pshaw!--of course it has no effect whatever on Judge Granger's +chances for the nomination! Tempest in a child's teapot that will last +about as long." + +"Perhaps! I'm not to sure about that. Moreover, I'm not so certain that +Granger, unmolested, could have got the nomination. He would have been +up against a good stiff fight. I understand that he's a trifle too +self-satisfied to be a very popular candidate. Nothing hurts a man with +a swelled head like ridicule. Ridicule will trim men that can't be +touched with any other weapon under the sun. And--" he chuckled as if +amused--"the whole state has something to laugh over now, whether he +made that speech, or whether he didn't!" + +The man looked out of the window for a moment and then, as if no longer +interested in the Yimville episode, inquired, "Didn't I see you getting +some sample cases aboard the train? What's your line?" + +"Chocolates. Columbus Chocolate Co. of New York. Are you on the road?" + +"Well, not exactly. I'm in water power plants at present." + +"Something I don't know much about," said Jimmy. "But I wish I did. +Mighty interesting. In fact I never took the trouble to look one over +until a little while ago." + +"Where was that?" inquired the man. + +"Up at a place called Princetown. Good water power there. Big plant, I +suppose you would call it." + +"Yes, I suppose they have good power up there. I have heard so," said +the man, inspecting the ash of his cigar as if interested in how long it +would last without breaking. "Let's see--automobile factory there, isn't +there?" + +"Yes. Sayers Automobile Company. Fine cars, too, but unknown except out +here. At least I should say so. That's the trouble with half the +enterprises in the country. They can make first class articles but they +can't sell them. Sometimes I think we Americans aren't such good +hustlers after all. We've got the reputation in Europe, I am told, of +blowing about our stuff; but I'm not certain that we do. If I were a +manufacturer, I'd not make anything that wasn't the best I could make. +I'd put everything I knew and everything I could learn into whatever I +made. I'd not have a man work for me fifteen minutes if he didn't +believe that it was the best thing of its kind on earth. And then I'd +know that when that man went out and talked about my line of goods, +whether he was a salesman or not, he'd swear that it was the best on +earth." + +The man smiled, "In other words, even your workmen blowing, eh?" + +"I don't think it's blowing to say what you honestly believe about your +line. When a man is absolutely convinced that he is offering the very +best thing on the market and gets hot under the collar if anybody +questions it, he becomes a good salesman. He never can be that unless he +is honestly positive that he is talking truth. Telling the truth isn't +boasting. It's the way to sell goods. Blowing means ignorance or lying. +A man can not lie about anything he has to sell--if it's nothing bigger +than hairpins--and get away with it very long. I never lie about my +line--never! I really believe that some of our stuff is the best of its +kind made. I say so. I honestly admit it when some other house brings +out a certain line that beats ours, and then I hustle back home and put +on my spurs, and get out my hammer, and try to get my firm to see it, +and to meet the new stuff and if possible to go it one better." + +Jimmy had forgotten all about Yimville, now that he was expatiating on a +pet hobby of his. Evidently, too, Yimville had passed from the mind of +his companion, who seemed pondering over salesmanship. + +"But--but how would it be applicable to power plants?" he demanded. + +"I don't know," admitted Jim, "but the principle is the same for +chocolates, or power plants or--automobiles. That's what started me +off--those Sayers automobiles. I never heard about that car until I saw +one in the street. I don't know anything about them. But the one I saw +looked so pretty that I talked with the man who owned it, and he was in +love with the thing. So, because I never heard of it, and no one else +seemed to have done so, it proves that there's something wrong with the +Sayers selling organization. They haven't handled their capital right, +because every dollar invested in advertising is a dollar in the value of +the plant--in that intangible asset called 'goodwill,' without which +neither a house nor a man can succeed." + +"Young man," said his companion, "you are in the wrong line. You ought +to be selling advertising space. I told you I was in power plants +but--I'm in some other things as well. Did you ever solicit advertising +contracts for any first class advertising firm?" + +"I never did," admitted Jimmy, "But I have given some advice about +advertising that has paid the purchasers. And I've pondered over sales +organization for years. I tell you--it's a science! If ever I get a +chance to test these theories of mine--I'll----" He paused as if ashamed +of his serious enthusiasm, and as usual, derided them--"I'll probably +fail!" + +"Why deride yourself?" queried the man, regarding Jim with grave and +interested eyes. "If sales organization is a hobby of yours, why not +ride it? Evidently you've thought about it somewhat. What is wrong with +the average sales organization? Where does it fail? What improvements +can you suggest in prevalent methods? Have you thought of anything new +and original to improve them? If so, I'd like to hear about it, because +I'm one of those who are never too old to learn." + +Jimmy accepted and launched into his argument with all the vim of an +enthusiast discussing a subject to which he had given thought. + +"Have you got one of your personal cards with you? Hope you don't think +I'm impertinent," said the man, after Jimmy had run down. + +Jimmy laughed and gave him the card and while he wondered what was +coming next, his companion carefully slipped it into his pocketbook. + +"If ever you decide to get out of chocolates," he said, thoughtfully, +"you might call on me--or--let's see! Here!" He took another card from +his pocket just as the train came to a stop and the porter came hurrying +in and shouted, "Sorry, sah! Done forgot to call you sooner. Corinth!" + +Both Jim and his fellow traveler jumped to their feet and hastened out. +Jimmy saw that the card was that of "Mr. Charles W. Martin, Suites +105-7-9-11 Z, Flat Iron Bldg., New York. Specialist in everything +pertaining to power plants." + +Out on the platform Martin asked, "Where do you stop here in Corinth, +Mr. Gollop?" + +"At the City Hotel," said Jimmy. "Good sample rooms there. Good grub. +Good beds." + +"I think I'll go there, too," said Martin, and together they entered the +hotel bus and were driven away. + +As usual Jimmy was welcomed by his first name, and informed that there +was some mail there for him. When he looked around from its perusal +Martin had disappeared and he did not meet him again until he was seated +in a corner of the restaurant alone, when a voice behind him said, "Hope +you don't mind if I join you, Mr. Gollop," and looked up to see his +traveling companion. + +"Not at all, Mr. Martin," he replied. "Always glad to have good company. +I'm a sociable sort of cuss myself. I detest traveling alone, eating +alone, or loafing alone. I suppose I'm gregarious." + +A troubled, thoughtful shadow chased itself over the elder man's face, +as he said, with a half-sigh, "I understand. It's not good for a man to +be alone. And the older he becomes, the more he feels lonesomeness, and +the more he wants--home!" + +The word was the magic one for Jimmy. Somehow that word always moved him +and brought out his great undercurrent. + +"Why, do you know," he said, leaning across the table with shining eyes, +"if I didn't have a home to go to, always, after I've made my round, +I'd be like a horse that had been robbed of his stall? I live for it! I +work for it! I look forward to it all the time! But you see, I'm +different than most men. Luckier, I think, because my mother's there! +And if I didn't have a thing in the world but her, I'd be rich. And if I +had everything else but her, I'd be poor! I'm mighty proud of my home +and my mother. I shall be leaving here for home to-morrow afternoon," +continued Jimmy. "After I've hustled around and seen about a dozen +customers. Being a drummer and having a craze for home, are two pretty +tough propositions to combine. But--what would home be without +chocolates? Why, do you know, I don't think I'd have been able to have a +home at all without 'em! By chocolates Maw and I live or die. Funny, +isn't it, that if there was an earthquake that wiped a spot off the maps +and hurt me when I read about it, I'd keep going on just about the same; +but if everybody stopped eating chocolates, I'd be wiped off the map, +and I reckon the world would be going on just the same? Sometimes I +think every man's world is the smallest thing there is because it's +bounded only by his own happiness or tragedy. He's just one of +billions, but if his pet dog dies, he's astonished because the universe +isn't covered with gloom and probably he's the only one that's sorry +about the dog, or that even knows the dog has croaked. Maybe somebody +else hears about it and is glad--the chap that the dog bit the week +before he went to dog-heaven. But--anyhow--I'm bound for home to-morrow. +Back to Baltimore, as the song goes." + +"Baltimore?" said Martin. "That's a coincidence! I go to Baltimore +myself to-morrow. Struthers people. Know them? Make tools of precision." + +"Everybody in Baltimore knows of them," declared Jim with full civic +pride. + +"I shall take the two-thirty train," said Martin. "Maybe we shall travel +together." + +"That's the one I take," said Jim. "Match you to see who engages berths +for both of us." + +"I'll gladly engage one for you without matching," declared Martin, a +proffer which Jim immediately accepted. + +They lounged together that evening, and the more Jimmy knew of Martin, +the better he liked him. There was something homely and sane about the +man that appealed to him. For a time he kept subconsciously questioning +why he maintained a peculiar feeling that this was not the first time +they had met; yet this sense of unrest was dissipated by the respect he +had formed for him, quite unaccountably. He was, indeed, surprised with +himself for his liking when he realized how satisfactory it was to have +Martin sharing his journey on the following day. In his perpetual +journeyings he had met many men who were congenial, men of the +goodfellow type, but here was a man who had but little of the customary +"goodfellow" attributes and habits, and who yet won his regard. There +was the disparity of ages, the contrast of taciturnity with free +expression, and a large lack of mutual experience; but somehow all these +barriers were not supervened to the detriment of their fellowship. Jim +felt as if he were with an acquaintance--most friendly too--of years +standing, long before they arrived at Baltimore. + +"Perhaps you can recommend me to a good hotel," said Martin, as they +neared their destination. "I've never stopped in Baltimore. In fact, I'm +a total stranger there." + +"Why stop at a hotel at all?" suggested Jimmy, generously. "Why not come +out and put up with me? My mother's the finest there is! We're pretty +plain people, but it ought to beat being in a hotel. I'll have three +days home this time, and I'll show you down to Struthers' place, and--by +jingoes!--you shall be introduced to big Bill, my pet tree, in his +winter clothes, and if I can't make you believe in Maryland hospitality, +it won't be my fault." + +Martin accepted as directly as he appeared to decide everything. And the +beauty of it was that Mrs. Gollop, who shared her son's hospitable +nature, accepted and made welcome the guest that Jimmy brought home as +if she were thoroughly accustomed to her son's unconventional methods. + +"Does he always bring strangers home like this?" asked Martin, with a +faint smile, on the second day of his visit after Jim's mother had been +eloquently expatiating on Jim's idiosyncrasies and virtues during the +latter's temporary absence. + +"You never can tell what Jimmy will do," she replied with a laugh, and +then thoughtfully stared through her window into the street. "But I am +always certain that he will do the honest, decent, and generous action. +He laughs his way through the world, but in the laugh is never malice +nor cruelty. His sole failing is that he cannot resist a joke. He has +always been so. His sense of the ridiculous is absurdly out of +proportion to his serious side. I used to feel hopeless for his future +because he laughed so much; but now I know the difference. One may still +laugh and be loyal in all things. He has no false ideas or unattainable +ambitions. He has no false pride. He believes in doing his best in all +things. He is sorry for those who are unfortunate, and unenvious of +those who have succeeded. He is sincere, and he is unassuming, a good +friend, and a tolerant enemy. His tastes are simple, his pleasures +homely." + +She stopped, flushed and, added, "But I boast too much! Yet I can't help +it because--well--because there has never been such a son as mine, and +I'm not ashamed to feel proud of him!" + +But Mr. Martin was now looking out of the window, and, Mr. Martin did +not smile. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +At the end of three days, Mr. Martin, professing much gratitude and +pleasure for the hospitality shown him, departed for the South. At the +end of four days, Mr. Gollop, making the excuse of urgent business, +entrained for New York. Not that Mr. Gollop, having regard for the +_expressio falsi_ as compared with the _suppressio veri_, was strictly a +prevaricator or that he told the exact truth, because he had slipped +four whole days up his sleeve for his own entertainment; four whole days +in which he had not the slightest intention of visiting his firm; four +whole days that he intended to devote to art research, and +exploration--exploration of a wilderness known as MacDougall Alley. So +accurately did he time his movements that he invaded MacDougall Alley at +just eleven a.m., which he considered a proper hour to find an aspiring +artist at work while the light was most perfect and amenable. He was not +disappointed, which he regarded as proof of acumen; but he was +surprised by his surroundings. No bare-walled studio, this, but a rather +luxurious place. With a real rug on the floor, and real chairs to sit +upon, and a cosy seat, and electric lights instead of bare boards, +benches, charcoal brazier and tallow dips stuck in the necks of bottles +blown for better contents. + +"See here! What troubles you, Bill Jones? Have I done anything you +didn't like?" demanded Mary Allen, as she extricated her thumb from the +hole of a palette on which oil paints proved that she had forsaken for +the moment her love of water colors. + +"Why--why--I don't understand!" exclaimed Jimmy, helplessly. + +"Don't understand? I thought you promised to write?" + +"I did," admitted Jimmy; "but, you see, I was so busy and there were so +many people to talk to in my most seductive manner, and there were so +many things to be done, including people, that I clean overlooked it! I +did! I confess. But--I'm going to be here now at least a week," he added +hopefully, and not without insinuation. + +"Hope you enjoy your visit," she said, and added rather maliciously, "I +am entirely engrossed in my work--this week." + +He stared at her with a face as frankly dejected as that of a hurt boy; +then, his ever-present bouyancy reasserting itself, queried, "That's +good. By the way, do you ever use models?" + +"Of course," she replied. + +"Well, I've got nothing to do this week," he replied enthusiastically. +"I'll sit for you as a study in Disappointment, Flat-busted, or Return +from the Races. The title doesn't matter, because I'll be such an +excellent study for any sort of man whose hopes have all been knocked +flatter than a pancake." + +"I know you can be gloomy enough when you wish to be," she said, +relenting a trifle; "but you're the first man I ever had promise to +write me a letter that I admitted I should welcome, and then had the +impudence to forget me. The one thing a woman can't forget is to be +forgotten." + +Jimmy felt decidedly perturbed by this statement. He wondered what she +would say if he boldly admitted that he had in reality forgotten her +very name and where she came from, and then followed it with a +confession that since the first day he had met her in New York some +months ago, he had made amends by thinking of her continuously +throughout his spare time. But he did not dare. He feared banishment, +and that, he concluded, desperately, would be worse than death. +Something of his mental distress must have been observable, for the girl +suddenly relented, smiled a trifle and then said, "Well, perhaps I can +indulge myself--not you, understand?--by going somewhere." + +She regained her palette, and turned toward her easel with a +businesslike air, quite as if she were a painter for a livelihood, and +said, "Now suppose you run along and let me work. You can come back here +for me at--say--one o'clock, and take me to luncheon; that is--if you're +not too busy!" + +And Jimmy, transported with delight, made a vast pretense of business +and hastened away, lest she change her mind. He had the wisdom to let +well enough alone, and knew that time is the best medicine for +annoyance. But he was there in MacDougall Alley,--just the same--with +marvelous punctuality. + +And there can be no question that he was a master host when it came to +luncheons, dinners, suppers, or midnight lunch counters. With him it was +an art, cultivated to the highest point of efficiency. Moreover, +timorous and fearful lest he blunderingly lose his advantages, he did +not press his suit too far and, as a result, Mary Allen forgot his +seeming neglect. There was but one embarrassing moment when, after a +moment's silence she said, "Do tell me, is there anything at all new +down home? Dad is so uncommunicative that he never has much to say about +the town itself, and everyone else is too busy to write me." + +"Nothing new that I noticed when I was there last," said Jimmy. "Of +course, being on the road all the time I'm--well--I'm so busy +that--ummmh! Isn't that our waiter? Some of those pears over there on +that other table look good enough to eat and--wish we could get some +strawberries! Do you like hot-house grapes?" + +He might have gone through an entire horticultural catalogue, had not +his roving eyes at that moment suddenly been arrested by something that +caused them to open widely and fix themselves. The something was a +keen-looking man seated at another table who was glaring at time with a +steady and highly interrogative look. For once Mr. James Gollop's cheery +self-confidence deserted him and he was highly distressed; for the +keen-faced man happened to be his employer and his employer up to that +moment believed one James Gollop was out on the road some hundred or so +miles from New York looking after the interests of the Columbus +Chocolate Company. Jimmy recovered sufficiently to bow and the bow was +somewhat frigidly acknowledged. Jimmy's wits worked fast--very fast. + +"Pardon me, won't you please," he addressed Mary Allen; "but there is a +man sitting over there to whom I wish to speak for just an instant. Got +to make an appointment with him, and this is opportune." + +"Certainly," replied the lady, and Jimmy got up, crossed to his +employer, and without giving the latter a chance to say anything, thrust +out his hand and said, "Howdydo, Mr. Falkner. Howdydo! Got in off the +run early this trip and was coming down to see you as soon as I had +lunch." + +"Oh, you were, were you?" dryly remarked his "boss," and the unhappy +Jimmy distinguished a tone of sarcasm. "Very kind of you, I'm sure. +We've been wanting to hear from you for several days. I'll expect you at +just three o'clock this afternoon." + +Stunned by this unusual lack of cordiality, Jim said, "Very well, sir, +I'll be there," and with as much dignity as he could command, turned and +walked back to his table, but wondered heavily, what on earth he had +done; what was wrong; whether some prominent customer had gone bankrupt +or if Falkner merely had a grouch. + +"I thought you went to see a friend, but you look as if you had been +talking with an undertaker," commented his guest. + +"And that's just the way I feel about it," admitted Jimmy. "Because I've +got to meet him at three o'clock this afternoon, and I had anticipated +the pleasure of going somewhere with you." + +"The mean old thing!" she exclaimed, impulsively, and Jimmy's heart +bumped at the knowledge that she, too, was disappointed. + +"But," he suggested, hopefully, "if I called for you at the studio at +about six o'clock couldn't we dine together?" + +And when she accepted his invitation with unconcealed enthusiasm, his +spirits again soared and he forgot even the baleful presence of Falkner +for a time, and when he did remember him, discovered that his "kill joy" +had gone. + +Promptly at three o'clock he breezed into his firm's offices with all +habitual cheeriness, exchanged a swift run of badinage with those he +met, and was ushered into the manager's office. Falkner did not meet him +with the customary smile of welcome. + +"Well," he said, "you seem to have raised a devil of a row out West, and +if you can offer any explanation at all for such conduct I'm prepared to +listen to it before we go any further. If you think that's the kind of +advertising a reputable firm wants you're about as poor a guesser as +ever traveled on a mileage book." + +"Why--why--what's up?" blurted Jimmy. + +"What's up? You've got a nerve to ask that!" roared the manager, banging +his fist on the top of his desk. "Here, look at these!" + +He handed Jim a small sheaf of sheets consisting of letters and +telegrams. The first was from a jobbing firm: + + "Cancel order given your man Gollop. Sorry, but entire board of + directors are Republican and resent Yimville affair." + +A second was from another firm which had been one of Jim's best +customers and read: + + "Advise Gollop not to make this territory again until Yimville + affair blows over. Granger's supporters buzzing like live hornets." + +A more portentous looking document bearing the heading of the "State +Republican Committee Headquarters" bore the concise statement that +unless an immediate, full, and public apology was forthcoming from one +James Gollop for impersonating the Hon. J. Woodworth-Granger at an +important political meeting in the city of Yimville were not immediately +forthcoming, legal action would be taken for damages, on the ground of +misrepresentation, false pretense and willful intent to damage the +reputation and political career of one of the most distinguished men in +the state. Another letter was a round robin, signed by several firms, +demanding the immediate discharge of "that contemptible practical joker, +James Gollop," and still another was from no less person that the Judge +of the Fourth District Court, in which what was said of the same James +Gollop was enough to wither that unfortunate individual. Someone had +sent a stack of newspaper clippings three inches in thickness, from +which Jimmy gathered that it had taken but a day or two to pick up his +trail and expose him beyond all possible dispute. + +"Good Lord!" exclaimed Jimmy, aghast, and wiping beads of perspiration +from his forehead. "I didn't have any idea of kicking up such a fuss as +that. I just blundered into a chance to have some fun with that pompous +old rooster that hated me because we looked so much alike and----" In +the midst of all his woes he could not suppress a laugh of amusement. + +"So you still think it's a joke, do you?" snorted the irate manager, +exasperated by this further evidence of irresponsibility. "Well, you'll +not think so any longer. I'll attend to that. You turn your samples in +and go to the cashier with your expense account. You're fired! Maybe you +can understand that! Fired! F-I-R-E-D!" + +"You needn't have troubled to spell it out," remonstrated Jimmy. "I get +you. But--hang it all, man!--you might at least put me into some new +territory. I didn't mean anything by it. I'll admit I was a chump; but I +can sell stuff, and you know it." + +He stopped and stared at the floor with a face so frankly troubled and +perplexed that the manager for the moment forgot his wrath. The boy in +Jimmy Gollop was never more manifest than at that moment. There was +something very appealing about him that Falkner could not fail to +discern. + +"Jimmy," he said, gravely, "I'm sorry, but it has to be done. What on +earth made you such a fool? You must have been crazy!" + +"I sort of reckon I must have been," admitted Jimmy, dolefully. +"But--honestly!--I didn't mean to do any real damage to that old stiff +Granger, and certainly not to the firm. The firm? Why Mr. Falkner, I've +stuck up for it for nearly ten years because it has treated me white, +and because it's an honest firm that makes honest goods. But--well--all +I can do is to square matters up as best I can. You people have been +very good to me. Very good and very kind. I've drawn your money +and,--prospered, and so I'll write the public apology or confession, or +whatever you call it, that those chaps out there demand, and take all +the blame. And I'll write to every customer that has communicated with +you and tell 'em that, although I'm out and gone, the orders were +solicited in good faith and that it's not fair to make you suffer for +that fool joke of mine. I'm done with jokes of all sorts from now on. +I'll do anything except this--I'll not write one word of apology to that +man Granger!" + +Falkner looked out of the window as if troubled, and then said, with a +sigh of regret, "Well, Jim, I'm sorry, but it can't be helped. You're +the best man we ever had out, and--by Jove!--I'll put that into writing +so you can have something to show, and you can use me personally as a +reference when you strike someone else for territory. But, mind you, I +shall have to tell them confidentially the reasons why we had to let you +go." + +"Of course! That's only fair," said Jimmy, his sober common sense +impelling him to this admission. + +"And--when this tempest blows by, you can have any other territory that +comes open, Jim," volunteered Falkner; "that is--provided that you cut +the jokes out. Surely you've had fun enough by now to last you a +lifetime!" + +"I have! I have!" assented Jimmy lugubriously. "I've played the biggest +joke of all on myself. By heck! I've joked myself out of my own job, and +that's the limit. Joe Miller never did that and Mark Twain, Josh +Billings, Bill Nye and George Ade, none of 'em ever reached that height +of humor. The only difference between us is that they got cash for their +jokes, whereas all the pay I get is the boot and the chance to go +yelping down the street with a washboiler tied to my tail. Well, if a +fellow puts grease on the front door steps he shouldn't squeal if he +forgets and falls down himself." + +It was not until he stood outside the main entrance to the building that +he had a full sense of homelessness. It was not until then that he knew +what it meant to be without anchorage. It seemed to him that all of +those who hurried past in the winter's twilight had something to do and +that he alone was adrift. He alone had dipped into the depths of folly +and he alone had proved irresponsible. And his employment just then +meant much to him. Subconsciously, he had builded with such confidence. +He was now aware that he had based all upon a permanency of income that +he had conceived to be fixed. His home, his mother's contentment, his +dreams of winning life companionship with the only girl he had ever +loved, seemed to have depended upon the employment he had lost. And now +all was gone! Swept away. He was a most forlorn and melancholy optimist +as he stood there in the early twilight of winter, confusedly +considering his position. + +"Well," he thought at last, "they can't keep a good man down," and then +after a moment's further reflection added, "But they can give him an +awful wallop!" + +The staring eye of an illuminated clock reminded him that MacDougall +Alley was some distance away and he suffered a peculiar mixture of +sadness and gladness as he began his journey. It seemed to him that he +was a different person from the James Gollop who had happily invaded +MacDougall's artistic precincts that morning from the James Gollop who +was now disconsolately making his way thither. That Gollop of the +morning had been happy and bright because he had a job; but this Gollop +of the evening, jobless, and with a black mark against him that was too +notorious to escape the amused attention of all possible employers in +his line, was but a sad dog. It required conscious mental effort on his +part to assume a cheerful demeanor when he climbed the studio stairs. He +wished that he dared tell the "Candy Girl" all about it, but decided +that it would be ungenerous to bother anyone else with his woes, and any +indecision in this regard was ended before the evening was over because +she was so frankly and unaffectedly happy that he hadn't the heart to +say anything that might possibly mar it. Yet, even whilst they sat in a +theater listening to a most cheerful musical comedy the sober and +responsible side of his mind was weighing necessities. The first of +these, he knew, must be economies; for he anticipated that it might be a +considerable time before he could again be earning an income, and there +was always the little home down in Baltimore and its occupant to be +considered first, and his own pleasures must be relegated to a secondary +place. He was therefore rather heart-broken, but firm in his final +explanation that night as he parted from her in front of the Martha +Putnam Hotel. + +"That business session I had this afternoon," he said, trying to keep +his voice from betraying his trouble, "has unfortunately upset all my +plans. I can't have that little four days vacation I had been planning." + +"What? How horrid!" exclaimed the girl. "I--I thought we were to----" + +Her disappointment and distress were so manifest that Mr. James Gollop +had a first-class fight with himself to keep from blurting out the truth +there in the hotel rotunda and telling her that on the next morning he +was starting on what promised to be a long hunt for employment. But he +escaped such confession by saying that he had great hopes of returning +to New York within a few days. In fact he actually predicted that it +would be so. And after all, the only lie he told was embodied in that +word "Return." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +Mr. James Gollop discovered in the course of the following three days +that although most business men enjoy a joke, their sense of humor is so +deficient that they don't care to combine jest and business. His +ill-fame had preceded him, and in addition thereto, it was the +off-season, and vacancies few. + +"We'd like to have you, Jim," said one sales manager, "but the trouble +is that we should want you to take up the territory where you are well +known, and that, of course, is impossible." + +Others told him to call later in the season. Others who would have given +him samples were firms of such small caliber that he could not see any +future, and several were willing to take him on commission sales only. +The only thing that helped him was that prodigious store of optimism +which impelled him after each rebuff to hope for a change just around +the corner. + +It was when he felt at rather low ebb that he passed, rather +disconsolately, the Flat Iron Building and remembered Martin. Having no +other place to go, he decided to call upon that shrewd gentleman and +gather from such a source of hard common sense fresh courage. He turned +in through the big swinging door that let a gust of winter into each +compartment as it whirled, trundled it around and belched it into the +great hallway, and somewhat absent-mindedly collided with a man who was +coming out. + +"Hello! She bumps!" said Jimmy good-naturedly and then--"Why--why it's +you, is it, Mr. Martin? I was just coming up to your offices to see if +by chance you happened to be in." + +There was no mistaking the heartiness of the hand grasp that caught his. + +"Well, we can go up now," said Martin, cheerfully. "In fact, I've been +thinking about you quite a lot. Been rather eager to see you again. +But--hold on!--the office is anything but a confidential resort. Suppose +you come with me to the Engineers' Club where we can have a nice quiet +talk." + +Jimmy, feeling as if he had at least one friend left in the world, +readily accepted, and thought it rather lucky that they were the only +men in the club lounge room; felt that the chairs were very +comfortable, and the atmosphere summery. + +"How are things with you?" asked Martin shrewdly eyeing him through the +first blue smoke screen of a cigar. + +"Oh, so-so," replied Jimmy, evasively. + +"Everything all right?" + +"In a way. In a way." + +"Chocolate business flourishing?" + +"It was--up to a week ago." + +"But now? How about now, Gollop?" + +For a moment Jim scarcely knew what to answer, and looking up from an +overly prolonged inspection of his cigar caught the humorous, quizzical +twinkle in the friendly, keen eyes of his host. + +"By jingoes!" he exclaimed, "you know something! You've heard the news. +You know I've been fired." + +"Yes, I do know it," answered Martin, with a grin. "I was--rather +curious to learn how you took it. Suppose you tell me all about it. I'm +your friend, you know. We've shared salt. I've been entertained in your +mother's home. Now cut loose." + +Jimmy laughed, sobered, shook his head and said, "You see, that's where +the worst of the trouble is unknown. I can't--well, I can't worry Maw. +She doesn't know it yet. I've been trying to get another job before I +broke the news to her and--well, I haven't succeeded! Those worth while +are afraid of me, or else have no opening. For the moment I'm the under +dog; but--I'm not whipped!" + +And then he told the whole story to Martin, who listened, asked an +occasional question, smiled as if at some secret thought, and finally +remarked, "Your story agrees with what I've heard. But that man Granger +must have been a vindictive brute to carry it so far. By the way, did +you say your firm gave you the letter he wrote? Let's see it." + +Jimmy took it from his pocketbook and gave it to the wise old man, who +stuck glasses on his nose awry, and at an angle well down toward the +point, and scanned the missive. + +"Humph! Sounds like that sort of man," he commented, as he handed it +back. "What do you think of it?" + +Jim considered the question for a time. + +"At first I was sore because he couldn't take a joke. Then I remembered +what kind of a man he appeared to be when I met him, and decided that +it was just his way. Not a fault, you know, but something he couldn't +help. Men are not all alike. Personally I can't keep a grudge. Life's +too short for that. I never try to play, even, in a malicious way. If a +man really hurts me, I 'most always think of his side of it, and if I +decide I'm in the wrong, go to him and say so. If I think I'm in the +right,--just forget him. If he gets the best of me in business, I +congratulate him. That's part of the game. This chap Granger really +never did me much harm and I think maybe that I, without really +intending it, did him quite a lot. So I did the best I could to square +it." + +"How?" asked Martin with another one of those quizzical glances of his. + +"I wrote to all the newspapers I could get knowledge of out there, and +said that I was the guilty man; that I had played a fool joke under the +impulse of the moment and that the Judge was in no wise responsible for +anything at all that I said any more than he was for my actions." + +"Is that all?" + +"Yes, I suppose that was the most of it." + +Mr. Martin laughed and shook his head, and then said, in a kindly +voice, "No, that wasn't all you wrote. I read some of your +communications as they were printed. You not only apologized for your +practical joke, but you ended by the declaration that you regarded Judge +Granger as a man worthy of confidence, and asserted that if you were a +resident of his constituency you would vote for him. I call that pretty +forgiving." + +"But--you see I had done him an unmerited injury," said Jimmy, soberly. +"And so I did all I could to undo it. It was merely playing a white +man's game." + +"In spite of the fact that he had cost you your livelihood and done all +he could to hurt you?" + +"Oh, that had nothing to do with it! I did him an injury, and--I did the +best I could to undo it." + +Martin sat and looked at him admiringly, for a time, and then asked, +"But what are you going to do now that all your trade is aware of your +predicament, and are afraid to employ you?" + +"I'll be hanged if I know!" Jimmy admitted, with an air of gravity. +"But--I'll keep on trying. You can bet on that! I'll find some way out +of it, even if I have to begin again in some other line. They all of +them have to admit that I'm honest--that's an asset that nobody can +dispute. We can't all be brilliant and honest at the same time. Some men +are brilliant but fail to gain confidence. Other men are honest but +can't be brilliant. I'm honest but haven't proved brilliant, or +unbrilliant, so I've got the best of the situation--up to date. Someone, +therefore, will give me a chance. So I'm not discouraged. Maybe it's +because I've got imagination. When things go dead wrong with me, I just +imagine that they're not so bad, after all. Cowards and pessimists are +the only ones to whom imagination is a curse. Why--even a crippled dog +has dreams of hunting in his sleep, and he wakes up with hope!" + +Jimmy's host seemed to ponder over this crude philosophy for a time as +if bemused by its possibilities, and then suddenly straightened himself +in his chair and leaned forward. + +"Do you remember what you said to me in the train one day as to a man's +having faith in whatever he sold? And you talked about an automobile +called the Sayers car? You do, eh? Well, here's something that may +interest you. The Sayers Automobile Company is going to reorganize its +sales organization. It wants a man with imagination who will take hold +of that department. It seeks a man with ideas--none of the old, worn +out, hackneyed stuff, but--a man with original ideas that will prove +good. The Martin Company handles its advertising. Do you think--really +and honestly think--that you could reorganize its sales department and +bring to it additional success if I recommend you to the Sayers people?" + +"You bet your life I could!" asserted Jimmy. "I've thought about that +car a lot. And in the last few days when nobody seems to want me, I have +wondered if it wouldn't be a good move for me to get into the line of +motor cars." + +Martin seemed to ponder over the situation for a moment and then said, +with a sly grin, "Of course the first step for you to take would be to +go out to the Sayers works, meet Sayers and his superintendent, make a +study of the sales methods they have been employing, and then put before +them a full outline of what you propose. If they like it, they will +probably give you a chance to demonstrate what you can do. And if you do +get the place, and make good, I believe old Sayers is just the sort of +man who would appreciate your work and make it mighty well worth your +while to stay with him permanently. But I tell you this much, that he +believes in efficiency and will have no one around him who can't deliver +the goods. Now do you want to tackle it?" + +"I do! I do!" replied Jimmy with fervency, stopped, and then emitted a +groan and said, "But good Lord! The Sayers plant is out near Princetown, +and Princetown is the home of Judge Granger, and--they'd lynch me if I +showed up there--that is, unless I could get the infuriated populace to +make another mistake of identity and hang the Judge in the belief that +he was me!" + +"Um-mh! Granger lives in Princetown, eh? That's rather awkward, isn't +it? What do you propose?" + +Jimmy thought a moment and slapped his leg with an air of cheerfulness. + +"I've got it. I'll do as I did before--hide all of my face I can. I'll +wear big blue glasses, and grow a mustache and get my hair dyed black. +And if I can arrange it I'll go through Princetown like greased +lightning, and stop at the works while there." + +Martin chuckled with amusement and then said, "I think Sayers would send +a car to meet you at the train if we wrote him when you were coming, and +I have no doubt that you could find some place to stop out near the +works. Did you notice if there were any houses near the plant?" + +"Yes, lots of them. Neat little places, most of them. Sort of a model +city, I should say." + +"You are at least observant," commented Martin, and then promptly arose, +went to a writing desk and wrote for a time, whilst Jimmy's spirits +soared up and up until he was glad that he had been foisted out of the +chocolate trade. + +"Sayers knows I belong to this club," said Martin, returning to his +seat; "so will think nothing of my letter being written on club, rather +than business stationery. Besides I shall confirm these letters along +with other matters, when I return to the office. Now here is a letter to +old Tom Sayers, and another to Mr. Holmes, his general superintendent. +Letters of introduction--both--as you can see. I think they will suffice +to put you in right, and then it's up to you to formulate a general plan +for a selling organization that will suit Sayers. If you can't show him +something to catch his approval, you'll have wasted your time. If you +can, it's almost certain that you'll be given a chance to show what you +can do. But--mind you!--he's been probing around on this matter for some +time, and has probably had all sorts of schemes suggested and proposed, +and you've got to show something that is better than anyone else has put +forward. In that way it's sort of competitive. And--see here!--if I were +you I'd not wait to grow a mustache and get my hair dyed and all that +rot; but waste no time at all in getting out there lest someone beats +you to the place." + +"Good!" said Jimmy, promptly. "You just wire them that I'm coming. I +remember the timetables. You tell them to send a car to meet me at a +train that arrives in Princetown at ten o'clock to-morrow morning! I'm +going to start west on the train that leaves the Pennsylvania station in +just thirty-five minutes from now." + +"Oh, that means an all-night ride and a breakneck connection, doesn't +it? There's no such rush as all that," expostulated Martin. + +"There's no such thing as too quick action when looking for a job," +declared Jimmy with all his accustomed energy. "Good-by, and thank +you--ever so much. I'm off to try to make good! Good-by!" + +Martin looked at him approvingly as if this was the sort of hustling he +liked, and accompanied him out to the street. Jimmy bolted into the +traffic, dodged under horses' noses, disregarded the shouts of drivers +and traffic policemen, mounted a slowly moving taxi, shouted +instructions to the driver from the running board, and the last that +Martin saw of him was a hand waved through an open window. + +"Well," soliloquized Martin after this breathless chase, "if he moves +that fast when at work it would take a cyclone to catch him. It strikes +me that he's going to land that job, all right!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +The train that ran up the branch line to Princetown was comfortably +filled when the man wearing blue glasses and with his coat collar pulled +up around his ears as if they were cold boarded it and found a vacant +seat in the smoker, into which he settled with a sigh of relief. He had +passed through a distressing hour when the main line train was delayed, +fearing every moment that he would miss his connection to Princetown and +thus make an unpropitious start in the estimation of Sayers. And a very +different traveler was this from the jovial Mr. Gollop who customarily +sought information on all points pertaining to the country through which +he passed, for now he was like the Irish section boss who sternly warned +his garrulous men with, "All we want is silence; and damned little of +that!" He was about to arise and discard his overcoat, when suddenly he +subsided with a gasp. Two men had entered the coach and taken the +unoccupied seat immediately in front of him and one of them was Judge J. +Woodworth-Granger. + +Jimmy looked for another place, but none was vacant. The train began to +move and the fact that other men came through in quest of a seat, found +none and stood up, convinced Jim of the futility of searching other +coaches. The car speedily filled with smoke and got hotter. No one +seemed to care for ventilation. Jim's overcoat gave him the pleasant +feeling of sitting in a sweat bath but he dared not doff it. The Judge's +voice, loud and slow, floated back to his ears, and his previous +discomfort was as nothing when he heard the Judge say, as if in response +to some comment of his traveling companion, "No, of course not! Gollop! +I'm so sick of hearing that man's name that I could wish it banned. His +apologies only made matters worse, because there are idiots in this +state who actually took that flagrant outrage as a joke! And you have +observed what capital the Democratic press are making of it? They +declare now that I'm vindictive because I got the scoundrel discharged! +As if a citizen had not the right to protect himself from the villainous +impositions of a coarse, low-browed ignoramus who turns everything into +a practical jest. And, what is more, if ever that man enters the state +jurisdiction I'll bring the law to bear and make an example of him that +will forever deter other miscreants from such enterprises. That man +Gollop has done me an incredible amount of damage!" + +Jimmy wriggled and twisted in his seat. + +"By jingoes!" he said to himself. "I'm like that old fellow at the town +meeting. I've just got to get out of this; because if that geezer ever +spots me, the only steady job I'll ever get in this state will be +breaking stone!" And so, to the relief of his seat companion, he seized +his bag, as if about to approach his destination, slid hurriedly out +into the aisle with an averted glance, and fled from the coach and back +through the train. Standing in an aisle for an hour was preferable to +the risks of having the angry Judge turn in his seat and recognize him. +A place on the blind baggage platform, enshrouded in cinders and fanned +by the frosty winds would have been comfortable compared with that seat. +He went, in a panic, through the entire train and did not stop until he +reached the rear platform and closed the door behind him. He breathed a +sigh of relief and for the first time that day felt cool. A brakeman +jerked the door open behind him and said, "Hey! You can't stand out +there! Against the rules! Can't you read that metal sign on the door +that says it's forbidden?" + +Jimmy turned and faced his tormentor. + +"Please--please let me stand here! I'm sick, man. I'm sick! Forget the +rules. Here, take this and buy a drink of lemonade when you get to +Princetown if you can't get a prescription for something better from the +doctor!" And he extricated a five dollar bill from his diminishing +bankroll and tendered it. + +"For that," said the brakeman with a grin, "I'd let you ride on the tin +roof!" and banged the door shut and stood guard with his back against +it. + +At intervals the local train stopped and emitted passengers, but Mr. +James Gollop clung to his platform as if having no frantic longing for a +seat. And at Princetown he patiently waited until the crowd thinned, and +with one eye glared through blue glasses forward to make certain of the +Judge's departure. He descended from his perch and looked anxiously +around to meet the inquiring stare of a man who was evidently in +waiting, and toward him rushed as to a refuge. + +"Are you looking for anyone?" Jim asked, and added, "because if you're +from the Sayers works----" + +"Mister, I'm just doin' that same thing," the man replied. "I'd 'most +given you up. Thought you didn't ketch the train. Come on out this way. +I got her hitched to the end of the platform." + +Jimmy carried his bag and followed his guide, who stowed him into the +depths of a car, threw the switch of an electric starter, deftly let in +the clutch, and the smart little machine picked up and slid away. For +the first time for hours Jimmy breathed a great sigh of relief; but so +apprehensive of accidents was he that while they passed through the town +he shrank into his coat as a turtle shrinks modestly into its shell. He +was terrified lest the man have some cause to stop in front of a shop. +All he craved was the country, and a whole lot of it, with untenanted +roads. + +Out at the works he produced his letters as a passport. The big office +thrummed with typewriters and activity. From outside came the strident +sounds of industry and somehow they cheered and encouraged him. His +bouyant nature leapt to the call. He was eager to become part of it, and +to be identified with it. He forgot his tribulations and was Jimmy +Gollop again when led through an opened door into the presence of Mr. +Holmes, general superintendent. The man arose to meet him and thrust out +a firm hand. + +"So you are Mr. Gollop, eh? Name's familiar around these parts. Hope +you're not the chap that played the joke on old Granger, because if you +are--well--you'd better stay away from Princetown, is all I've got to +say!" And his laugh was so free and hearty that Jimmy acted on intuition +and whispered most ruefully, "By heck! I am! Help me out, can't you? +They'd----" + +"Tar and feather you!" laughed the superintendent. "But--are you really +the famous Mr. Gollop? Those spectacles----" + +Jimmy dared all and swept them off. The superintendent scrutinized him +closely and then exclaimed, "Well, upon my word, it's remarkable! You do +look like the Judge's twin. What on earth made you look like that old +stiff? You two must have come from the standardized face factory. If I +looked like him, I'd be sad. But I hope to heavens you aren't like him. +I've as much use for him as I have for a three legged elephant with an +affectionate disposition who is looking for someone to lean on for +support. Well, now to business. I got a telegram explaining things. I'm +at your disposal. We need a live man to handle the sales and publicity +end of this concern if ever anyone did. That's the only part that the +old man has ever neglected." + +"I've got a letter to him also," said Jim, producing it. + +"I was told that," said the superintendent, reaching for his hat; "but +unfortunately Mr. Sayers is not here. Won't be back for a week or ten +days. Gone scouting to see what the rival concerns have got in the way +of improvements. They can't steal a march on him. He's absolutely the +keenest man in his line on earth! And--see here!--I'll give you a tip. +If you can make good with old Tom Sayers, you've no need to worry. He +runs this whole plant as if it were a family. Knows every man in it. +Calls most of the men by their first names. Gives bonuses and +encouragement to the right ones, and fires the dead wood. Doesn't care a +hang about anything except making the Sayers car the best on earth +because he's proud of it. And--it is! I say so!" + +Jim liked that spirit. It promised well. And while he was disappointed +not to see Sayers, he was ready to plunge into work with enthusiasm, and +did. + +Two days later he said to the superintendent, in the privacy of the +office, "My conclusion is that your selling organization is a muck. It's +been neglected. It's no good. It runs itself without any real head. In +fact, you've no head to it at all except Wiggins, the old chap with +antiquated ideas, but who is a man I would advise keeping on. He knows +he can't handle it, and says he would like to work under someone with +new ideas." + +And then for a half hour he expanded while the superintendent listened, +asked questions, sometimes argued, and finally approved. + +"Of course," he said, finally, "your ideas are new. But they are +ingenious, and I think very promising. I shall back them up. I like +them. They sound hustling. I will recommend them to the old man for all +I'm worth, and I believe if you can make him see them, adopt them, and +carry them out, we can work together and make things hum. Now here's a +bit of advice. Old Tom Sayers likes plain, practical statements that he +can weigh and consider. Put all your proposed plans into writing. Put +down hard, concrete facts in terse English. Make it as brief as +possible. Don't be afraid to criticise if you can suggest improvements. +Don't mince words. He loves simplicity and frankness. And if you do as I +say in that regard, and make plain to him the ideas you've made plain to +me--you'll get the job, and we'll make a success because I'll work with +you to make it succeed. I believe in the old man, and in what he makes, +and defy anyone to turn out a better car than we can." + +He thumped his fist on the arm of his chair as if challenging Jimmy or +the world at large, and Jimmy was highly encouraged. There was but one +great fear in his mind. + +"Do you think--do you think--that Granger affair is likely to prejudice +me in Mr. Sayers' estimation?" he asked, almost appealingly. + +The superintendent frowned thoughtfully for a moment and then said, "I +don't know. Honestly I don't! Mr. Sayers is a peculiar man. Nobody ever +quite knows what he thinks until he opens his mouth, and then it comes +out straight and plain. No frills. No evasions. If he likes a man, he +likes him. If he doesn't like him--that ends it. I don't have any idea +what he really thinks of Granger. The Judge visits the old man's house +when Mrs. Sayers and the daughter are there, but Mrs. Sayers is not the +old man--by a long shot! She's a social climber. The old man doesn't +give a hang about society, or pink teas. He makes automobiles and +believes in efficiency. Granger's not the old man's sort at all. Too +stuck up. If I were you, I'd wait until the old man finds out that +you're the man who played the joke, and when he asks you about the +inside of it, tell him the truth just the same as you did me. If you can +show him, before then, that you are the man to market the Sayers car, +it's my opinion that the Judge, and his likes, or dislikes, will amount +to about as much as a tallow candle at an arc-light party. Anyhow, I +wish you luck, and I'll boost for you because I think you deserve it!" + +Holmes studied for a moment and said, "By the way, if you could dictate +your plan for the new sales organization, I could lend you a bright +stenographer who is chain lightning at--well, what is it?" + +He stopped and swung around in his swivel chair as a girl from the outer +office entered with a card which she handed him. + +"That's the name he gave, sir. He said he must see you at once, because +he's the deputy sheriff." + +Jimmy's heart lost a beat. The superintendent grinned, pursed his lips +as if to whistle, and then he said, "Tell him I'm busy but will be at +leisure in less than five minutes. Tell him to wait outside. Five +minutes, remember!" + +The girl went out and the door had barely closed behind her when Holmes +muttered to Jimmy, "Here! Come here, quickly. Into this wash room with +you, and lock the door on the inside. Keyhole it if you wish, because +this sounds mighty funny to me." + +And a minute later when the deputy sheriff was invited to enter he found +the superintendent alone, and the listening Jimmy heard, "What can I do +for you?" + +"The office has been told that there's a chap named Gollop around the +works here--chap who looks like Judge Granger. You know what he's +wanted for. Got a warrant for his arrest" + +"All I know is that he ought to be arrested if he looks like the Judge," +growled Holmes, and then, "No, can't say that there's any such a man +here. You might look through the works. But--who told you there was such +a man here?" + +"We got the tip from your man Wiggins." + +"Oh! Wiggins, eh? Wait a minute." + +Jim heard a buzzer and then the voice of a clerk, "Yes, sir." + +"Send Wiggins in to me immediately," ordered the superintendent. There +was an interval of silence and then further conversation. + +"Oh, Wiggins. Have you seen that man Gollop around lately? If so where +is he now?" + +"Why--why--I thought he was--thought he came this way, sir," stammered +Wiggins with an embarassment that was palpable to the listening Jimmy. + +"You thought? Mr. Wiggins, I'm afraid that some day thinking too much +will be the death of you! What time does Mr. Gollop show up in the +morning?" + +"He's usually here when I come, sir," replied the perturbed and +conscience-stricken Wiggins. + +"Well, to-morrow morning when he comes send him in to me, but--Wiggins! +Don't say a word what I want him for. You can go now." + +A door banged, and Jimmy heard the superintendent's voice assume a +highly confidential tone. + +"That makes it easy, if he's the man you're after. I doubt that, +however. This chap is near-sighted and wears blue glasses. But here's +what I'll do. When Mr. Gollop comes to-morrow I'll keep him here in my +office and will telephone you, then you can come out at once and see if +he's the culprit. Will that do?" + +"Certainly the very best way to do it," said the deputy sheriff, and +then Jimmy heard him depart with apologies and thanks for a cigar that +Holmes had evidently given him. + +Immediately afterward the door opened and the superintendent growled, +"Now you see how evil companionship contaminates a man! You've got me +into this infernal mixup of yours; but--hang it all!--I can't see a good +man get the worst of it on account of that egotistical, swell-headed +Granger. And--besides, I've had a letter from the old man himself +telling me confidentially that the Martin people recommend you very +highly and suggesting that in case you get into trouble through the +Judge I'm to look out for you to the limit. The limit with old Tom +Sayers has never yet been found. So I've got to make good. Besides all +that, there's another reason that's entirely my own, which is that I +think this shebang needs your services, and I work first, last and all +the time for the best interests of the Sayers Automobile Company. So I'm +not going to let a tin rooster like Granger interfere with our business +in any way if I can help it. Where's your luggage?" + +"Over in Mrs. Clancey's house--the place where you recommended me to +stop while here." + +The superintendent stepped to the door leading out into the office and +beckoned to a confidential clerk, who promptly came into the office. + +"Smith, go over to Mrs. Clancey's and pack Mr. Gollop's suit case and +bring it here as soon as you can. Tell her Mr. Gollop has gone--called +away hurriedly; just in time to catch a train; no time to pack. And--see +here, Smith--you're to forget it all the very minute after the job is +done! Understand?" + +"Very well, sir," said Smith, with a grin, and disappeared. + +Before the door had closed Holmes was at the plant telephone, and Jimmy +was compelled to admire the way in which he avoided all waste of time. + +"Garage?" questioned the superintendent. "Good! Tell Hawkins to get out +that new roadster we fixed up for Mr. Sayers, see that she's all ready +for a run, and bring her around to the office door for me." + +As he hung up the receiver the whistle blew and outside could be heard +the droning diminuendo of machinery brought to a stop, denoting that +another day's work was done, and this was followed by the thrumming of +feet and the murmur of voices as the workmen departed. The +superintendent got up and pulled down the window shade. + +"Just as well to make certain that no one sees you sitting in here," he +said, as he again reached for the 'phone, called up his home and said +that he would not be home until late that night because he was detained +on business, and then proceeded in a deliberate and methodical way to +clear up his desk. + +It was just twenty minutes later when the two men walked out of the +office and to the waiting roadster. The big plant looked idle and +deserted. The superintendent gave some words of caution to the man +Hawkins, took his seat, told Jim to climb in, and the machine moved +slowly forward, picked up speed as if glad to be off on a journey, and +began singing its steady, rhythmic song of the road. + +"I've got twenty-eight miles to run to get you across the state line," +said the superintendent, settling into his seat and handling the wheel +like a veteran driver. "In summer I could do it in just twenty-eight +minutes with this car, but it'll take a little longer now. Once across +the line you can twiddle your thumb up against your nose at anything +Granger can do, and go back to New York, or any other place you choose, +to make out your written report for the old man. Either give it to the +Martin people, or forward it to the works in my care, because I can't +give you the old man's address. He jumps here and there like a kangaroo +when he goes on one of his scouting trips. We never know where he is. +Some car, this, eh?" + +Jim's teeth rattled as he shouted his agreement; but, notwithstanding +his desire to get out of the state, he would have preferred to take a +little more time for the journey. The frost-laden wind threatened to +tear him to pieces; behind the goggles with which he had been provided +his eyes streamed rivulets of tears, and he wondered how many +somersaults the car would turn if it happened to hit any solid obstacle. +The coolness of Holmes, who appeared to be lolling back in his seat with +an air of calm indifference to wind, weather, and speed, exasperated +him, but he dared not show the white feather and beg for mercy, so shut +his teeth, clenched his hands and tried to keep from holding his breath. + +Their pace did not slacken in the least when they came to two white +posts and he heard the superintendent's shout, "Across, all right! Two +miles more to town and I think we'll get to the railway station in time +for you to catch the eastbound flyer. Looked up the time-table in the +office before we started. Take chances on speed laws----" and then +fragmentary words of comment not always audible. + +They whizzed through the outskirts of a town, skidded a corner, saw a +railway station from behind which a plume of smoke and steam was +ascending, and came to an abrupt halt by a platform. Jim had no time to +purchase a ticket but made a flying leap with his suitcase and caught +the train after it was in motion. He looked back and waved his hand at +the superintendent, who was already turning the roadster for its home +journey, and it seemed to Mr. James Gollop that this was the first time +in several hours when he had been able to take a full, comforting, and +free breath. + +"If that sort of riding is part of the regular automobile business," he +said to himself as he fell into the nearest seat, "you're foredoomed to +be a failure, Jimmy, my boy! You ought to practice on something slow, +like a comet or a cyclone!" + +His equanimity restored he went to the Pullman conductor and applied for +a berth. + +"Got just one left--an upper--number seventeen. Here, boy, go and bring +the gentleman's baggage to seventeen in this car." + +"Everything is coming my way! My luck has turned!" quoth Jimmy, relieved +by the knowledge that he would not be compelled to ride all night in a +day coach. "She's a joyous world, after all!" + +So happy was he in his optimism that when installed in his Pullman seat +he gave the porter a bright, new dollar, and began to think forward to +the delights of the dining car. The man who had the lower berth in the +section seemed one of those individuals who prefer to keep aloof from +others; for, absorbed in a newspaper that he held high above his face to +catch the light from behind, he had never even so much as glanced at his +prospective section companion. As if he had finished reading something +of especial interest he now for the first time lowered it and suddenly +sat erect and exclaimed, "Well, I'll be confounded!" + +And Jimmy, startled, recognized Judge Granger and retorted, "You +confounded well might be! Toss you to see who jumps off this train--you +or I." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +"This," growled the Judge, glaring at Jimmy, "is an outrage!" + +"Agreed!" retorted Jimmy, at first sufficiently annoyed to have wished +that he and the Judge were in some situation where they might punch each +other's heads, and then, reverting to his habitual good humor, smiling +and finally emitting a chuckle. "You do seem to get in my way a lot. +Honestly, you've no idea what an annoyance you are to me." + +"Annoyance to you? That's good!" growled the Judge. "I annoy you!" + +"You do! You do!" retorted Jimmy. "I suppose you've caused me more +trouble one time and another than any other man I ever met. Isn't it +about time we buried the hatchet and forgot all about that joke of mine +up at Yimville? I've apologized in every way I could think of." + +As if the reference to Yimville had proved unfortunate, the Judge's +face flushed with anger and he bent forward and shook a threatening +finger at Jimmy and declared, "I never make terms with a malefactor. If +you had an idea that I am the type of man to use as the butt for a +silly, asinine jest, I'll teach you to think differently. Mark that and +remember it!" + +"Oh, come now!" Jimmy protested. "That's no way to look at things. It's +unbecoming of a man of your importance to cherish animosity for an +insignificant chap like I am. If we can't be friends, you might at least +be big enough to leave me alone." + +The Judge snorted with contempt. + +"How far are you going?" he finally growled, after a prolonged +inspection of the imperturbable Jimmy. + +"Baltimore. Why? Like to get off where I do so you can keep with better +company than yourself? You can get off there if you wish. I don't own +the town." + +This seemed the final straw to the camel's burden; for the Judge +suddenly popped up in his seat, called to the Pullman conductor who +happened to be standing at a little distance down the aisle, and when +the latter approached asked, "Isn't there any possible way of +exchanging my berth for another?" + +"Yes, do help him out, Conductor," implored Jimmy with marked +solicitude. "He doesn't like me a bit." + +The Pullman potentate stared at the two men incredulously, now that he +noted their physical similarity, and, accepting it as a banter, +remarked, "Can't see why twin brothers should disagree." + +"I'll not brook any of your impudence," thundered the Judge in such +unmistakable anger that the conductor speedily became apologetic, and +consulted his book. + +"Beg pardon, sir," he said; "a stateroom reservation ordered for +Harmonsville has been canceled. You are going through to Washington, +aren't you? Well, you can have that on payment of the extra fare." + +"Let him have it. I'll pay the difference if he's at all short," Jimmy +urged, hopefully. "It's very kind of you, Conductor, because he's not +feeling at all well. What he needs is a long rest." + +"What you need is a jail," growled the Judge, and ordered his luggage +removed to the vacant stateroom. + +"See that the windows are closed, Conductor," said Jimmy. "He catches +cold so easily. Frightfully delicate and sensitive. Been that way since +he was but a dear little child. Do take care of him, won't you?" + +But the Judge, purple with anger, stalked majestically away from his +tormentor without arriving at any adequate reply, and Jimmy was left +alone. In the gray, cold dawn of four o'clock the next morning, as Jim +followed the porter out, he paused behind just long enough to rap loudly +on the Judge's stateroom door and to explain, "Baltimore. I'm leaving +you now. Pleasant journey!" + +But presumably from the Judge's remarks, this little parting courtesy +was not appreciated, although it afforded the cheerful Jimmy some +amusement as he made his way out of the station. Indeed, considering +that inhospitable hour of the morning, he was made fairly happy by what +the Judge said. Furthermore, to palliate the dreariness of the winter +morning, was the thought that now he could break the news of his +discharge to his mother because he could couple it with a hopeful +prospect. + +For two whole days, and considerable portions of the nights, Jimmy +plunged headlong into his proposed organization of a sales and publicity +department for the Sayers Company, and his lively imagination stimulated +itself as his enthusiasm grew. Expert salesman that he was, and +untrammeled by traditions of the motor car trade, his originality found +full vent, and, all unaware of it, he proposed plans that would have +been seized upon by any progressive and daring firm in the automobile +industry. In fact "he builded better than he knew"; but, after his +manuscript had been duly typed and mailed, he suffered anxious hours +thinking of how this or that part of his scheme might have been +improved, and went through all that mental agony with which every +composer reviews his completed work when too late for alteration. At the +end of the second day's wait he became fearful, and at the end of the +third day was beginning to lose hope. On the fourth day he said, +somberly, "Well, Maw, I reckon it was a flivver! I've got to get back to +New York to-morrow and look for a job in my own line." + +His optimism was being sorely tried; but his courage was still +unweakened. It was while he was packing his suit case on the following +morning that a telegram came. + + "Meet me at Engineers' Club at noon to-morrow, Martin." + +Even the message offered small consolation or encouragement; but it was +his way to hope for the best, so he whistled bravely as he left his +home. He put in all his spare time, after arrival in New York, in +visiting automobile agencies and studying as far as possible their +selling methods, and he absorbed information as a dry sponge thrown into +a whirlpool absorbs water. He made notes in his memorandum book after +each visit and soliloquized, "If nothing comes of the Sayers thing, I'll +have learned a whole lot more than I ever knew about this car business, +and some day it might prove worth while. I can at least walk up to a +motor car now and look it in the face and shake its hand as if we were +old acquaintances; I used to take off my hat to a taxicab, but now I +regard 'em as errand boys running here and there through the streets. +This car line is a mighty big game, after all." + +And it was with this feeling that he entered the Engineers' Club and was +met in the hallway by Martin, who had just arrived. + +"On time, I see--I like that," was the elder man's greeting. "Now, first +of all, we shall have lunch, because I'm hungry. I never talk business +during meals. I believe in relaxation." + +"But--but--what's the use in eating when there's anything more important +to do?" asked Jimmy, eager to hear Martin's verdict. + +"Nothing is as important as eating when one is hungry," was his host's +remark, and Jimmy had to be content. "Hope you had a nice trip out to +Princetown?" was Martin's next remark, and Jimmy gave him a highly +humorous account of what that nice trip was like, much to Martin's +amusement. + +"This--this Granger person does seem to bear you a grudge," he +commented. "Have you made any attempt to calm him down by rubbing his +ears, or stroking his fur the right way?" + +And then Jimmy became serious and said, "Yes, I did try to get him to +bury the hatchet when I met him on the train," and detailed that +unhappy conversation. "You see," he added, boyishly, "I didn't care much +what he thought of me; but I thought it was my duty to get the whole +affair wiped off the slate if Mr. Sayers decided to give me a chance. It +wouldn't be fair to Mr. Sayers to have a man of the Judge's influence +angry with one of the company's employees. If I get that place, I've got +to fill it well. I've just naturally got to do it!" + +"Um-m-mh! Do you intend to tell Sayers all about it?" + +"Of course I do." + +"But--but suppose, after he heard the story, he declined to employ you?" + +"I can't help that," said Jimmy ruefully. "It wouldn't be fair and +honest to take the place unless he knew all about my reputation out +there." + +"Is it your habit to confide all your mistakes to your employer?" his +host asked, as if surprised. + +"Of course," asserted Jimmy. "When I work for a man, I'm his and whether +he likes it or not he's more or less responsible for what I do. And, +what's more, I feel responsible for him. If anything fails in the goods +I sell, I'm as hurt over it as if I had made 'em. I worked for one man +I didn't like, and he didn't like me; but we got along for the sole +reason that we both believed in his line of stuff because it was honest. +It was the only thing we ever did agree on. And I suppose I'd have been +with him yet if he hadn't sold out to a company that began to make +inferior stuff to add to the profits." + +After luncheon they found a secluded corner and Martin said, "Well, +young man, now we shall get down to brass tacks. I read that report you +made and I can think of a few objections you might have to meet before +you can get the position, and there are some other points that might +come up and require explanation." + +And then, with shrewdness, he began his discussion of Jimmy's plan, and +no expert investigator could have made a more exhaustive examination +than he did. Jimmy's wits were sharpened by this catechism, and his +ideas improved and grew apace. He even admitted that he had studied the +sales methods of other firms and apparently gained the elder man's +approval for his activity and judgment. + +The afternoon daylight had waned before they realized the passage of +time, and Martin consulted his watch and said, "So far we seemed to +have threshed this matter out pretty thoroughly; but there's one very +important detail you've neglected, and that is to state what you expect +in the way of salary." + +"By jingoes!" exclaimed Jimmy, straightening in his seat. "I forgot all +about that. Do you know, I got so interested in working out this project +that I never so much as gave the pay part of it a thought?" + +Martin laughed as if delighted by such an absurdity. + +"Well," he remarked, "if that's the way you handle your private affairs +it doesn't look promising for whoever employs you. No, I'll retract +that, and on second thought reverse that judgment. I'll say that if you +invariably put your employer's interests before your own your sole +chance to succeed is to become a member of any firm you work for. I +suggest that you put that up to--Sayers." + +"Don't quite get you," said Jimmy, as if puzzled. "You aren't having fun +with me, are you?" + +"I am not," asserted the shrewd old business man. "I'm in earnest." + +"But mightn't Mr. Sayers think I had an awful nerve? Perhaps he'd not +give me a chance at all and--I want that job because I'd like to prove +that there's a little more to me than a comic supplement. I need money, +but about the biggest reward a man can get is the absolute conviction +that he made good." + +Martin studied Jim's face with a look of warm approbation, but Jimmy, +entirely unaware of the scrutiny, stared into the fireplace with eyes +that seemed glowing with big dreams. + +"If I thought Mr. Sayers wouldn't think me a fool," he said, almost as +if to himself, "I'd like to have him give me a chance with these schemes +of mine on this basis: That I'd go to work for him for my bare living +expenses--I'd work for just half the salary I got from the Columbus +people--and that he would give me a percentage and all the increase of +sales. And--I'd like to take that payment in stock in the business, so +that if I did make a big success of it, I'd feel thereafter, year by +year, that I was hustling for myself as well as the Sayers Company." + +"You know that it's not an ordinary corporation, don't you?" Martin +asked. "No? Well it's the closest corporation I know. Sayers owns +seventy-five per cent of it. His daughter is the next largest +stockholder, and his superintendent has practically all the remainder +which, by the way, was given him as a bonus for efficient work." + +"Phew!" exclaimed Jimmy. "I didn't know Mr. Holmes was a stockholder, or +I'd have been more circumspect. Good Lord! I criticised the selling +organization and roasted it from top to bottom, and even told him one or +two things I thought might improve his plant. Just my luck! I'll never +get sense enough to keep my mouth shut about things over which I +enthuse." + +"There's where you are wrong. The superintendent has given you the +biggest boost I ever knew one man to give another. He says you are the +livest wire he ever met and that the plant must have you at any price; +says that he never met a man in his life whose head was so filled with +new and original ideas and that half the time you had him dazed with +trying to keep up with you. So, you see, it paid you to be frank and +outspoken with him at least, and--Sayers thinks a lot of what that +superintendent says! I can tell you that." + +He stopped, relighted his half-burned cigar, appeared to consider for a +time while Jimmy, waiting his friendly advice, watched him eagerly, and +then said, "Well, Gollop, I'll tell you something more. I've been +authorized to go fully into this thing with you, and to decide it. The +job is yours, on the terms you propose, save for this. You shall draw +exactly the same salary that the Columbus Company paid you. You shall +have a full year in which to prove that your management of your +department is good, or a failure. If you succeed, you're made for life. +If you fail you can expect nothing at all in the way of leniency from +old Tom Sayers, because he's as hard hearted an old wretch as ever began +at the very bottom and worked himself to wherever he now is by hard +knocks and worshiping efficiency." + +Jimmy suddenly gasped, and then impulsively reached forward and clutched +the elder man's hand in both his own. + +"I'm not going to fail," he said, simply, "because that would be a slam +on your judgment and--you've been mighty kind to me, Mr. Martin and--I +can't throw down a friend. If for no other reason on earth I'll make +good or bust myself trying, just because you got me the chance. I mean +it! I do! And----" He hesitated and then added, almost timidly--"I'm so +desperately eager to make a big success of this that--would you mind, if +I get worried, or doubtful--like a chap does sometimes if--if I came to +you for advice? You're so deucedly sane and wise, and the only thing I +seem to lack is plain horse sense!" + +He was so ingenuous, so frankly in earnest, so open in his gratitude and +admiration, that Martin, square-jawed, taciturn, and repressed, turned +away to hide the sudden flash of liking that warmed his eyes. + +"I'll take it as a favor if you'll ask my advice," he replied. "In fact, +I'll probably give you a darned sight more advice than you'll either +like or follow. Well, what are you going to do now?" + +"Send a wire to my mother," said Jimmy, "You see, Maw's worried, +and--it'll make her so happy that I can't put that off for another +minute. Do you mind if I tell her that I got the job through your +kindness?" + +"If you wish," said Martin, with a smile. "You can step to the desk over +there and find a form, and I'll have it sent from here." + +Jimmy rushed to the desk and returned in a few minutes, with a jubilant +face. Martin took the message outside to have it sent and was compelled +to read it to settle a question of the count of words and read this +eulogium: + + "Martin finest man on earth. Never knew any so good and kind. Got + Sayers job for me on better terms than I could dare ask for. + Glorious chance. Martin will help me make good. Marvelous fund + common sense. Can't fail when he so kind and friendly. Writing long + letter. Love. God bless you. Jimmy." + +"Lack of gratitude certainly isn't one of his failings," thought Martin; +but somehow his face appeared neither harsh nor cynical, from which it +might be surmised that he was not at all displeased. He sauntered back, +rejoined his guest, and then said. "When do you propose to begin work?" + +"I've already begun," said Jimmy, looking up at him. "Been thinking +about it since you left. But--I can't see just how I'm to do it until I +can meet Mr. Sayers and tell him all about Judge Granger. I think I +should go back to Princetown first of all and get full knowledge from +the superintendent of our technical advantages over all other cars. And +if I go back there Granger will have me pinched! Isn't it rotten luck? +What a chump I was! That man hates me because we look alike. It's not my +fault at all. I didn't make his lookings. If I had, I'd have tried to +make a better job of it. It seems to me that either he or I will have to +change his face. He ought to wear whiskers. A Judge without whiskers +isn't any good, anyhow, I reckon. So here I am with the biggest chance +of my life, and it's all mucked up because I can't get that chap to +forget that I helped him out with a single speech I made for him up at +Yimville. Why, if he had sense enough to appreciate it, I gave him more +free advertising than he ever had before in all his life! That apology +of mine should have made more votes for him than he'd ever have grabbed +through his own eloquence. I wouldn't harm him for anything and yet he +hates me. I tried to make it up when I met him. I went the limit. But he +was so sore he wouldn't even think of sleeping in the same section with +me, although I had the upper berth and never snore nor talk in my +sleep! He's a big man and I'm a slob; but all of that doesn't seem to +count with him. He can't forgive me because we look alike. If I were in +his place I'd feel sorry for the other chap. I'd hold conference with +him about our mutual predicament. I'd send him clippings from +interesting folks who make things for noses and tell how to grow +eyebrows and how to flatten ears and make wide grins into sweet, +diminutive smiles. I'd put him next to people who change gray eyes into +brown ones, and purple eyes into greens. What on earth am I to do to get +a passport into his state from J. Woodworth-Granger so I can keep my +job?" + +He spoke almost tearfully, as if contemplating an unsurmountable +obstacle, but Martin appeared unimpressed by his woe. Indeed, he +chuckled as if amused. + +"It might take time," he said, "to persuade the judge; but--suppose you +leave it to me. I have an idea that I can do it within a week or ten +days, or at least gain an armistice. And you needn't worry about Sayers. +I'll tell him how the matter stands. You can put in your time for a week +or two scouting around car agencies here in New York, and in the +meantime, can consider yourself employed. Meet me here to-morrow at +three o'clock." + +Jimmy experienced several paradoxes in his surroundings when he stepped +briskly out of the skyscraper wherein he had been entertained. It was +nearly five o'clock in a dark afternoon, but the universe seemed filled +with sunshine; heavy flakes were falling softly, but they appeared rose +petals; men and women wore overcoats but the air was benignantly soft +and warm; each sputtering arc light had a rainbow or a beautiful halo; +street cars clanged, taxis honk-honked, the wheels of trucks screeched +and ground across paving blocks and metal rails; but the whole blended +into a strange triumphal march as if performed by some immense band of +music. Mr. James Gollop had to fight an impulse to sing, dance, shout +and altogether conduct himself with the improprieties that are +chronicled against one King David, who played on timbrels and recklessly +jazzed himself out of his job. Unlike King David, he came to his senses +in time to commune with himself and to admonish himself. + +"Steady, Jimmy! Steady! Whoa there! Back up! Ca'm yourself! Ca'm +yourself. You've got the job, but there's a lot of work to be done +before you become part owner of the finest car on earth, the peerless +wonder of the transportation world, the winged victory of the roads. +Don't let your head swell, James. Better keep it solid bone than have it +turn into a toy balloon; because the latter can be pricked with a bare +bodkin." + +But nevertheless his happiness was so great, his hopes so high, his +dreams so insurgent, that he longed, most fervently, to share his glad +news with someone. As he said to himself, "If I can't tell someone +pretty soon, I'll just naturally blow up! That's all there is to that!" + +And evidently the "someone" he wished to make his confidant was pretty +well known in the back of his head, for he suddenly hurried out to the +nearest corner and boarded a car that would take him into old New York. + +As the car came under the big electric sign reading "Gonfaroni's" it +shone up there in the heavens like a lighthouse to a homecoming mariner, +and he blithely stepped off and hastened down the side street to the +entrance of MacDougall Alley. It was dark, chill and deserted. Lights +shone through the cracks of one window at the far end, but the studio +which was his Mecca was rayless. + +Jimmy stood for a long time in front of it, staring up at its darkened +windows, and derided himself for his pangs of disappointment. + +"This can't go on any longer," he told himself, savagely. "To-morrow +I've just got to know Mary Allen's real name. I'm a big enough man +now--prospectively at least--to dare to walk into that Martha Putnam +hotel, glare at the ogress who guards the pearly gates, and tell her to +send my card up to Miss So-and-so and to step lively. Here I am, just +bubbling over with glad news like a tin tea kettle on a red hot stove +spouting steam, and I can't go uptown to that hotel and send up my card +because I've never had the courage to ask her real name. I've been a +coward all along, but now it's got to stop." + +Nevertheless he did return to the uptown precincts and for a long time +stood guard in front of the distinguished woman's caravanserai, hoping +against all common sense that Mary Allen might appear. He remembered +reading an article in a Sunday newspaper on telepathy, and stood across +the street frowning at the Martha Putnam and concentrating his mind on +the object of his adoration, and beseeching her to come to the +elevator, and thence down into the cold street in response to his great +desire. But somehow the telepathy stuff didn't work at all according to +propaganda. He shut his eyes and tried more earnestly until aroused by a +voice. "Hey! You can't sleep in that doorway. Move on! Wiggle your +stumps!" + +A fat policeman stood regarding him. Jimmy was discouraged, for he knew +that any policeman, anywhere, is an unfeeling wretch, who, if he met the +great god Cupid on the street, would promptly arrest that light of the +world for indecent exposure and perhaps carry him to the nearest station +by the tips of his golden wings as if he were but a vagrant chicken +destined for the sergeant's pot. + +"Come! Fade away!" the enemy ordered, belligerently. + +And Mr. James Gollop, crestfallen, faded. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +At exactly three-thirty o'clock on the following day in the Engineers' +Club the taciturn Mr. Martin, after some further questioning, took from +his pocket a contract and duplicate that assured Mr. James Gollop +employment. + +"I've been in a peculiar situation in this affair," said Martin. "I've +had to fight against some personal likings and inclinations, and stand +as a mediator; for I must look after the best interests of the Sayers +Automobile Company as well as the interests of Jim Gollop. However, here +you are. Sign these." + +Jimmy signed the contracts with as glad a hand as if he had been +affixing his signature to some document of inheritance that would bring +him a million. He put his own copy in his pocket with as much care as if +it were precious beyond computation. + +"Now," he said, "when do I meet Mr. Sayers?" + +"Sayers," said Martin, as he put the original contract into his pocket, +"is going somewhere West to-day. You'll see him soon enough. His +instructions are that you are to go immediately to San Augustine, +Florida, to see what is being done by rival concerns down there at the +beach races. I suppose he expects you to pick up points and information. +Keep track of your expense account. Learn all you can. Then report at +Princetown." + +"But--about Granger! Am I to----" + +"You'll be away at least two weeks," said Martin. "Many things can +happen in that time. If I were you, I'd forget that the Judge is on +earth. I'll--I'll tell Sayers about this matter," said his benefactor, +with the first sign of hesitancy that Jim had ever seen him display. +"And in the meantime, I'll do all I can to get that Judge to show some +sense. You can be certain of that. Well, may good luck go with you!" + +At exactly seven-thirty that evening Mr. James Gollop reluctantly +departed from the street in front of the Martha Putnam hotel, where he +had taken up sentry go after convincing himself that MacDougall Alley +was dark. + +"Got to catch my train to San Augustine," he warned himself. "Can't put +it off a minute longer because the meeting is on there day after +to-morrow, and it won't wait until I can tell Mary Allen all about it! +But if I don't straighten this matter out so that hereafter I can at +least write her, or send her a wire, I'm no organizer at all and my +chance with the Sayers Company isn't worth a tinker's curse." + +As if he were forever scraping under the wire just before the barrier +fell, Jimmy got the last vacant berth in the sleeper and, recovering +from his Martha Putnam disappointment, whistled blithely as a porter +carried his suitcase to the Pullman steps. He stood outside to enjoy the +last of his cigar and was mildly interested in the final rush of +passengers when a porter came rapidly wheeling an invalid's chair in +which sat a man bodily broken and hideously scarred. The porter halted +the chair and the man asked, anxiously, if it were possible to secure a +berth. + +"Sorry, sir," said the Pullman conductor, "but we're full up. You should +have engaged one earlier for this train. It's always crowded now." + +"I didn't know until half an hour ago that I could come," said the man +in the wheel chair with such evident disappointment that Jimmy's +sympathy was enlisted. "Isn't there some place you can put me? +It's--it's like a day out of my life if I miss this train to San +Augustine!" + +That was more than Jimmy could endure. + +"Give this man my berth," said Jimmy to the conductor. "No. 12 in this +car. I can stick it through the night in the smoker. I've done it heaps +of times!" + +And with that he brushed the porter aside, bent forward, lifted the +wreck from the chair and with his sturdy strength carried him up the +steps and to the relinquished section. + +"There," he said cheerfully, as the porter came bearing the cushions +with which to make the invalid comfortable. "Now you'll be right as a +top." + +The train took on motion and Jimmy was starting to carry his suitcase +forward when the Pullman conductor, proving that kindliness commands +kindliness, came hurrying forward and said, "Here! Let the porter find a +seat for you. It's pretty crowded out there now. Or, if the gentleman +has no objections, you might sit here with him until it's time to make +the berths down. The day coaches and smokers usually get thinned out a +little by ten o'clock at night." + +And thus it was that Jimmy made a new friend. + +"You see," explained the man he had befriended, "this race meeting down +there means a lot to a chap smashed up as I am. It's about the only +thrill I ever get since--since--I had to live in a chair. My name is +Carver. Dan Carver. What's yours?" + +"Jim Gollop," said Jimmy, puzzling his excellent memory to recall why it +was that the name Dan Carver suggested something, and then, after an +interval, blurting, "Carver? Are you the man who used to be a famous +race driver two or three years ago? The man who wrecked himself in the +Vanderbilt Cup races rather than take a chance on throwing his machine +into the crowd at a turn?" + +"The same--what's left of him," Carver admitted. + +"Then," said Jimmy, "I wish I could have given you a whole Pullman +instead of just one berth! By gosh! You deserve it. The firm you drove +for ought to have seen to that." + +"Firms forget, when a man is no longer of use," said Carver with a shake +of his head. + +"Some of 'em do. Mine isn't that sort. But, you see, my firm is head and +shoulders above the others--in some ways. The Sayers Automobile Company +isn't one of these big, swollen concerns. Old Tom Sayers looks after his +people." + +He was in true form again, proud of his firm, boasting its merits, +advertising it and ready to defend it quite as valiantly as if he had +been with it from its beginnings. + +"I've heard of it," admitted Carver, politely. "Suppose it's because I'm +so out of the game that I don't know more about it than I do. My fault! +How long you been with 'em?" + +"Since about five o'clock this afternoon," said Jimmy. + +The crippled record breaker took out his watch, consulted it, and +slipped it back in his pocket. + +"Long time, isn't it?" he commented. "That's nearly three hours. I've +broken a few records in my time, but you beat anything I've come across. +It took thirteen years for me to learn that one concern I worked for +was no good. It took you three hours to learn the one you work for is +the best there is." + +"But I believe it!" declared Jimmy, with his unquenchable enthusiasm. +"Why? Because I believe in Tom Sayers. I believe in his honesty, and his +reputation, and--well--because he gave me a chance." + +"Know him very well?" his seat mate asked. + +"Never met him," Jimmy admitted. + +"Know anything about his cars?" Carver somewhat cynically asked. + +"I know that some of those who have them brag about them," said Jimmy. +"And I know that the men who work for him, from the superintendent down +to the yard boy, believe in them and say so, and would tear to pieces a +man who says they aren't the best. That's good enough for me. Know +anything about cars? Um-m-m-mh! I reckon I don't know a thing on earth +about 'em. If my life depended upon starting a car that somebody had +handed me on a platter, I suppose I'd be a deader. But a man doesn't +have to know it all to succeed. Noah couldn't have started the +_Aquitania_; but he did navigate the ark pretty successfully, and nobody +denies that he was the first admiral that ever sailed the seas. Admiral +Nelson and Commodore Paul Jones got there, somehow, but if they had seen +a motor launch tearing down on them at twenty miles an hour, I can +imagine both of them diving off the poop!" + +Before they parted that night, the expert and the novice had become +friends. Before the race meeting was over, Mr. James Gollop knew more +about the merits of cars, the advantages of one over the other, and the +prevailing failings and universal obstacles than he had ever dreamed +before. Incidentally, he had established a friendship that lasted and +was to be of mutual benefit thereafter. He jubilated when considering +fortune. All things were coming his way. He would have accepted it as a +part of the regular procedure had he found a twenty dollar gold piece on +the pavement. His luck was in. + +And so, like a happy victor, Mr. James Gollop of the Sayers Automobile +Company returned to New York one evening and, knowing that it was too +late to base any hope on either MacDougall Alley or the Martha Putnam +hotel, repaired, in lieu thereof, to the palm-garden precincts of the +place in which he had last dined with Mary Allen. He made plans for the +morrow, thought of what he might say to her, determined that the mystery +should end, and was anything but discontented. He ate leisurely, enjoyed +his food, and perused an evening paper. He liked the black coffee, and +felt civilized when he resorted to the finger bowl. He got to his feet +leisurely, well content, and then stopped, bent to one side, moved a +pace and through a screen of palm fronds stared as if transfixed. What +he saw was Mary Allen seated at a nice little table, inspecting a bunch +of violets in her hand, whilst across from her, stiff, pompous, +self-conscious, but entirely self-satisfied, sat the man who might have +been Mr. James Gollop but who was, indubitably one J. Woodworth-Granger, +Judge of the Fourth District Court. Others might not identify him, but +Mr. James Gollop did and for a moment his mind was in a turmoil of +surprise and anger. Granger! That wind bag had somehow, probably by mere +accident, met the only girl on earth, taken base advantage of his +likeness to one Jim Gollop, and was profiting thereby! How dare he! To +impersonate another man under ordinary circumstances was in itself +sufficiently culpable, but in private affairs, extraordinary and +personal, it became outrageous. + +A great wave of indignation surged Jimmy Gollop as if he had been thrust +into a turbulent sea and was being helplessly bobbed up and down +thereon. He was undecided whether to create a scene by rushing forward, +seizing the impertinent Judge by the short hair at the back of his neck, +which country barbers had encouraged to a bristle, or to stalk +deliberately forward like the long lost hero in the cinema and--after +the screen had announced his words, "This girl is mine!"--scornfully +indicate to the impostor the door through which the latter, crestfallen, +must inevitably depart. For about a half-minute that seemed a +half-century, he didn't know what to do. And then, upsetting all ethics +and standards of the melodrama and the movies, he did just what anyone +else would have done in like circumstances; stalked majestically toward +the hat pirate in the outer hall, fumbled for his hat slip, presented it +with humble fingers, got his head covering and his overcoat, and +shuffled out into the street dejectedly to ponder over the exigencies of +this calamity, this tragedy, that threatened to end the world. How dared +the Judge to look like him! What a dirty trick to take advantage of +their unfortunate resemblance and impose himself into such a situation! +It was incredible, and base. He didn't know what to do about it, because +she was involved. He felt himself in a peculiarly helpless position. He +could but pray that the Judge's intentions were honorable. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +After a rather disturbed night in which he slept by fits and starts, +mostly starts, and occupied the intervening wakeful hours in considering +the Judge's unparalleled effrontery, Jim dawdled over a breakfast for +which he had no appetite, reflecting meanwhile what he could do. +Ordinarily his nerves were equal to any strain; but now he found himself +fidgety, which but added to his general perturbation. For her sake, as +much as his own, he was indignant over the deception practiced upon Mary +Allen, and resolved to punish the impostor if ever opportunity offered. +He decided that his first move must be to warn her. That, too, presented +its difficulty, as his one certain chance of finding her was at her +studio, and he doubted if she would be there before the late forenoon. +He scanned the list of hotel arrivals and learned that the Judge was a +guest at the Van Astor. + +"That," he soliloquized, "is worth knowing; because after I have had a +talk with Mary, I'll call upon that human airship or write him a note +telling him what one James Gollop thinks about him!" + +He was still perplexed and absent-minded when he somewhat listlessly +walked out into the morning sunlight and started rather aimlessly down +town; nor was he aware that he was passing the Van Astor until disturbed +by a sharp "Harrup! Ahem!" snorted out as if by a hippopotamus that had +just emerged from deep water, and looking around saw the object of his +indignation advancing toward him. If Jim's usual frown looked black, the +scowl that was on the Judge's face was cyclonic. + +"You unspeakable scoundrel!" the Judge exclaimed, as he confronted +Jimmy. + +"That, sir, is precisely the term I should have applied to you!" +retorted Jimmy. And then, before the Judge, who was not so quick on the +up-take, had time to recover, Jim poked his face belligerently forward +and added, "The sole condition that prevents me from giving you just +what you deserve--a punch in the jaw!--is that we are here on the +street; but I'll promise you this, you infernal windbag, that if ever I +get you alone, I'll change your facial boundaries until you'll never +more be mistaken for me." + +"You--you--how dare you!" exclaimed the Judge, drawing back as if +aghast, and considerably alarmed by the threat of physical peril. + +"See here," said Jim, advancing a step as the Judge retreated, "we'll +mention no names, but I'll say this: that if ever again you take +advantage of our resemblance to force your attentions on the young lady +with whom I saw you last night, I'll expose you. You should be ashamed +of yourself. There is a limit to everything, and your actions are beyond +the lines of decency--you--you--hypocritical blackguard!" + +"Not another word! Not another word!" roared the Judge, as if he were +admonishing a highly obstreperous witness in his court "It's all I can +do to keep from turning you over to the police, and----" + +"And it's all I can do to keep from putting my fist into your face until +someone calls for an ambulance! By God! I think I'll do it anyhow!" +exclaimed Jim with such evident intention that the Judge got from reach +not an instant too soon, and, deciding that he might as well continue +his progress after such a flying start, did not pause until he had +reached the security of the hotel rotunda. Jim's first impulse had been +to assist his departure with his boot, but after his leg had got +half-way into the air he recovered his senses, and then angrily turned +and walked down the avenue. Once around the corner of an intersecting +street he stopped, got out of the line of traffic, and despite the +coldness of the day, removed his hat and wiped moisture from his +forehead. + +"Good Lord!" he muttered, "what a narrow escape! I came as near to +making an absolute fool of myself then as ever I have in my life. If I +hadn't controlled myself at the right moment I would have probably +booted the Judge; but would have kicked away my new job at the same +time. Will I never, never, never learn sense?" + +The fact that the Judge had opened a meeting with an insult that +scarcely any red-blooded man could have failed to resent, did not, in +Jimmy's sober self-arraignment condone his own conduct. + +"What I should have done," he thought, "was to keep my temper cool, and +let him know beyond any chance of misunderstanding just where we stand, +right now and in the future. I'm not going to run away from that big +bluffer any more. It's come to a show-down between him and me! I'm +done, not only with apologies, but, with side-stepping. If ever he +sticks his nose into my affairs again I'll make him wish he'd taken it +to a shipyard and had it armor plated. But how on earth did he happen to +bump into Mary? And where? That's what gets me!" + +He thought he could picture it all--the chance meeting, her cordial +greeting, the Judge's joy at being hailed by such an extraordinary +beautiful and attractive creature when all the girls he had hitherto met +had been of the small town or tea-party variety, and his tacit +pretension that he was her accepted friend and pal, James Gollop. + +"I reckon he'd smirk, and bow, and try to be clever and witty, and all +the time he'd be either patting himself on the back for his luck, or +envying or hating me," thought Jimmy. "When I let the people out in +Yimville think I was him, it was a joke; but this is a serious matter +and--it's positively indecent! That's what it is! It's an outrage!" + +Imbued with a frantic wish to have Mary Allen share his indignation, he +started toward MacDougall Alley. And then his consideration for her +feelings and wish to shield her from distress caused him to ponder +whether it were not the best to avoid mention of the Judge unless she +broached the subject of the supposed James Gollop's actions on the +preceding night. That brought him to another tormenting question, which +was how long this affair had been going on. How long had the Judge been +in town? How many times had he met and entertained her? And--horrible +condition!--suppose of the two men she had learned to like Judge +Woodworth-Granger better than James Gollop? That would be a tragedy. +Never a doubt entered his mind but that the Judge would speedily fall in +love with such a paragon, and throw himself at her feet. It was +impossible that he should be such an imbecile as to do otherwise! Any +man in the world would do the same. It was to be expected, in the +natural course of things. Being something of an opportunist, he decided +to stop pondering over everything until he was in the presence of Mary, +and then to guide himself by his reception. He hoped that the Judge had, +as nearly as his capabilities permitted, lived up to the high standard +of the Gollop form, or, as Jimmy himself might have expressed it, that +the Judge "hadn't queered his pitch." + +"It'd be just like him to make her hate me after one interview. +Considering how I hated myself after one meeting with him I couldn't +blame her," he admitted, dolefully. + +With an unwonted trepidation he climbed the studio stairs and rapped on +the door. + +"Come in." Her voice, sounding to Jimmy like a long unheard and +beautiful song, responded and he turned the handle and entered. + +She was sitting in front of an easel and the forenoon light from outside +lent finer lights and shadows to her face as with her head half-turned +over her shoulder she regarded him. + +"Oh, hello! It's you, is it?" she greeted, and then got to her feet +quickly, and stepped toward him as if to inspect him at shorter range, +or else as if wondering what mood he might be in at the moment. There +was a palpable uncertainty, curiosity, and perhaps reserve in her +attitude, as if she wondered whether he would begin talking pompous +platitudes or, on the contrary, breezing into some whimsy. He didn't +quite know what to say or do. He felt like a human interrogation point; +aware of the necessity of finding out something and adapting himself to +that knowledge. + +He had kept away from her when discharged from the old employment and +sought her when his outlook was brightened by the new. He had tried to +find her when his dreams were flashing fast. He had anticipated this +interview. His imagination and love had so gilded her and her +surroundings with glamour that now, as he stood there, awkward, +irresolute, with hat in hand, everything seemed unreal. Everything +seemed reduced to hard realities. The fire that warmed the studio was a +real fire. The light that entered through the windows was real light. +The studio was but a real working room, and she but a real +flesh-and-blood girl standing there in a paint-soiled apron with a +palette in one hand and a brush in the other. + +And then her voice brought him back to earth. + +"For goodness sake! Can't you speak?" she asked, and extricated a thumb +from the palette, and turned to lay it and the paint brush on a littered +table near her easel. Inasmuch as her eyes were for the moment diverted +from him he succeeded in recovering some of his customary wits. + +"Speak? Speak! I've got so much to speak that I'm smothered with talk," +he replied. "Aren't you going to shake hands before I begin?" + +"I suppose it's polite," she said, extending a hand which, with all the +delightful inconsequence of a man infatuated with love, he had +frequently craved to hold forever. "Suppose you sit down to tell it!" +she suggested, withdrawing her hand from his. "I'm--I'm rather curious +to hear you talk." + +"Why?" he asked. "Don't I talk enough--usually?" + +"Yes, but----" She stopped, appeared to hesitate, and then almost +irrelevantly said "You've never said what you thought of my work. Do you +think I should continue it, or drop it?" + +Jimmy was so astonished by the unexpected that he forgot his +embarrassment. + +"Drop it? Of course not. How absurd! It was never in me to do anything +very well," he added almost wistfully, "for I have no gifts. But if I +could sing even a little, I would cultivate my voice. And if I but knew +how to paint at all, I would work to paint better, always hoping that +some time I might do at least one picture. But--isn't it unusual for you +to be either discouraged, or questioning?" + +"Perhaps," she said, looking away from him. "But--suppose I had to give +it up?" + +"Why?" he cried solicitously. And then, remembering that all his recent +worries had been of a financial nature, he was fearful that some wolf of +poverty had thrust its head into the studio door. "If--if--it's money +that keeps you from going ahead as you have been, I--look here! Your +work mustn't stop. We're too good friends to be falsely modest. If--if +you're broke, I'd like to let you have some money. I haven't got much, +but--Mary--I'm going to make some. I'll--I'll buy a picture. I'd like +one. I've always wanted one of yours." + +She smiled a trifle sadly and shook her head in negation. He thought she +doubted the affluence of a mere chocolate salesman and it brought his +mind back to his own good news. + +"See here, Mary Allen," he expostulated, "a lot of things have happened +since I saw you last. I'm no longer Jimmy Gollop, candy drummer. I'm Mr. +James Gollop, Sales Manager for one of the best institutions on earth, +and I'm going to make good. I know I shall. I feel it here," and he +tapped his breast with his knuckles. She did not observe his gesture, +for she had turned still further from him, and was looking out of the +window as if half distracted by her own thought. + +"Why," he blurted, "you'd be as unhappy without paint as I'd be without +work. Rather than have you give it up, I'd--I'd send you down to +Maryland to my mother. Why not do that? You'd love her, because everyone +does. And she'd love you because--well--just because she couldn't help +it. Mary--if you'd only go down there you could have a home--no fussy +hotel, and--and--I'd be so happy to----" + +She suddenly turned toward him with a tiny gesture, then laughed. He was +rather hurt, and felt that possibly she was ridiculing his honest and +generous offer. As if she read his thought she came quickly toward him +and held out her hand and caught his and said, using the old jocular +name, "No, Bill Jones, Pirate, it isn't money! But don't think for an +instant that I don't appreciate the offer that comes from your big, fine +heart! I do! And--I wish I could accept it. I think I know what your +home is like--and what your mother is like." + +She dropped his hand and now turned toward the easel, smudged a blotch +of paint with a slender finger tip in awkward pretense at being +interested in her study, and without looking at him said, "It's not +money. It's because the man to whom I am engaged to be married +disapproves of my little hobby and has asserted so in most emphatic +terms." + +It seemed to Jim that the whole room was reeling, and that there was a +great burst of sound, followed by a stillness so profound that the +distressed beating of his heart had become loudly audible. His knees +trembled. His hands clutched and quivered. He felt mentally and +physically stricken, tried to speak, could utter no sound, and then, to +conceal his hurt, turned almost mechanically to the chair she had +proffered, groped blindly for its arm, and slowly subsided into it. He +was pitifully thankful that she had not observed his distress; that she +was still standing there in front of the easel. This betrothal was an +intervention that had never entered into any of his thoughts or dreams +of her. He had always pictured her as free, quite free, following her +whims and ambitions within the limitations of a meager purse. He sat +there, stunned, for a moment, and then remembered, dully, that he did +not even know her name. The absurdities of his position, and the +futilities of all his long aspirations and love dreams seemed magnified +through the shock of sudden and bitter knowledge. In a moment of bitter +disappointment, he wondered how he had ever dared to advance from the +accident of a chance meeting to friendship, and from friendship to love. + +"I--I congratulate you," he said, lamely, for want of something better +to say. + +"On what?" she asked. "Because the man to whom I am engaged doesn't +understand what this daubing of mine means to me?" + +"No, not on that; but on being betrothed," he replied, and then added, +bluntly, "You see,--I--I didn't know it. You never told me. No, you +never told me anything about it in all these months in which--in which +you've been just Mary Allen, and I, Bill Jones!" + +He was not aware of the sorry tragedy in his voice that contrasted so +sharply with the banality of his words. He felt that he was but a +pitiful jester who was like a clown, compelled to play a merry part +when there was anguish in his mind. But--he must play. + +"I don't know why I was such a fool!" he declared. "Why I thought it +could go on in this way--with you as Mary Allen, and I as Bill Jones. +You see--I may as well tell the truth--now that it's come to this--You +see, I didn't know your name, or who you were! I thought on the day that +we met in Fifth Avenue you were someone in the trade, and I was ashamed +to admit that I'd forgotten where you came from. You knew who I was, but +I couldn't remember you. And so, after that first meeting, I was a +coward. I'm a coward now, Mary! Now that it doesn't matter!" + +He sat staring at the rug and striving to his utmost to think of +something to say in his own defense. + +"Well," she said, "since you have been so frank, I suppose that I may as +well add my confession. I never knew, until within the last five +minutes, who you were. Therefore I had nothing the best of you." + +"What? What's that?" he asked as if incredulous, or in fear that he had +not heard her words aright. + +He lifted his eyes and saw that she was now facing him. + +"It's the truth," she bravely admitted. "I never knew that your name was +James Gollop, and that you were a commercial man, until within the last +five minutes! If there were need I could swear it." + +"Then," he demanded, blankly, "who in the deuce did you think I was, +anyhow?" + +"I thought," she said with a slight shrug, "that you were Judge James +Woodworth-Granger, of whom I suppose you have never heard. He is the +Judge of the Fourth District Court, seated in a small city called +Princetown." + +He was so astounded that for the moment he was speechless. It seemed to +him that all his chickens had come home to roost. + +"Granger? Judge Granger--that inflated, stiff-necked, egotistical bag of +conceit! And--and--you thought I was Granger!" + +There was reproach in his voice as well as words. + +"Yes," she admitted, "I thought you were Judge Granger. But--please wait +a moment--I thought that you were different when away from your +judicial position, admired your reticence concerning your profession, +and--and I thought that I knew the real man better than anyone else. And +I liked the change." + +She uttered the last almost defiantly. + +"I can at least thank you for that preference," his said, lowering his +eyes. "I've come to dislike myself since I met him. He's bothered me a +lot. Maybe I've bothered him. I played a joke on him one time and--he +hasn't ever forgiven me, although I've tried to patch it up. I think +he's about the most stupid, unforgiving, inhuman bounder that--" + +"Please!" she objected, and Jimmy saw that she had turned toward the +window, and so paused whilst she walked toward it, and stared out before +again facing him. He wished that the light from without were less +glaring, for it rendered her face and expression indistinct. + +"It's not quite fair for me to listen to anything disparaging Judge +Granger," she said. "That wouldn't be playing the game. Judge Granger is +the man to whom I am betrothed." + +He was incredibly shocked. Mary Allen betrothed to Granger! It was like +the last blow--his ultimate humiliation. Had it been anyone but Granger +it might have been less unendurable. + +"I apologize," he said, mechanically. "I didn't understand the +situation. Judge Granger is--is a very prominent man." + +"Quite so," she assented. "A man who is distinguished, and I think will +be more so." + +"I expect he'll be a governor, and then a senator, and--maybe a +president," said Jimmy, helplessly, and feeling his own insignificance. +"But--but does Judge Granger know that you knew me? I ask this because +I'm afraid that if he does, he might object to our--our +acquaintanceship. He doesn't exactly approve of me." + +Somewhat to Jimmy's surprise she laughed as if amused. + +"No," she said, "I don't think he does know that we are friends. Indeed, +I'm rather certain of it. But--just the same, if you are such +enemies--it's not fair for me to show friendship under existing +circumstances, is it? See here, Mr. Gollop--that's a terrible name!--You +could scarcely respect me if I who am engaged to marry Judge Granger +were to stand here and let you criticise him. There is a limit to most +things, isn't there?" + +"There is," agreed Jimmy, soberly. "You are quite right in your +attitude. I'm helpless." He paused, got to his feet, buttoned his coat, +looked absently for his hat, found it on the window ledge, and seemed +undecided. It was the old, boyish impulsiveness that made him turn to +her in what he believed to be a parting and say, "But--Mary! Mary Allen! +It doesn't matter what I am, or anything about the accidents and the +misunderstandings--nothing matters now--to me--only this, that--that you +believe that I was honest to you and to myself when you were but Mary +Allen, and I but Bill Jones!" + +"No," she said, "nothing else matters. That is something quite yours and +mine--our own. Conditions are about as we all make them for ourselves. +Sometimes they run away from us. But we can't alter things that have +been. This has been a mixup. Neither of us could help it." + +He could find nothing to say, for he seemed involved in a cataclysm that +had crushed him, and so moved toward the door. She walked by his side +and stepped back when he opened it. He held out his hand as if to bid +her good-by, for the last time, but she appeared to disregard it and +stood quietly by his side. + +"It--it seems a travesty--a blunder," she said, at last. "I--I don't +know quite what to do about it all! I feel as if this were a farewell. +I--I don't like to think of it as such. You have been so kind, and so +encouraging, and you are so frank and--Can't we have one day more? Can't +you come back to-morrow afternoon,--here--and be just Bill Jones, the +Pirate, for another day? I think we'd be happier--afterward--if you +could, and if we could forget certain things. Say you will come." + +And as he walked dejectedly up the narrow confines of the blind little +alley after leaving her he loathed himself for his weakness in promising +that he would. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +It's a long way from MacDougall Alley to Fort George at any time. It is +rendered longer when the wind is chill; but Jimmy, no longer the jester, +could never remember how he reached there on that wintry afternoon, and +its hills, bleak with snow, were no more drab and cold than the dead +fires of his dreams. The skies above were leaden, with no ray of +sunlight. Away behind him the smoke of the city seemed leveled like a +shroud. Its distant monotone of sound became a dirge. Unmindful of the +chill, he found a bench, brushed the snow from a corner and sat there +for a long time, seeing nothing, unobservant of his surroundings, and +thinking of all that somehow seemed left irrevocably behind. It was as +if it had been ages ago! It had been ages ago since happiness had fled. +There was not a laugh left in all the sad world that had abruptly grown +old, and savorless. A vagrant, aged, dirty, ragged, accosted him, +begging alms, and without looking up, Jimmy thrust a hand into his +pocket and took therefrom a dollar note. The beggar mumbled thanks, +stamped his feet, turned away, and then came back and said, "Hope you're +not down on your luck. I wish you luck, sir!" + +"Luck? Oh, no. It's all right. I'm not down on my luck. Only--'They're +hanging Danny Deever in the morning!'" + +The vagrant shuffled away, shaking his head. He did not in the least +appreciate the sorry quip. All that he knew was that sometimes +well-dressed men who came and thus sat in the parks, were sometimes +found in the same place by a policeman--and usually such men had holes, +self-inflicted, in their heads. But long before he had passed from sight +Jimmy had reverted to the thought that to-morrow was the end. To see her +just once more, and after that--nothing to look forward to, nothing to +hope for, nothing to dream about. Strangely enough it is the men whose +laugh is readiest, whose mental sufferings and depressions are greatest. +Often the laugh is but a forced cloak for grief. Well, to-morrow he +would laugh! Be Bill Jones for the last time! Make a decent finish of +the dream! Leave with this girl he had so loved a kindly recollection +of a strange adventure as he made his exit from her life! There should +be neither sighs, sentiment, nor repining. + +Despite the fact that he had slept so little on the previous night, he +moved restlessly about his room all that evening, standing before his +window now and then to look out over the lights that flared and +glittered from electric signs, hearing absently the hoarse whistles of +ships out in the harbors, and the clamor of street cars that surged up +and down the arteries of the city and went heedlessly on with its +existence. Jimmy wondered, as the street life of the night waned and the +lights went out, if there were others out there in the darkness as +unhappy as was he. His new employment that had so elated him with its +promise of golden opportunity sometimes came to his mind, but now he +felt that success was empty without Mary Allen to share it with him. It +was not until dawn that he fell asleep, exhausted, and even then trouble +pursued him in his dreams. + +When he awoke, at noon, he tried for a few minutes to imagine that it +was still a very happy, prosperous and promising world; but it was all +in vain. He sat on the edge of his bed, and again thought that if he had +lost to any other than the Judge, it might not have been so distressing. +He got up and looked at his own face in the glass, and hated it for that +peculiar resemblance. It was certain now, after her confession, that all +the time she had believed him to be the Judge and yet, because when with +Mary Allen the Judge's very existence had been forgotten, Jim could not +accuse himself of having fostered her illusion. Honesty would compel her +to admit that. And, on the other hand, thinking it over, he could not +remember that he had ever talked of the road, his business, or +commercial adventure, because it was a rule of his never to "talk shop" +out of hours. He thought she had already experienced too much of that +and she had told him once that she detested chocolates. The only feature +for which he could at all censure himself was for lack of frankness. + +"If I hadn't been such a rotten coward, and had told her plainly after +the first afternoon I ever had with her who I was, that I'd forgotten +her name and all, it would never have come to this!" he soliloquized, +and then, an instant later, reversed himself, considered that if he had +been frank he might never have got to love her at all, and--to have +loved her for so long and to have been with her so many times, was worth +more than all else. Could he but have that measure of delight again, and +then die, Death wouldn't be so grim and hopeless as this present pass. +He flattered himself that she could never imagine all his folly of love. +He was grateful to Fate that he had never uttered such avowal and +suffered its inevitable rejection; for now she could always remember him +as a friend. Rejections, he decided, must inevitably leave unpleasant or +harrowing memories. He throttled all his sad eagerness for the farewell +visit and resolutely delayed it until late in the afternoon. He schooled +himself to the determination that there should be no sentimental speech +or action lest she suspect his wounds and perhaps be thereby saddened. +He had come to her with a laugh, he would leave her with a laugh. That +was the brave way. + +When he entered the studio for the last time, it seemed in twilight, for +the shadows of a midwinter afternoon were already long. He saw that she +had set out a dainty little tea table and his heart gave a throb when he +discerned in its center, in a cut glass bowl, the violets that he had +brought her on the preceding day. They seemed to scent the room with a +definite and yet elusive fragrance, quite like her personality that was +so soon to be but a memory. + +"Well, Bill Jones, Pirate, you are late," she said, as she took his hat +from his hand, while he removed his overcoat and hung it on the tiny +little cloak stand in the corner, thinking as he did so, that there it +brushed, honored, against her hanging garments. + +"The obsequies of a pirate are best held in late afternoon," he replied. +"It's a time-honored form. I'm very formal, as you know." + +"I suppose Mary Allen has to die, too, doesn't she? That's the way +pirate romances should end," she retorted. "I don't see why we never +hear what becomes of the pirate's lady friends. Surely any decent, +self-respecting pirate who is an honor to his profession, should have a +woman somewhere to either mourn his loss or--as I suggested--go to the +gallows and hang with him." + +She turned to shift the tiny brass tea kettle that was beginning to +steam in the little grate, and, fascinated by her grace, he forgot to +speak. He thought he should always remember the firelight on her +profile--there in the shadows of the room. + +"Remember the time we had tea together in that funny little inn out on +Long Island?" she asked, and then, before he could answer, laughed, +gently, and added, as if pleased by the reminiscence--"and the car broke +down on the way home, and we had to walk three miles to get another? And +then we were so hot and thirsty that we stopped in the inn and had +beer--plain, frothy beer--while the chauffeur was trying to start his +old contraption into life. Um-mh! That seems a dreadfully long time +ago." + +"It does! It does!" he assented glumly, and fell to staring into the +fire as if therein he could bring it all back to vision. "We agreed, +then, that some day when summer came again, we'd do it all over. And +now--there will be no more summers!" + +Unconsciously he had betrayed himself in a despair of voice and twitch +of movement. + +"Are--are you sorry?" she asked, softly. "Are you sorry that Bill Jones +and Mary Allen are finished?" + +All his previous resolutions were forgotten, swept away as it by the +hand of grief. All his pre-imagined repression vanished. He was but the +heart-broken jester now, impulsive, outspoken. + +"Oh, if I could live these few times over again, I think I could die +happy! Mary! Mary! I never knew until yesterday how precious they were. +Never knew that when Bill Jones died, the heart of me died with him! +I'm--I'm----" He checked himself, shut his hands tightly over the arms +of his chair, and exclaimed, "I'm sorry I said that. I didn't mean to +tell you anything; because I've no right to say anything of the sort to +you--now that Bill Jones is dead! I can't seem to remember that he was +executed in that moment when you told me of your betrothal." + +She abruptly dropped the steaming kettle back into the fender and he +feared that she thus indicated resentment of his outburst. She got to +her feet and walked across to the window where the rapidly waning light +seemed hastily pulling drop curtains over their brief romance and he, +fearful that he had offended her, sat dejectedly in his chair. + +"One imagines many things! One is curious about them, sometimes," she +said, softly. "And so--and so I wonder what you would have said, if +Bill Jones had not passed out." + +She stood as if considering something of grave importance and then, as +if resolved, turned and came back until she stood near the chair in +which he sat with bent head and shoulders, so unlike the buoyant, erect +man she had known. + +"It is but a week ago when being--being somewhat tired of neglect, I +wrote a letter. Oh, I could kick myself for that! I suppose it must have +been rather--let's say--familiar. It was addressed to Judge Granger. By +return mail came a proposal of marriage and--well--I accepted it. Then +he came on and--oh, it was a dreadful mixup! After just one evening +together I knew that he wasn't, and never could have been, Bill Jones, +the Pirate. And I didn't know what to do, or who, or what Bill Jones +really was, and--and I was furious, disappointed and humiliated, and +then you returned and--and----" + +She paused and he looked up to find that her eyes were not on him, and +that she was twisting her wisp of a handkerchief between her fingers +quite as if considering whether such fury, disappointment and +humiliation could ever be forgiven. He felt that he was on trial and +that his future hung upon her judgment. + +"But--but--it wasn't altogether my fault--Mary," he pleaded in a voice +in which contrition, distress and desire were eloquently blended. "I +didn't mean to be dishonest. Coward I may have been but--but--oh, Mary! +What can I say or do to be forgiven? To be at least kindly remembered?" + +He bent forward again, resting his elbows on his knees and clutching his +temples in his palms as if utterly given over to despair. It seemed to +him that there was a prolonged wait in which she was coming to her +decision, an interval filled with portent and so lifeless and still that +tiny sounds from without became magnified. + +Her voice, hesitant, and low, but, to his relief, gentle, broke the +interminable spell. + +"Suppose--suppose I were to tell you that--that I'm not going to marry +Judge Granger, because after you came here yesterday I knew how +impossible it was and wrote and told him so. And----" + +"Mary! Mary, don't make it supposititious," he appealed, leaping to his +feet. "That would be cruelty! Tell me that it's true, and that I am +free to tell you that I love you--love you! You know that I do, and that +there's no use in my trying to hide it." + +She retreated from him a trifle, as if to escape his impetuosity, then, +when he paused as if fearing to frighten her with his ardor, smiled at +him and said, "Yes, Bill Jones. It's true!" + +He caught her in his arms. For a moment he held her close while she made +her last resistance, and then slowly lifted her hands upward until they +came to rest about his shoulders. + +"That's why I made you promise to come back," she said. "I--I couldn't +let you go! I couldn't! I don't care what anyone thinks of it, I am what +I am, and--I love you!" + +They were suddenly aware of heavy steps climbing the studio stairs and +she pushed him away hurriedly, bashfully. + +"My Father!" she whispered. "I--I forgot that he was coming to get me. +But--you'll love Dad," and then, as if suddenly remembering something, +she laughed softly and added hastily, "I don't believe you even know my +name. Don't forget it, now that Mary Allen is dead. My name is +Sayers--Margaret Sayers, and my father's name is Sayers, Thomas Sayers, +and he's in the motor business and--for heaven's sake!--pretend we've +known each other for years and years!" + +"Good Lord!" exclaimed Jimmy, panic-stricken, as she hastened toward the +door. "Tom Sayers! My job's gone bust! I'm done!" + +The door opened and her hand swept up to a light switch in the lintel, +there was a click, and the room was brilliant. + +"Dad," she said, trying to suppress some trepidation of voice, "I want +you to know Mr. Gollop. And I'd like to have you like him, because you +see, I'm going to marry him, if you do." + +Jimmy had been tempted to run; but now stood bending his head forward, +blinking, and holding his breath in astonishment + +"Martin--Martin--Mr. Martin--and you are not Martin, but are Mr. Sayers, +and----" + +But the man he had known as Martin smiled, for the moment ignored him, +permitted his daughter to cling to him, and as he caressed her hair with +tender fingers, said soothingly, "There! There! Don't be afraid of me, +my girl. I've known this boy Jim for some time. I knew that he knew you, +and I satisfied myself what sort he was, too, before things went too +far. I never did like Granger. When you first told me that you had met +Granger here in New York, I knew it couldn't be so, because I had seen +him going through Media City on the previous day to keep some political +appointment. And then I met Jim, and--I fooled him a little bit because +I wanted to know just what sort of a man it was who had dared to look at +you, and to take you to a horse show. Let go now! Let go, while Jim and +I shake hands. But--inasmuch as your mother has always belonged to the +Granger party, I suppose--I suppose she'll just raise hell! That's a +part of the affair that I reckon you two had best leave to me. There's +time enough, because, mark you both, there'll be no wedding bells in +this firm until Jim satisfies me that he can make good." + +And then he turned discreetly to hang up his overcoat and hat as if +unaware that Mary Allen, struggling artist, and Bill Jones, Pirate, +jubilant and unabashed, were again in each others' arms. + + +THE END + + + * * * * * + + +FLORENCE L. BARCLAY'S NOVELS + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list. + + +THE WHITE LADIES OF WORCESTER + +A novel of the 12th Century. The heroine, believing she had lost her +lover, enters a convent. He returns, and interesting developments +follow. + + +THE UPAS TREE + +A love story of rare charm. It deals with a successful author and his +wife. + + +THROUGH THE POSTERN GATE + +The story of a seven day courtship, in which the discrepancy in ages +vanished into insignificance before the convincing demonstration of +abiding love. + + +THE ROSARY + +The story of a young artist who is reputed to love beauty above all else +in the world, but who, when blinded through an accident, gains life's +greatest happiness. A rare story of the great passion of two real people +superbly capable of love, its sacrifices and its exceeding reward. + + +THE MISTRESS OF SHENSTONE + +The lovely young Lady Ingleby, recently widowed by the death of a +husband who never understood her, meets a fine, clean young chap who is +ignorant of her title and they fall deeply in love with each other. When +he learns her real identity a situation of singular power is developed. + + +THE BROKEN HALO + +The story of a young man whose religious belief was shattered in +childhood and restored to him by the little white lady, many years older +than himself, to whom he is passionately devoted. + + +THE FOLLOWING OF THE STAR + +The story of a young missionary, who, about to start for Africa, marries +wealthy Diana Rivers, in order to help her fulfill the conditions of her +uncle's will, and how they finally come to love each other and are +reunited after experiences that soften and purify. + + * * * * * + +ETHEL M. DELL'S NOVELS + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list. + + +THE LAMP IN THE DESERT + +The scene of this splendid story is laid in India and tells of the lamp +of love that continues to shine through all sorts of tribulations to +final happiness. + + +GREATHEART + +The story of a cripple whose deformed body conceals a noble soul. + + +THE HUNDREDTH CHANCE + +A hero who worked to win even when there was only "a hundredth chance." + + +THE SWINDLER + +The story of a "bad man's" soul revealed by a woman's faith. + + +THE TIDAL WAVE + +Tales of love and of women who learned to know the true from the false. + + +THE SAFETY CURTAIN + +A very vivid love story of India. The volume also contains four other +long stories of equal interest. + + * * * * * + +EDGAR RICE BURROUGH'S NOVELS + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list. + + +TARZAN THE UNTAMED + +Tells of Tarzan's return to the life of the ape-man in his search for +vengeance on those who took from him his wife and home. + + +JUNGLE TALES OF TARZAN + +Records the many wonderful exploits by which Tarzan proves his right to +ape kingship. + + +A PRINCESS OF MARS + +Forty-three million miles from the earth--a succession of the weirdest +and most astounding adventures in fiction. John Carter, American, finds +himself on the planet Mars, battling for a beautiful woman, with the +Green Men of Mars, terrible creatures fifteen feet high, mounted on +horses like dragons. + + +THE GODS OF MARS + +Continuing John Carter's adventures on the Planet Mars, in which he does +battle against the ferocious "plant men," creatures whose mighty tails +swished their victims to instant death, and defies Issus, the terrible +Goddess of Death, whom all Mars worships and reveres. + + +THE WARLORD OF MARS + +Old acquaintances, made in the two other stories, reappear, Tars Tarkas, +Tardos Mors and others. There is a happy ending to the story in the +union of the Warlord, the tide conferred upon John Carter, with Dejah +Thoris. + + +THUVIA, MAID OF MARS + +The fourth volume of the series. The story centers around the adventures +of Carthoris, the son of John Carter and Thuvia, daughter of a Martian +Emperor. + + * * * * * + +JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD'S STORIES OF ADVENTURE + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list. + + +THE RIVER'S END + +A story of the Royal Mounted Police. + + +THE GOLDEN SNARE + +Thrilling adventures in the Far Northland. + + +NOMADS OF THE NORTH + +The story of a bear-cub and a dog. + + +KAZAN + +The tale of a "quarter-strain wolf and three-quarters husky" torn +between the call of the human and his wild mate. + + +BAREE, SON OF KAZAN + +The story of the son of the blind Grey Wolf and the gallant part he +played in the lives of a man and a woman. + + +THE COURAGE OF CAPTAIN PLUM + +The story of the King of Beaver Island, a Mormon colony, and his battle +with Captain Plum. + + +THE DANGER TRAIL + +A tale of love, Indian vengeance, and a mystery of the North. + + +THE HUNTED WOMAN + +A tale of a great fight in the "valley of gold" for a woman. + + +THE FLOWER OF THE NORTH + +The story of Fort o' God, where the wild flavor of the wilderness is +blended with the courtly atmosphere of France. + + +THE GRIZZLY KING + +The story of Thor, the big grizzly. + + +ISOBEL + +A love story of the Far North. + + +THE WOLF HUNTERS + +A thrilling tale of adventure in the Canadian wilderness. + + +THE GOLD HUNTERS + +The story of adventure in the Hudson Bay wilds. + + +THE COURAGE OF MARGE O'DOONE + +Filled with exciting incidents in the land of strong men and women. + + +BACK TO GOD'S COUNTRY + +A thrilling story of the Far North. The great Photoplay was made from +this book. + + * * * * * + +ZANE GREY'S NOVELS + +May be had wherever books an sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list. + + THE MAN OF THE FOREST + THE DESERT OF WHEAT + THE U.P. TRAIL + WILDFIRE + THE BORDER LEGION + THE RAINBOW TRAIL + THE HERITAGE OF THE DESERT + RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE + THE LIGHT OF WESTERN STARS + THE LAST OF THE PLAINSMEN + THE LONE STAR RANGER + DESERT GOLD + BETTY ZANE + + +LAST OF THE GREAT SCOUTS + +The life story of "Buffalo Bill" by his sister Helen Cody Wetmore, with +Foreword and conclusion by Zane Grey. + + +ZANE GREY'S BOOKS FOR BOYS + + KEN WARD IN THE JUNGLE + THE YOUNG LION HUNTER + THE YOUNG FORESTER + THE YOUNG PITCHER + THE SHORT STOP + THE RED-HEADED OUTFIELD AND OTHER BASEBALL STORIES + + * * * * * + +KATHLEEN NORRIS' STORIES + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list + + +SISTERS. Frontispiece by Frank Street + +The California Redwoods furnish the background for this beautiful story +of sisterly devotion and sacrifice. + + +POOR, DEAR, MARGARET KIRBY. Frontispiece by George Gibbs. + +A collection of delightful stories, including "Bridging the Years" and +"The Tide-Marsh." This story is now shown in moving pictures. + + +JOSSELYN'S WIFE. Frontispiece by C. Allan Gilbert. + +The story of a beautiful woman who fought a bitter fight for happiness +and love. + + +MARTIE, THE UNCONQUERED. Illustrated by Charles E. Chambers. + +The triumph of a dauntless spirit over adverse conditions. + + +THE HEART OF RACHAEL. Frontispiece by Charles E. Chambers. + +An interesting story of divorce and the problems that come with a second +marriage. + + +THE STORY OF JULIA PAGE. Frontispiece by C. Allan Gilbert. + +A sympathetic portrayal of the guest of a normal girl, obscure and +lonely, for the happiness of life. + + +SATURDAY'S CHILD. Frontispiece by F. Graham Cootes. + +Can a girl, born in rather sordid conditions, lift herself through sheer +determination to the better things for which her soul hungered? + + +MOTHER. Illustrated by F. C. Yohn. + +A story of the big mother heart that beats in the background of every +girl's life, and some dreams which came true. + + +_Ask for Complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction_ + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mixed Faces, by Roy Norton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MIXED FACES *** + +***** This file should be named 29657-8.txt or 29657-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/6/5/29657/ + +Produced by David Garcia and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: Mixed Faces + +Author: Roy Norton + +Release Date: August 10, 2009 [EBook #29657] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MIXED FACES *** + + + + +Produced by David Garcia and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + + +<h1><a name="MIXED_FACES" id="MIXED_FACES"></a>MIXED FACES</h1> + +<h4>BY</h4> + +<h2>ROY NORTON</h2> + + +<p class="center">GROSSET & DUNLAP<br /> + +PUBLISHERS NEW YORK<br /><br /> + +Made in the United States of America<br /><br /> + +<span class="smcap">Copyright, 1921, by</span><br /> + +W. J. WATT & COMPANY<br /> + +<i>Printed in the United States of America</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h3>CONTENTS</h3> + +<div class='centered'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="CONTENTS"> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2><br /><br />MIXED FACES<br /><br /></h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + + +<p>If Nature is infallible, there should be some philosophic or eugenic +professor arise and explain why she made such a grievous error in the +personal appearance, vocal qualities, and general gestures of the +learned judge, astute politician and hopeful statesman, Hon. J. +Woodworth-Granger and Mr. James Gollop, perigrinating drummer for a +chocolate house. Either the Honorable Judge should have been a +commercial traveler, or the commercial traveler a judge. Outwardly they +could have passed for specimen twins, given handicaps to all comers, and +easily won the blue ribbon. Inwardly their characteristics were as +different as those of any two animals could be, the Judge having the +ponderous gravity of a camel, whilst Mr. James<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> Gollop was as sedate as +a monkey and twice as ebullient. The Judge suffered from a prodigious +sense of responsibility and dignity, whilst his double was given to +frivolities, a distressing sense of the ridiculous and was as +irresponsible and happy as a flea hurdling from one boarding house to +another in a dog pound.</p> + +<p>The first intimation the Judge had that some other person dared to look +like him was when, as he strode into the lobby of the Media City hotel +in the best city in his state, a grinning porter rushed up, seized his +suit case and said affably, "Righto, Old Sport! Got here just in time +this trip and I'll send your cases to number two sample room, and open +'em up if you'll gimme the burglar's kit. The room you kicked for last +month—remember."</p> + +<p>The Hon. J. Woodworth-Granger, who from force of habit never said +anything until he had formulated the complete sentence and then edited +it, and having a mind that moved with the frantic speed and wild agility +of a tractor engine pulling a carload of coal, glared ponderously at the +porter who took it as a joke. Gollop sometimes assumed that prodigious +seriousness when about to pass out specimens of his best humor.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Spring it! Spring it! I'm ready to laugh," the porter encouraged him.</p> + +<p>"Young man," said the Judge, "I am not accustomed to having those in +your evident station of life address me with any such familiarity. You +should be old enough to know that it is unseemly. You can not succeed, +even in a menial occupation, unless you cultivate that respect which is +due not only to your superiors, but to those who patronize the hotel, or +any other undertaking in which you are employed."</p> + +<p>He might have gone ahead and imposed a fine for contempt of court, or +sentenced the unfortunate porter to ten years in the penitentiary, had +not other arrivals come surging through the door, which reminded him +that perhaps it were wiser to register ahead of all newcomers and thus +endeavor to secure the choicest room for himself. The Judge had the +trait which is shared alike by some human beings and many hogs, that he +demanded the best though every other human—or hog—has to suffer. He +liked to make sure that his own feet were firmly planted in the choice +end of the trough; so he hurried to the desk, leaving the jovial porter +still grinning, still expectant and quite hopeful that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> the tip would be +of its usual generous proportions. Jim tipped liberally, because his +firm was what is known as "easy on the tabs." Anybody can be liberal if +someone else furnishes the platinum. That's why trust magnates and +drummers can't be distinguished, because somebody else always pays the +bills, although there has never yet been invented any painless dentistry +for extraction of the purse. The room clerk in the hotel was new to her +job, and so was the boy who conducted the Judge to his room; but, sad to +relate, the chambermaid winked at the Judge and blew him a kiss. She was +rather pretty too. Now to have a pretty chambermaid blow one a kiss when +he arrives in a fine hotel is not objectionable to most travelers. It +shows such a friendly spirit, and makes one feel at home, or else fancy +that he is still in the running and not so old and ugly as he had begun +to believe. Some men immediately adjust their ties and brush their hair +and grin into the mirror; but the Judge wasn't that sort at all. The +proof that he was no gentleman lies in the fact that he scowled in +outraged dignity at that pretty chambermaid who had most prettily blown +him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> a kiss, and that she gasped, sniffed, simpered and said, "You ain't +forgot me, have you?"</p> + +<p>"Forgotten you! Damn it! I never saw you before in my life!" said the +Judge, annoyed and exasperated to the rare point where his temper +overcame his language.</p> + +<p>"G'wan Jimmy, you little josher! You'll be round chuckin' me under the +chin before the lights come on. Gee! There goes the bell again! I'll bet +my switch it's that scraggy old hen in forty-four, wantin' me to run out +and buy her some hair pins, or to hook her up so she'll look like a +prize winner at a wasp show. She makes me sick, she does! But I'll—Yes +Ma'am! Coming right away," she answered in a honeyed voice, as the lady +guest was heard calling her name through a transom somewhere in the +distance.</p> + +<p>The Judge carefully shut and locked his door. He was a church member in +good standing and an unmarried man, so had to lock the girl out or +perhaps thought it best to lock himself in. One never knows! The porter +appeared with his suit case in his hand and perturbation in his soul, +the double burden sufficing to render him serious.</p> + +<p>"The baggageman says your sample trunks<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> ain't come. He says he went to +the baggage master and they had a look. He says you orter get busy on +the wires because maybe they carried 'em through on sixty-two and her +next stop is at Chicago, and you can't get your layout back before——"</p> + +<p>"I have no trunks, I tell you," interrupted the Judge, with freezing +dignity. "Put that suit case over there in the corner and get out. Who +do you think I am, may I ask? A commercial traveler?"</p> + +<p>He had intended this as a stern piece of sarcasm; but it had the effect +of causing the porter to blink, stare, drop the suit case and then blurt +out, "Good Lord! You're Jimmy Gollop what travels for the Columbus +Chocolate Company, ain't you? You're Jim Gollop what has stopped here +for years, ain't you? If you ain't——" He jerked off his cap, scratched +his red head and added—"If you ain't—— For the Lord's sake don't say +nothin'——"</p> + +<p>"Jimmy Gollop! A commercial traveler! Me?" the Judge actually spluttered +and then, recovering all his overpowering magisterial arrogance, +responded loftily, "I am J. Woodworth-Granger, Judge of the Fourth +District<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> Court. You go down and tell the manager of this hotel to come +here at once. I wish to see him. I demand an explanation for all this +outrageous flippancy. If his guests are to be subjected to such coarse +impoliteness, discourtesy, annoyance and familiarity, he should be +notified or ousted from his position. It is an imposition on the public +which can not be condoned by any one with a sense of propriety, or any +citizen with regard for public welfare. Go and get him!"</p> + +<p>The manager, anticipating some rare practical joke, or perhaps +apprehensive of such, having experienced some of Mr. Jimmy Gollop's +freakish efforts in the past, appeared and greeted the Judge with, "Look +here, old man, for my sake let go. Don't pull anything this time. My +board of directors is to have a meeting this afternoon and——" But the +stern eye of the angry judge checked him.</p> + +<p>The manager in his turn blinked, and gasped and then exclaimed, "Jordon +says you told him you were the Judge of the Fourth District Court. You +look to me like Jim Gollop. If you're really Judge Woodworth-Granger, I +beg your pardon and think you ought to get your face changed for your +own protection. If you're<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> Jimmy Gollop—and I'm a Dutchman if you +aren't—have some sense and quit your kidding. This has gone far enough! +Look here, Jimmy, there's a limit to even one of your jokes. I can't +stand for it to-day when my board of directors is coming. The last time +you were here and put red fire on the roof and then turned in a fire +alarm cost me twenty-five iron men and the hotel company a round dozen +of Pommery. It's going too strong, I tell you! I'm a joke hound myself +but a starving Dutchman can get too much limburger if he's locked up in +a cheese factory."</p> + +<p>Mutual explanations, and abject apologies on the part of the manager and +the porter followed. Everybody apologized, except the pretty +chambermaid, and the judge never saw her again. Also that was a detail +he didn't mention. He rather hoped she would come and apologize. In fact +he thought hopefully of what he might say to her in his kindliest +judicial manner, and occasionally took furtive glances into the hall to +see if she was coming. He was disappointed, perhaps, because she didn't +come, for he was positive he could say things for the good of her soul, +and—Oh, well!—he always subscribed for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> the Home Missionary Society. +Moreover she was a particularly pretty girl as chambermaids go, and +there is never an orchard without its peach.</p> + +<p>So, in due time, the Judge got away from that hotel unscathed; but to +his extreme annoyance, now that he had openly plunged into politics and +felt the necessity for becoming acquainted with the larger cities in the +state despite the consequent discomforts of travel and sojourn, this man +Gollop always intruded. That unfortunate similarity in appearance and +gesture, voice and manner, was proven on a dozen occasions. That the +habits of the Judge and the drummer were divergent made it all the more +annoying. The Judge never had associated with, nor understood, what some +persons called "A bully good fellow." He thought it was a rank and +preposterous assumption on the part of a mere drummer to look, and talk, +and act like a real judge who nursed an ambition to be governor of the +state. It preyed upon his mind and caused him occasionally to say things +that he wouldn't have said if he hadn't lost his temper, become +momentarily a real human being, and found an unexpected safety valve in +speech. Men merely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> vary in the choice of words. One says "Oh, dear me!" +Another "Oh, Fudge!" another "Oh, Pshaw!" and so on down to the common, +vulgar, horny-handed sonofagun who blurts out "Damn it all!" or worse +and—the judge finally got to the limit. One writes this with glad, +cheerful hopefulness for the entire human race because it's a fine thing +to be natural and human, after all.</p> + +<p>In the meantime Mr. James Gollop was working his Eastern territory. +Working it both ways and up and down the middle; selling chocolates to +people who thought they might do better with So-and-So, inducing some +men to overorder, others to underorder, tipping porters, buying—sody +pop (?)—now and then, spinning yarns, peddling the latest funny story, +explaining to his house why his expense account should be passed without +those querulous protests, and generally comporting himself according to +his own erratic and sometimes pyrotechnical ideas. And when Jimmy +breezed westward again and heard that the Judge of the Fourth Judicial +District was his double he chuckled, laughed, and finally beat his plump +legs at what was told him.</p> + +<p>"By Gosh!" he chuckled to a confrère, "if that judge looks and sounds so +much like me, I'll<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> make a trip up to Princetown just to have a look at +him and shake his paw, and congratulate him. We ought to make a right +good team, although I can't exactly recommend him for his judgment in +the choice of faces. I never yet won a beauty prize, although once upon +a time I did win a family photograph album at a pie eating contest. +Huckleberry too! Spoiled a forty-dollar suit of clothes and a two-dollar +tie to win a sixty-cent album at a town fair. Got the album to prove it. +Got it on the parlor table with the marble top down home in Maryland, +and every time Maw looks at it she smiles and says 'Jimmy may be not +much good at anything he's tried yet, but he can eat pie!'"</p> + +<p>Now the peculiar part of Jim Gollop's makeup was that underneath all his +banter, and his lightness, and his irresponsible sense of humor, there +lurked something which made him keep his resolutions. He was a pretty +good sort after all. Just a very human, contented, work-a-day man who +liked other good fellows, was sorry for those who took life too +seriously, never did any person a contemplated harm, knew neither malice +nor envy, was always a booster and never a knocker, and whose sense of +humor was gen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>erously given out for expansion rather than preserved to +harass his own soul. So, one day, he made a sixty-mile journey out of +his way to see, become acquainted with, and felicitate this judge whom +he so startlingly resembled. For sixty miles he chuckled and bubbled +with anticipation and curiosity. He even thought of a forgotten joke or +two to spring and resolved that what he spent in entertainment for this +meeting should come from his own purse and never appear on the expense +account. True, it cost him a pang to forego that expense account, but he +didn't see how he could ever explain to his firm that it had been +necessary to travel sixty miles and entertain a judge of a state court +in the hope of selling him a big order of chocolate drops. He was afraid +the firm might be skeptical. Some people can't be convinced.</p> + +<p>And so, picturing a mutual hand shaking, some lively interchanges and +facetious comments on what constituted good looks and bad looks, perhaps +a luncheon or a dinner, and a new friend through the strange accident of +nature, he climbed the stairs to Judge J. Woodworth-Granger's office +with a cheerful smile on his face, and after a gasp from the office boy +and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> some stares of astonishment from a clerk or two, was ushered in. He +had expected to enter the tropics. He found himself as "happy as a +Mexican hairless dog in the Arctic regions" as Marshall would say. Cold? +There may be in the vast, dead planets of space places much colder than +the North pole; but these would have been warm and comfortable compared +with the atmosphere of Judge Woodworth-Granger's austere office when he +turned his eyes on the person of Mr. James Gollop. Here before him, +grinning and sticking out a plump, friendly hand, was the man to whose +personal similarity he strongly objected, and of whose personal ways he +disapproved.</p> + +<p>"And so, sir," said the Judge icily, as he stood up and scrutinized the +drummer, "you are the man who has caused me so much personal +embarrassment, indignity, familiarity, and—if I never loathed my own +appearance before, I can do so now after looking at you!"</p> + +<p>Jimmy's grin froze on his face, became hard, and slowly changed to +something very different. His well-meaning hand slowly came back as if +half-paralyzed by such a reception. It had never before been rebuffed. +It was a liberal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> hand that had gone into its pocket many times to help +those in hard luck. It had never been slow in friendliness or that +courtesy which prevails between well-meaning and generous hands +throughout the sad old world. It had seldom been hastily raised in +anger. But now it shut hard and its owner said, "So that's the way of +it, eh? You're sore because I look like you. Why shouldn't I get hot +under the collar because you look like me? About the only difference +between us is that you're a judge and I'm a drummer. That doesn't keep +you from being a good sport, does it? I came a long way to get +acquainted with you and I like most people. It's not my fault that you +look so much like me, is it?"</p> + +<p>"Look like you? It's your fault that you look like me!" snapped the +Judge as if that fault were an impertinence.</p> + +<p>"Phew!" said Jimmy, puffing out his cheeks. "That's the sort you are, +eh? Guess I made a mistake."</p> + +<p>"I guess you did," grimly said the Judge, mimicking Jimmy's voice +without in the least realizing it. And then he added, "Good day, Mr. +Gollop. I hope I may not see you again<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> and that you travel in some +other territory than this."</p> + +<p>As if incredulous, Jimmy stared at him for a full quarter minute and +then, recovering his good humor, clapped his hat on his head and +assuming a highly melodramatic air in imitation of the Judge's ponderous +methods said, "Harold, beware! Beware! I say! It's a long worm that has +no turning. Them papers shall be mine! I swear it on me lyfe." And with +a boisterous shout of laughter turned out through the door and down the +stairs. That ribald laughter still floated upward as he made his +departure, and the Judge was annoyed. Very much annoyed. He felt himself +soiled; quite as if the garbage van man had suddenly tried to kiss him +with brotherly affection. It was outrageous! Impossible! And a mere +drummer, too!</p> + +<p>Jimmy retired to an hotel, pausing on the way to buy a pair of blue +goggles, and to fit them on, and to pull his hat down over his eyes.</p> + +<p>"I don't intend to look like that old catamount in his own town anyhow," +he said to himself. "If he's as popular with his fellow citizens as he +is with me it might not be safe. Wish I had a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> set of false whiskers to +wear during my sojourn. Wonder when the next train leaves? I'm like the +chap that got pinned down under a burning railway wreck and said he +thought he really ought to get away from there. That's me! I want to get +away from here."</p> + +<p>In the hotel room he dug his pocket time table from his grip, and no +hungry reader ever plunged into the pages of the latest "Best Seller" +more avidly than did he thumb those flimsy pages. His capable fingers +turned the leaves rapidly and, being expert and highly trained in +working out the abstruse puzzles and problems with which time table +people always try to fill their books so that people will get tired of +seeking information and look at the advertisements, in less than five +minutes he slammed the book shut and almost viciously hurled it back +into his bag.</p> + +<p>"By Heck!" he muttered, despairingly, "no train out till four o'clock +to-morrow morning and—I'll bet it smells of new laid milk and long laid +cows. There'll be an hour's delay while they fill the baggage car with +chickens in coops. Serves the chickens right for getting up that early. +Ought to go some place and have their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> heads chopped off. There'll be +one combination smoker car filled with yawning farm hands who wear +fertilizer on their boots. But it's me for that train!"</p> + +<p>Then, recovering his cheerfulness, he sallied out to visit all the +confectionary shops; but met with no success and attributed his failure +to the hideous goggles and the fact that his customary happy and +seductive grin was slightly stiff about the corners as if his face +needed oiling. "Hang it all! Nobody but an undertaker could look happy +in this town," Jimmy thought after his final effort. "No wonder that old +cuss is so solemn. I'd be too, if I lived in a morgue!"</p> + +<p>To escape the town he decided to make a pedestrian trip to where the +only big enterprise near Princetown was in full blast. It was spoken of +as "out at the falls" as if they were the only ones on earth. It was two +and a half miles from the town and the day was hot. "Thank Heaven it +might be worse," thought Jimmy. "I might have to tote a hundred pound +grip this far in the hope of getting an order, and now all I've got to +lug is my goggles." He took them off, wiped the sweat from his face, +stopped to watch some fish in a stream, regretted that he hadn't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +brought some string and a fish hook, contemplated a swim, and then +trudged onward, whistling as he went and wholly forgetful of his woes. +He came in sight of "The Falls," and stopped.</p> + +<p>"Whew!" he puffed. "Of course they're not as big as Niagara—except to +the folks of Princetown; but by Heck! They're some falls after all. And, +what's more, some live individual knows it. Bet he wasn't born in +Princetown anyhow. This looks like business."</p> + +<p>He leaned on the railing of a bridge and speculatively regarded the +considerable manufacturing plant that was in full industry, saw that its +prosperity was evidenced by some big new buildings under course of +construction, and deliberated over a long white sign on top that read +"Sayers Automobiles."</p> + +<p>He rather objected to that sign. If he had designed it it would have +been twice as high, twice as long and might have read "Sayers +Automobiles, best on earth for the money. Cheapest at any price. No home +complete without one."</p> + +<p>He remembered that he had ridden in one a few days before and that it +was what he called "nifty and nippy." In fact he had thought he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> would +like to have one—just a very small one to suit his purse, and had +intended to ask what they cost. All his automobiling experience had been +at the expense of his firm; but he had done quite a lot of riding. In +fact the cashier had once asked him, sarcastically, whilst checking up +his expense account, if he took an automobile to bed with him.</p> + +<p>Jimmy got out his goggles, and visited the works. He was fascinated by +the machinery, the noise, the way things were made. He wished that his +line was automobiles instead of chocolates; but regretfully concluded +that probably it took a long time to learn the patter, and how to run +one, and that the only hopeless individual in the world was a candy +drummer, because, "once a candy drummer always a candy drummer" was the +proverb of the road.</p> + +<p>A whistle blew and with a start he looked at his watch, scarcely +believing it possible that he had passed the afternoon so quickly. He +walked out through the big gates and started his homeward journey, and +was surprised to realize that he was as tired as if he had done a heavy +day's work. Absorbed in reflections concerning automobiles, and trade, +he suddenly brought up with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> a jerk and heard behind him a man jamming +on the brakes of a car, and using several shining expletives. Jimmy made +the jump of his life and got out of the road just in time.</p> + +<p>"Gee Whizz!" he exclaimed. "If I've got to be run down by a taxi let it +be on Broadway, not on a rube trail. Thank the Lord it wasn't a hay +cart, because it'd have got me, sure!"</p> + +<p>The motorist, looking back in exasperation, abruptly brought his car to +a halt and turning half round in his seat shouted, "Sorry I missed you +so close."</p> + +<p>"Why, did you want to get me? It was close enough to suit me," replied +Jimmy, recovering his grin.</p> + +<p>"Of course I didn't know you were blind, sir. I'm very sorry," said the +man.</p> + +<p>"Why? Do you prefer to run down the blind ones?" queried Jimmy, coming +abreast of the car and then laughing when he remembered that he was +still wearing those ridiculous blue goggles. "I'm not blind. I just wear +these for ornament. But it's all right, old chap. Don't you worry. I +reckon I was so busy thinking that I didn't hear you coming at all. I +get rather fond of myself when I think, which isn't often<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> enough so but +that it surprises me to catch myself doing it. It's all right. No harm +done."</p> + +<p>The man surrendered to that entrancing smile and the glitter of exposed +and perfect white teeth.</p> + +<p>"Well the least I can do is to give you a lift, if you're going toward +town," he said, with a return grin. "Get in, can't you?"</p> + +<p>"Can't I? Watch me, as the drunk said when the policeman tapped him and +told him he couldn't sleep sitting against a lamp post," and, grateful +for conveyance, he climbed aboard. "It's the first time I ever won +anything by missing anything," he said, laughing at his own paradox. "My +feet are so sore from walking over these country roads that after this +I'll never be able to look at a farm horse without tears in my eyes, and +I'll take him by the hand and give the poor chap a box of corn salve. +Phew! Pavements for mine. Do automobiles ever get sore feet out here?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy learned that the driver was a foreman at the Sayers plant and was +very enthusiastic about the merits of the car.</p> + +<p>"It's not old enough or advertised enough to be well known yet," he +said, "but she will be. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> know. Been in automobile factories all my +life. Worked for some of the best of 'em. These are A-1. And Sayers is a +live one. Fine old feller, too. That's his house up there on the hill. +Some swell, eh?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy looked up and saw a fine home that he had admired on his way out +and had deduced that it belonged to the nabob of the town.</p> + +<p>"I could do with it first rate," Jimmy assented. "All except the society +stunt and that——" He concluded with a little cluck of his tongue.</p> + +<p>The driver laughed.</p> + +<p>"You don't know old Tom Sayers," he said. "Old Tom doing society stunts! +Humph! He began as a machinist. Then got to be a designing engineer and +now—well—there you are! Self-made man, Old Tom, and as fine as they +make 'em. I don't reckon he'd care for a house as grand as that but you +see he's married. Funny how some women first want to get married, then +want their men to get rich, then instead of bein' satisfied get the +society itch and after that are forever scratchin', ain't it? Mrs. +Sayers spends about half her time in Europe. Schools here weren't good +enough for her girl Margaret, so she took her over to some of those +nunneries in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> France and Switzerland, and goodness knows where. Gone +some time now. Mighty pretty girl. But Old Tom? If you think he's ever +gallivantin' anywhere except around his works, you ought to be up there +loafin' some day when you think no one's about to see you! Old Tom can +say things in five minutes that you don't have to learn by heart to +remember the rest of your life. He works four hundred men now and he +knows 'em all. Don't you doubt that!"</p> + +<p>Jimmy, who was so keenly alive and imaginative that he was interested in +nearly everything and everybody, looked back over his shoulder at the +fine old remodeled colonial house on the hill with its broad sweep of +lawns, its background of splendid trees, mountains in the distance, and +the lively river at its feet, and, distinctly urban as he was, thought +that if Mrs. Sayers knew when she was well off she'd stay at home.</p> + +<p>"If I had a place like that with Maw in it—say sitting up there on the +veranda, knitting—she's great on knitting, Maw is!—I reckon the show +hasn't hit Broadway yet that could drag me out for a single night. +No-sir-ee! Not if the whole chorus had chocolate legs!" he said to the +foreman, who vociferously agreed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Beats the Dutch how some folks get everything, and others nothin'," he +half grumbled.</p> + +<p>"Cheer up, son!" said Jimmy. "You never get anything by envying somebody +else. Why, look at me! I haven't even ever owned a run-about! And I'm +not kicking! I like to see others have a lot of things I can't have +myself, because it makes me glad to think that most likely they're happy +owning things I'd like to have too, if I could afford 'em. By gosh! It's +the finest feeling in the world to know that other folks are happy. +Keeps you from feeling unhappy yourself. Makes it a mighty pleasant +world for all of us. All the money I've got in the world, if made into +cloth, wouldn't make me a patch if I had a hole in the seat of my pants +as big as a postage stamp; but I don't lay awake nights grieving for +fear I'll be pinched for indecent exposure. Not me! I just thank God the +hole's not any bigger and keep plugging along, and I whistle while I +plug. It helps. Plug & Whistle, I reckon, is the best firm on earth."</p> + +<p>His benefactor had become so engrossed in his quaint passenger that the +car was driven squarely up to the hotel door to let him out.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Got any kids at home?" Jimmy asked, and on being told there were three, +said cheerfully, "Wait a minute," and ran up the steps three at a time +to return with a box of chocolates purloined from his samples.</p> + +<p>"Take that to 'em," he said to the driver. "They're all right, I know. +I'm a candy drummer. Good thing you've only got three because I couldn't +spare a bigger box. My boss isn't a bad old chap, but he did ask me one +time if I went on the road to sell candy or to give it away. The only +man in the world I'd like to change jobs with is Santa Claus. Much +obliged for the ride."</p> + +<p>He loitered in the hotel lobby long enough to read a bill announcing +that there would be a mass meeting that night in the "Grand Opera House" +under the auspices of the Princetown Municipal Improvement League and +then saw in big letters, that the meeting would be addressed by "His +Honor, Judge J. Woodworth-Granger."</p> + +<p>Jimmy had forgotten his rebuff, but now frowned a trifle at the +recollection aroused by that name. He was entertained at supper by his +sole fellow guest who sold machinery and hoped<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> to get an order from the +Sayers' plant. And although the technical part was as foreign as Greek +to Jimmy, he was mightily interested and wanted to know all about it. +After dinner he sat alone on the veranda in front of the hotel and +watched people coming down the drowsy, shaded street or loitering in the +town square. There was nothing else to do. No theaters, cinema shows but +three nights a week, and this an off night. Some wandering fireflies +absorbed him for a while, and then they flew away, leaving him alone. +Suddenly he dropped his chair from where it had been tilted back against +the wall, and said, "Well, I reckon I'll have to go and hear what the +judge has to say about improving this place. It needs it!" He found the +Grand Opera House readily enough by following the slowly moving people +who traveled in but one direction. Also he found on entering that +there's not much in a name, its grandeur consisting of a lot of badly +worn wooden seats, dingy painting, and some strips of jute carpet in the +aisles that looked as if they had been collected after a cyclone. The +stage was the bright spot, due to the decorations of flags, banners and +bunting. Jimmy got a seat in the back row after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> some difficulty. The +Opera House was full, perhaps because there was no charge for admission, +perhaps because there was no other place to go; but Jimmy charitably +thought the town should be patted on the back for its interest in public +improvements. Two girls played a duet on a piano and played it rather +badly. And then there came in from the wings those who were to occupy +the chairs on the stage. They entered as solemnly as if each was alone +and about to recite Hamlet's soliloquy. Some of them threw out their +chests and glared at the audience, others slunk in like harness makers +visiting a lace factory. All were seated before there stalked in the +counterpart of the drummer in the back row, and there was some evidence +in the Judge's deportment that he had the dramatic sense to wait for a +proper pause so that the spectators might see him in all his aloof +magnificence. Had the two girls played "See the Conquering Hero Comes," +he might have accepted it as befitting.</p> + +<p>"Stranger here, ain'tchu?" Jimmy's neighbor, a dried up little old man, +queried.</p> + +<p>"Yes, why?" Jimmy mumbled back.</p> + +<p>"Come to stay long?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Never can tell," replied Jimmy aloud, and mentally added, "Hope not."</p> + +<p>"Goin' inter business?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Lookin' fer a job? I hear as how old Tom Sayers is hirin' all the men +he can git to work on his new buildin's." A moment's wait and then, +"Ain't a bricklayer, be you? You don't look like one. Look more +like—like a feller that don't know much about hard work. Interested in +autymobiles?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Jimmy, telling the truth.</p> + +<p>The old man cackled and said, "By gum! I thought so—I can spot 'em."</p> + +<p>"How do you do that?" queried Jimmy, instantly curious concerning this +new psychological art.</p> + +<p>"They all wear goggles and scarf pins," said the old man, triumphantly, +and then, as a speaker got up to open the meeting, whispered, "That's +old Smith. He's the mayor. He can't talk. Wait till you hear the Jedge +spout. Then you'll hear somethin' if he gets goin' good. He can talk so +loud that when he was in court before he was elected jedge, you could +hear him four<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> blocks away from the square. Best lawyer in the state +because you could hear him the furdest."</p> + +<p>"Hope he doesn't get going to-night," said Jimmy, and listened to the +mayor, who mumbled something about "Distinguished fellow townsmen," +"Ardent believers in City Beautiful," "Great and growing city of +Princetown," and "Future metropolis of the state."</p> + +<p>"The object of this meeting is to raise money enough to build a band +stand in the middle of the square. Mr. Sayers has kindly agreed in +consideration of the city's building such, to donate the cost of the +instruments."</p> + +<p>Jimmy's neighbor had cupped his hand behind his ear and was evidently +disappointed. He started to ask Jimmy for an explanation but was +interrupted by the applause which greeted the introduction of the Judge +and relapsed, doubtless, hoping that he could enjoy such a golden +tongued orator as one who could be plainly heard for four blocks when he +"got goin'."</p> + +<p>The Judge got up and bowed as the audience applauded. He stalked stiffly +to the little center<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> table in the forefront of the stage, buttoned his +coat, shot his cuffs, and said "Ahem!" After that he took a long pause, +carefully poured himself a glass of water, daintily wiped his lips with +his pocket handkerchief, and in a louder tone said, "Ahem!"</p> + +<p>"It's a mighty fine speech so far all right," commented Jimmy to the old +man, who began excitedly, "You just wait! If he gets goin', I tell +you——"</p> + +<p>"S-s-sh" hissed someone in front of them, turning and glaring at the +offender, and the conversationalist subsided and looked at Jimmy and +glared and said, "S-s-sh!" as if the latter were the culprit.</p> + +<p>"Friends and fellow citizens," said the Judge, condescendingly, "I +esteem it a great honor to be called upon to address you to-night on a +subject so near and dear to my heart as the welfare of this, my home +city, the greatest city in the world as far as my affections can be +bestowed. I have lived amongst you for nearly ten years ever since +leaving the great universities beyond our borders, and I crave your +indulgence for putting some of my larger views before you ere<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> I speak +on purely local topics. Friends and fellow citizens, we must make the +world free for democracy. Let freedom of the seas be that shining +shibboleth which through its ulterior meaning, when considerately +scrutinized to its utmost and ultimate, and defined as we Americans who +are fully cognizant of our grave responsibilities toward humanity and +the affairs of other nations, races, and peoples of this globe, which is +round—those responsibilities handed down to us by the father of our +country, George Washington—interpret as meaning that we wish freedom of +the seas. Not in the abstract, but in the concrete, not in modicum but +in unconditional unobstruction and under such international statutes and +regulations as shall confine sea spaces to neither the individual, to +the group, to those who live within certain prescribed boundaries which +constitute government by the people for the people and of the people, +nor yet again for any comity, compact, or treaty-tied group of nations. +Small nations must be free by the exercises of their God-given processes +of reasoning and power of thought to so constitute their affairs that +they may, by their own ap<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>proval and their own desires, succeed in +securing that power of growth and expression which can come to a people +solely and singularly when permitted the right of self-government."</p> + +<p>"What's that?" whispered the old man, cupping his hand to his ear and +looking a trifle bewildered.</p> + +<p>"He means people ought to be allowed to govern themselves," explained +Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"Good Gawd! Did it take him all that time to say that?" questioned the +old man.</p> + +<p>"S-s-s-sh!" cautioned a highly impressed person in front, impatient lest +he lose any of these obfuscated words of supposed wisdom.</p> + +<p>"The way to be a good citizen is to be a good citizen," said the Judge +impressively. "We learn by learning. The man who lives the longest is +the oldest. All of us who do our best do our best. Our country is the +home of the free and the brave, let us cherish its traditions. The best +townsman is the man who does the best for his town. I can not stand +before you to-night without feeling that the entire sentiment of the +people is with me, my fellow citizens, and I should deem myself unworthy +of addressing you here to-night, upon this platform, did I not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> make it +plain to you, or as plainly as I can, that I consider myself as one of +those in the vanguard of that high and lofty motive whose purity of +purpose none dare assail, municipal improvements!"</p> + +<p>In the tumultuous burst of applause that followed the old man croaked to +Jimmy, "What was that he said?"</p> + +<p>"He says he's for the band stand," Jimmy interpreted with great brevity. +"That is, that's the way I understand it. Maybe that's not exactly what +he means. It takes a lot of hard thinking and consideration to find out +what some men really do mean when they talk."</p> + +<p>"To hell with the band stand. I been here forty year and we got along +all right without it, say I! If that's what he's talkin' about, I'm +goin' home. I understood it was somethin' about taxes we was to hear. +They got me taxed plumb out of my socks and——"</p> + +<p>"S-s-sh!" cautioned those in the vicinity.</p> + +<p>"And if they tax us for this I can't have any underwear at all! Lemme +outer this. I'm goin'!" said the veteran and Jimmy was compelled to +stand up to let him pass, and then, thinking this an excellent +opportunity to escape,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> himself fled. The Judge was still uttering +profound nothings when his last words were audible, and that proved that +he was a great and blossoming statesman for whom no dignity was too +high!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + + +<p>Jimmy found the train all that he had anticipated, and then some; but +being one of that fortunate cult who arise happily, sing in bathrooms to +the annoyance of neighbors who waken with a grouch, enjoy breakfast, and +tackle each day as if it were certain to be filled with sunshine, soon +found the position entertaining. Although he knew nothing at all about +the subject, he even indulged in a learned discussion on cattle with his +seat mate, and held his own until he suggested that if milch cows were +put in nice comfortable homes and liberally fed with condensed cream +mixed with flour paste they would give pure cream instead of pure milk.</p> + +<p>The farmer stared at Jimmy wondering whether he was seated with an +insane man or not, and if so whether the latter might develop homicidal +mania.</p> + +<p>"I've always believed that cows were badly treated," Jimmy explained +very soberly. "Their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> esthetic development isn't looked after properly. +Now milk ought to be rich, creamy, sweet, and fragrant. Feed a cow on +onions and her milk smells like onions, doesn't it?"</p> + +<p>The farmer admitted that it did.</p> + +<p>"Well then, here's an idea you could make a fortune out of. By Jove! I +don't believe it's ever been tried! Why not raise flowers on a dairy +farm. Pick out cows with naturally sweet and kindly dispositions. Make +nature fit nature. For instance, take a nice red cow and feed her on red +roses. Nothing but red roses. Her milk is specially bottled and sold as +rose milk. By and by, maybe, its color would be a beautiful red. It +would smell like red roses. White cows should have lilacs and lilies of +the valley. Yellow cows ought to be fed on daisies and such. Think of +the advertising possibilities. 'Try our Rose milk, or Lily of the Valley +milk or Daisy milk.' And say, what's the matter with feeding violets to +blue cows? Violet brand would of course be the favorite for blonde +women, and Rose milk for the brunettes. Make the cow's home surroundings +lovely. Don't shut her up in a filthy stall but give her a room, and a +nice bed, and pictures on the wall so she can have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> something to look at +besides the doggoned scenery she has to see during working hours, when +she's busy making milk and wishing the whistle would blow so she could +lay off her overalls and go home to her family. Cows, I tell you, +are——"</p> + +<p>He turned towards his seat mate to find a vacant space and to discover a +man with wild eyes and hasty furtiveness making his way toward the door +of the other compartment, as if seeking safety.</p> + +<p>"Well what do you think of that!" exclaimed Jimmy, sotto voice. +"Confound it. It's the darned farmers that need educating; not the cows. +I swear I believe cows have more sense of humor than some men. And I was +just beginning to get good, too!"</p> + +<p>And then, chuckling, he consulted his watch, and began leisurely +collecting his belongings.</p> + +<p>All his leisureliness vanished, however, from the moment when he issued +from his hotel, and he became as brisk and busy as a cricket intent on +ravaging an entire wheat field in a series of swift swoops.</p> + +<p>"You seem to be in a mighty big hurry, Jim,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> complained one customer, +later in the day, "What's the rush?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy, mopping his forehead, for the first time appeared a trifle +diffident, flushed like a school boy and then blurted, "Well, to tell +the honest truth I am in a hurry. I'm trying to clean up and catch the +six-thirty train east. You see—I don't know as there is anything to be +ashamed of—I've got to get home to my mother."</p> + +<p>Observing that this statement provoked no ridicule, he expanded.</p> + +<p>"I suppose I've got as fine a mother as ever lived. She's down in +Baltimore and she's due to have a birthday in just three days, and—you +know, I've been with Maw on her birthday ever since she was born! That +is—I mean ever since I was born. No sir-e-ee! Never missed once. We +always looked forward to it, Maw and I do. Seems as if it was just our +day, and nobody else's at all! Maybe it's more important to her because +it happens to be my birthday too. I go home because I want to be with +her on her birthday, I reckon, and she likes to have me come home +because it's mine. So, come rain or shine, loss of business or train +wrecks, I'm home on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> that day, and—and the minute I step inside the +front door, I'm—I'm just a kid again."</p> + +<p>Two days later there leapt up the cement steps of a neat old-fashioned +house in the suburbs of Baltimore a man who had come home to "feel like +a kid again," and with a shout bolted inside to be received by a gentle +gray-haired woman whom he picked up in his arms and kissed with boyish +demonstrativeness.</p> + +<p>"By Gosh, Maw! You're looking younger and prettier, every time I see +you!" he exclaimed, holding her off at arm's length and studying her +solicitously. "I never see you without wishing I could stay here all the +time—just you and me. All alone! Just we two."</p> + +<p>"Jims," she said, using an old pet name, "you'll get over that sometime. +And—it's about time, too, isn't it, that you stopped courting your own +mother, and began to remember that you're grown up. You will be +thirty-four years old to-morrow and I shall be——"</p> + +<p>"Twenty-four! Always twenty-four."</p> + +<p>"Sixty-four!"</p> + +<p>"Twenty-four! Don't I know? Haven't I kept count?"</p> + +<p>"I can keep my own count. Sixty-four. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> hope you didn't bring me +another foolish thing for a birthday present. I always think of that +hat!" And she lifted her fine chin and laughed amusedly.</p> + +<p>"That hat," Jimmy expostulated, "was bought in the best shop on Fifth +avenue and the girl that sold it to me put it on to show me how well it +looked."</p> + +<p>"It must have been the girl rather than the hat that hypnotized you into +paying fifty dollars for something that would look better on someone of +about sixteen rather than sixty."</p> + +<p>Jimmy did not appear to take the joke in his usual good tolerance but +soberly insisted that the hat was "A peach."</p> + +<p>"No, the trouble with you is, Maw, that you don't realize how young you +look, and how handsome you are. It's not my fault you look like twenty, +is it? I told that lady hat drummer that I was going to give the hat to +somebody that was a darned sight better looking than she was, and she +said 'How old is the lady?' and I told her I wasn't discussing a horse +and that the age was none of her business, but that if she'd think of +someone who looked twenty, and get me a hat that would be the best in +the shebang in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> twenty-year-old class, and tell me the price +and——"</p> + +<p>"Well, Jims, don't you mind what I say," she interrupted with a smile. +"You are a good son, though terribly extravagant. You bought sealskin +furs that I can't wear, and a grand piano on which I can't play. +But——" and she went over and put her hands on his shoulders and looked +into his eyes with ineffable fondness—"Jims, what you gave didn't +matter because I knew that your heart, all of it, was there in the gift! +And often, when you are away, I thank God for giving me a son so +unselfish, so loyal, so thoughtful, so true!"</p> + +<p>There were many of Jim Gollop's customers who would scarcely have known +him then; for there was a strange softening and adoration of his rugged +face, quite as if beneath that careless, half-cynical, humorous mask +there dwelt, abashed, seldom visible, some great tenderness of soul that +now issued forth without reserve. He bent forward with a sudden +reverence, very gently, with shining eyes, and then, folding her still +more gently to his arms, kissed her white hair, and for a moment held +her very close.</p> + +<p>"Well, Jims," she said at last, slowly dis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>engaging herself, "your room +is just as you left it. No—not quite. I take it back. We had to remove +your discarded shoes from the bed where you left them, and I think you +left one slipper in the bath room and the other in the grate. Also some +collars on the floor, some more scattered over the dresser, and a rather +smelly pipe on a chair. Otherwise it's ready for you and Bessie has by +this time drawn your bath, and——"</p> + +<p>"I'm mighty glad about that pipe! I thought I'd lost it somewhere +between Plattsburg and Buffalo. Funny, isn't it, how you become fond of +a particular pipe? I always liked that one. This is a real home coming! +You see that pipe was given to me by Billy Baker. I've told you about +Billy, haven't I? He's the chap that lives down in Greenville, +Pennsylvania, who used to make the same ground I did, and sold that +Florodora line. Poor chap! Married now. Got a kid he calls Arture Davis +Baker! Now if he'd called that kid Jim——"</p> + +<p>"It might have been as foolish as you! Hurry and come down stairs. We +have chicken Maryland, oysters out of season, and corn cakes, and—don't +moon about the bath room and try to sing, Jims!" His mother thrust him +towards the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> stairs and as he ascended like a bell boy expecting a tip, +watched him from sight.</p> + +<p>Jimmy paused to look through his open window of his room at a big elm +whose branches he could almost touch. "Hello Bill, old feller. Glad to +see you looking well. How's the birds' nest business this summer? Oh. +Got a dozen aboard have you, and you say mostly robins? Well, well, +well! That's good! Tell 'em to sing to me at six o'clock to-morrow +morning, will you? Thanks!"</p> + +<p>He smiled fondly at the lawns and homely flower beds in the rear and +thrust his head far out of the window to estimate the growth of a +creeper that he had planted with his own hands. It seemed to him that +there was no home, anywhere, as homelike as this old-fashioned house +that since the death of his father he had gradually modernized inside to +suit his tastes, despite his mother's protests against his extravagance. +He rarely thought of those hard years following the death of his father, +when the home was learned to be the sole remaining asset of what had +been regarded as a fine prosperity; of how he had insisted on its +retention; of how he had been compelled to work out of school hours; of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +his and his mother's reluctant surrender of the cherished dream that he +might go through Yale; of how, long after he had found employment to +support his mother, he had doggedly insisted on night study to complete +his education following the foolish traditions of nearly every old +Southern family that its male members must have a profession. Sometimes +he remembered how reluctantly he had abandoned his dream of becoming a +lawyer because he could not afford to let an opening "on the road" at a +good salary pass by; but he was secretly proud of the fact that he had +bravely concealed all the disappointment.</p> + +<p>"My mother, our home, a few good friends, a little more in the bank at +the end of each year and something each day to give me a laugh. What +more could a man wish!" This had become his creed and he lived up to it +in all ways, even if he had to create the laugh for his own amusement. +He had gradually learned the hard lesson that a wise man cuts his suit +to fit the cloth at his disposal and was thereby content. He had learned +to lose with a grin and win without a boast.</p> + +<p>Mr. James Gollop, despite his unserious de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>meanor when abroad, never +departed from his home to resume his never ending circle "on the road" +without a sigh. It was so on the day when, his birthday holiday over, he +tripped down the steps throwing a parting joke over his shoulder at his +mother, and hastened to the end of the quiet residential street to board +a street car; but in the street car and later, in the train, he sat +soberly thinking and wondering if there was no way on earth by which he +could be at home each day.</p> + +<p>"Maw's not getting any younger," he thought to himself. "Every day I'm +not with her is one day less on my account that I can never catch up. +And all accounts sometimes come to an end when the Big Auditor decides +it's time to close them."</p> + +<p>He threw off his brooding when he reached New York, and was the old, +alert, bubbling Jimmy when he reached his firm's headquarters, where he +was prepared to wrangle with the auditor over items on his expense list, +demand better samples than the last lot, suggest some special cartoons +for a special trade, cajole the house in sending out some special +souvenirs for some special customers, and find out from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> credit man +what he thought of Jones Jobbing Co. for a little larger order. And +then, all these affairs adjusted diplomatically, he went out to make +some personal purchases. He was reflecting on the fact that everybody in +New York seemed in a hurry to get to some place or another when he was +arrested by a cheerful voice so evidently aimed in his direction that he +looked up with a start; a rich voice that said, "Well for goodness sake! +Fancy seeing you here; but of course that is foolish, because I know you +have to come here on business at long intervals. How are you?"</p> + +<p>"Very well, thank you," said Jimmy, accepting the proffered hand and +shaking it warmly, but at the same time mentally perturbed because he +could not think of the charming young lady's name, nor whence she came. +"And I am somewhat surprised to meet you here, too."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mother had to come to do a lot of silly things and dragged me along +to chaperone her, I suppose," said the girl with a laugh that exposed +teeth fascinatingly small, white and regular, between lips fascinatingly +generous and well formed. "And what is more, I hate New York and like +the country, and—I'm bored stiff<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> with tagging around into millineries, +and shops, and such. I can get enough of shops at home!"</p> + +<p>"Of course! Of course!" agreed Jimmy affably, but feeling himself a +little pompous through his failure to remember where such a charming +creature dealt out chocolates when on her job. His mind was working like +lightning and speculated, "Plague on it all! They look so different in +their go-away-duds from what they do behind the counters with nice white +aprons and nice little white caps and nice white linen gloves and—why +can't I remember!—Where does she work? She's familiar but—ummh!—It +never does to let 'em think you've forgotten 'em, because they resent it +and knock your sales when you come around again. Isn't she the +manageress at Bodley's out in Cincinnati? No-o—I think—I think she's +at the Bijou in Pittsburgh. Ummmh! It's up to me to make her believe +I've been thinking about her ever since I sold her place my last order."</p> + +<p>Aloud he said, "Well you're no more bored stiff than I am. And I, too, +only come to New York because I have to. Which way are you going?"</p> + +<p>"Nowhere in particular just now," she said,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> "except to look in that +shop window up there. Are you interested in windows?"</p> + +<p>"If they've got chocolates in them," he replied with a wry grin, and she +laughed.</p> + +<p>"Chocolates? I detest them!" she exclaimed, and Jimmy knew just how she +must feel about chocolates when all day long she saw people buying them, +and sometimes gobbling them.</p> + +<p>They looked in the window and Jimmy was glad that it was a leather show +that had not only gloves and knickknacks but some good horse furniture +as well. His companion seemed to know all about saddlery and went into +raptures over a pigskin creation; but with a sigh, remarked that she +didn't feel able to afford it, and they explored farther. She kept Jimmy +too busy mentally to permit even his agile mind to indulge in continued +speculations as to her identity. He knew that his first duty was to +prove entertaining, and in some distress as to what might be the best +tack, suddenly took advantage of a sandwich man's conspicuous overcoat +that read, "The Marvelous Age. Matinee to-day. Royalty Theater."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'd love to see that!" exclaimed his companion, and that gave him +his cue.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Off we go then," he said.</p> + +<p>"What? You take me to a theater without a chaperone? I'm astonished!" +And then she laughed as if highly amused by something extraordinary.</p> + +<p>"Mabel," he said, gravely, "you don't know me when I'm in New York. It's +the matinee for ours."</p> + +<p>"The 'Mabel' settles it," she declared mischievously, and went with him +gayly down the cross street leading to the theater.</p> + +<p>Dexterously as he fished to glean from her where she worked when at +home, he was still ignorant of that important point when, the +performance over, they emerged into the street.</p> + +<p>"Now," she said, "you can leave me at the Holland House. That is, unless +you wish to come up and pay your respects to Mother; but come to think +of it, she may not be home yet."</p> + +<p>"No," said Jimmy, in perplexity, "I have an appointment. You must extend +my respects and good wishes. But—say! There's the big Horse Show on in +Madison Square Garden to-morrow afternoon. Can't we see that? If you +will but say 'yes,' I'll book seats for your mother, and for you, and +for me. How about it?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Get Mother to a Horse Show? Heavens! But—I'd like to go." She spoke +with bright wistfulness that absolutely finished him.</p> + +<p>"Well, your mother will let you, won't she?" he asked hopefully.</p> + +<p>"Let me see," she said thoughtfully as they stood in the hotel entrance, +and drew from her bag a tiny silver mounted appointment book and +consulted its pages. "Oh, goody! Mamma has an appointment up town that I +can easily beg off from. Yes. Do get two tickets and we'll go."</p> + +<p>"I'll call here for you at two o'clock," said Jimmy. "Will that do?"</p> + +<p>"Excellently. But, mind you, no box! I like to see a horse show from +close down to the ground. They don't look so dressed up and silly as +they do from the boxes. I rather suspect that the horses don't like +those in the boxes," she said with a smile.</p> + +<p>"Agreed," he answered, and made his devoirs.</p> + +<p>He walked briskly as far as the corner, then turned and looked back to +make certain that she had disappeared. He hastened back, intent on +gaining the desk before others had reached it, but found himself too +late. He was compelled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> to bide his time whilst several people +registered, and then sidled up to the desk. A very haughty young man +swung the register toward him but he ignored it and, leaning +confidentially across, said, "There's a young lady and her mother +stopping here and I can't remember their names. Perhaps you could tell +me what——"</p> + +<p>"Sorry! There are probably fifty young ladies and their mothers stopping +here," said the hotel clerk, icily. "If you're on the square in asking +for such information, I'm sorry I can't give it; but if you've got some +lay of your own, you're in the wrong nest. This isn't the Sports +Half-way House, you know."</p> + +<p>"But see here. I'm in earnest about this, you know, and——" began +Jimmy, and was interrupted with a curt "Sorry! Nothing doing!"</p> + +<p>He might have argued the point had not there been another interruption +and after a moment he left, shrugging his shoulders a trifle, and +condemning himself as an ass for his failure to remember who this +"Mabel" was. The failure rendered him doubly keen, for it was a part of +his business training, self-imposed, to remember names and faces. He +went to his own hotel and for an hour ran through the pages of his blue<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> +book. It was a peculiar creation of his own. It was strictly private. It +contained details concerning customers. It was like a highly developed +"Who's Who," diary in his trade and made interesting reading.</p> + +<p>"Barclay, James W. 114z Chestnut, Philadelphia. Credit AAA1. Rather +stiff. Likes to be Mistered. Teetotaler. Chief entertainment, Y. M. C. +A. lectures. Home mission movements and prayer meetings. Hot stuff on +religion. Show him the Zoo. P. S. Five children, all girls, oldest named +Martha. P. S. On Oct. 14 youngest kid, Ruth, suffering from the flu. +Note—don't forget mention it when next see him and express hope she has +recovered satisfactorily.</p> + +<p>"Barnes, Thomas R. 1627A La Salle St., Chicago. Credit fair. Called +'Tommy.' Red hot sport. Horseraces. Prize fights. Poker. (Go easy on +stakes because unless careful will boost the comein.) Likes Pommery Sec. +P. S. Likes chorus girls. P. S. Dangerous josher when loaded. P. S. When +he expresses desire to spend quiet evening skidoo. P. S. Oct. +27th—Bailed Tommy out for hitting a policeman. Policeman not much hurt, +Tommy a wreck. P. S. Jan.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> 15th, sent bell boy 3 a. m. to my room to +borrow fifty bucks. P. S. Jan 17—Tommy paid the fifty. P. S. Jan 19, +got Tommy off on Century Limited, and separated him from girl named +Lulu. P. S. Feb 1, letter from Tommy thanking me for separating him from +girl named Lulu.</p> + +<p>"Coldwell, Henry J.; Mgr. Fountain Conf. Co., Savannah. Credit A1. Likes +a decent show. No legs. Moony about wife and family when away from home. +Spiritualist. Wife a blonde who likes to think she's reforming lower +classes. Grandfather old cuss named Poindexter who was defeated for +Congress by but seventeen votes. P. S. Nov. 5, great grandmother a +Fairfax of which very proud. P. S. Dec. 7, great great grandmother a +Lee. P. S. Jan. 15, great aunt a Washington. P. S. Feb. 4, great +grandmother danced with Lafayette. Mar. 15, brought ugly old painting of +joker in wig and stock at second-hand shop Bowery and expressed to H. J. +C., with note that was assured this was portrait of ancestor. Total cost +$1.15, charged exs. Mar. 23—Enthusiastic letter thanks from J. H. C. in +which says exactly like miniature portrait in possession his aunt and no +doubt of its authenticity. Mar. 28, got biggest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> order ever received +from J. H. C. Hope cr. man will O. K. it"</p> + +<p>There were some names and records in this interesting book that dealt +with employees. For instance:</p> + +<p>"Bangs, Reginald, 1 R Mohawk St., Buffalo. AA1. Sentimental cuss. Quotes +poetry. Thinks has artistic temperament. Not much business head. Place +made a success by head clerk, Miss Norah Cahill, who runs it and him as +well. Play Norah to win, for first, second, and place. P. S. Jan. 13, +gifts and hot air wasted on Norah and no good. Got to have the goods and +the prices. P. S. Mar. 4, Cahill nearly scalped me over seventeen cents +difference in accts. LOOK OUT FOR THE LOCOMOTIVE when dealing with this +Cahill person. P. S. Cahill can be influenced by clerk named Mary +Mooney. $1.50 Dr. Exs. flowers for Mooney."</p> + +<p>In nearly all cases where clerks or counter girls had influence on +orders, their names and foibles and identifications were carefully +registered as they were learned; and these were scattered through as +appurtenances to the different shops. "Mary Smith. Red-headed. Does +hair<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> up like a Hottentot. Jingles with bangles and is color blind"; or +"Chief salesgirl Freda Isenheimer. Nose like prow of ship. Warts on her +neck, grin like a cellar door, teeth like an old horse. Flaps hands when +talks. Voice like saw mill and waddles like a duck lost on a desert." +And "Jenny Gray. All peach. Goo-goo blue eyes. About thirteen hands high +and chestnut in color. Well-gaited and has boss under thumb." But +although Jimmy carefully read all these and pondered each, he was still +uncertain regarding whither the name or place of the young lady he was +to entertain at the horse show. And, the most annoying part of it all +was that he, confirmed bachelor, suffered from an unwonted sense of +liking for this same girl. Her conversation seemed to him peculiarly +bright and entertaining. She looked so much more attractive than any +other girl he had ever entertained. There was something about her face, +and the line of her throat that he had discovered while surreptitiously +studying her there in the half darkness of the theater that was so much +more graceful, so much more refined, so much more beautiful than he had +ever observed in any other girl. It began to seem difficult to believe +that he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> could ever before have seen her, and yet failed to note such a +combination of charms. He thought he must have been blind as a bat when +he passed her by; but again he fell back on the excuse that a girl in a +shop uniform was an entirely different appearing person from the same +girl out on a holiday. He did not at all realize that his interest in +this unidentified queen of chocolates was becoming less and less of a +business nature until he finally blurted in desperation, "I don't give a +cuss where she peddles the sweets; but by gosh! I've just got to learn +her name and address because—Oh, hang it! Because!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + + +<p>Jimmy Gollop, like most commercial travelers of the first flight, not +only knew how to wear clothes but what clothes to wear. And on this day +of days paid particular care to his appearance. He rather anticipated +that the candy girl would appear in some plain, tailormade gown. Her +hair, one of her chief charms of personal appearance, was heavy and +beautiful, and of a most baffling shade of color that shone brown in +darker shadows and yet in full light glinted as if subtly suggesting +gold. Jimmy, who had a natural sense for color, pondered over this and +decided that the tailormade would be of navy blue and that therefore +violets would be the correct thing in the flower line to show his +appreciation.</p> + +<p>"But how in the deuce am I to send them up to her hotel when I don't +even know her name!" he thought.</p> + +<p>However, he was sufficiently independent to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> buy the finest violets he +could find and to appear at the hotel entrance with them in his hand. +The young lady was not there. Jimmy tried to appear unconcerned, and for +a time stood like a rather modern statue of "Cupid bearing flowers." Now +and then he peered into the hotel lobby and it seemed to him that +whenever he did so the human icicle behind the desk was glaring in his +direction as if contemplating a call for the police, or sending a +message to the Ladies' Protective Association for Attractive Young +Females.</p> + +<p>At last when he was becoming fidgety and consulting his watch at +intervals of not longer than three minutes, the girl appeared.</p> + +<p>"Well, in the name of common sense," she demanded, "why didn't you send +your card up, or have the desk call me? I hope you're not in the habit +of expecting young ladies to meet you on the corner. I waited and +waited, and then was just about to——" She stopped at sight of his +lugubrious face, relented, and laughed. "Never mind! Don't take it to +heart, and—are those violets for me? You are a dear, after all! I love +them." She took them from his outstretched hand and buried her face in +them,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> whilst he, usually so nimble of tongue and ready of word, was +striving to overcome this alarming confusion and embarrassment that +rendered him about as quick of wit as a soft-shelled clam. In fact, he +felt like a jelly fish save that he was twice as incompetent.</p> + +<p>"You see," he began lamely, "I didn't quite know what to do. I was +afraid that maybe your mother had objected to your going to the horse +show, and——"</p> + +<p>"Why, you're not afraid of her, are you? You never seemed so before. I +thought—I thought you and she were rather good friends." There was a +vague tinge of sarcasm in her words and tone but like a wobbly legged +pup trying to catch a butterfly he mentally leaped at this offering and +began cudgeling his memory in quest of women who ran chocolate shops. +Could it be that she was the daughter of the widow Haynes who owned the +Bon-Ton in Detroit? Impossible! The widow was not more than thirty. +Maybe Mrs. Harris of Miami? No, if Mrs. Harris had a daughter she would +have that unmistakable Southern peculiarity of speech. This girl was +from somewhere farther north. It couldn't be that she was the daughter +of Mrs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> Schumann of Milwaukee? Heaven forbid! For Mrs. Schumann was so +fat she shook like an unsupported pyramid of blanc-mange whenever she +moved.</p> + +<p>"I had hopes for you yesterday," a voice aroused him from his lapse. +"You acted as if you could talk when you turned loose; but now you're +back in your old hopeless form. Come on! Wake up! Oh, I forgot to tell +you the great news. Like to hear it?"</p> + +<p>"I like to hear you say anything," said Jimmy, hopelessly at her mercy +and speaking the truth, and nothing but the truth so help him Bob! and +glancing at her with that unmistakable sick-calf expression that seems +to be the inevitable accomplishment of all lovers, and that the original +Eve must have noticed in the eyes of Adam as he stood lolling around +Eden in his red flannel underwear.</p> + +<p>"Mamma got an invitation to spend the winter down in St. Augustine with +the Charles K. Wilmarths, and she knows I hate them. She wanted to go +because, as you know, she thinks she's not at all well, and also because +the Charles K. Wilmarths are rather swagger. Either because she wished +to get rid of me, or because I raised such<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> a fuss, she compromised. I'm +to be allowed to stay here for the next four months and take painting +lessons from Jorgensen. I intend to have a studio of my own. I'm to live +at the Martha Putnam hotel, which, as you know, never, never allows a +man farther through its doors than the waiting room. Happy? I'm so happy +I could shout!"</p> + +<p>"Then you've no longer any interest in the business?" inquired Jimmy, +for the want of something better to say.</p> + +<p>She looked out of the taxi-window for an instant, as if recalling +something and then said, slowly, "Yes, to tell the truth I have. It +means so much. I'll admit that I'm more or less a business person. I +like to see things grow bigger and bigger, and sell more and more, and +get to mean something. Not that the dollars and cents count so much, +after a time, but because a name somehow becomes a standard. Yes, I +shall miss what you call the business; but, after all, it will not stop +because I'm not there to enthuse over it, and——" She interrupted +herself with a half-suppressed laugh—"Mother doesn't look at things +exactly as I do. She detests it and is ashamed of it, I have an ideal!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p> + +<p>Jimmy never quite idealized the chocolate trade before; but there was +something rather fine in what she said, he thought. After all, maybe it +was one form of Americanism that she had voiced, and it became a trifle +nobler when he considered that it meant industry, energy, and honesty. +To do something and do it well. To be proud of doing something well. To +be proud that one wasn't a loafer or a drone, or a parasite on the body +economic. He was striving to correlate all this when made aware that the +taxi had stopped and that they were at their destination. He actually +submitted to an overcharge of a half-dollar inflicted by the +hatchet-faced brigand who had jerked his taxi-meter over with a bang +before his fares had time to inspect it. And then, resolving to forget +everything save the fact that they were entering the Horse Show, and +that he was somehow treading in ether because he had found a girl who +was different from all others, he became himself again.</p> + +<p>"We're not so very late after all," he exclaimed as he glanced up at the +big tower clock. "I thought I waited an hour for you. But, anyhow, here +we are, and now for it!"</p> + +<p>They sauntered in and he was proud to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> observe that many eyes were +turned in the direction of his companion. It made him feel rather +egotistical, for there were many girls there well worth looking at, and +people don't always go to horse shows to look at horses. Jimmy forgot +all about chocolates. Unconsciously he relapsed to his habitual self, +and, inasmuch as most any one who is unassuming and entirely natural is +entertaining, seemed to keep his companion happy.</p> + +<p>"I like it all," she said, in an interval. "I like to look at those in +the boxes who came here for nothing else than to be looked at. It makes +them happy to see others looking at them. I suppose they must feel for +the moment that they are as good as the horses. Some people will make +mistakes of that sort, you know, and never learn the truth. And I like +the horses for themselves. They are so unlike. So like people. Some of +them are shy, some of them nervous, some of them conceited, and others +are as self-satisfied as if already they had won the blue ribbons. +Funny, isn't it, that I never suspected that you had any interest at all +in them?"</p> + +<p>"Well, you see," said Jimmy. "We never had much of a chance to +understand really what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> either of us enjoys or dislikes before we met +here. It makes a lot of difference when, how and where people meet. I +suppose you'll laugh if I tell you when I first fell in love, because it +was with a horse. Honestly, it was! I'm in earnest about it. Things +didn't come any too easy around our house—I mean Maw's and mine—after +my father died. Somehow his death sort of changed me from a boy into a +man, and,—well, I just couldn't think of enough ways to keep her from +wanting anything. I felt as if I'd have to be a man big enough to fill +my father's place and to take care of her. There wasn't a way to make a +penny that I didn't consider just on her account. And I got a job after +school hours delivering stuff for a grocery store, down in our town. I +had to care for and drive a poor old feller with the string halt, and +spavins, and I used to wonder why I couldn't get his tail to grow +longer. Honestly, I thought all horses' tails were about eight inches +long until an old horse trader looked my friend over one day and said, +'Hello! That nag's been docked sometime! He didn't always pull a grocery +cart. Shouldn't wonder if there'd been some class and pedigree to him +sometime.' Then he had the imper<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>tinence to stick his dirty fingers into +my friend's mouth and hoist his upper lip and say, 'Methusalem was old, +but this plug could make him look like a suckling,' I remember that I +was angry, and that I wished that my friend had bitten him. I'd have +done it myself if I had been big enough, or a horse. You see, I was +proud of that horse, and liked him, and he loved me. As a joke the +hostlers down at the boarding stable where we kept him called him +Bovolarapus; but I called him Bo for short, because it didn't seem fair +that we shouldn't be familiar with each other. I'm sure he thought of me +as Jim for short; so I called him Bo. He used to take a kick at anybody +else who came near him, but I could put a hot iron on his poor old heels +without a single vicious jerk from him. He bit nearly everyone who got +too close or too curious, but he'd put his lips up to my cheek and kiss +me when something had hurt my feelings, and I'd get into some quiet lane +and tell him all about it—sometimes with my arms around his tired old +neck! I tell you he was mighty comforting to me when everything went +wrong. You won't believe it, but I used to fancy that sometimes he tried +to whisper<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> into my ear and that he said, 'Take it quietly, boy! Just do +the best you can. I know that sometimes the hill is terribly hard to +climb, and bitterly long, but somewhere there is always a top. Don't +think of the load, the whip, or the hill, but keep thinking, always, of +what it's like on top. Many times they'll hurt you when you're doing +your best, because they're cruel, or don't understand. But most of those +who drive you—and someone or something must drive you as long as you +live,—don't really mean to be hard. It's merely because they don't +understand. Sometimes you'll be very tired, and out of breath, and the +sweat of hard work will drip and trickle from your ears down over your +eyes, and you'll think that another yard is beyond all you can do. But +keep on! Stick it! You can always do a little more than you think you +can if you've the courage to try. And there's always a top to every +hill, lad! It's only up there that you can breathe, and that the load is +light, and that there is rest!'"</p> + +<p>A band that had been playing off up in the balcony at the far end +stopped, as if waiting for the next event, and abruptly aware that he +had said so much, and surprised by his own un<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>measured loquacity, he, +too, stopped, abashed, and for the first time in his speech looked at +her and met her eyes. They were soft, filled with wonder, absorbed. He +could not have defined why he was so swiftly ashamed of thus openly +flouting that boyhood heart of his upon his sleeve. He could not have +explained what strange lapse had overpowered him to thus unbosom long +forgotten things. He looked away from her toward the entrance. Men were +bringing tall hurdles outward to place them in the arena. The jumpers +were coming for exhibit.</p> + +<p>"But," she insisted breathlessly, leaning toward him, and her hushed +voice sounding distinct from all the murmur surrounding them, "Tell me +the rest of it!"</p> + +<p>"Tell you the rest of it? There's nothing more to tell! Nothing +except—except——" He hesitated, then laughed as if in self-derision. +"My friend fell down one day, half way up a hill. The top was there, +just above him. The top for which he had so valiantly tried. I, a boy, +his only friend, got his tired old head up on my knees and cried. A +policeman came and shook his head and went away and phoned. A vet came +and said, 'The best thing to do is to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> shoot him,' and then the +policeman pulled out a gun, and went toward Bo's head and bent over the +brave and tired old eyes of my friend, and—I fought! Fought so hard +that they had to give us a chance, Bo and me. They laughed, but the vet +phoned my employers and what they said, I never knew; but I do know that +they gave me my friend, and that about midnight I got him home, weak and +tottering, and put him out in our back garden, and told Maw all about +it. I thought she would understand and she did. She understands +everything. Everything! No one else ever could. And so—um-m-mh! +Bovolarapus was the first horse I ever owned and the last. We had to go +without some few things, Maw and I, to pay pasturage for a year or two +until he died, but it doesn't at all matter now. You see he was a sort +of inspiration to me because he told me so many things, and—that +somewhere, a long way I fear from where I've ever reached, there's a top +to the hill. He taught me that be we driver or driven there's a heart of +things that has to be learned. That the driver may learn from the driven +and that there is always the promise that the driven may drive. And so +may God pity the man who thinks that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> he can drive his world alone, +because, as far as I can dope it out, everything in life is made up of +give if you would take, and take only when you give. I may be wrong. One +never knows. That's the pity of it all. But that's the way it looks to +me, and—that's the way communing with a poor old horse taught me, the +only game I try to play. It's only when we've lost the true sense of +things that we say 'Life's nothing but a horse show—after all!'"</p> + +<p>Staring at the arena, and bringing his thoughts back to their +surroundings, he waited for her to speak; but for the moment they seemed +fixed in a little oasis of silence, embodying but them alone. It was the +girl who broke the peculiar stillness.</p> + +<p>"I—I—never thought you were like that," she said, almost as if +soliloquizing. "I thought you were out for yourself and nothing else! I +didn't in the least think you could ever feel anything beyond yourself. +You humiliate me—in a way—my stupidity! And I feel like apologizing +for my past unkindness, because I didn't; as you say—because I didn't +at all understand!"</p> + +<p>He couldn't quite grasp it all, although her every word had been audible +and distinct. To<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> what did she refer? "Past unkindness?" He strove to +think when she had been unkind to him and where. The baffling sense of +having forgotten something he should have remembered, again disturbed +him and drove him to jest.</p> + +<p>"Don't say that!" he cried in pretended alarm. "You make me feel like +the coon who was sentenced for stealing chickens when the judge said, +'You are incorrigible. This is the twenty-seventh time we've had you up +for this heinous, fearsome crime. But now you have gone the limit! You +stole two black hens on the night of April seventh.' Then he stopped and +glared at the nigger who leaned over the dock rail, hopefully, yet +frightened, and said, 'I think you should be sentenced to ninety-nine +years in the penitentiary!' And the nigger thought it over and looked at +the judge, then around the court and gasped, and said, 'Jedge, sah! I +thank my Gawd them chickens was black. It must have been the color, sah, +that made you so kind, because I reckon if they'd been white you'd have +sure had me hanged!'"</p> + +<p>But she did not seem to accept it as a joke.</p> + +<p>"I have been unkind," she said, with a shake of her head. "I had no idea +you could be like<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>—well—like you are. So there! And besides, I don't +like to be made fun of."</p> + +<p>"I'm not making fun of you," he declared. "I'm making fun of myself. I +can't help it. I've a sense of proportion. I know what a mut I am better +than anyone else does. It does me good to admit it whenever I get a +proper chance."</p> + +<p>For another interval she studied him, curiously, looked away, and again +turned toward him as if still unconvinced of something, and then said, +"Well, if you were wise, you would keep on being just yourself. You've +something to learn from horses yet. I believe they are always natural, +and unassuming, and sincere. That's a beautiful animal there now, isn't +it? Well done! What a jump! Seven bars! That's pretty good for a +practice take-off, I should say. What do you think?"</p> + +<p>"I'd jump higher than that to remember something I've forgotten," Jim +murmured; but his remark went unchallenged, due to a second splendid +leap in the arena that was so swift and graceful that it resembled +nothing so much as a glistening bay flash, a compound of splendidly +correlated muscle, nerve and sinew, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> spectators burst into a +storm of applause as the horse, proudly and daintily stepping on +springing hocks, lifted a beautiful head, pricked sensitive ears, and +stared through big, intelligent eyes at the boxes.</p> + +<p>Even the perplexed and infatuated Jimmy forgot his secret questionings +and gave himself up to the joys of the display. Event followed event in +such rapid succession that he was astonished when the military band +struck up its dispersing air, and he and his companion "The Candy Girl" +as he had come to think of her, were caught into the leisurely maelstrom +that surged slowly toward the exits. He had even forgotten the fact that +he had as yet failed to learn his companion's name; but at the hotel +entrance maneuvered for another chance.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it possible to induce you and your mother to see a show, or hear +a concert, or something of that sort to-night?" he asked wistfully.</p> + +<p>"I wish we could," she said; "but I'm afraid it's quite impossible. We +are dining with some friends."</p> + +<p>"What about to-morrow, then?" he insisted, somewhat crestfallen.</p> + +<p>"To-morrow we are going to visit some rela<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>tives in Connecticut where we +shall spend the week-end."</p> + +<p>His face, usually so cheerful and optimistic, might have competently +served for an artist's study of "Gloom." He felt as if the props had +been kicked from beneath a line on which swung all his best linen.</p> + +<p>"I've got to get back to my work not later than day after to-morrow," he +lamented. "In fact I ought to take the five o'clock flyer west to-morrow +afternoon to keep up with my dates. I've sent out my cards that I am +coming."</p> + +<p>"Then for goodness sake, go!" she insisted. "I'll see you at home—no—I +forgot I shall not be there for weeks, or perhaps months. I mustn't let +this Jorgensen opportunity go to waste. I'm very keen on it. But you +will be in town again and must come and call for me at the Martha +Putnam. I shall—I shall look forward to it!"</p> + +<p>She suddenly flushed as if she had somehow committed herself, and before +he could reply had almost run from him into the hotel lobby. But he had +caught a look in her eyes that caused his heart to lose a beat, then to +thump like a bass drum in martial band. He was made suddenly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> aware that +he was gawking after her with his mouth hanging open and his eyes +bulging, by the delighted snickers of a pair of impertinent door boys +and the suppressed comment of one, "Betchu a nickel she's thrown him +down! Gee! Ain't he got it bad!"</p> + +<p>And Jimmy, turning away with a heavy-villain air of dignity, was ashamed +of himself because he had blushed profusely in sight of two mere urchins +in brass buttons.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + + +<p>"I suppose," said the buyer for one of the biggest middle Western +jobbing houses, addressing a friendly competitor across the table at +their club, "that Jim Gollop comes as near to being the synonym for +sunshine as any man can be."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and that's why he succeeds so well. Somehow when I'm tired, or +depressed, I like to see Jim Gollop coming through the door. And he's +about the only commercial traveler I would ever say howdy to at those +times. He's like a tonic, Jim Gollop is. He just seems to radiate good +will, and friendliness, and optimism wherever he goes. I think I noticed +that surprising faculty of his more on this last round of his than ever +before."</p> + +<p>The manager looked up thoughtfully, and said, "Come to think of it, I +noticed that, too. Not that he wasn't always cheerful, and persistent, +and smart enough in his business, but this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> last time he seemed to +fairly outdo himself. I asked him if his aunt was dead. 'Why?' says he. +'Oh, you're so happy I thought maybe you'd fallen heir to an unexpected +fortune,' I told him."</p> + +<p>"What did he say?"</p> + +<p>"Said 'Old man, I've found something that beats that all hollow. I've +found the philosopher's stone. I've found the back door at least to the +house of happiness.' And I'll swear I don't believe he was joking, +although it's sometimes hard to tell when Jimmy is in earnest."</p> + +<p>"Humph! Must be in love," said the other man.</p> + +<p>"Well, he might be worse off," said the manager. "If he draws as luckily +as I did—well—You've met my wife and kiddies."</p> + +<p>And it did seem as if Jimmy, making his long rounds, was meeting with +inordinate success; for life smiles on those who smile and the happy +salesman is like the Happy Warrior, because all things, sooner or later, +come to his feet. The art of salesmanship is the art of winning, and +there is no such animal as a successful drummer with a perpetual grouch. +But just the same the astute Jimmy's progress was not so easily +profitable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> from the personal point as he had conceived, and as he had +ardently hoped. He had left New York in his customary optimism with the +boastful prediction, "I'll learn the candy girl's name, and where she +lives when she's at home, and when her birthday is, and all about her, +before I get back. And on the day I get her name I'll telegraph an order +to a New York florist to take her the biggest bunch of violets she ever +saw."</p> + +<p>At the end of the first week he felt that the next week must surely +bring the coveted information, and at the end of the second week he made +a bet with himself that he'd find it out in the third. Then when the +third week proved equally barren, he doubled the stakes and lost them on +the fourth week.</p> + +<p>"Anyhow," he communed with himself, "I'm more than half way through, and +shall win on the next stretch."</p> + +<p>But his hopes, increasing as his tour of elimination progressed, began +to turn to anxieties as his margin for developments narrowed until he +was almost feverishly eager in his pursuit when he entered his last and +final week. Everywhere he went there were the same old names and the +same old faces. One or two customers had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> sold out, but invariably they +were men. It was on his last day, when hope had waned, that he found +what he hoped was a clue. Mrs. Ellen Sturgis, of Lansing, Michigan, who, +according to his blue book, was "quite a lady, credit A1, tall, good +dresser, very quiet, somewhat standoffish, fond of horses, because, owns +her own trap outfit and nice little cob," had sold out and gone to parts +unknown.</p> + +<p>"Didn't she leave any address?" inquired Jimmy of the new owner, who was +an affable, elderly gentleman given to loquacity.</p> + +<p>"Not with me. Probably at the post office. Hope I can do as well with +this business as she did, and I think I can do better. But she made +money here, all right. Of course she had a society pull to start with +because you see she was the widow of a man who was thought to be pretty +well heeled until he died; then she had to go into business to support +herself, and all the best people in the town patronized her and—anyone +can do business with that kind of a pull."</p> + +<p>Jimmy closed his order and loitered around the mirror-garnished shop +until he got an opportunity to talk with a girl whose face was +familiar.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Let me see," said Jimmy, thoughtfully, "Didn't Mrs. Sturgis have a +daughter who was 'most always here?"</p> + +<p>"Nellie? Sure. You remember her, don't you? Nice looking girl with brown +hair and wonderful teeth. We all liked Nellie a lot more than we did her +mother. Stuck-up old dame, I called her. But Nellie was all to the +good."</p> + +<p>Jimmy suddenly developed a mad desire to get away from there. He got as +far as the corner and was tempted to turn into an alleyway and do a +brief but sprightly dance on his own; but decided that he would lose no +time in finding the telegraph office.</p> + +<p>"Got her! Got her at last!" he jubilated mentally. "Now for the violets, +then it's me for the hotel, and the long letter apologizing for not +writing sooner and—um-m-mh!—I'll tell her I broke my wrist in +Ashtabula. That's a good place to break one's wrist in. No—that won't +do. She'd wonder why I didn't dictate a letter to some blonde +hop-o-my-thumb in some nice quiet hotel. How about the flu? +Um-m-mh—afraid that wouldn't square up with my keeping on the road. +Urgent and continual business sounds too cold—considering how warm I +feel.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> I must never tell her the truth that I'd forgotten her name, and +what she looked like, and be the boob I am by admitting that I'd never +paid enough attention to her before then to take notice of her. Girls +don't like to think that anyone could possibly forget them after one +good, square look. Hurts their vanity, I reckon. And she's not the sort +I can write to and say, 'Kid, you made a hit with me and I'm your little +stick of candy from now until I go to some place so hot I melt!' No, +I've got to get some excuse that'll get by, or—go out into somebody's +town park and cut my throat. I'm hit so badly it hurts! And if anything +goes wrong with this deal it's—it's all off with Yours Truly. It just +seems to me that would be the one thing I've ever had happen that I +couldn't recover from!"</p> + +<p>He had thought of her so much, by day and night, that he entertained a +strange sense of familiarity, as if he had known and loved her all +through life. So vivid were his impressions that he could not forget +little inflections of her musical voice, tiny feminine gestures, stray +sparkles of her eyes, the very echoes of her modulated laughter. All the +weeks of his search, forever arousing in him by disappointment an +increased<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> determination, were but additions to their acquaintanceship. +All the smothered, dormant sentiment accumulated throughout his life had +been exploded, as by a spark, to burst into a brilliancy that filled his +entire horizon. Life was filled with dazzling and unexpected stars of +shining gold. There was but one moon in all his heavens, a warm, +friendly, almost mystic moon that rendered gentle and fine everything +upon which it bestowed benignancy. His universe could scarcely note the +extinguishment of a sun. He had never paused to analyze it, but had +fallen upon the truth that the love of a man of thirty-four makes or +breaks far more irrevocably than does the evanescent love of a boy. The +latter patient recovers amazingly. The former seeks a hospital alone, +and the soul of him dies!</p> + +<p>Jimmy found less difficulty in telegraphing an extravagant order for +violets to be sent to "Miss Nellie Sturgis, care Martha Putnam Hotel, +New York," than he did in the composition of a suitable letter of +apology.</p> + +<p>"I've never been so darned particular about what kind of stationery I +used before," he thought, as he stared at the display in a shop and +cogitated over what was the best. "In fact, come<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> to think of it, hotels +have paid for all I've ever used, and most times I didn't care much +whether it came in reams or in rolls. Just so it would show where the +lead pencil had traveled across. About all I ever thought of a letter +was that one begins writing in the upper right hand corner, writes +straight across, then goes back to the left hand again and does it over +until the page is full, then turns it over and does some more, and at +last thinks whether he ought to sign 'Yours truly,' 'Yours sincerely,' +'Your friend,' or 'Your old pal.'"</p> + +<p>He wished now that he had time to secure something in blue with his +monogram embossed either in the corner or the center, and with some +special envelopes to match. Ordinary paper, purchasable from a regular +shop, didn't seem good enough to be handled by those slender white +fingers he had longed to kiss. There was nothing good enough for them, +and anything less than the unattainable good enough might soil them.</p> + +<p>"Dear me! What a particular, hard-to-please old crank!" said the young +thing who served him after he, the traveling ray of sunshine, had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> +departed with the most exclusive box of paper in the shop under his arm.</p> + +<p>The fortunate, but to Jimmy Gollop unappreciated, fact is that this +world is at the present moment filled with men who have tried to write +just such letters, and that probably it always has been so since the +first cave man tried to write an excuse to the first cave girl on a +block or stone. Probably that cave man, too, lied with laborious +misgivings. Probably he pleaded everything from urgent business to a +broken head, or explained that the posts were delayed because for +thirty-four days a dinosaurus had been blocking the traffic. And +probably, just as now, the cave girl knew he lied, pouted, sulked, and +then forgave him. Perhaps in those vigorous days she swore. Perhaps some +of them do now. There are things of which, alas! one can never be +certain.</p> + +<p>At 6:32 o'clock, p.m., after fortifying himself with dinner, James +Gollop retired to the writing room of the hotel and began. At 7:35 +o'clock James Gollop thought he could write better in the privacy of his +room where there were no distractions intervened by a lot of fools who +should have been born dumb, but were unfortunately<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> gifted with speech +that was devoted to subjects that were of no importance at all in +comparison with the epistolatory efforts of one James Gollop. By +midnight the persistent correspondent had used a box of stationery, and +had composed letters enough to have formed a book in the style of the +"Ready Letter Writers' Friend," containing everything from letters of +condolence to congratulation, and from stern business to effusive +sentiment The sole letter missing might have been one pertaining to the +birth of twins. And this was what he mailed:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Miss Sturgis</span>: I have atoned for my seeming negligence by +having some violets sent you to-day, fortunately remembering that +those were the flowers for which you expressed a preference on that +memorable occasion when we together visited the horse show. I am +hoping to be in New York by Thursday next when I trust I shall have +the great pleasure of seeing you at your hotel. Please transmit my +cordial good wishes to your mother, and believe me,</p> + +<p>"Most sincerely your friend,</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">J. R. Gollop.</span>" </p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the morning he blithely whistled and sang as he packed his samples, +and, following his custom, left his route card at the desk when he paid +his bill.</p> + +<p>"Harrisburg, Philadelphia, and then home," he confided as he tossed the +card across to the clerk. "I don't suppose you'll get any mail for me; +but one never knows what the management of the biggest chocolate company +on earth might do. So I always play safe. Business first! That's my +motto. Got it hung on the lattice in my arbor in the garden down home in +Maryland. Keeps me from forgetting that I'm a drummer instead of a +millionaire and that I owe my feed to the firm that gives me work. So +long! Wish you house full and that you keep full too. Good-bye!"</p> + +<p>He danced his merry way through Harrisburg so ebulliently that a string +of dazed patrons breathed not until after he had gone, and in +Philadelphia outdid all his former efforts and doubled his previous +orders. The world was filled with glory and happiness. New York was but +a little way distant and above it there arched a sky of promise. He +returned to his hotel that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> evening and was handed two telegrams. The +first was from his firm and read:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Mrs. Ellen Sturgis, formerly Lansing, opening new place in Easton, +Pennsylvania, wishes you to take full order. Important." </p></div> + +<p>The second was from the New York florists:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Must be mistaken address. Miss Nellie Sturgis unknown at Martha +Putnam. Please advise." </p></div> + +<p>For a moment he was stunned, then his optimism, buoying him above all +rebuffs, caused him to laugh at himself.</p> + +<p>"Poor girl! Something happened! The New York studio, and the lessons in +painting by that chap with the crazy name blew up and she's had to go +back to work. Sorry! But—by heck—if she wants to take lessons in +painting she shall have a chance some day if I have to teach her myself! +Wonder what happened to the old lady's bank roll? Must have been +something unexpected. Hard luck! Will I go to Easton? By the first train +unless they've got an aeroplane service!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p> + +<p>At an early hour on the following forenoon Jimmy stood outside a shop in +the fashionable quarter of Easton and read the neat sign:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The Elite Confectionery will occupy these premises Dec. 10th. +Fittings and decorations being done by Merthyn Cabinet Co. </p></div> + +<p>Eagerly he advanced to the open door through which the sounds of +industrious hammering and sawing issued, and paused for a moment to +admire the growing interior.</p> + +<p>"She's going to have a nice place, all right," he thought. "It's +harmonious and strictly first class. That's the way to do it."</p> + +<p>He spoke to a man who was polishing some newly laid tile, who replied, +"Mrs. Sturgis? I think she's in her office. It's straight back through +the door. She was there a minute ago, with her daughter."</p> + +<p>Not Mercury of the winged heels advanced more swiftly than did Jimmy +Gollop, nor was Mercury's heart ever fluttering so gladly. In a +disorderly little office, plainly make-shift for the time being, sat the +proprietress whom he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> instantly recognized as "Mrs. Sturgis, formerly of +Lansing," and at a littered table beside her, checking up a collection +of bills, sat a redheaded girl wearing glasses and whose honest face was +illuminated by a friendly grin showing fine teeth, but who Jimmy +remembered as one always to be seen behind the counter in Lansing.</p> + +<p>"I hope you remember me too, Mr. Gollop," she said, after he had +automatically shaken hands with her mother. "I'm Nellie Sturgis. The one +you used to call 'Sturgis Number Two,'" and the friendly simper she gave +him was about as welcome as a punctured tire in a road race.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + + +<p>Had Jim Gollop kept a diary, the entries for certain dates might have +ran thus: "Friday: Stood all day in front of Martha Putnam Hotel, +waiting for Candy Girl to come in or out. Very observant small boys in +neighborhood, and policeman who begins to suspect. No luck.</p> + +<p>"Saturday: Stood all day in front of Martha Putnam hotel, waiting for +Candy Girl to come in or out. Small boys a nuisance. Policeman asked me +if I'd lost anything in that neighborhood. No luck.</p> + +<p>"Sunday: Stood all day in front of Martha Putnam hotel waiting for Candy +Girl to come in or out. Boys not so bad. New cop asks questions. Gave +new cop a five.</p> + +<p>"Monday: Got to Martha Putnam early, and at ten o'clock saw taxi arrive +and ducked across street, and——"</p> + +<p>He never could have written the rest of it;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> for from the taxi there +descended a young lady who handed a light suit case to the porter, asked +him to pay the bill, and would have entered the Martha Putnam had she +not discovered a man nearly blocking her path, with an extended hand, +and with an ingratiating smile on his face, who said, "How lucky to meet +you just as I was about to leave. How are you?"</p> + +<p>The policeman on the corner grinned, pulled his mustache, winked at +himself, jingled the change in his pocket left from that grateful five, +and then swung up his hand to caution the taxi driver as the latter +turned into the cross street.</p> + +<p>"You're a nice one, I must say," she remarked, half petulantly. "You +might at least have dropped me a note to ask how I am getting along, and +whether I am industrious, and all that rot! But did you? No! You took me +to the horse show, and back to the hotel, and then vanished as if you +had withdrawn yourself into your musty old shell!"</p> + +<p>It was on the very tip of his tongue to tell her there on the street of +his long days and nights of hope and fear, of his terrible remissness of +memory, and of his desperation; but he checked himself in time and +expostulated, "I did write<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> you!" and then, his moment of honesty +passing to the tortuous ways of diplomacy asked, "Didn't you get the +letter?" And he inquired as sincerely as if he did not already know that +this was an impossibility because he had not addressed it to her real +name, whatever that might be.</p> + +<p>"No," she said, "I didn't." But he saw by her glance of indignation +toward the hotel entrance that she believed someone therein remiss, and +credited him with thoughtfulness. His spirits raised and he was himself +once more, fencing as best he might for an opening.</p> + +<p>"Well, it doesn't matter, now that I've found you," he said with such +profound gladness in his voice that it caused her to glance at him, half +bewildered, and half curiously, and then to play her own part, as if to +prevent him from betraying too much.</p> + +<p>"I've been away for three whole days. Went up to visit some friends in +Montreal. Had a glorious time. Had my first lesson in skating and——But +tell me, how long shall you be here in town?"</p> + +<p>He was swiftly depressed by the recollection that already he had +overstayed his time by a whole day, and must at the latest depart that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> +night or—resign his job! A job without her was nothing. She without a +job an impossibility! He bowed to necessity and said, almost somberly, +"I've got to pull out to-night. I must! I've been here now for three +days, most of the time right here in front of——" and then flushed like +an embarrassed boy, checked himself, and was immediately glad that she +did not seem to notice his unfinished sentence.</p> + +<p>"Well, then, this whole day is yours," she said, gayly. "First of all, +come in until I run upstairs a moment. You can wait in the reception +room. Second, I'm gorgeously, terribly, awfully hungry, and you can take +me somewhere to lunch, or if you wish to call it so—breakfast. Thirdly, +you can then think over what we can do. I refuse to go to Jorgensen's +this day. It's been rather a poky all-work and no-play time for me ever +since you were here and—come inside. I shan't be more than five +minutes. You dear old thing! You are an oasis in the desert and I'm as +happy to see you as if I had never had a friend on earth!"</p> + +<p>He was too stupefied with delight to take advantage of her temporary +absence to conduct adroit inquiries at the desk. Indeed, he was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> drugged +with happiness, and sat like a big half-embarrassed, half-dreaming +youth, twirling his hat in his hands, pulling off and putting on his +gloves, and tracing patterns with his stick on the carpet until she +reappeared, and then he was strangely lacking in self-confidence and +readiness.</p> + +<p>He took her to one of the best uptown restaurants for breakfast and she +ate with an appetite that pleased him, giving, as it did, evidence of +glorious health. And then came his second fortunate moment of the day.</p> + +<p>"I'd tell you a secret, Mr. Sobersides," she said with a brisk little +laugh, "if I wasn't a little bit afraid you'd give me away to Mamma, You +know how horribly conventional she is—and—and it's only lately that I +came to think one could trust you with a secret of this sort."</p> + +<p>"Secrets," he assured her with a grin, "are my specialty. Secrets. Why +it's my business to know secrets!"</p> + +<p>"All right! Here goes!" she said, leaning toward him and displaying a +mischievous smile. "You remember I told you I intended to have a studio +of my own? Well, Mother set her foot down on it as if I had invited her +to share part<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>nership in a snake. Oh, you should have heard her. You +know how she can freeze one out! She said that if I thought she would +permit me to become one of a crowd of mongrel Bohemians and such, she +would drag me off to the Wilmarths' with her, or cancel all painting +lessons, or—Honestly! I think she threatened to have me sent to an +Orphans' Home, or a hospital for the feeble minded. Well, I'm twenty-two +years old, and Mamma doesn't seem to know it yet. Also, I'm able to take +care of myself, and to have an idea of what I want. I'm going to be a +painter, Jorgensen himself says I have talent, and between you and me, +my sketches were the only ones done by his pupils that caused the +critics to say much at his last exhibition. They gave me a quarter of a +column and all the other girls together got a paragraph. Wasn't it +lovely? So I'm going to have a studio of my own, and that's the secret! +Understand?"</p> + +<p>"Not quite," he admitted.</p> + +<p>"Stupid! Don't you see, Mamma mustn't know I have one, and so no one +else must, either. Honestly, you're the only one within the charmed +circle up to now. Listen! I've taken a studio in MacDougall alley under +the name of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> Mary Allen. No one must know but what a real Mary Allen +really has that studio. Down Acre I'm going to be Mary Allen and no one +else. Now don't you start in to shake your head and look shocked."</p> + +<p>It dawned on him that this to him was like an anchor to a ship adrift. +He was in the conspiracy! He was participant in a location and a name! +He leaned back and laughed softly with exultation which she mistook for +amused support.</p> + +<p>"I swear to you," he said, lifting his right hand with mock solemnity, +"that as long as you have the lease on this place, wherever it is, I +shall know you only as Mary Allen! I shall write you there as Mary +Allen! I shall send cards and flowers to Mary Allen! And I hereby +solemnly swear never to divulge to anyone, even the queen's torturers, +who Mary Allen is, that she is any other than Mary Allen, a poor +struggling artist who lives by work on pickles, jam, and paté de foie +gras! Is that oath enough?"</p> + +<p>"Good," she responded, gleefully. "First rate! All we need to complete +the plot is some perfectly absurd title for you, and we have it +complete. How would Percival St. Clair do?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Make it Bill Jones, the Pirate, and I'll agree!" he declared.</p> + +<p>"Bill Jones, Pirate, you are henceforth," she laughed. "Just fancy you, +of all people, leading a double life under the name of Bill Jones!" and +again she laughed so merrily that he joined in without reserve. +Fortunately there was none near save a staid old waiter to criticize +their freedom, and of him they were unaware.</p> + +<p>He was still desirous, however, of inducing her to betray her real name, +and so rather adroitly asked, "But I can't see why you didn't take the +lease under your own name. Surely this town is big enough so that all +leases aren't published, or if so, it seems a safe bet that your mother +never would read them daily. Why not under your own name?"</p> + +<p>"There you go, spoiling the sport!" she declared. "Do you know where +MacDougall Alley is? No? Well, I'll tell you. It's but a little way west +of Washington Square, is a blind alley in an old section, and is now one +of the best studio districts in New York. It's so famous that every once +in so often it is written up by enterprising special writers, and I have +seen pictures of it and its studios and frequent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> comments on the work +being done there by this or that artist or sculptor. So you see that, +sooner or later, Mamma would certainly hear of it if I used my own name. +That's the reason for Mary Allen!"</p> + +<p>"And for Bill Jones. Don't forget that low-browed ruffian, Bill Jones, +the pirate of the piece," he replied, secretly baffled, but outwardly +amused.</p> + +<p>Thinking it over afterward, Jimmy frequently wondered what ever became +of that wonderful day. He was assured that he had met the Candy Girl at +ten o'clock in the forenoon, and that he had bade her good-by in front +of the Martha Putnam Hotel at four fifteen, leaving himself not one +second to spare for reaching the railway station and by mathematical +computation that meant that he had been with her for six hours and +fifteen minutes; but as far as his sense of ecstasy was involved, that +day was certainly no longer than an hour in length. He recalled that she +took him to a private picture exhibit and that he was hopeful that her +signature on some of her work would give him knowledge of her name; but +that these were all signed with a funny little character rather than +with a name<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> or initials; that he challenged her to show him the +published criticisms of her work, and that she again baffled him, +unwittingly, by declaring that she would mail them to him, and then +later decided that it was immodest to boast and would show them to him +only after she had repeated her success and felt her reputation +established.</p> + +<p>Looking into the doorway of the Pullman he saw two other commercial +travelers whom in other days he would have joyously rushed forward to +greet, glad of good companionship. Time and again he had altered his +route that he might journey with them; but now he withdrew through the +corridor into the adjoining sleeper, hailed the Pullman conductor and +exchanged his berth for a stateroom in another car whither he retired, +shut and locked the door, and sat down like a man in a dream. He craved +privacy that he might be alone to review that wonderful day and dream. +Furthermore, the complexities of his situation had been augmented by her +last and hastily uttered caution just before he had parted with her: +"I'm going to take Dad into my confidence the first time he comes to New +York where I can talk with him—or possibly I may do so by letter. But +don't you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> say anything to him when you see him. You might upset things. +I wrote him that you took me to the Horse Show, and—well—he replied +rather oddly, it struck me! And—see here, I may as well tell you +something! Dad doesn't like you. You see, he doesn't know you as well as +I do. Mother's all right but—If I were you I'd steer clear of Dad +until—I'm going to have a talk with him! You know how obstinate he can +be, and—He once said that you lived in a universe that had no stars and +but one sun, and that this single sun was yourself. Keep away from Dad!"</p> + +<p>His surmise that she was the daughter of a widow had thus been upset. It +was the first time he had been made aware that her father was alive. +Henceforth he must be circumspect with every male customer on his list +except jobbers and wholesalers. Any one of them might be the father of +Mary Allen, concealing a profound disapproval or active dislike. His +only hope was that this inimical one would betray his identity by +reference to the Horse Show!</p> + +<p>He was unaware that daylight had given way to dark, that the lights were +on, and that he was still staring blankly out of the window until the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> +steward from the dining car tapped on his door and asked if he wished +supper.</p> + +<p>"Yes, served in here," he replied, and so continued that pleasant +process of review and unpleasant consideration of obstacles. Not the +least ground for his happiness was the certainty that at last she did +have some name by which he could address her and a permanent address, +and—he liked that name, Mary Allen!</p> + +<p>When he arrived at the hotel in Media City he discovered a strange air +of depression in the demeanor of the porters, bellboys and clerks until +he signed his name, when the ice thawed to a noticeable degree.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter here?" he demanded of the girl behind the desk. "Am I +no longer popular around this caravanserai?"</p> + +<p>"You are, Mr. Gollop," she replied with a laugh, "but the truth is that +since there are two of you we have to act cautiously until we find out +which one of you it is! Here, boy! Show Mr. Gollop up to sixty-one."</p> + +<p>"I thought it was you, sir," said the boy with a grin that was at least +unrestrained. "I offered to bet it was you, and not that old stiff what +looks like you."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Hello, Jim. Glad to see you again," said the manager, appearing in his +private office door. "Since that last trip of yours your double has been +here twice. First time everybody called him 'Jimmy,' and I had to +apologize again. Since then we've all been rather shy."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you mean that judge, eh? Pleasant old party, isn't he!"</p> + +<p>"Pleasant and palatable as castor oil mixed with asafetida," replied the +manager with a scowl. "But see here, Jimmy, he cuts considerable ice +here in this state. Don't forget that. And he doesn't like you at all, +at all. What he said when I explained that there was a drummer named +Gollop who looked like him wasn't flattering to you or to my sense of +observation. Seemed to take it as an insult. Said you should be kept out +of this state. Called you an impertinent ass."</p> + +<p>Jimmy looked prodigiously hurt for a moment, and was then rather angry.</p> + +<p>"Shucks! That's no way to act," he declared. "I can't help how I look +any more than he can. I reckon that either of us, or at least it goes as +far as I'm concerned, would change his looks if he could. If I had my +way I'd be as pretty as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> a cinema star and twice as soulful. Anyhow, I'd +look as different from that Judge as I possibly could. His face and +disposition would raise storm waves on a lake if it were filled with +glue. And he'd better look out! If he thinks he can run around this end +of my territory knocking me everywhere he goes I'll give him something +to talk about. I tried to be a good fellow with him, and—well!—I'm +just as sore as he is!"</p> + +<p>The manager shook his head solemnly and rubbed his chin as if recalling +really unpleasant recollections.</p> + +<p>"Don't blame you," he sympathized. "He's a pompous buck, all right. He's +out to get the Republican nomination for the governorship. Papers all +mention him regularly now. And the nomination in this state's just about +as good as the election. That's a cinch. He's a standpatter of the +gilt-edged variety. The only issue on which he hasn't shot his mouth off +is on votes for women. Nobody quite knows how he stands on that issue, +because he keeps dumb as an oyster on that point. But—I'm telling you +all this so you can see that in a way it's unlucky you look so much +alike."</p> + +<p>"Good Lord!" declared Jimmy. "He ought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> to be mighty thankful he does +look like me. I'm a help, not a hindrance, to his campaign, if he had +sense enough to know it. Besides, as far as I can reason, politics isn't +of much more importance to the average individual than a rather pleasant +and easy dose of medicine he has to take about once every four years and +from which he never expects any benefit."</p> + +<p>"Not so in this state," asserted the manager. "If you think there's no +interest in politics here, you'll find out differently before you make +your territory. Politics? It's all anyone will think of or talk about +for the next six weeks!"</p> + +<p>"Politics may come and go, but chocolate runs forever!" declared Jim +with a wag of his finger, and then as the door blew open letting in a +draft of cold air, "Say, looks blizzardish, doesn't it?"</p> + +<p>"If we don't get four feet of snow within the next two days we'll be +lucky," grumbled the manager. "Last winter at this time half the +railways were blocked, and for eighteen hours the mails couldn't get +through."</p> + +<p>"Cheerful, merry cuss you are!" retorted Jimmy. "You certainly do fill +everyone you meet chuck full of hope and bright thoughts. Just the same, +I don't care to be snow bound<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> here. But I think neither snow nor +politics will bother me at all."</p> + +<p>All of which proved him a bad prophet, as he learned within the next +forty-eight hours; for both snow and politics did enter into his +affairs, first because it snowed as if intent on smothering the earth, +and second, because every woman with whom he dealt insisted on bringing +up the subject of national suffrage for women, even the discussion of +chocolates being for the time relegated to a secondary place.</p> + +<p>"I traveled through the middle west after a drought; was on the coast +when they fought free silver; was in the northwest when it campaigned +for the referendum; in Wisconsin when they fought cigarettes and in +Maine when the original thirsty population tried to upset the +prohibition law; but of all places I've been in, and all campaigns I've +been through the outskirts of, this woman's vote thing here has the rest +looking friendly, peaceful and uninteresting!" he said to himself after +the second day. "I suppose women go to the polls in Heaven, and +according to reports it's a pretty well run sort of place, so maybe it'd +work down here."</p> + +<p>His soliloquy was brought to an end by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> appearance of a bell boy +bearing a telegram. It was from his firm.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Go Yimville Saturday attend court proceedings re discharge of +Intermountain General Supply Company from bankruptcy Roncavour. +Matador our attorney Wetherby Carmen." </p></div> + +<p>He sat down on the edge of his sample case and said aloud, "Well, if +that isn't rotten luck! What in the deuce does Roncavour mean?"</p> + +<p>He rummaged through his grip and found the firm's code book and +interpreted therefrom, "'Important to show courtesy for future business +relations when credit fully restored.' And 'Matador' means 'Introduce +yourself to' and 'Carmen' means 'Have notified him you are coming.'"</p> + +<p>"Me the diplomat!" said Jimmy with a sigh, now opening a time table. And +again he was not particularly happy, because Yimville was a mountain +town up in another county, and the sole train he could take with any +degree of comfort was one that would land him at his destination at one +o'clock. A returning passenger train at 4:30 in the evening would bring +him back to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> his junction but it meant the loss of an entire day. It was +strange how much more important time had become to him—that is—how +much keener he was to return to New York at the earliest possible +moment. He had even begun the formation of a scheme whereby he had hoped +to steal two whole days out of his trip, and that, too, without the +knowledge of his firm. Such things have been done now and then by +gentlemen of the road.</p> + +<p>"The only thing that can save me from going up there is for the snow to +fall twice as fast," said Jimmy, and looked hopefully out through the +window of the sample room. The outside air was filled with big, gently +falling flakes, and already the street was deeply paved by its heavy +blanket. Groups of boys released from school were pelting one another +gleefully, and Jimmy observed that the snow on the pavement was already +high enough to cover their knees. A big electric sweeper was struggling +to keep the tram lines clear. Down past the corner he could glimpse a +tiny section of a park. The trees therein were like white pyramids, +their branches bending heavily beneath the weight. On the roof of the +building opposite the hotel a mass<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> of telephone wires, each with its +little drift piled up as if the air had been rendered motionless, was +being scrutinized by a lineman on whose legs were spurs for climbing +poles. The man appeared to be quite anxious. Jimmy's spirits rose +bouyantly, finding in each view some hopeful sign.</p> + +<p>"Of course they'll keep the main railways open," he remarked, "and if it +blocks these branch lines I can have a good excuse for not going up +there. And it'll be all the better if the wires to Yimville fall down, +because it'll back up the account of the storm that I'll hand in as an +explanation why I didn't go. It's a good old world, after all!"</p> + +<p>Indeed he passed a happy evening, playing billiards with another drummer +who was a very good cue, and went hopefully to bed. He awoke hopefully, +and through his bedroom window saw that the snow was still falling and +that it was deep. Very deep! At the breakfast table the headlines of the +morning paper announced that traffic was disorganized for the time +being, and that the wires in many directions were down. Also that by +strenuous efforts and the aid of relays of snow plows the main lines of +railways<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> had been kept open, although timetables were slightly +confused. And then after smoking his morning cigar and exchanging jokes +with anyone who looked pleasant and happy, he inquired at the desk as to +the possibilities of reaching Yimville.</p> + +<p>He loitered and whistled and hummed while the clerk phoned to the +station.</p> + +<p>"All right," said the clerk, smiling as if bestowing glad news. "Line up +that way will be clear by noon. Wires are down, but that doesn't matter +to you, I know. You're still in luck!"</p> + +<p>Jimmy's hopes went smash, and resignedly he turned away. He was in for +it, and was too conscientious to deliberately lie to his firm about the +impossibility of getting through. Promptly on time for his train he was +at the station and checked his baggage through to the "next jump," thus +relieving himself of impediments on this diplomatic side step of his to +Yimville. He boarded the train, but finding no one who looked very +approachable, and feeling eager for companionship, walked through its +entire length of three coaches, without discovering a single person he +had ever seen. Indeed, the coaches were nearly empty, as if traffic +were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> badly disrupted. The train caught up with a snow plow working +through great drifts in a cutting, and had to wait Jimmy got out and +watched proceedings with great interest. There was something fascinating +about the way those two locomotives drew back and then charged the snow +drifts furiously, and stirred up a miniature storm of white. Also, the +storm had ceased, and once the sun broke through for a few minutes. +Jimmy was glad for this, because now that a storm could no longer work +in his favor, he preferred everything to clear up. Sunshine fitted his +temperament. It was a good old sun, after all!</p> + +<p>He did not even complain when his train arrived at Yimville a full hour +late. He had never been there before. It was a pretty place, he thought, +with its white hills all around it, and its red station under a roof +that looked to be made of white stuff three feet in thickness, and a +town omnibus with fat driver who waddled importantly, and a half dozen +loafers drawling comments. He was the sole passenger to descend and was +starting toward the omnibus when accosted by a man in a full coat who +said, "This way, sir. Mr. Wetherby couldn't come to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> meet you, as he is +makin' a talk up there now. We wasn't any too sure you'd get here, on +account of this plaguey snow fall, but he sent me down to make sure that +if you did you'd get to the court house on the jump. Right around the +corner of the depot is our old bob sled."</p> + +<p>"That was decent of Wetherby. Hadn't expected to be met. Good old +Wetherby!" said Jimmy, climbing into the rear seat of the sleigh and +pulling a comfortable lap robe around his legs. A ripping team of bays, +sturdy, and eager to be off, fully occupied the driver's attention. The +sleigh bells sang a tune to thrill the blood. The steam from the horses' +nostrils blew out in regular spurts, ending in rhythmic and quickly +dissipating clouds. Jimmy Gollop enjoyed it all, and was glad he had +come. He leaned back and admired the road that stretched for a mile and +a half between the railway station and town.</p> + +<p>"Some town!" commented Jimmy with enthusiasm born of delight in +admiration for clean, well kept, modern houses. "And—Hello!—Pretty +good little stores, too. And there's certain to be a town square. Whole +town looks on it of course. Always that way in county seats. Square, +court house in the middle, lot of trees.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> Hitching posts, maybe, with a +chain around the square. Lot of farmer's teams tied there. Some place, +all right!"</p> + +<p>And his predictions were not far wrong, as was proven when the horses +came jingling out into the streets facing the square, the court house, +and the teams tied to the hitching posts. There were many of them, the +horses blanketed and unblanketed, drowsing where they stood. There were +stores and shops with a few pedestrians moving about their business—a +sleepy panorama of winter life in a nice, clean, comfortable little +town.</p> + +<p>The sleigh halted with a flourish in front of the court house steps and +two men rushed out as if astonished, then hastened to solicitously +welcome Jimmy, who was somewhat puzzled by their demeanor.</p> + +<p>"Mighty glad to see you, Judge!" declared the one who first clutched his +hand. "They told us down at the station that the railroad up to +Princetown from Media City was completely blocked. So we had given you +up. But you can see how interested in what you have to say the folks +around Yimville are when you get inside. Yes siree! Got the court house +full.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> Seems as if we had every farmer from forty miles around here, +and——" he stopped and chuckled loudly—"every farmer's wife and every +spinster! The women are certainly mighty anxious to know how you stand +on votes for 'em! Talk about home industries for the men, and the usual +bunk about protective tariff, but—go easy about national votes for +women, Judge!—Go easy. The men folks don't want it and they dassn't say +so for fear they'll get hit over the head with a maul or a fryin' pan at +home. Get me? If you say yes, that you're a woman's righter out and out, +you'll secretly lose the men's votes, but catch the women's. If you say +you're against 'em, Judge, it's most likely you're a plumb goner because +the women'll vote against you, and all the men that's for it'll vote +against you, and all them that dassn't do anything without askin' +permission from their wives'll hop you, and others won't count. So go +easy, Judge! Go easy! Keep on the fence as if you were a rooster that +had got frozen on the top rail. Bend a little this way and a little +that, so's to make both sides think you're for 'em. Say a heap that +means nothin' at all! Hurry up. They're waitin'!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p> + +<p>At first Jimmy was half-paralyzed by misunderstanding. Next he was +half-hypnotized by the voluble man's stream of rapid talk. Then his eye +wandered to a big sign on a board wired up to a pillar of the court +house entrance, where he read:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"GRAND PUBLIC RALLY! The distinguished Jurist, Hon. James +Woodworth-Granger, Judge of the Fourth District Court of Princetown, +will on Saturday, December 1st, address the voters of Yimville on the +issues of the campaign. TURNOUT! TURNOUT! and hear our next governor on +vital issues for the state welfare. COME ONE! COME ALL! EVERY MAN AND +WOMAN WELCOME! Time 2 o'clock P. M. sharp! Place, County Court House. +DON'T FORGET!"</p></blockquote> + +<p>He digested this in a flash, and comprehended the situation. +"But—but—" he said, "Wetherby was to settle that affair of the +Intermountain General Supply Company to-day and——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, that was settled this forenoon, Judge," soothingly explained the +other welcomer. "Court got it out of the way so's the court room could +be open for the speech making this after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>noon. Hello! Hear 'em? That's +the Yimville Silver Comet Band. Bill—I mean Mister Perry—has given the +band the tip you've got here. Come on! Now's the time!"</p> + +<p>Any man less jocular, less nimble witted, and self-possessed than Mr. +James Gollop, would have then and there declared himself, and his +identity; but Mr. James Gollop's wits and humor, running in team and +usually at a gallop, were now racing like lightning. It was too late to +be a diplomat in behalf of his firm's future business with the +Intermountain people; and this boob of a country judge, pompous, slow, +egotistical, had been carrying a hatchet for one Jim Gollop ever since +he had suffered through the peculiar likeness to this unmentionable +candy drummer and—Jimmy suddenly grinned, buttoned his coat, cleared +his throat and in ponderous dignity bent stiffly forward and said, "I am +here! I am at your disposal! It will afford me great pleasure to express +my views to such an attentive audience. Let us make haste!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + + +<p>The distinguished Judge, as impersonated by that rank and, for the +moment, highly irresponsible, drummer, was led up a broad flight of +stone stairs and two men opened two big green baize doors in front of +him. The Silver Cornet Band played "See the Conquering Hero" with so +much zest that trombones cracked, clarionets made frantic goose-notes +and the cornets sounded as if made of anything other than silver. The +commodious court room was, despite the outer inclemency of road and +weather, packed with men and women who stood up and yelled a welcome +that for the moment dazed the impostor; but he recovered his nerve and +mischievousness instantly, and no actor ever fell into his part more +completely than did he. The Judge was ponderous, but Jimmy went him one +better. The Judge "threw a chest" when he had an audience, but Jimmy +swelled until his buttons strained. The Judge<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> walked like the late +Henry Irving playing Mathias in The Bells, but Jimmy's feet dragged far +more lugubriously. Jimmy had observed that the Judge assumed what is +known as the "grave judicial" or otherwise "frozen face," and he +therefore looked as much like a wooden image as was possible. Not +immortal Caesar dead and turned to clay could have looked more claylike, +for Jimmy looked like a whole brickyard. He moved austerely up the main +aisle, now and then giving to right and left an imitation of the Judge's +peculiarly stiff and condescending bow, mounted the platform, +patronizingly shook hands with those thereon who hastened to greet him, +and then, when the band subsided for want of wind, advanced to the front +of the stage and was about to speak when he remembered the Judge's +procedure and deliberately buttoned his coat, shot his cuffs, barked a +stentorian "Ahem!" and poured himself a glass of water which he drank +with almost painful deliberation, still affecting the Judge's +mannerisms.</p> + +<p>"Fellow citizens, I stand before you this afternoon," began Jimmy, in +the hush, "first to apologize for my delay in reaching your welcoming<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> +and friendly greetings which, as you who have traveled so far on this +momentous occasion, may appreciate as being unavoidable. Knowing that +you would be here regardless of winter's snows and winds to hear me +expound my views, I can assure you that had it been necessary to come on +snow shoes to prevent your loyalty to me from being in vain, I should +have made the attempt, and perhaps like the youth who cried 'Excelsior,' +might last have been seen plodding through the shades of night into your +Alpine fastness, still striving to reach you."</p> + +<p>Unwittingly he had made a flattering allusion to the locality, whose +residents firmly believed it a rival of the Alps in scenic glories and +hence he was well applauded.</p> + +<p>"Didn't know the Judge was such a good campaigner," whispered one of the +local politicians to his neighbor.</p> + +<p>"That's the mush for 'em," assented the other.</p> + +<p>Mr. James Gollop, beginning to feel more thoroughly at home, was now +thinking with ease and adroitness. Needless to note that he was mentally +grinning.</p> + +<p>"Inasmuch as I arrived so unavoidably late, and that the early darkness +of winter renders the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> roads so difficult for those who have long +journeys to make, I shall somewhat curtail the remarks I have in mind," +he said, pompously, and took another long drink of water.</p> + +<p>"The great issue before the nation to-day, my fellow citizens, is Tariff +Reform." And then he drawled and droned through a lot of stock arguments +familiar to every man, woman and child in America, but in the meantime +kept a furtive eye on the clock at the end of the court room, and +gleefully observed that the afternoon was waning, and that outside it +threatened an early twilight, intensified by a new fall of snow. He +decided that it was time to get in his precious work of assisting the +Judge's campaign with the final straws.</p> + +<p>"Now, my friends," he said, confidentially and observing that his +audience was growing restless, "I have given you the customary platform +remarks concerning tariff and free trade; but I feel that I am in the +hands of my friends, so I shall tell you that personally it doesn't +matter a hang to me whether we have free trade or protection or tariff +reform, or any of that wash!"</p> + +<p>A bomb shell dropped from a Zeppelin could have had but little more +effect. Everyone sat up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> and gasped; particularly the two or three local +politicians on the platform who half arose from their seats to protest.</p> + +<p>"All I care about, to tell the honest truth," said the ingenious Jimmy, +"is to get elected to the fat job of governing this state. It pays well, +and I, as well as you, are aware that in addition there are some few +pickings and perquisites which are well worth having."</p> + +<p>Somebody in the audience cried, "Shame! Shame!" and a few more hissed; +but Jimmy quelled the rising storm by holding up his hand for silence.</p> + +<p>"Listen and have patience, My Friends!" he appealed, oracularly. "Other +candidates from time immemorial have come to you with a lot of talk, but +I am the first one who has ever dared to be honest with you. Isn't that +true?"</p> + +<p>Some of his party adherents, doing their best to uphold him to the last, +loudly assented, and yelled, "Give the Judge a chance to finish! Let him +finish!"</p> + +<p>In tense silence and expectancy they settled back in their seats.</p> + +<p>"Politics are to me like the law," he said, thoughtfully. "All bunkum! A +man comes to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> a lawyer to get a tiny agreement drawn that if he had the +brains of a cow he could draw just as well himself. The lawyer looks +profoundly intellectual, terribly wise, considerably puzzled as if this +document might require a further course in a law school to be able to +handle, and so forth, but I tell you, My Friends, that down in his +innermost mind all he is thinking is, 'How much can I get out of this +gazabo for this simple little job?' and then he taps the poor victim for +all he thinks the latter will stand, pockets the fee, and after his +client has gone, hands a memorandum to a four-dollar-a-week clerk and +says, 'Jones, fill up a contract form with that stuff and mail it to +this John Doe person in Squashville.'"</p> + +<p>The crowd by this time was hopelessly divided, some believing the orator +facetious, and the others for the first time in their lives having +sympathy with a lawyer and believing they had for the first time met one +who told the truth.</p> + +<p>"Most judges, My Friends, are elected to the bench because their fellow +lawyers think they will prove easy marks after they get there, and not +because they are supposed to be particularly clever in the law. The best +judge is the one that whacks his decisions up so that Lawyer Skinem<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> +wins this week, and Lawyer Squeezehard the next, and Lawyer Gouge the +next, and so on. If he can satisfy the lawyers he becomes renowned, and +as far as the litigants are concerned, they don't matter at all. If they +had any sense they wouldn't resort to the law anyway. Any fool knows +that!"</p> + +<p>Wetherby got up behind him, red faced and angry, to protest, but the +crowd howled him down. And Wetherby, muttering, stormed indignantly out +of the court room. Jimmy observed that he did so by a corner entrance +near at hand and saw through the door that had been left open that it +led into a cloak room and thence out to the street. He noted this with +satisfaction. It increased his daring. Also by now it was getting dusk +and someone turned on the electric lights.</p> + +<p>A tall, angular, mannish sort of woman, raw-boned, shrill, got up in +about the center of the audience, and said, "You've been honest I take +it, in what you said this far. But you don't dast to be honest, I'll +bet, if I ask you a plain out and out question, Mister?"</p> + +<p>"You ask it and see if I'm not," retorted Jimmy combatively.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then what's your honest opinion about votes for women? That's what +interests a lot of us women more than all you've been talking about. +What about general national suffrage, eh?"</p> + +<p>The woman sat down and immediately around her was a group that +vociferously and shrilly applauded, and Jimmy knew at once that this +must be the militant suffragette party of that vicinity in full force +and that it had come to try to put the Judge on record.</p> + +<p>"First," he said, once more assuming great pomposity, "may I ask the +lady who just spoke, whether she does, or does not represent any +authoritative body of women of this grand and noble state?"</p> + +<p>"You should know that, Judge. Don't pretend you don't; because you have +seen me at a dozen meetings before, when I asked the same question and +you hemmed and hawed, and straddled the fence and gave no answer at all +that meant anything at all. You know well enough that I am the President +of the Women's Suffrage Society of this state, and that sooner or later +you've got to answer my question. Are you going to do it to-day, or do +we have to keep following you?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p> + +<p>Jimmy looked carefully over to a chair at the edge of the stage where, +on his entry, he had deposited his hat and coat despite the invitation +of one of his supposed henchmen to hang them in the cloak room. Almost +involuntarily he edged closer toward that chair before making his reply, +and took time to drink another glass of water.</p> + +<p>"Since that question has been so repeatedly asked, and hitherto, I +admit, evaded, I shall now endeavor to make myself completely, plainly, +and fully understood on that subject," he said, impressively, and waited +until in the silence nothing could be heard save suppressed breathings.</p> + +<p>"As I understand it, I am asked what is my personal opinion concerning +the expediency and the justice of granting women of majority age the +right of franchise in both national as well as state elections. Am I +right?"</p> + +<p>"That's it, precisely," came the voice of the woman who had asked the +question, and there was a considerable note of triumph in her tone as if +at last she had run her fox to earth.</p> + +<p>"Then I say," said Jimmy, slowly, and emphatically, "that it is my +honest opinion that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> women should do as their mothers before them did, +stay home, work, and raise their families and keep out of politics. +Stop! Stop! Let me say what I have to say! I can't make myself heard if +you hiss and yell!"</p> + +<p>Some of them were on their feet. Some of the men applauded. Most of the +women hissed; but they slowly settled back to hear him conclude.</p> + +<p>"I say that a large majority—a very large majority!—of women don't +know enough about politics to vote, and that a big percentage haven't +brains enough to vote intelligently for a town dog catcher! And that if +I had my way any woman who wanted to vote would be arrested and given +six months in an imbecile asylum!"</p> + +<p>And then, before anyone could surmise his intention, and in the midst of +a wild pandemonium of noise he made a jump for his hat and coat, took a +flying leap for the cloak room door, jumped through, bolted it on the +inside, and like a flash was out in the street. The noise from the court +room he had left behind sounded as if a riot had broken loose. There +were shouts, screams, yells, and sundry intimations that a certain part +of Yimville's population wanted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> either his scalp, or to decorate him +with tar and feathers. A boy driving a delivery wagon reduced to sleigh +runners was passing by and Jimmy hastily waylaid him.</p> + +<p>"Sonny," he said, "I'm in a hurry to get to the railway station to catch +the four-thirty train. I've got just five minutes and if you make it for +me, you get a five dollar bill."</p> + +<p>That boy was a genius of finance. He lost small time in making a +decision.</p> + +<p>"Hop in, Mister. We'll make it or have a runaway!"</p> + +<p>But short as was the delay, it had given time for the crowd in the court +house to fairly heave itself into the street. And foremost in the lot +charged a tall, angular woman, screaming to her followers, "Come on! +Come on! Don't let him get away!"</p> + +<p>The boy brought his reins down on the horse's back with a loud thwack +and let out a yell for speed. The horse jumped like a sprinter taking +off the tape and it was then that the large angry woman who headed the +militant section of the state league, seeing that pursuit was futile, +found a pile of bricks conveniently left by some repairer and with +rather perfect aim let a chunk<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> fly at the retreating orator. It caught +him neatly in its passage and although it barely grazed him, nearly +knocked him from his seat.</p> + +<p>"Wow!" he shouted. "That was a close one!" and then rubbing his scalp, +burst into roars of delighted laughter as the mob was left behind. "That +woman ought to get out of the bush league and pitch for the New Yorks! +Who said a woman could never throw a brick?"</p> + +<p>The boy, intent on earning the five, was on his feet and bending over +the dash board exhorting his horse into a run. The improvised sleigh was +careening madly as it took corners and an occasional bump, and in the +last glimpse Jimmy had of the court house square it looked as if a hive +of human beings had begun to swarm, or else that a nest of hornets had +been so badly disturbed that its occupants were undecided whither to +direct their stings. He looked hopefully forward as the station came in +sight, expecting to see the train standing there panting after its +previous run; but no train was in sight He began to speculate on which +way he could turn to escape the tempest of wrath he had aroused in case +he had missed the train. He doubted if he could induce the boy to take +him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> to the nearest town, and moreover, had no idea of the distance. +Also he doubted if he could escape a mob there, provided the news got +through. For once in his life he began to doubt the wisdom of practical +jokes.</p> + +<p>The boy brought the horse up skating on its heels, by throwing his full +weight back on the lines and shouting pacifyingly "Whoa-a-a! Who-oa, +Bill!"</p> + +<p>Jimmy leaped, out on the platform shouting, "Wait right there, son, till +I get some change. I think we're in time and—anyhow, you get the +fiver!"</p> + +<p>He ran into the station and, finding the window closed, opened the +office door. A placid, disinterested young man wearing an eyeshade, who +was sitting with his feet on a window desk and reading a novel, looked +up at him and said, "Well?"</p> + +<p>"Has that four-thirty train gone through?" demanded Jimmy, anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Sixteen? Naw! She's off the map as far as I know."</p> + +<p>Jimmy's spirits ebbed like mercury in a typhoon.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And—when will the next train come through?" he asked, striving to +speak calmly.</p> + +<p>"The next train? That'll be a freight. It's due now from Morgan City. +But you won't go on that?"</p> + +<p>"Why?" questioned Jimmy, grasping at straws.</p> + +<p>"Two reasons. One that she doesn't carry passengers, and the other that +she doesn't stop here at all. Just whistles up there by the tank, and +goes lobbin' along on her way."</p> + +<p>"But—but couldn't you stop her in case of emergency?" asked Jimmy, +feeling like a petitioner.</p> + +<p>"Only thing I could stop her for would be on an order from the train +despatcher," said the agent, with a grin of sympathy. "I'm not the owner +of the line, you know. They don't thank me for stoppin' heavy freights +on an upgrade such as they have to climb to get through here, just to +ask 'em how the weather is where they come from, or what time it is, or +to send a message to the engineer's beautiful daughter. Guess you'll +have to wait for Number Sixteen, Mister, or, if you're in too big a +hurry, hoof it. It's only eighteen miles to the next stop. Sorry!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p> + +<p>And then he yawned as if bored, and deliberately resumed his interrupted +reading. Jimmy realized that he was knocking on the locked and unbending +doors of an inexorable fate, and backed out. He went outside and hailed +his rescuer, who had found a piece of gum that he was extricating from +some wrappings that indicated a rather dirty pocket.</p> + +<p>"Son, my brave youth, how far, I beseech thee, is it to the nearest town +from here?" Jimmy asked.</p> + +<p>"On a railroad?" queried the boy, biting off the tip end of the stick of +gum and testing its flavor.</p> + +<p>"Of course. What good is a town that's not on the railroad?"</p> + +<p>"I guess it's about seven miles to Mountain City up to the north, and +about eleven to Hargus. Hargus is down south."</p> + +<p>Jimmy thought for a moment and then said, winningly, "And do you think +you could drive me with old Bill as far as Mountain City?"</p> + +<p>"Not on your life! Me drive you there? Humph! What's the matter with +Jones? He runs a livery stable. I deliver groceries for the Emporium +and—say! Mister!—if they find out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> I drove you down here for that five +dollars I ain't got yet, I'd get fired! Now about that five, did you get +change?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy appreciated that boy's business sense and gave him a five dollar +bill that caused the young man much glee.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Jimmy, cajolingly, "if you were to drive me to Mountain +City, and I were to give you ten, and you were to go back to the +Emporium with a letter I would write them when we got to Mountain City, +a letter that would cause them to pat you on the back and maybe make you +a clerk in the store; or if they didn't do that and fired you, and I was +to get you a nice job somewhere in New York, maybe you might find the +way to Mountain City, eh?"</p> + +<p>The boy suddenly stopped masticating, and looked at him doubtfully. +Jimmy assumed his most seductive grin, took his wallet from his pocket +and exposed several bills, and fingered them with something like a +caress.</p> + +<p>"I could find the way all right, and I guess the roads could be got +across somehow, and I'd like to make that money—Gee! I never had that +much in my life! But—somehow it don't look square to treat the Emporium +that way!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p> + +<p>Suddenly Jimmy was aware of a rumbling and roaring and puffing, and saw +the expected freight train approaching. It whistled at the tank, true to +form, and Jimmy ran across to the edge of the platform as it came +panting along, and stared at it wistfully. He wished that he were expert +in boarding trains, and then, as it passed, decided that it must be +traveling at a rate of at least a hundred miles an hour, although it was +barely doing fifteen. He made a desperate clutch at the rails of the +caboose, felt as if his arm had been jerked from its socket and his +heels into the air, and then found himself sitting in the middle of the +track with his hat some ten or fifteen feet away and a cooling mixture +of snow and cinders up his trousers legs. He got up, felt himself over +to learn that he was unbroken, and recovered his hat.</p> + +<p>"By gee whiz!" he exclaimed. "Never knew it was so hard to hop aboard +one of those things before. Hoboes have it on me all right! My +education's been neglected."</p> + +<p>His solicitous friend, the boy, had come to see if there was anything +left of him and said, "Hope you ain't hurted much, Mister? Humph! I +could have caught her all right, I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> bet you! You don't know how. The +minute you catch hold you want to jump. If you wait you can't do +nothin'. But I'll say you did look funny, all right, with your heels and +your coat tails and your hat all flyin' at onct!"</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm glad I amused you, anyway," said Jimmy, cheerfully. "Now +about going to Mountain City, where were we? Oh, yes! The Emporium. +Would you go if I got their consent—for a ten dollar bill you know?"</p> + +<p>The boy brightened visibly.</p> + +<p>"If you can get old Wade to say I can, you bet I'll go!" said the boy +with marked enthusiasm. "He's got a 'phone, and there's one in the +depot. Ask him!"</p> + +<p>Jimmy hastened inside as fast as his stiffness would permit and was +starting toward the ticket office to make a request for permission to +use the 'phone when he happened to glance through the window looking +toward the street. An arc light had sprung into being, and—he stopped +with a gasp. Down the street was coming a crowd that was evidently in +some haste and he recognized its leader. It was a large, bony woman, who +strode like a man, and Jimmy thought that she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> carried something in her +hand, something that he surmised might be a selected missile.</p> + +<p>"Good Lord!" he breathed. "If she hit me a clip with a little chunk +before, what'll she do with a full-grown brick? Why, it'd be murder I +I've got to get away from here if I have to steal the horse and kidnap +that boy!"</p> + +<p>Being quick in decision and swift in enterprise, and adaptable to sudden +emergency, he ran back out with great presence of mind and shouted to +the boy, "Come on, son! Get a move on you. Mr. Wade says it's all right +and for you to take me as fast as you can. Let's be off before that +crowd gets here looking for the train."</p> + +<p>The boy barely caught the tail of the sleigh and thus proved that he +might have boarded the train; for Jimmy, not waiting for him, had +clutched the lines and stirred the restless nag to action by a +surreptitious slap with his hand.</p> + +<p>"The shortest road is back the way we come," insisted the boy, as Jimmy +drove the horse recklessly across the end of the platform and into a +road that appeared fortuitously in front of him.</p> + +<p>"But I certainly do like this way best," insisted Jimmy, urging the +horse to speed. "I've always been fond of this road."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well it's a mile outen the way," protested the boy.</p> + +<p>"What's a mile to us, eh? You see it's such a nice clean road and it's +been so well traveled that it's better than—what? Turn to the left you +say? I always thought we went straight ahead here."</p> + +<p>"Straight ahead would take us to the slaughter house," objected his +guide.</p> + +<p>"Oh! I thought the slaughter house was somewhere around the depot," said +Jimmy with a grin at his own joke, which was entirely unappreciated by +the boy.</p> + +<p>The station, with its menace, had by now been left behind in the whirl +of snow, and the heavy dusk of twilight. Jimmy was breathing again, and +cheerful, having escaped the most imminent peril. The horse was loping +steadily up the street as if imbued with the hope of a warm stall in a +warm stable.</p> + +<p>"Turn to the right! The right! That's the way," insisted the boy, and +Jimmy, after a single backward glance to convince him that they had +escaped the mob, said, "Son, I don't know these roads as well as you do. +Maybe it'd be better if you took the lines. But whatever you do, keep<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> +going. Mr. Wade says you are to hurry—that is for the first few miles. +You see, he's afraid old Bill will catch cold if he's not kept moving, +and they tell me that it's an awful thing for a horse to catch cold on a +day like this for the want of exercise. Make him hustle!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + + +<p>And Bill hustled them through the outskirts of the town, and into a road +that was fairly good going, and out to where snowladen fields and snow +weighted trees were on either hand before Jimmy's compassion swayed him +to suggest that after all there was no very great hurry.</p> + +<p>"I'm sort of glad of that," commented the boy. "Bill's about winded. +He's my friend, and—and I don't like to see him puffin' like that. I'm +right glad you'd just as soon slow down. I was worried about Bill."</p> + +<p>Jimmy thought about Bovolarapus, and then of Bill, and liked that boy.</p> + +<p>"To-night," he said, as he settled himself into his seat, "Bill shall +have a box of chocolate caramels for dinner. And—say! son, are you +cold?"</p> + +<p>"Not much," said the boy, looking up at him with a grin. "Just a little; +but I keep thinking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> about that fortune I'm to get and that sort of +keeps me warm."</p> + +<p>Jimmy opened his overcoat and gathered his driver inside, and pulled up +the tattered lap robe and said cheerfully, "Sporting life, this, eh?" +But at the same time he was thinking regretfully of his ill-spent +afternoon, and more than ever convinced that jests of a public nature +were not worth while. And yet, in the midst of his personal discomfort, +he did not miss the enjoyment of a chuckle at the thought of what he had +left behind, and that fine harvest which the pompous Judge must reap. In +fact, he began to find a certain pleasure in his adventure; for the snow +stopped, the storm clouds moved restlessly, becoming ever more pallid, +and then the newly risen moon broke through and made all his +surroundings beautiful.</p> + +<p>"The only things I miss," he muttered, "are sleigh bells and—Mary +Allen!"</p> + +<p>"Mary Allen? Who's she?" The voice of the boy disturbed him.</p> + +<p>"Mary Allen," said Jimmy grimly, "is a girl who isn't crazy to vote. She +likes horses. Probably she couldn't throw a brick. I've an idea she +never had a vote, and that if she had one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> she'd sell it as being the +quickest and easiest way to get rid of it. And—I hope to the Lord that +Mary Allen never visited Yimville before now, because if she hasn't, +I'll do all I can to spare her from ever going there in the future!"</p> + +<p>"I can't seem to remember that haystack over there," said the boy, with +entire irrelevance, "but there's a house with a light in it, and—maybe +we'd best ask if we're on the right road. They'll tell you."</p> + +<p>"Right road? Aren't you sure about it?" asked Jimmy, perturbed.</p> + +<p>"Well, you see, it looks different with all this snow and—better ask +'em in there, I think."</p> + +<p>"You go and ask them."</p> + +<p>"I got ter watch old Bill. He runs away sometimes."</p> + +<p>"I'll hold him. You ask."</p> + +<p>The boy got down and advanced to the house where, after a time, a woman +appeared in response to his rapping and then, to point out the way, came +to the gate and thence to the road. She pointed with an extended arm to +the skyline and gave cautions about land marks at a point where three +roads met.</p> + +<p>"If you'd taken the first road to the left instead<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> of the second to the +right, down below there, you'd have been on the main track; but you're +not more than a half mile out of the way. And——" She stopped, suddenly +bent forward, and peered at Jimmy. "Oh, it's you, is it?" she said with +a toss of contempt. "You that believes women ain't got sense enough to +vote! Oh, I was down to the court house this afternoon and heard you! +And what's more, I can tell you it was mighty good for your precious +hide that they didn't catch you. If I'd known that it was you that +wanted to find the road to Mountain City I'd 'a' bit my tongue off +rather than let it tell you anything at all, you old puffed up smart +Alec! The only truth you ever told in your life, I'll bet, was when you +admitted that all lawyers is a lot of thieves. You, a judge! But let me +tell you that the women will get votes, and that when they do you +couldn't be elected judge at a chicken show. You're a mean-minded pig of +a man with no more manners than a pole cat! That's what the women who +heard you to-day think about you!"</p> + +<p>And with that she turned, banged the gate, and hastened toward her house +where, in turn, she banged the door. Jimmy, who had said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> never a word, +but had gradually withered into the farthest corner of his seat, said, +"Whew! She likes me all right! I could tell that by what she said."</p> + +<p>"Be you the man that made the speech in the court house?" asked the boy, +as he climbed into the sleigh and started Bill into action.</p> + +<p>"My son," said Jimmy, "I am that very unfortunate man. But you don't +care, do you? You don't give a hang about voting, do you?"</p> + +<p>"Not to-night," admitted the boy. "All I'm thinkin' about is how I'm to +get that ten dollars. It's a lot of money, ten dollars is. And—and," he +looked up at his companion rather speculatively, and added in a burst of +boyish confidence—"I don't think you're so bad as that woman said, +anyhow. I think I like you!"</p> + +<p>Jimmy, feeling for the moment rather friendless, vented a fervent "Lord +bless you, son! We'll keep on being friends."</p> + +<p>It began to seem to Jimmy that he was in for a chapter of accidents and +hardships. A snaffle gave away and they had to get out into the deep +snow and make repairs with fingers that were cold before the operation +was complete. They came to a stretch of unbroken road where the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> snow +was so deep that he had to climb out and break trail with the drift well +above his knees.</p> + +<p>They toiled along for another mile then Jimmy decided that it was rather +a lonesome place; but philosophized that any place without either a +crowd, or Mary Allen, would be lonesome, and then further cheered +himself with the reflection that if he had Mary Allen with him he +wouldn't miss the crowd, or that if he had a crowd he'd not for a moment +miss Mary Allen, all of which made it rather a cheerful if paradoxical +world. Now that he had escaped the clutches of the irate militants of +Yimville, it wasn't such a bad predicament after all.</p> + +<p>"Hello! What's that?" he exclaimed, sitting up with a jerk, as the boy +pulled the reins and yelled a loud "Whoa, Bill!"</p> + +<p>It seemed as if something had gone awry with the prow of their ship. +They climbed out to investigate.</p> + +<p>"They's a hame strap busted and Bill's loosin' all his furniture," +explained the boy.</p> + +<p>They got Bill's rig off to repair it as best they could. Again their +fingers got cold and their feet got cold, and the air got colder. Bill +was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> the only one who didn't seem to mind the delay and acted as if he +rather enjoyed a vacation.</p> + +<p>"Now we're off again," said Jimmy, as they resumed their journey. "After +all, breaking a hame strap's nothing. Bill gets extra feed for that. +Anybody that can work hard enough to bust a hame strap has my approval. +I never did. You see, son, it was in a way rather lucky, because I'd +never have guessed what a good old nag Bill is if he hadn't proved it by +snapping that strap! People most always get acquainted through accident. +I certainly made a lot of acquaintances to-day! Also a lot of people got +acquainted with me who might never, never, never have really known just +what I was like!"</p> + +<p>This pleasant reflection occupied his time for another mile, and then +suddenly Bill stumbled, his head went down and his heels flew up, he +seemed to stand on his neck for an instant, and then became a kicking, +obstreperous heap of horse and harness on the snow.</p> + +<p>"Hooray!" shouted Jimmy, again springing into action. "Hooray! I'll sit +on his head, son, while you see how many pieces you can unfasten in his +harness. Keep away from his heels. Tackle his belly band first. That's +the ticket!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> Now see if you can get the tugs loose. Got 'em? Now stand +back. William, arise!! Whoo-e-e! Come up like baking powder or patent +yeast, don't you, Old Sport? There! There! Steady now. You're all right. +Concentrate your thoughts on food and it'll ease your mind. I've tried +it."</p> + +<p>They restored Bill to his harness and backed him into the shafts.</p> + +<p>"Now everything's all right again," said Jimmy, quite happily. "Just +think what tough luck it would have been if he'd broken his neck. It +doesn't pay to drive a horse with a broken neck. Just a waste of time. +Never buy a horse with a broken neck, son, unless you are in the tallow +business."</p> + +<p>"Bill's all right, but—but—there seems to be somethin' wrong with the +shaft on this side. It wobbles," said the driver.</p> + +<p>Jimmy went around to the other side and inspected it.</p> + +<p>"Humph! Does wobble," he admitted. "It's cracked. However, that's all +right. Just think how bad it would have been if it had broken in two. +Now, as it is, maybe it'll last till we get to Mountain City, and I'll +pay for a new one. You<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> see, partner, all these little things are sent +to try our fortitude and philosophy."</p> + +<p>Again they moved ahead, and Jimmy whimsically homilized that it wasn't +how a shaft looked or felt that counted, but whether it did its work. +"Why, if everybody in this world who is cracked was chucked aside as +useless, I reckon there'd be mighty few folks left to do things," he +insisted. "There'd be milk without crocks, and jobs without men; girls +without sweethearts and churches without bells, son. Being cracked isn't +a sin, it's just being common!"</p> + +<p>"Whoa! Whoa, Bill! She's busted for good now, Mister!"</p> + +<p>The damaged shaft had snapped ominously and the harassed Bill this time +threatened to kick the whole exasperating outfit to kindling wood if his +heels held out long enough to accomplish such a worthy job.</p> + +<p>"I'm getting used to this snow, now; I like it!" asserted Jimmy, as he +again got out to make an inspection. "We folks from Maryland always did +appreciate snow. It makes us understand the general air of chilliness +that seems to hover around New England Yanks. Well, looks as if we'd +have to steal a fence rail somewhere, boy,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> if we wish to continue this +delightful journey. Ah, there's a nice old stake-and-ridered layout over +there. I always knew they were the best kind of fences for country +roads. They do come in handy, all right. You hold William and explain +things to him while I grab one."</p> + +<p>He waded into a ditch where the snow was waist high, floundered up a +bank, and selected a fairly straight fence rail that would serve his +purpose, and wallowed back with it. Once he fell and got snow up his +sleeves as high as his elbows.</p> + +<p>"Now some folks would swear that was cold and uncomfortable," he +remarked as he shook it out in chunks, "but I like it, because I know +it's clean. It'd be awfully good in a cocktail just about now! Snow? Why +I've known time in a jay town down in Louisiana when I'd have cried with +joy for anything as cool as that to put in even plain water. 'We never +appreciate our blessings till we get 'em,' as the Mormon said just +before his seventeen wives swung him up on the limb of a tree."</p> + +<p>For a time he watched Bill struggling along dejectedly, but was glad +that his improvised shaft support served and contemplated the pas<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>sage +of time that must intervene before they reached Mountain City. And then +Bill again stumbled, and stopped as if in despair.</p> + +<p>"I think maybe his feet's balled up," suggested the boy.</p> + +<p>Jimmy climbed out and lifted Bill's extremities, hoof by hoof, patiently +digging off the snow stilts with his pocket knife, until at last he +found one hoof with a shoe missing.</p> + +<p>"Well, well, well! No wonder you stumbled, old fellow," he sympathized. +"Cast a shoe, have you? Must have been back there where you fell! That's +too bad. You can't wear one of mine, or you'd be welcome. Must have +another put on up in Mountain City. Don't mention the expense. My firm's +rich. We often give horse shoes away on Christmas—paper ones, you +know!"</p> + +<p>And the faithful and valiant Bill, relieved of one shoe and four big +collections of snow, hobbled forward again until he came to the foot of +a hill that seemed to stretch clear to the moon, and then for the first +time acted as if he had given up entirely and succumbed to misfortune.</p> + +<p>"How far is Mountain City, now, son?" asked Jimmy, not without some +betrayal of anxiety.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It's right up on top of that hill," said the boy, "But that hill's just +one mile and a half long."</p> + +<p>"Good!" declared Jimmy, "you sit here and steer the beast, and I'll get +out and help and encourage him by leading him. I always was fond of +wading in snow. Cools off one's temper, walking in the snow does. If +every man who lost his temper had to walk a mile and a half uphill +through the snow, before he could say or do anything else, there would +never be a murder in this world, no divorces, and—by gosh!—maybe no +marriages either. That would be a calamity. Snow certainly does cool one +off."</p> + +<p>An hour later when, after frequent rests and short but strenuous +efforts, they halted at the top of the hill and saw the main street of +Mountain City ahead of them, Jimmy said to the boy as he climbed back, +panting, into the sleigh, "Son, we learn by experience; but it's only +the wise and experienced man who knows that ignorance is bliss. There's +a lot of things in this life that I don't want to know anything at all +about in the future. Alpine climbing; politics, and votes for women are +all off my list. The only things I'd like to investigate are warm +drinks, hot grub, and the insides of a pair of dry<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> socks, shoes and +breeches! And with that knowledge I'd be content. If you can find the +way to the hotel without straying, I'll forgive you for what you didn't +know about the way up here, and we'll begin all over again. Once more +we're on our merry way!"</p> + +<p>Evidently Judge Granger was unknown to the hotel keeper of Mountain +City, for no comment was made on Jimmy's arrival and the place seemed +warm, comfortable, and luxurious after the snow drifts of the mountains. +Jimmy first phoned the railway station where he learned that Number +Sixteen was still belated but was expected through by midnight. Inasmuch +as Bad Fortune had been conquered by optimism, Good Fortune now smiled +upon the optimist. He purchased dry underwear, dry shoes, and dry +trousers for himself, and astonished the boy who had so valiantly +supported him by the presentation of a new suit of clothes, new red +flannel underwear, and new shoes.</p> + +<p>"Lord! It'd never do for me to send you back home sniffling with a +cold," he explained to the lad. "Your maw would never forgive me, and—I +reckon I've got enough enemies amongst the women of this locality +without adding her to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> my list. Heaven help me if ever I go back there +again! They'd boil me alive in a soap kettle, and feed my fat to the +pigs! Now we shall look after the requirements of Rosinante, my little +Sancho Panza. Then we shall eat."</p> + +<p>By liberal payment he succeeded in inducing the village wagon maker to +put in a new shaft that night, and the village blacksmith immediately +took on the work of replacing the lost shoe. Then he inspected the +stable where Bill was to sleep, bought a full bale of clean straw, a +double quantity of oats, and induced the hostler to give Bill an extra +rub and an extra blanket.</p> + +<p>"Nothing's too good for us to-night, son," he explained to his admiring +supporter. "I feel like going on a bat. Just the same as Daniel probably +did after he got out of the lion's den. I'll bet ten to one that the +first thing he said after they hoisted him out was to ask the king what +he'd have to drink. Hospitality, my boy, is the guarantee of +appreciation. Both those who give and those who accept are satisfied, +which is unlike nearly all other bargains made in this world. This is +applicable to everything except jails. Remember my preachments after I +am<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> gone, and you'll never get into the latter—that is—if you can run +fast enough!"</p> + +<p>They still tell, in that hotel, of the meal he had specially prepared to +celebrate his escape from the Philistines. Long before it was through +the boy was speechless.</p> + +<p>"Gee! Can't eat any more," he declared after a third piece of hot mince +pie.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter? New suit of clothes too tight? Well, son, here's +another piece of advice," said Jimmy, as he helped himself. "Trouser +bands aren't made of rubber because all tailors are rich men who never +get hungry. By leaning toward the table and pretending to fool with your +serviette, it's easy to open the top buttons under your vest without +anybody noticing that you're going to make a fresh start. This is a form +of politeness that is necessary lest you alarm your host. Always do it +that way, and in the meantime, if you can think of one, tell a funny +story. It serves to distract attention from what you're doing, which is +the success of all card tricks, sleight-of-hand performances, and +getting a tummy full. Also that is probably the reason why napkins are +worn in the lap instead of in the neckband of your collar. Incidentally<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> +I see there is a neglected raisin sticking to your chin, which leads me +to further observe that food is worn inside and not outside your face. +That's right! Don't waste it! I knew you wouldn't!"</p> + +<p>He stopped suddenly, looked at his watch and said, "Great Scott! I +forgot one thing! How late does the Emporium keep open? Nine o'clock? +Oh, then I've got time. I must telephone Mister—Umm-m-mh!—Wade, did +you say his name was?"</p> + +<p>The boy looked alarmed, but Jimmy explained. "You see he expected you +back to-night. He didn't know how bad the roads were. I must tell him +you'll not be back before to-morrow morning. What's the 'phone number? +37? Good. I'll go now and tell him. You stay here until I come back. +We're going to have coffee."</p> + +<p>Jimmy hastened out to the 'phone and was thankful that it was +conveniently placed in a cabinet, for he was rather uncertain what might +be said, or, indeed, whether the telephone might not explode from heat +generated at the other end of the line. He got Wade without difficulty, +and again Fortune smiled.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Mr. Wade," he said in his customary cheerful voice, "I made an address +at the court house this afternoon, and—er—the exigencies of my +departure led me to commandeer the services of your delivery boy, Tim, I +think his name is. What's that?"</p> + +<p>He stopped, puzzled for the moment by the loud burst of laughter from +the other end of the line, and then a question, cautiously uttered as if +the speaker were afraid of being overheard, "Where are you, Judge?"</p> + +<p>"Mountain City Hotel."</p> + +<p>"Oh, up there, eh? Glad you got away safely. I heard that you were last +seen eloping with Tim and my nag Bill. And—can you hear +me?—Yes?—well, secretly I was tickled to death that you got away! This +thing of votes for women—you understand! Glad you handed it out +straight. Of course I can't say so out loud, but——"</p> + +<p>"Thanks!" said the relieved Jimmy. "I'm sending Tim and Bill back in the +morning. Also I'd like to give Tim an envelope with a ten dollar note in +it to pay for the use of the rig if you'll accept it."</p> + +<p>"S-s-s-h!" came back over the telephone.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> "Don't say a word! I'll not +have it! You can pay the keep for the boy and horse up there. That's all +I'll accept. That and a promise that you'll not give me away! It +wouldn't do for me to let it be known that—you understand, Judge!"</p> + +<p>And Jimmy left the telephone box in an extraordinary good humor and +sauntered back to his coffee.</p> + +<p>He insisted on inspecting the room that he had engaged for his guest, +and extravagantly ordered a fire for it. He insisted on his guest +retiring, but the guest, reduced to a state of adoration, rebelled and +saw him off when the train pulled out from Mountain City at 11:30 that +night.</p> + +<p>Mr. James Gollop settled himself comfortably into a seat therein and +emitted a great sigh of content.</p> + +<p>"As the copy book used to say at school," he thought, "'Count that day +lost whose low descending sun, views o'er thy work without some worthy +person done.' And if in one place in his bailiwick I haven't fried that +codfish Granger to a crisp, it's not because I haven't been industrious. +I've been as busy as a horse with a wooden leg trying to win the +Derby!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + + +<p>Recovering his luggage at the junction with the main line, and traveling +an additional forty miles after such a strenuous day, predisposed the +indefatigable Mr. Gollop for a long night's rest. Finding himself again +in a modern little city with a first class hotel, and a luxurious bed +aided the ministrations of nature, so that it was after ten o'clock in +the morning when he whistled his way to his bath and then carefully +selected a clean outfit for the day's work. He hummed like a +particularly lucky hummingbird while he shaved, and felt like +hoppity-skipping down to the grill room, where his healthy appetite +might have full play. He found himself a nicely cushioned alcove through +whose window he could look out on the clear, brilliant morning with its +dazzle of snow, and at the same time luxuriate in the steam heated +atmosphere within. The world seemed turning very well and happily, as +far<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> as Mr. James Gollop could observe and feel, and he gave his order +and was rendered grateful when an excellently trained waiter laid before +him the morning papers. And then Mr. Gollop sat up and grinned with the +culminating joy of the morning!</p> + +<p>The paper he had first glanced at was rabidly Democratic and sported a +huge headline completely across the front page which read:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Gubernatorial Candidate Mobbed in Yimville." </p></div> + +<p>Then followed a series of banks and subheads:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Loses temper and offers insults to women voters! Excoriates his +own profession whilst in violent temper and ridicules bench of +which he is member! Admits that all he seeks is office. After +amazing outburst, proving unfitness for any public trust, narrowly +avoids tar and feathers and escapes. Present whereabouts unknown." </p></div> + +<p>Special passages from the now famous speech were carefully selected, +duly edited to make<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> them sound the worst, and printed in black-faced +pica. Other passages in the speech were in italics. The whole plant of +the newspaper had been utilized to give adequate expression to this +unparalleled forensic outburst. A much garbled report "in full" was +given of the wording, and as lurid yellow as was ever mixed went to make +up the account of the incidents in Yimville. According to the report the +mob numbered thousands and strong men of both parties wept and gnashed +their teeth in their frantic craving to wreak vengeance on the orator +for the insults offered to their mothers, wives, daughters, and +sweethearts. Indignant women, forgetting the softness of sex, had arisen +in just wrath to execute this brazen-faced apostle of mammon. Half a +column was devoted to the mystery of the Judge's disappearance from the +scene and it was stated that he was believed to have terrorized a boy +into driving him away into the mountains, in which case, it was feared, +owing to the blizzard, that unless they found refuge in some isolated +farm house they might have perished. Jimmy noticed that most of the +concern expressed by the newspaper was for the welfare of the boy. He +was chuckling gleefully<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> to himself when interrupted by the return of +the waiter.</p> + +<p>"Pity they didn't get that buzzard and hang him, isn't it, sir?" he +commented indignantly.</p> + +<p>"It certainly is," agreed Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"Not as I believe in votes for women myself," added the waiter, "but I +don't believe in openly insultin' 'em in public. And think of the likes +of him sayin' as all he wanted was to get elected and as if he didn't +care how! Why he ought to be in that Tammany Hall gang back in New York! +That's the only place in all this United States, I reckon, where folks +stand for that sort of stuff. It's understood back there that all they +want is a fat job and the people be damned, but people out here ain't +educated up to looking at things that way. They ain't any people in the +world that'd stand for what them people in New York does! I worked there +one time for about three year and I know. I'll bet that galoot murdered +that boy. Probably took him as far as he wanted to, then threw the poor +little feller out of the sled into the snow to freeze. All that they'll +ever find of that poor little kid'll be an icicle."</p> + +<p>"I'll bet you're right!" agreed Jimmy, again,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> vociferously. "This paper +says the Judge said some nasty things about Union Labor. I should think +some of you chaps would start something on what Union Labor thinks of +him and his kind."</p> + +<p>"By jingoes! You're right about that!" the waiter declared, and then +added, as if overcome by the brilliant opportunity for advertising +himself, "I'm president of the local Waiters' Union, and I'll lay off +this afternoon and look after that myself. We'll show them that thinks +they can knock us a thing or two before we've done with 'em! Down on +honest labor, is he? And he thinks he can get elected if all of us is +agin' him!"</p> + +<p>Jimmy read a column on the weather in which it was stated that the storm +was the most unprecedented in twenty years and that on nearly all the +branch lines, where wires were down and a snow blockade complete, +conditions would have to remain as they were until traffic was restored +on the main trunks; but that the railway company hoped to clear the +branch lines within twenty-four hours, and that already telephone and +telegraph linemen were out on snow shoes.</p> + +<p>At four o'clock that afternoon Jimmy boarded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> the train bound for the +last city he would visit in the state, and attracted by the cries of a +newsboy, "All about Judge Granger! Latest news from Yimville," bought a +paper and settled himself down to read.</p> + +<p>The latest advices from the scene of his latest escapade told of the +return of Tim. They were published in a Republican paper which began by +stating that the reports of the Judge's speech were mangled distortions +of what the speaker had, in his well known eloquent manner, expressed, +or deliberate lies manufactured by his enemies; that there had been no +riot at all, and that neither had there been a demonstration save a +small uproar created by a branch of the Militant Suffragettes, headed by +that modern prototype of Carrie Nation and her hatchet, the state leader +of that body, whose previous records of disturbances were sufficient in +themselves to convince all thoughtful-minded women, as well as men, that +probably the speaker was justified in whatever he had said to this +professional heckler. Furthermore, as evidence of the depths to which a +totally unscrupulous and irresponsible press could descend in its +efforts to ridicule a great leader, the whole story of flight was,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> from +the beginning to end, a malicious controversion of fact. This was proven +by the statement of the driver, Timothy Jones, who had that morning +returned to Yimville. The driver was known as completely trustworthy and +honest, and, furthermore, his statements were fully corroborated by his +employer, Mr. Wade, general manager of the Emporium, one of the most +prominent business men in that part of the state.</p> + +<p>Judge Granger, after making a most eloquent, lucid, and brilliant speech +which had been unduly prolonged by his patience in replying to questions +addressed by the disturbing element, had found his time for boarding the +regular train so curtailed that he had but a few minutes in which to +reach the station. He had very courteously asked young Jones if he could +drive him thither, there having been an unfortunate lack of foresight in +providing an equipage for his return. Jones drove him to the station, +where, to the Judge's distress, he learned that, owing to the storm, +there would be no train through for an indefinite time. Having other +highly important engagements, he found it necessary to drive to Mountain +City, where he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> could be more certain of catching a train near midnight.</p> + +<p>"All those who are familiar with the great punctiliousness and +responsibility of Judge Woodworth-Granger will therefore not be +surprised to learn that, despite all the fatigues of the day, and the +hardships of such traveling, he courageously braved the blizzard, +fearless in his sense of duty to be performed. That he made such a +difficult night drive merely to keep his pledged word and engagements, +when others might have quailed, or accepted the storm as sufficient +excuse for remaining comfortably in shelter, is in itself a sufficient +tribute to the sterling worth of this distinguished man's character. He +must have inherited from those ancesters of his, who with bleeding feet +trudged through the snows of Valley Forge, some of that patriotism and +high fealty to duty which has ever been the stamp of the true American. +This courageous self-sacrifice to public duty alone is sufficient +evidence that he is the man to guide the destinies of one of the +greatest states in the Union, and those who are to meet in convention +for the choice of a leader will do well to reflect upon what must be +considered as a sterling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> achievement bespeaking the character of this +honored and distinguished jurist who has somewhat reluctantly yielded to +the demands of his fellow citizens. Those who mendaciously accused him +of office seeking, should hide their heads for shame. Failing to find a +single flaw in the private, public, or professional life of this +distinguished man, his political enemies now seek by ridicule and +innuendo to attack him. To such depths as these has the Democratic party +in this state fallen. Had there ever been the slightest doubt that the +Hon. J. Woodworth-Granger will be the nominee for governor of this +state, it is now dissipated by the scurrilous attack made upon him—an +attack of desperation that must and shall inevitably bring its own +reward. Verily a man is known by the enemies he makes!"</p> + +<p>After reading this editorial Jimmy reverted to the news page where the +faithful Tim's defense was given. It was eulogistic. It was colorful. It +told of the vicissitudes of the trip, although it neglected to mention +the episode of losing their way and what was said by the farmer's wife. +Jimmy thought that either Tim or the reporter who wrote the alleged +interview<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> had shown tact in that suppression. But it was beautifully +written! There was no doubt of that. Stinging sleets, biting winds, +desperately fatigued horses, valiant and persistent battles with snow +drifts, icy cold temperatures and everything pertaining to heroism in +the Arctics were there.</p> + +<p>"Tim and I have got Scott, Peary and Admunsen all looking like a lot of +pikers!" thought Jimmy as he read. "If the fellow who wrote this can +write stuff as warm, comforting and appetizing on chocolates as he can +about coldness, courage and cramps on that trip to Mountain City, he'll +make a world-beater in the advertising line! He's a whirlwind—no—a +cyclone—when it comes to throwing the guff."</p> + +<p>The interview told of the great man's magnanimity and generosity. Not +even his solicitude for old Bill's comfort was overlooked. In fact the +great man wouldn't trust the hostler, but fed Bill bran mash with a +spoon. The suit of clothes he bought "Mister Timothy Jones" was lined +with silk. The underwear might have been of red gold instead of red +flannel. Thus did a brave man reward those who served him in time of +stress. It even intimated that Timothy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> Jones might retire for life on +his monetary rewards.</p> + +<p>It was the next day at luncheon when the cheerful James was given reason +to think less happily of his exploit, and to wonder what happened to a +worm that turned once too often. The newspapers contained the statements +that the wires were now open to Princetown and that in that flourishing +city dwelt a man whose feelings were outraged, who was indignant, who +asserted he had not been in Yimville on the day of the speech, in fact +had never in his life made a speech in Yimville, and that if he had made +a speech in Yimville he most certainly would not—never, never, +never—have expressed the sentiments so brazenly attributed to him. He +was an office seeker in the interests of public rather than personal +welfare, and for no other reason. He had yielded to the overwhelming +petitions of his friends, indeed, not without considerable pain. And +then Jimmy read something that for the first time caused him to +appreciate the possible grave consequences of his ebullient imposture:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p>"'I am not at the moment in a position to make any definite and +specific charges,' his Honor told the representative of the +<i>Morning Star</i>: 'but I have certain well-defined grounds for +believing that the citizens of Yimville, for whom I have the most +profound respect and admiration, knowing that they include some of +the most intellectual and patriotic ladies and gentlemen in the +whole of the United States, have been imposed upon by an individual +who (I have been told) faintly resembles me as far as personal +appearance is involved. Yet how this person, who is, I regret to +say, but a common, vulgar ignoramus, could have the barefaced +effrontery to address an intelligent audience either in his own or +an assumed character, I can not comprehend. Needless to say I shall +at once take steps to learn the truth, and the impostor shall be +made to suffer the extreme penalties of the law providing for the +punishment of such flagrant acts against the public and private +welfare of duly constituted citizens. The world must be made safe +for Democracy. Those who are guilty of lack of observance for those +common and well-defined and closely stipulated rules that govern +the intercourse existing between individuals or those collections +of in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>dividuals which are in turn by mutual consent formed into +committies, must hereafter be consistently regulated by those able +to dictate either by force of arms or the divine influence of +reason, until they can no longer prove a menace to the rules +governing, by consent of the governed and the voice of the +governed, human relations in general, in particular, and in +private.'" </p></div> + +<p>Jimmy pondered over the last sentence a long time.</p> + +<p>"I suppose he means 'The guilty shall be punished,'" he said, and then +added, admiringly, "By gosh! If he were a Democrat he'd be president of +the United States yet. He surely would! He can use more words to say +less than any other man living, and, come to think of it, he has the +greatest assets of stupidity, which are pompous silence, and a +patronizing grin. The art of so obfuscating his expression with words +that neither his friends nor his enemies can come to any positive +conclusion as to what he means. But if I'm not mistaken, this same J. +Woodworth-Granger, Judge by election, is after the scalp of one James +Gollop, drummer for a living, and—humph!—wonder when the next train<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> +leaves that will take me out of this state's jurisdiction? It seems to +me, Jim, that you should be on your way. Good Lord! Some men can never +take a joke! The idea of raising such a fuss over a little thing like +that!"</p> + +<p>And, so potent was his increasing apprehension, Mr. James Gollop did not +actually smile again until seven-thirty that evening, when he received a +reply to a question addressed to the conductor of the eastbound train.</p> + +<p>"Are we over the state line yet?" was the question asked.</p> + +<p>"By about thirty miles, I should reckon," was the reply.</p> + +<p>"Thank heaven for that!" said Mr. Gollop, resuming a placid mental +attitude, and the celebrated Gollop grin. "It's a wise man who knows +where he's not welcome. Both celebrity and notoriety are distinctions to +be shunned. A mud-cat is the most secure of all fish because nobody +wishes to either catch and eat, or play with and caress him. His sole +virtue is his obscurity, the sharpness of his bones his only protection. +I'd rather be a catfish than a salmon after all!"</p> + +<p>And the conductor, passing on his way with his nickel-plated lantern +deftly anchored by his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> arm and his nickel-plated punch industriously +working in his hand, mumbled, "Happy man! He's got just what he wants. +Wish I was general passenger agent of this line. I'm not a catfish +because I want to be one. He seems to be—just that!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + + +<p>Jimmy retired to the smoking compartment in the Pullman and sat down to +think it all over. It had but one other occupant, a huge man with heavy +shoulders who lowered the paper he had been reading and looked at Jimmy +through a pair of clear, gray, appraising eyes that conveyed such a +sense of directness as to slightly disconcert one with a guilty +conscience.</p> + +<p>"Great Scott!" thought Jimmy. "Hope he's not a sheriff or a United +States marshal looking for me," and then indulged in an inward smile at +the absurdity of his being of sufficient importance to have a federal +officer on his trail. He seated himself and took a furtive glance at the +man's face. It was a distinctly attractive face, due to its marked +indications of character. It expressed not only firmness and +intelligence but a sense of humor. Jimmy decided that this individual +should appreciate a joke and wondered who he was.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Funny old chap," he thought. "Might be a banker, but I think he's a +drummer. Wonder who he's out for? Somehow he's mighty familiar; but +surely I'd never forget an old Trojan like that. Maybe I've met him +sometime, and he's got all that gray around his temples since then. Gray +hairs do make a difference."</p> + +<p>He was still puzzling over this lost identity when the man laid the +newspaper to one side, lighted a fresh cigar and, turning toward Jimmy, +said, "Funny about that affair over in Yimville, isn't it? Have you read +about it?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy had to look away lest the twinkle in his eyes betray him, and then +decided his best policy would be to take it with a laugh. A laugh he +decided was the most disarming of human manifestations. He emitted one.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I read about it in the papers yesterday and to-day. That fellow at +Yimville does seem to have kicked up an amusing controversy. One set of +papers says he was mobbed, and the other that he made a hit. +But—pshaw!—of course it has no effect whatever on Judge Granger's +chances for the nomination! Tempest in a child's teapot that will last +about as long."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps! I'm not to sure about that. More<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>over, I'm not so certain that +Granger, unmolested, could have got the nomination. He would have been +up against a good stiff fight. I understand that he's a trifle too +self-satisfied to be a very popular candidate. Nothing hurts a man with +a swelled head like ridicule. Ridicule will trim men that can't be +touched with any other weapon under the sun. And—" he chuckled as if +amused—"the whole state has something to laugh over now, whether he +made that speech, or whether he didn't!"</p> + +<p>The man looked out of the window for a moment and then, as if no longer +interested in the Yimville episode, inquired, "Didn't I see you getting +some sample cases aboard the train? What's your line?"</p> + +<p>"Chocolates. Columbus Chocolate Co. of New York. Are you on the road?"</p> + +<p>"Well, not exactly. I'm in water power plants at present."</p> + +<p>"Something I don't know much about," said Jimmy. "But I wish I did. +Mighty interesting. In fact I never took the trouble to look one over +until a little while ago."</p> + +<p>"Where was that?" inquired the man.</p> + +<p>"Up at a place called Princetown. Good<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> water power there. Big plant, I +suppose you would call it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I suppose they have good power up there. I have heard so," said +the man, inspecting the ash of his cigar as if interested in how long it +would last without breaking. "Let's see—automobile factory there, isn't +there?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Sayers Automobile Company. Fine cars, too, but unknown except out +here. At least I should say so. That's the trouble with half the +enterprises in the country. They can make first class articles but they +can't sell them. Sometimes I think we Americans aren't such good +hustlers after all. We've got the reputation in Europe, I am told, of +blowing about our stuff; but I'm not certain that we do. If I were a +manufacturer, I'd not make anything that wasn't the best I could make. +I'd put everything I knew and everything I could learn into whatever I +made. I'd not have a man work for me fifteen minutes if he didn't +believe that it was the best thing of its kind on earth. And then I'd +know that when that man went out and talked about my line of goods, +whether he was a salesman or not, he'd swear that it was the best on +earth."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span></p> + +<p>The man smiled, "In other words, even your workmen blowing, eh?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think it's blowing to say what you honestly believe about your +line. When a man is absolutely convinced that he is offering the very +best thing on the market and gets hot under the collar if anybody +questions it, he becomes a good salesman. He never can be that unless he +is honestly positive that he is talking truth. Telling the truth isn't +boasting. It's the way to sell goods. Blowing means ignorance or lying. +A man can not lie about anything he has to sell—if it's nothing bigger +than hairpins—and get away with it very long. I never lie about my +line—never! I really believe that some of our stuff is the best of its +kind made. I say so. I honestly admit it when some other house brings +out a certain line that beats ours, and then I hustle back home and put +on my spurs, and get out my hammer, and try to get my firm to see it, +and to meet the new stuff and if possible to go it one better."</p> + +<p>Jimmy had forgotten all about Yimville, now that he was expatiating on a +pet hobby of his. Evidently, too, Yimville had passed from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> mind of +his companion, who seemed pondering over salesmanship.</p> + +<p>"But—but how would it be applicable to power plants?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," admitted Jim, "but the principle is the same for +chocolates, or power plants or—automobiles. That's what started me +off—those Sayers automobiles. I never heard about that car until I saw +one in the street. I don't know anything about them. But the one I saw +looked so pretty that I talked with the man who owned it, and he was in +love with the thing. So, because I never heard of it, and no one else +seemed to have done so, it proves that there's something wrong with the +Sayers selling organization. They haven't handled their capital right, +because every dollar invested in advertising is a dollar in the value of +the plant—in that intangible asset called 'goodwill,' without which +neither a house nor a man can succeed."</p> + +<p>"Young man," said his companion, "you are in the wrong line. You ought +to be selling advertising space. I told you I was in power plants +but—I'm in some other things as well.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> Did you ever solicit advertising +contracts for any first class advertising firm?"</p> + +<p>"I never did," admitted Jimmy, "But I have given some advice about +advertising that has paid the purchasers. And I've pondered over sales +organization for years. I tell you—it's a science! If ever I get a +chance to test these theories of mine—I'll——" He paused as if ashamed +of his serious enthusiasm, and as usual, derided them—"I'll probably +fail!"</p> + +<p>"Why deride yourself?" queried the man, regarding Jim with grave and +interested eyes. "If sales organization is a hobby of yours, why not +ride it? Evidently you've thought about it somewhat. What is wrong with +the average sales organization? Where does it fail? What improvements +can you suggest in prevalent methods? Have you thought of anything new +and original to improve them? If so, I'd like to hear about it, because +I'm one of those who are never too old to learn."</p> + +<p>Jimmy accepted and launched into his argument with all the vim of an +enthusiast discussing a subject to which he had given thought.</p> + +<p>"Have you got one of your personal cards<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> with you? Hope you don't think +I'm impertinent," said the man, after Jimmy had run down.</p> + +<p>Jimmy laughed and gave him the card and while he wondered what was +coming next, his companion carefully slipped it into his pocketbook.</p> + +<p>"If ever you decide to get out of chocolates," he said, thoughtfully, +"you might call on me—or—let's see! Here!" He took another card from +his pocket just as the train came to a stop and the porter came hurrying +in and shouted, "Sorry, sah! Done forgot to call you sooner. Corinth!"</p> + +<p>Both Jim and his fellow traveler jumped to their feet and hastened out. +Jimmy saw that the card was that of "Mr. Charles W. Martin, Suites +105-7-9-11 Z, Flat Iron Bldg., New York. Specialist in everything +pertaining to power plants."</p> + +<p>Out on the platform Martin asked, "Where do you stop here in Corinth, +Mr. Gollop?"</p> + +<p>"At the City Hotel," said Jimmy. "Good sample rooms there. Good grub. +Good beds."</p> + +<p>"I think I'll go there, too," said Martin, and together they entered the +hotel bus and were driven away.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p> + +<p>As usual Jimmy was welcomed by his first name, and informed that there +was some mail there for him. When he looked around from its perusal +Martin had disappeared and he did not meet him again until he was seated +in a corner of the restaurant alone, when a voice behind him said, "Hope +you don't mind if I join you, Mr. Gollop," and looked up to see his +traveling companion.</p> + +<p>"Not at all, Mr. Martin," he replied. "Always glad to have good company. +I'm a sociable sort of cuss myself. I detest traveling alone, eating +alone, or loafing alone. I suppose I'm gregarious."</p> + +<p>A troubled, thoughtful shadow chased itself over the elder man's face, +as he said, with a half-sigh, "I understand. It's not good for a man to +be alone. And the older he becomes, the more he feels lonesomeness, and +the more he wants—home!"</p> + +<p>The word was the magic one for Jimmy. Somehow that word always moved him +and brought out his great undercurrent.</p> + +<p>"Why, do you know," he said, leaning across the table with shining eyes, +"if I didn't have a home to go to, always, after I've made my round,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> +I'd be like a horse that had been robbed of his stall? I live for it! I +work for it! I look forward to it all the time! But you see, I'm +different than most men. Luckier, I think, because my mother's there! +And if I didn't have a thing in the world but her, I'd be rich. And if I +had everything else but her, I'd be poor! I'm mighty proud of my home +and my mother. I shall be leaving here for home to-morrow afternoon," +continued Jimmy. "After I've hustled around and seen about a dozen +customers. Being a drummer and having a craze for home, are two pretty +tough propositions to combine. But—what would home be without +chocolates? Why, do you know, I don't think I'd have been able to have a +home at all without 'em! By chocolates Maw and I live or die. Funny, +isn't it, that if there was an earthquake that wiped a spot off the maps +and hurt me when I read about it, I'd keep going on just about the same; +but if everybody stopped eating chocolates, I'd be wiped off the map, +and I reckon the world would be going on just the same? Sometimes I +think every man's world is the smallest thing there is because it's +bounded only by his own happiness or tragedy. He's just one of +billions,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> but if his pet dog dies, he's astonished because the universe +isn't covered with gloom and probably he's the only one that's sorry +about the dog, or that even knows the dog has croaked. Maybe somebody +else hears about it and is glad—the chap that the dog bit the week +before he went to dog-heaven. But—anyhow—I'm bound for home to-morrow. +Back to Baltimore, as the song goes."</p> + +<p>"Baltimore?" said Martin. "That's a coincidence! I go to Baltimore +myself to-morrow. Struthers people. Know them? Make tools of precision."</p> + +<p>"Everybody in Baltimore knows of them," declared Jim with full civic +pride.</p> + +<p>"I shall take the two-thirty train," said Martin. "Maybe we shall travel +together."</p> + +<p>"That's the one I take," said Jim. "Match you to see who engages berths +for both of us."</p> + +<p>"I'll gladly engage one for you without matching," declared Martin, a +proffer which Jim immediately accepted.</p> + +<p>They lounged together that evening, and the more Jimmy knew of Martin, +the better he liked him. There was something homely and sane about the +man that appealed to him. For a time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> he kept subconsciously questioning +why he maintained a peculiar feeling that this was not the first time +they had met; yet this sense of unrest was dissipated by the respect he +had formed for him, quite unaccountably. He was, indeed, surprised with +himself for his liking when he realized how satisfactory it was to have +Martin sharing his journey on the following day. In his perpetual +journeyings he had met many men who were congenial, men of the +goodfellow type, but here was a man who had but little of the customary +"goodfellow" attributes and habits, and who yet won his regard. There +was the disparity of ages, the contrast of taciturnity with free +expression, and a large lack of mutual experience; but somehow all these +barriers were not supervened to the detriment of their fellowship. Jim +felt as if he were with an acquaintance—most friendly too—of years +standing, long before they arrived at Baltimore.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you can recommend me to a good hotel," said Martin, as they +neared their destination. "I've never stopped in Baltimore. In fact, I'm +a total stranger there."</p> + +<p>"Why stop at a hotel at all?" suggested Jimmy, generously. "Why not come +out and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> put up with me? My mother's the finest there is! We're pretty +plain people, but it ought to beat being in a hotel. I'll have three +days home this time, and I'll show you down to Struthers' place, and—by +jingoes!—you shall be introduced to big Bill, my pet tree, in his +winter clothes, and if I can't make you believe in Maryland hospitality, +it won't be my fault."</p> + +<p>Martin accepted as directly as he appeared to decide everything. And the +beauty of it was that Mrs. Gollop, who shared her son's hospitable +nature, accepted and made welcome the guest that Jimmy brought home as +if she were thoroughly accustomed to her son's unconventional methods.</p> + +<p>"Does he always bring strangers home like this?" asked Martin, with a +faint smile, on the second day of his visit after Jim's mother had been +eloquently expatiating on Jim's idiosyncrasies and virtues during the +latter's temporary absence.</p> + +<p>"You never can tell what Jimmy will do," she replied with a laugh, and +then thoughtfully stared through her window into the street. "But I am +always certain that he will do the honest, decent, and generous action. +He laughs his way<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> through the world, but in the laugh is never malice +nor cruelty. His sole failing is that he cannot resist a joke. He has +always been so. His sense of the ridiculous is absurdly out of +proportion to his serious side. I used to feel hopeless for his future +because he laughed so much; but now I know the difference. One may still +laugh and be loyal in all things. He has no false ideas or unattainable +ambitions. He has no false pride. He believes in doing his best in all +things. He is sorry for those who are unfortunate, and unenvious of +those who have succeeded. He is sincere, and he is unassuming, a good +friend, and a tolerant enemy. His tastes are simple, his pleasures +homely."</p> + +<p>She stopped, flushed and, added, "But I boast too much! Yet I can't help +it because—well—because there has never been such a son as mine, and +I'm not ashamed to feel proud of him!"</p> + +<p>But Mr. Martin was now looking out of the window, and, Mr. Martin did +not smile.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + + +<p>At the end of three days, Mr. Martin, professing much gratitude and +pleasure for the hospitality shown him, departed for the South. At the +end of four days, Mr. Gollop, making the excuse of urgent business, +entrained for New York. Not that Mr. Gollop, having regard for the +<i>expressio falsi</i> as compared with the <i>suppressio veri</i>, was strictly a +prevaricator or that he told the exact truth, because he had slipped +four whole days up his sleeve for his own entertainment; four whole days +in which he had not the slightest intention of visiting his firm; four +whole days that he intended to devote to art research, and +exploration—exploration of a wilderness known as MacDougall Alley. So +accurately did he time his movements that he invaded MacDougall Alley at +just eleven a.m., which he considered a proper hour to find an aspiring +artist at work while the light was most perfect and amenable. He was not +disappointed,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> which he regarded as proof of acumen; but he was +surprised by his surroundings. No bare-walled studio, this, but a rather +luxurious place. With a real rug on the floor, and real chairs to sit +upon, and a cosy seat, and electric lights instead of bare boards, +benches, charcoal brazier and tallow dips stuck in the necks of bottles +blown for better contents.</p> + +<p>"See here! What troubles you, Bill Jones? Have I done anything you +didn't like?" demanded Mary Allen, as she extricated her thumb from the +hole of a palette on which oil paints proved that she had forsaken for +the moment her love of water colors.</p> + +<p>"Why—why—I don't understand!" exclaimed Jimmy, helplessly.</p> + +<p>"Don't understand? I thought you promised to write?"</p> + +<p>"I did," admitted Jimmy; "but, you see, I was so busy and there were so +many people to talk to in my most seductive manner, and there were so +many things to be done, including people, that I clean overlooked it! I +did! I confess. But—I'm going to be here now at least a week," he added +hopefully, and not without insinuation.</p> + +<p>"Hope you enjoy your visit," she said, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> added rather maliciously, "I +am entirely engrossed in my work—this week."</p> + +<p>He stared at her with a face as frankly dejected as that of a hurt boy; +then, his ever-present bouyancy reasserting itself, queried, "That's +good. By the way, do you ever use models?"</p> + +<p>"Of course," she replied.</p> + +<p>"Well, I've got nothing to do this week," he replied enthusiastically. +"I'll sit for you as a study in Disappointment, Flat-busted, or Return +from the Races. The title doesn't matter, because I'll be such an +excellent study for any sort of man whose hopes have all been knocked +flatter than a pancake."</p> + +<p>"I know you can be gloomy enough when you wish to be," she said, +relenting a trifle; "but you're the first man I ever had promise to +write me a letter that I admitted I should welcome, and then had the +impudence to forget me. The one thing a woman can't forget is to be +forgotten."</p> + +<p>Jimmy felt decidedly perturbed by this statement. He wondered what she +would say if he boldly admitted that he had in reality forgotten her +very name and where she came from, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> then followed it with a +confession that since the first day he had met her in New York some +months ago, he had made amends by thinking of her continuously +throughout his spare time. But he did not dare. He feared banishment, +and that, he concluded, desperately, would be worse than death. +Something of his mental distress must have been observable, for the girl +suddenly relented, smiled a trifle and then said, "Well, perhaps I can +indulge myself—not you, understand?—by going somewhere."</p> + +<p>She regained her palette, and turned toward her easel with a +businesslike air, quite as if she were a painter for a livelihood, and +said, "Now suppose you run along and let me work. You can come back here +for me at—say—one o'clock, and take me to luncheon; that is—if you're +not too busy!"</p> + +<p>And Jimmy, transported with delight, made a vast pretense of business +and hastened away, lest she change her mind. He had the wisdom to let +well enough alone, and knew that time is the best medicine for +annoyance. But he was there in MacDougall Alley,—just the same—with +marvelous punctuality.</p> + +<p>And there can be no question that he was a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> master host when it came to +luncheons, dinners, suppers, or midnight lunch counters. With him it was +an art, cultivated to the highest point of efficiency. Moreover, +timorous and fearful lest he blunderingly lose his advantages, he did +not press his suit too far and, as a result, Mary Allen forgot his +seeming neglect. There was but one embarrassing moment when, after a +moment's silence she said, "Do tell me, is there anything at all new +down home? Dad is so uncommunicative that he never has much to say about +the town itself, and everyone else is too busy to write me."</p> + +<p>"Nothing new that I noticed when I was there last," said Jimmy. "Of +course, being on the road all the time I'm—well—I'm so busy +that—ummmh! Isn't that our waiter? Some of those pears over there on +that other table look good enough to eat and—wish we could get some +strawberries! Do you like hot-house grapes?"</p> + +<p>He might have gone through an entire horticultural catalogue, had not +his roving eyes at that moment suddenly been arrested by something that +caused them to open widely and fix themselves. The something was a +keen-looking man seated at another table who was glaring at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> time with a +steady and highly interrogative look. For once Mr. James Gollop's cheery +self-confidence deserted him and he was highly distressed; for the +keen-faced man happened to be his employer and his employer up to that +moment believed one James Gollop was out on the road some hundred or so +miles from New York looking after the interests of the Columbus +Chocolate Company. Jimmy recovered sufficiently to bow and the bow was +somewhat frigidly acknowledged. Jimmy's wits worked fast—very fast.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, won't you please," he addressed Mary Allen; "but there is a +man sitting over there to whom I wish to speak for just an instant. Got +to make an appointment with him, and this is opportune."</p> + +<p>"Certainly," replied the lady, and Jimmy got up, crossed to his +employer, and without giving the latter a chance to say anything, thrust +out his hand and said, "Howdydo, Mr. Falkner. Howdydo! Got in off the +run early this trip and was coming down to see you as soon as I had +lunch."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you were, were you?" dryly remarked his "boss," and the unhappy +Jimmy distinguished a tone of sarcasm. "Very kind of you, I'm sure.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> +We've been wanting to hear from you for several days. I'll expect you at +just three o'clock this afternoon."</p> + +<p>Stunned by this unusual lack of cordiality, Jim said, "Very well, sir, +I'll be there," and with as much dignity as he could command, turned and +walked back to his table, but wondered heavily, what on earth he had +done; what was wrong; whether some prominent customer had gone bankrupt +or if Falkner merely had a grouch.</p> + +<p>"I thought you went to see a friend, but you look as if you had been +talking with an undertaker," commented his guest.</p> + +<p>"And that's just the way I feel about it," admitted Jimmy. "Because I've +got to meet him at three o'clock this afternoon, and I had anticipated +the pleasure of going somewhere with you."</p> + +<p>"The mean old thing!" she exclaimed, impulsively, and Jimmy's heart +bumped at the knowledge that she, too, was disappointed.</p> + +<p>"But," he suggested, hopefully, "if I called for you at the studio at +about six o'clock couldn't we dine together?"</p> + +<p>And when she accepted his invitation with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> unconcealed enthusiasm, his +spirits again soared and he forgot even the baleful presence of Falkner +for a time, and when he did remember him, discovered that his "kill joy" +had gone.</p> + +<p>Promptly at three o'clock he breezed into his firm's offices with all +habitual cheeriness, exchanged a swift run of badinage with those he +met, and was ushered into the manager's office. Falkner did not meet him +with the customary smile of welcome.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "you seem to have raised a devil of a row out West, and +if you can offer any explanation at all for such conduct I'm prepared to +listen to it before we go any further. If you think that's the kind of +advertising a reputable firm wants you're about as poor a guesser as +ever traveled on a mileage book."</p> + +<p>"Why—why—what's up?" blurted Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"What's up? You've got a nerve to ask that!" roared the manager, banging +his fist on the top of his desk. "Here, look at these!"</p> + +<p>He handed Jim a small sheaf of sheets consisting of letters and +telegrams. The first was from a jobbing firm:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p>"Cancel order given your man Gollop. Sorry, but entire board of +directors are Republican and resent Yimville affair." </p></div> + +<p>A second was from another firm which had been one of Jim's best +customers and read:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Advise Gollop not to make this territory again until Yimville +affair blows over. Granger's supporters buzzing like live hornets." </p></div> + +<p>A more portentous looking document bearing the heading of the "State +Republican Committee Headquarters" bore the concise statement that +unless an immediate, full, and public apology was forthcoming from one +James Gollop for impersonating the Hon. J. Woodworth-Granger at an +important political meeting in the city of Yimville were not immediately +forthcoming, legal action would be taken for damages, on the ground of +misrepresentation, false pretense and willful intent to damage the +reputation and political career of one of the most distinguished men in +the state. Another letter was a round robin, signed by several firms, +demanding the immediate discharge of "that contemptible practical joker, +James Gollop," and still<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> another was from no less person that the Judge +of the Fourth District Court, in which what was said of the same James +Gollop was enough to wither that unfortunate individual. Someone had +sent a stack of newspaper clippings three inches in thickness, from +which Jimmy gathered that it had taken but a day or two to pick up his +trail and expose him beyond all possible dispute.</p> + +<p>"Good Lord!" exclaimed Jimmy, aghast, and wiping beads of perspiration +from his forehead. "I didn't have any idea of kicking up such a fuss as +that. I just blundered into a chance to have some fun with that pompous +old rooster that hated me because we looked so much alike and——" In +the midst of all his woes he could not suppress a laugh of amusement.</p> + +<p>"So you still think it's a joke, do you?" snorted the irate manager, +exasperated by this further evidence of irresponsibility. "Well, you'll +not think so any longer. I'll attend to that. You turn your samples in +and go to the cashier with your expense account. You're fired! Maybe you +can understand that! Fired! F-I-R-E-D!"</p> + +<p>"You needn't have troubled to spell it out," remonstrated Jimmy. "I get +you. But—hang it all, man!—you might at least put me into some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> new +territory. I didn't mean anything by it. I'll admit I was a chump; but I +can sell stuff, and you know it."</p> + +<p>He stopped and stared at the floor with a face so frankly troubled and +perplexed that the manager for the moment forgot his wrath. The boy in +Jimmy Gollop was never more manifest than at that moment. There was +something very appealing about him that Falkner could not fail to +discern.</p> + +<p>"Jimmy," he said, gravely, "I'm sorry, but it has to be done. What on +earth made you such a fool? You must have been crazy!"</p> + +<p>"I sort of reckon I must have been," admitted Jimmy, dolefully. +"But—honestly!—I didn't mean to do any real damage to that old stiff +Granger, and certainly not to the firm. The firm? Why Mr. Falkner, I've +stuck up for it for nearly ten years because it has treated me white, +and because it's an honest firm that makes honest goods. But—well—all +I can do is to square matters up as best I can. You people have been +very good to me. Very good and very kind. I've drawn your money +and,—prospered, and so I'll write the public apology or confession, or +whatever you call it, that those chaps<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> out there demand, and take all +the blame. And I'll write to every customer that has communicated with +you and tell 'em that, although I'm out and gone, the orders were +solicited in good faith and that it's not fair to make you suffer for +that fool joke of mine. I'm done with jokes of all sorts from now on. +I'll do anything except this—I'll not write one word of apology to that +man Granger!"</p> + +<p>Falkner looked out of the window as if troubled, and then said, with a +sigh of regret, "Well, Jim, I'm sorry, but it can't be helped. You're +the best man we ever had out, and—by Jove!—I'll put that into writing +so you can have something to show, and you can use me personally as a +reference when you strike someone else for territory. But, mind you, I +shall have to tell them confidentially the reasons why we had to let you +go."</p> + +<p>"Of course! That's only fair," said Jimmy, his sober common sense +impelling him to this admission.</p> + +<p>"And—when this tempest blows by, you can have any other territory that +comes open, Jim," volunteered Falkner; "that is—provided that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> you cut +the jokes out. Surely you've had fun enough by now to last you a +lifetime!"</p> + +<p>"I have! I have!" assented Jimmy lugubriously. "I've played the biggest +joke of all on myself. By heck! I've joked myself out of my own job, and +that's the limit. Joe Miller never did that and Mark Twain, Josh +Billings, Bill Nye and George Ade, none of 'em ever reached that height +of humor. The only difference between us is that they got cash for their +jokes, whereas all the pay I get is the boot and the chance to go +yelping down the street with a washboiler tied to my tail. Well, if a +fellow puts grease on the front door steps he shouldn't squeal if he +forgets and falls down himself."</p> + +<p>It was not until he stood outside the main entrance to the building that +he had a full sense of homelessness. It was not until then that he knew +what it meant to be without anchorage. It seemed to him that all of +those who hurried past in the winter's twilight had something to do and +that he alone was adrift. He alone had dipped into the depths of folly +and he alone had proved irresponsible. And his employment just then +meant much to him. Subconsciously, he had builded with such confidence. +He was now<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> aware that he had based all upon a permanency of income that +he had conceived to be fixed. His home, his mother's contentment, his +dreams of winning life companionship with the only girl he had ever +loved, seemed to have depended upon the employment he had lost. And now +all was gone! Swept away. He was a most forlorn and melancholy optimist +as he stood there in the early twilight of winter, confusedly +considering his position.</p> + +<p>"Well," he thought at last, "they can't keep a good man down," and then +after a moment's further reflection added, "But they can give him an +awful wallop!"</p> + +<p>The staring eye of an illuminated clock reminded him that MacDougall +Alley was some distance away and he suffered a peculiar mixture of +sadness and gladness as he began his journey. It seemed to him that he +was a different person from the James Gollop who had happily invaded +MacDougall's artistic precincts that morning from the James Gollop who +was now disconsolately making his way thither. That Gollop of the +morning had been happy and bright because he had a job; but this Gollop +of the evening, jobless, and with a black mark<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> against him that was too +notorious to escape the amused attention of all possible employers in +his line, was but a sad dog. It required conscious mental effort on his +part to assume a cheerful demeanor when he climbed the studio stairs. He +wished that he dared tell the "Candy Girl" all about it, but decided +that it would be ungenerous to bother anyone else with his woes, and any +indecision in this regard was ended before the evening was over because +she was so frankly and unaffectedly happy that he hadn't the heart to +say anything that might possibly mar it. Yet, even whilst they sat in a +theater listening to a most cheerful musical comedy the sober and +responsible side of his mind was weighing necessities. The first of +these, he knew, must be economies; for he anticipated that it might be a +considerable time before he could again be earning an income, and there +was always the little home down in Baltimore and its occupant to be +considered first, and his own pleasures must be relegated to a secondary +place. He was therefore rather heart-broken, but firm in his final +explanation that night as he parted from her in front of the Martha +Putnam Hotel.</p> + +<p>"That business session I had this afternoon,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> he said, trying to keep +his voice from betraying his trouble, "has unfortunately upset all my +plans. I can't have that little four days vacation I had been planning."</p> + +<p>"What? How horrid!" exclaimed the girl. "I—I thought we were to——"</p> + +<p>Her disappointment and distress were so manifest that Mr. James Gollop +had a first-class fight with himself to keep from blurting out the truth +there in the hotel rotunda and telling her that on the next morning he +was starting on what promised to be a long hunt for employment. But he +escaped such confession by saying that he had great hopes of returning +to New York within a few days. In fact he actually predicted that it +would be so. And after all, the only lie he told was embodied in that +word "Return."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + + +<p>Mr. James Gollop discovered in the course of the following three days +that although most business men enjoy a joke, their sense of humor is so +deficient that they don't care to combine jest and business. His +ill-fame had preceded him, and in addition thereto, it was the +off-season, and vacancies few.</p> + +<p>"We'd like to have you, Jim," said one sales manager, "but the trouble +is that we should want you to take up the territory where you are well +known, and that, of course, is impossible."</p> + +<p>Others told him to call later in the season. Others who would have given +him samples were firms of such small caliber that he could not see any +future, and several were willing to take him on commission sales only. +The only thing that helped him was that prodigious store of optimism +which impelled him after each rebuff to hope for a change just around +the corner.</p> + +<p>It was when he felt at rather low ebb that he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> passed, rather +disconsolately, the Flat Iron Building and remembered Martin. Having no +other place to go, he decided to call upon that shrewd gentleman and +gather from such a source of hard common sense fresh courage. He turned +in through the big swinging door that let a gust of winter into each +compartment as it whirled, trundled it around and belched it into the +great hallway, and somewhat absent-mindedly collided with a man who was +coming out.</p> + +<p>"Hello! She bumps!" said Jimmy good-naturedly and then—"Why—why it's +you, is it, Mr. Martin? I was just coming up to your offices to see if +by chance you happened to be in."</p> + +<p>There was no mistaking the heartiness of the hand grasp that caught his.</p> + +<p>"Well, we can go up now," said Martin, cheerfully. "In fact, I've been +thinking about you quite a lot. Been rather eager to see you again. +But—hold on!—the office is anything but a confidential resort. Suppose +you come with me to the Engineers' Club where we can have a nice quiet +talk."</p> + +<p>Jimmy, feeling as if he had at least one friend left in the world, +readily accepted, and thought it rather lucky that they were the only +men in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> the club lounge room; felt that the chairs were very +comfortable, and the atmosphere summery.</p> + +<p>"How are things with you?" asked Martin shrewdly eyeing him through the +first blue smoke screen of a cigar.</p> + +<p>"Oh, so-so," replied Jimmy, evasively.</p> + +<p>"Everything all right?"</p> + +<p>"In a way. In a way."</p> + +<p>"Chocolate business flourishing?"</p> + +<p>"It was—up to a week ago."</p> + +<p>"But now? How about now, Gollop?"</p> + +<p>For a moment Jim scarcely knew what to answer, and looking up from an +overly prolonged inspection of his cigar caught the humorous, quizzical +twinkle in the friendly, keen eyes of his host.</p> + +<p>"By jingoes!" he exclaimed, "you know something! You've heard the news. +You know I've been fired."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I do know it," answered Martin, with a grin. "I was—rather +curious to learn how you took it. Suppose you tell me all about it. I'm +your friend, you know. We've shared salt. I've been entertained in your +mother's home. Now cut loose."</p> + +<p>Jimmy laughed, sobered, shook his head and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> said, "You see, that's where +the worst of the trouble is unknown. I can't—well, I can't worry Maw. +She doesn't know it yet. I've been trying to get another job before I +broke the news to her and—well, I haven't succeeded! Those worth while +are afraid of me, or else have no opening. For the moment I'm the under +dog; but—I'm not whipped!"</p> + +<p>And then he told the whole story to Martin, who listened, asked an +occasional question, smiled as if at some secret thought, and finally +remarked, "Your story agrees with what I've heard. But that man Granger +must have been a vindictive brute to carry it so far. By the way, did +you say your firm gave you the letter he wrote? Let's see it."</p> + +<p>Jimmy took it from his pocketbook and gave it to the wise old man, who +stuck glasses on his nose awry, and at an angle well down toward the +point, and scanned the missive.</p> + +<p>"Humph! Sounds like that sort of man," he commented, as he handed it +back. "What do you think of it?"</p> + +<p>Jim considered the question for a time.</p> + +<p>"At first I was sore because he couldn't take a joke. Then I remembered +what kind of a man<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> he appeared to be when I met him, and decided that +it was just his way. Not a fault, you know, but something he couldn't +help. Men are not all alike. Personally I can't keep a grudge. Life's +too short for that. I never try to play, even, in a malicious way. If a +man really hurts me, I 'most always think of his side of it, and if I +decide I'm in the wrong, go to him and say so. If I think I'm in the +right,—just forget him. If he gets the best of me in business, I +congratulate him. That's part of the game. This chap Granger really +never did me much harm and I think maybe that I, without really +intending it, did him quite a lot. So I did the best I could to square +it."</p> + +<p>"How?" asked Martin with another one of those quizzical glances of his.</p> + +<p>"I wrote to all the newspapers I could get knowledge of out there, and +said that I was the guilty man; that I had played a fool joke under the +impulse of the moment and that the Judge was in no wise responsible for +anything at all that I said any more than he was for my actions."</p> + +<p>"Is that all?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I suppose that was the most of it."</p> + +<p>Mr. Martin laughed and shook his head, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> then said, in a kindly +voice, "No, that wasn't all you wrote. I read some of your +communications as they were printed. You not only apologized for your +practical joke, but you ended by the declaration that you regarded Judge +Granger as a man worthy of confidence, and asserted that if you were a +resident of his constituency you would vote for him. I call that pretty +forgiving."</p> + +<p>"But—you see I had done him an unmerited injury," said Jimmy, soberly. +"And so I did all I could to undo it. It was merely playing a white +man's game."</p> + +<p>"In spite of the fact that he had cost you your livelihood and done all +he could to hurt you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, that had nothing to do with it! I did him an injury, and—I did the +best I could to undo it."</p> + +<p>Martin sat and looked at him admiringly, for a time, and then asked, +"But what are you going to do now that all your trade is aware of your +predicament, and are afraid to employ you?"</p> + +<p>"I'll be hanged if I know!" Jimmy admitted, with an air of gravity. +"But—I'll keep on trying. You can bet on that! I'll find some way out +of it, even if I have to begin again in some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> other line. They all of +them have to admit that I'm honest—that's an asset that nobody can +dispute. We can't all be brilliant and honest at the same time. Some men +are brilliant but fail to gain confidence. Other men are honest but +can't be brilliant. I'm honest but haven't proved brilliant, or +unbrilliant, so I've got the best of the situation—up to date. Someone, +therefore, will give me a chance. So I'm not discouraged. Maybe it's +because I've got imagination. When things go dead wrong with me, I just +imagine that they're not so bad, after all. Cowards and pessimists are +the only ones to whom imagination is a curse. Why—even a crippled dog +has dreams of hunting in his sleep, and he wakes up with hope!"</p> + +<p>Jimmy's host seemed to ponder over this crude philosophy for a time as +if bemused by its possibilities, and then suddenly straightened himself +in his chair and leaned forward.</p> + +<p>"Do you remember what you said to me in the train one day as to a man's +having faith in whatever he sold? And you talked about an automobile +called the Sayers car? You do, eh? Well, here's something that may +interest you. The Sayers Automobile Company is going to re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>organize its +sales organization. It wants a man with imagination who will take hold +of that department. It seeks a man with ideas—none of the old, worn +out, hackneyed stuff, but—a man with original ideas that will prove +good. The Martin Company handles its advertising. Do you think—really +and honestly think—that you could reorganize its sales department and +bring to it additional success if I recommend you to the Sayers people?"</p> + +<p>"You bet your life I could!" asserted Jimmy. "I've thought about that +car a lot. And in the last few days when nobody seems to want me, I have +wondered if it wouldn't be a good move for me to get into the line of +motor cars."</p> + +<p>Martin seemed to ponder over the situation for a moment and then said, +with a sly grin, "Of course the first step for you to take would be to +go out to the Sayers works, meet Sayers and his superintendent, make a +study of the sales methods they have been employing, and then put before +them a full outline of what you propose. If they like it, they will +probably give you a chance to demonstrate what you can do. And if you do +get the place, and make good, I believe old Sayers is just the sort of +man who would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> appreciate your work and make it mighty well worth your +while to stay with him permanently. But I tell you this much, that he +believes in efficiency and will have no one around him who can't deliver +the goods. Now do you want to tackle it?"</p> + +<p>"I do! I do!" replied Jimmy with fervency, stopped, and then emitted a +groan and said, "But good Lord! The Sayers plant is out near Princetown, +and Princetown is the home of Judge Granger, and—they'd lynch me if I +showed up there—that is, unless I could get the infuriated populace to +make another mistake of identity and hang the Judge in the belief that +he was me!"</p> + +<p>"Um-mh! Granger lives in Princetown, eh? That's rather awkward, isn't +it? What do you propose?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy thought a moment and slapped his leg with an air of cheerfulness.</p> + +<p>"I've got it. I'll do as I did before—hide all of my face I can. I'll +wear big blue glasses, and grow a mustache and get my hair dyed black. +And if I can arrange it I'll go through Princetown like greased +lightning, and stop at the works while there."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p> + +<p>Martin chuckled with amusement and then said, "I think Sayers would send +a car to meet you at the train if we wrote him when you were coming, and +I have no doubt that you could find some place to stop out near the +works. Did you notice if there were any houses near the plant?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, lots of them. Neat little places, most of them. Sort of a model +city, I should say."</p> + +<p>"You are at least observant," commented Martin, and then promptly arose, +went to a writing desk and wrote for a time, whilst Jimmy's spirits +soared up and up until he was glad that he had been foisted out of the +chocolate trade.</p> + +<p>"Sayers knows I belong to this club," said Martin, returning to his +seat; "so will think nothing of my letter being written on club, rather +than business stationery. Besides I shall confirm these letters along +with other matters, when I return to the office. Now here is a letter to +old Tom Sayers, and another to Mr. Holmes, his general superintendent. +Letters of introduction—both—as you can see. I think they will suffice +to put you in right, and then it's up to you to formulate a general plan +for a selling organization that will suit Sayers. If you can't show<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> him +something to catch his approval, you'll have wasted your time. If you +can, it's almost certain that you'll be given a chance to show what you +can do. But—mind you!—he's been probing around on this matter for some +time, and has probably had all sorts of schemes suggested and proposed, +and you've got to show something that is better than anyone else has put +forward. In that way it's sort of competitive. And—see here!—if I were +you I'd not wait to grow a mustache and get my hair dyed and all that +rot; but waste no time at all in getting out there lest someone beats +you to the place."</p> + +<p>"Good!" said Jimmy, promptly. "You just wire them that I'm coming. I +remember the timetables. You tell them to send a car to meet me at a +train that arrives in Princetown at ten o'clock to-morrow morning! I'm +going to start west on the train that leaves the Pennsylvania station in +just thirty-five minutes from now."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that means an all-night ride and a breakneck connection, doesn't +it? There's no such rush as all that," expostulated Martin.</p> + +<p>"There's no such thing as too quick action when looking for a job," +declared Jimmy with all his accustomed energy. "Good-by, and thank<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> +you—ever so much. I'm off to try to make good! Good-by!"</p> + +<p>Martin looked at him approvingly as if this was the sort of hustling he +liked, and accompanied him out to the street. Jimmy bolted into the +traffic, dodged under horses' noses, disregarded the shouts of drivers +and traffic policemen, mounted a slowly moving taxi, shouted +instructions to the driver from the running board, and the last that +Martin saw of him was a hand waved through an open window.</p> + +<p>"Well," soliloquized Martin after this breathless chase, "if he moves +that fast when at work it would take a cyclone to catch him. It strikes +me that he's going to land that job, all right!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + + +<p>The train that ran up the branch line to Princetown was comfortably +filled when the man wearing blue glasses and with his coat collar pulled +up around his ears as if they were cold boarded it and found a vacant +seat in the smoker, into which he settled with a sigh of relief. He had +passed through a distressing hour when the main line train was delayed, +fearing every moment that he would miss his connection to Princetown and +thus make an unpropitious start in the estimation of Sayers. And a very +different traveler was this from the jovial Mr. Gollop who customarily +sought information on all points pertaining to the country through which +he passed, for now he was like the Irish section boss who sternly warned +his garrulous men with, "All we want is silence; and damned little of +that!" He was about to arise and discard his overcoat, when suddenly he +subsided with a gasp. Two men had entered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> the coach and taken the +unoccupied seat immediately in front of him and one of them was Judge J. +Woodworth-Granger.</p> + +<p>Jimmy looked for another place, but none was vacant. The train began to +move and the fact that other men came through in quest of a seat, found +none and stood up, convinced Jim of the futility of searching other +coaches. The car speedily filled with smoke and got hotter. No one +seemed to care for ventilation. Jim's overcoat gave him the pleasant +feeling of sitting in a sweat bath but he dared not doff it. The Judge's +voice, loud and slow, floated back to his ears, and his previous +discomfort was as nothing when he heard the Judge say, as if in response +to some comment of his traveling companion, "No, of course not! Gollop! +I'm so sick of hearing that man's name that I could wish it banned. His +apologies only made matters worse, because there are idiots in this +state who actually took that flagrant outrage as a joke! And you have +observed what capital the Democratic press are making of it? They +declare now that I'm vindictive because I got the scoundrel discharged! +As if a citizen had not the right to protect himself from the villainous +impositions of a coarse,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> low-browed ignoramus who turns everything into +a practical jest. And, what is more, if ever that man enters the state +jurisdiction I'll bring the law to bear and make an example of him that +will forever deter other miscreants from such enterprises. That man +Gollop has done me an incredible amount of damage!"</p> + +<p>Jimmy wriggled and twisted in his seat.</p> + +<p>"By jingoes!" he said to himself. "I'm like that old fellow at the town +meeting. I've just got to get out of this; because if that geezer ever +spots me, the only steady job I'll ever get in this state will be +breaking stone!" And so, to the relief of his seat companion, he seized +his bag, as if about to approach his destination, slid hurriedly out +into the aisle with an averted glance, and fled from the coach and back +through the train. Standing in an aisle for an hour was preferable to +the risks of having the angry Judge turn in his seat and recognize him. +A place on the blind baggage platform, enshrouded in cinders and fanned +by the frosty winds would have been comfortable compared with that seat. +He went, in a panic, through the entire train and did not stop until he +reached the rear platform and closed the door behind him. He breathed a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> +sigh of relief and for the first time that day felt cool. A brakeman +jerked the door open behind him and said, "Hey! You can't stand out +there! Against the rules! Can't you read that metal sign on the door +that says it's forbidden?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy turned and faced his tormentor.</p> + +<p>"Please—please let me stand here! I'm sick, man. I'm sick! Forget the +rules. Here, take this and buy a drink of lemonade when you get to +Princetown if you can't get a prescription for something better from the +doctor!" And he extricated a five dollar bill from his diminishing +bankroll and tendered it.</p> + +<p>"For that," said the brakeman with a grin, "I'd let you ride on the tin +roof!" and banged the door shut and stood guard with his back against +it.</p> + +<p>At intervals the local train stopped and emitted passengers, but Mr. +James Gollop clung to his platform as if having no frantic longing for a +seat. And at Princetown he patiently waited until the crowd thinned, and +with one eye glared through blue glasses forward to make certain of the +Judge's departure. He descended from his perch and looked anxiously +around to meet the inquiring stare of a man who was evi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>dently in +waiting, and toward him rushed as to a refuge.</p> + +<p>"Are you looking for anyone?" Jim asked, and added, "because if you're +from the Sayers works——"</p> + +<p>"Mister, I'm just doin' that same thing," the man replied. "I'd 'most +given you up. Thought you didn't ketch the train. Come on out this way. +I got her hitched to the end of the platform."</p> + +<p>Jimmy carried his bag and followed his guide, who stowed him into the +depths of a car, threw the switch of an electric starter, deftly let in +the clutch, and the smart little machine picked up and slid away. For +the first time for hours Jimmy breathed a great sigh of relief; but so +apprehensive of accidents was he that while they passed through the town +he shrank into his coat as a turtle shrinks modestly into its shell. He +was terrified lest the man have some cause to stop in front of a shop. +All he craved was the country, and a whole lot of it, with untenanted +roads.</p> + +<p>Out at the works he produced his letters as a passport. The big office +thrummed with typewriters and activity. From outside came the strident +sounds of industry and somehow they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> cheered and encouraged him. His +bouyant nature leapt to the call. He was eager to become part of it, and +to be identified with it. He forgot his tribulations and was Jimmy +Gollop again when led through an opened door into the presence of Mr. +Holmes, general superintendent. The man arose to meet him and thrust out +a firm hand.</p> + +<p>"So you are Mr. Gollop, eh? Name's familiar around these parts. Hope +you're not the chap that played the joke on old Granger, because if you +are—well—you'd better stay away from Princetown, is all I've got to +say!" And his laugh was so free and hearty that Jimmy acted on intuition +and whispered most ruefully, "By heck! I am! Help me out, can't you? +They'd——"</p> + +<p>"Tar and feather you!" laughed the superintendent. "But—are you really +the famous Mr. Gollop? Those spectacles——"</p> + +<p>Jimmy dared all and swept them off. The superintendent scrutinized him +closely and then exclaimed, "Well, upon my word, it's remarkable! You do +look like the Judge's twin. What on earth made you look like that old +stiff? You two must have come from the standardized face<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> factory. If I +looked like him, I'd be sad. But I hope to heavens you aren't like him. +I've as much use for him as I have for a three legged elephant with an +affectionate disposition who is looking for someone to lean on for +support. Well, now to business. I got a telegram explaining things. I'm +at your disposal. We need a live man to handle the sales and publicity +end of this concern if ever anyone did. That's the only part that the +old man has ever neglected."</p> + +<p>"I've got a letter to him also," said Jim, producing it.</p> + +<p>"I was told that," said the superintendent, reaching for his hat; "but +unfortunately Mr. Sayers is not here. Won't be back for a week or ten +days. Gone scouting to see what the rival concerns have got in the way +of improvements. They can't steal a march on him. He's absolutely the +keenest man in his line on earth! And—see here!—I'll give you a tip. +If you can make good with old Tom Sayers, you've no need to worry. He +runs this whole plant as if it were a family. Knows every man in it. +Calls most of the men by their first names. Gives bonuses and +encouragement to the right ones, and fires the dead wood. Doesn't care a +hang about anything<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> except making the Sayers car the best on earth +because he's proud of it. And—it is! I say so!"</p> + +<p>Jim liked that spirit. It promised well. And while he was disappointed +not to see Sayers, he was ready to plunge into work with enthusiasm, and +did.</p> + +<p>Two days later he said to the superintendent, in the privacy of the +office, "My conclusion is that your selling organization is a muck. It's +been neglected. It's no good. It runs itself without any real head. In +fact, you've no head to it at all except Wiggins, the old chap with +antiquated ideas, but who is a man I would advise keeping on. He knows +he can't handle it, and says he would like to work under someone with +new ideas."</p> + +<p>And then for a half hour he expanded while the superintendent listened, +asked questions, sometimes argued, and finally approved.</p> + +<p>"Of course," he said, finally, "your ideas are new. But they are +ingenious, and I think very promising. I shall back them up. I like +them. They sound hustling. I will recommend them to the old man for all +I'm worth, and I believe if you can make him see them, adopt them, and +carry them out, we can work together and make<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> things hum. Now here's a +bit of advice. Old Tom Sayers likes plain, practical statements that he +can weigh and consider. Put all your proposed plans into writing. Put +down hard, concrete facts in terse English. Make it as brief as +possible. Don't be afraid to criticise if you can suggest improvements. +Don't mince words. He loves simplicity and frankness. And if you do as I +say in that regard, and make plain to him the ideas you've made plain to +me—you'll get the job, and we'll make a success because I'll work with +you to make it succeed. I believe in the old man, and in what he makes, +and defy anyone to turn out a better car than we can."</p> + +<p>He thumped his fist on the arm of his chair as if challenging Jimmy or +the world at large, and Jimmy was highly encouraged. There was but one +great fear in his mind.</p> + +<p>"Do you think—do you think—that Granger affair is likely to prejudice +me in Mr. Sayers' estimation?" he asked, almost appealingly.</p> + +<p>The superintendent frowned thoughtfully for a moment and then said, "I +don't know. Honestly I don't! Mr. Sayers is a peculiar man. Nobody ever +quite knows what he thinks until he opens his mouth, and then it comes +out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> straight and plain. No frills. No evasions. If he likes a man, he +likes him. If he doesn't like him—that ends it. I don't have any idea +what he really thinks of Granger. The Judge visits the old man's house +when Mrs. Sayers and the daughter are there, but Mrs. Sayers is not the +old man—by a long shot! She's a social climber. The old man doesn't +give a hang about society, or pink teas. He makes automobiles and +believes in efficiency. Granger's not the old man's sort at all. Too +stuck up. If I were you, I'd wait until the old man finds out that +you're the man who played the joke, and when he asks you about the +inside of it, tell him the truth just the same as you did me. If you can +show him, before then, that you are the man to market the Sayers car, +it's my opinion that the Judge, and his likes, or dislikes, will amount +to about as much as a tallow candle at an arc-light party. Anyhow, I +wish you luck, and I'll boost for you because I think you deserve it!"</p> + +<p>Holmes studied for a moment and said, "By the way, if you could dictate +your plan for the new sales organization, I could lend you a bright<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> +stenographer who is chain lightning at—well, what is it?"</p> + +<p>He stopped and swung around in his swivel chair as a girl from the outer +office entered with a card which she handed him.</p> + +<p>"That's the name he gave, sir. He said he must see you at once, because +he's the deputy sheriff."</p> + +<p>Jimmy's heart lost a beat. The superintendent grinned, pursed his lips +as if to whistle, and then he said, "Tell him I'm busy but will be at +leisure in less than five minutes. Tell him to wait outside. Five +minutes, remember!"</p> + +<p>The girl went out and the door had barely closed behind her when Holmes +muttered to Jimmy, "Here! Come here, quickly. Into this wash room with +you, and lock the door on the inside. Keyhole it if you wish, because +this sounds mighty funny to me."</p> + +<p>And a minute later when the deputy sheriff was invited to enter he found +the superintendent alone, and the listening Jimmy heard, "What can I do +for you?"</p> + +<p>"The office has been told that there's a chap named Gollop around the +works here—chap<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> who looks like Judge Granger. You know what he's +wanted for. Got a warrant for his arrest"</p> + +<p>"All I know is that he ought to be arrested if he looks like the Judge," +growled Holmes, and then, "No, can't say that there's any such a man +here. You might look through the works. But—who told you there was such +a man here?"</p> + +<p>"We got the tip from your man Wiggins."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Wiggins, eh? Wait a minute."</p> + +<p>Jim heard a buzzer and then the voice of a clerk, "Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"Send Wiggins in to me immediately," ordered the superintendent. There +was an interval of silence and then further conversation.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Wiggins. Have you seen that man Gollop around lately? If so where +is he now?"</p> + +<p>"Why—why—I thought he was—thought he came this way, sir," stammered +Wiggins with an embarassment that was palpable to the listening Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"You thought? Mr. Wiggins, I'm afraid that some day thinking too much +will be the death of you! What time does Mr. Gollop show up in the +morning?"</p> + +<p>"He's usually here when I come, sir," replied the perturbed and +conscience-stricken Wiggins.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, to-morrow morning when he comes send him in to me, but—Wiggins! +Don't say a word what I want him for. You can go now."</p> + +<p>A door banged, and Jimmy heard the superintendent's voice assume a +highly confidential tone.</p> + +<p>"That makes it easy, if he's the man you're after. I doubt that, +however. This chap is near-sighted and wears blue glasses. But here's +what I'll do. When Mr. Gollop comes to-morrow I'll keep him here in my +office and will telephone you, then you can come out at once and see if +he's the culprit. Will that do?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly the very best way to do it," said the deputy sheriff, and +then Jimmy heard him depart with apologies and thanks for a cigar that +Holmes had evidently given him.</p> + +<p>Immediately afterward the door opened and the superintendent growled, +"Now you see how evil companionship contaminates a man! You've got me +into this infernal mixup of yours; but—hang it all!—I can't see a good +man get the worst of it on account of that egotistical, swell-headed +Granger. And—besides, I've had a letter from the old man himself +telling me confidentially that the Martin people recommend you very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> +highly and suggesting that in case you get into trouble through the +Judge I'm to look out for you to the limit. The limit with old Tom +Sayers has never yet been found. So I've got to make good. Besides all +that, there's another reason that's entirely my own, which is that I +think this shebang needs your services, and I work first, last and all +the time for the best interests of the Sayers Automobile Company. So I'm +not going to let a tin rooster like Granger interfere with our business +in any way if I can help it. Where's your luggage?"</p> + +<p>"Over in Mrs. Clancey's house—the place where you recommended me to +stop while here."</p> + +<p>The superintendent stepped to the door leading out into the office and +beckoned to a confidential clerk, who promptly came into the office.</p> + +<p>"Smith, go over to Mrs. Clancey's and pack Mr. Gollop's suit case and +bring it here as soon as you can. Tell her Mr. Gollop has gone—called +away hurriedly; just in time to catch a train; no time to pack. And—see +here, Smith—you're to forget it all the very minute after the job is +done! Understand?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Very well, sir," said Smith, with a grin, and disappeared.</p> + +<p>Before the door had closed Holmes was at the plant telephone, and Jimmy +was compelled to admire the way in which he avoided all waste of time.</p> + +<p>"Garage?" questioned the superintendent. "Good! Tell Hawkins to get out +that new roadster we fixed up for Mr. Sayers, see that she's all ready +for a run, and bring her around to the office door for me."</p> + +<p>As he hung up the receiver the whistle blew and outside could be heard +the droning diminuendo of machinery brought to a stop, denoting that +another day's work was done, and this was followed by the thrumming of +feet and the murmur of voices as the workmen departed. The +superintendent got up and pulled down the window shade.</p> + +<p>"Just as well to make certain that no one sees you sitting in here," he +said, as he again reached for the 'phone, called up his home and said +that he would not be home until late that night because he was detained +on business, and then proceeded in a deliberate and methodical way to +clear up his desk.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was just twenty minutes later when the two men walked out of the +office and to the waiting roadster. The big plant looked idle and +deserted. The superintendent gave some words of caution to the man +Hawkins, took his seat, told Jim to climb in, and the machine moved +slowly forward, picked up speed as if glad to be off on a journey, and +began singing its steady, rhythmic song of the road.</p> + +<p>"I've got twenty-eight miles to run to get you across the state line," +said the superintendent, settling into his seat and handling the wheel +like a veteran driver. "In summer I could do it in just twenty-eight +minutes with this car, but it'll take a little longer now. Once across +the line you can twiddle your thumb up against your nose at anything +Granger can do, and go back to New York, or any other place you choose, +to make out your written report for the old man. Either give it to the +Martin people, or forward it to the works in my care, because I can't +give you the old man's address. He jumps here and there like a kangaroo +when he goes on one of his scouting trips. We never know where he is. +Some car, this, eh?"</p> + +<p>Jim's teeth rattled as he shouted his agree<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>ment; but, notwithstanding +his desire to get out of the state, he would have preferred to take a +little more time for the journey. The frost-laden wind threatened to +tear him to pieces; behind the goggles with which he had been provided +his eyes streamed rivulets of tears, and he wondered how many +somersaults the car would turn if it happened to hit any solid obstacle. +The coolness of Holmes, who appeared to be lolling back in his seat with +an air of calm indifference to wind, weather, and speed, exasperated +him, but he dared not show the white feather and beg for mercy, so shut +his teeth, clenched his hands and tried to keep from holding his breath.</p> + +<p>Their pace did not slacken in the least when they came to two white +posts and he heard the superintendent's shout, "Across, all right! Two +miles more to town and I think we'll get to the railway station in time +for you to catch the eastbound flyer. Looked up the time-table in the +office before we started. Take chances on speed laws——" and then +fragmentary words of comment not always audible.</p> + +<p>They whizzed through the outskirts of a town, skidded a corner, saw a +railway station from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> behind which a plume of smoke and steam was +ascending, and came to an abrupt halt by a platform. Jim had no time to +purchase a ticket but made a flying leap with his suitcase and caught +the train after it was in motion. He looked back and waved his hand at +the superintendent, who was already turning the roadster for its home +journey, and it seemed to Mr. James Gollop that this was the first time +in several hours when he had been able to take a full, comforting, and +free breath.</p> + +<p>"If that sort of riding is part of the regular automobile business," he +said to himself as he fell into the nearest seat, "you're foredoomed to +be a failure, Jimmy, my boy! You ought to practice on something slow, +like a comet or a cyclone!"</p> + +<p>His equanimity restored he went to the Pullman conductor and applied for +a berth.</p> + +<p>"Got just one left—an upper—number seventeen. Here, boy, go and bring +the gentleman's baggage to seventeen in this car."</p> + +<p>"Everything is coming my way! My luck has turned!" quoth Jimmy, relieved +by the knowledge that he would not be compelled to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> ride all night in a +day coach. "She's a joyous world, after all!"</p> + +<p>So happy was he in his optimism that when installed in his Pullman seat +he gave the porter a bright, new dollar, and began to think forward to +the delights of the dining car. The man who had the lower berth in the +section seemed one of those individuals who prefer to keep aloof from +others; for, absorbed in a newspaper that he held high above his face to +catch the light from behind, he had never even so much as glanced at his +prospective section companion. As if he had finished reading something +of especial interest he now for the first time lowered it and suddenly +sat erect and exclaimed, "Well, I'll be confounded!"</p> + +<p>And Jimmy, startled, recognized Judge Granger and retorted, "You +confounded well might be! Toss you to see who jumps off this train—you +or I."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + + +<p>"This," growled the Judge, glaring at Jimmy, "is an outrage!"</p> + +<p>"Agreed!" retorted Jimmy, at first sufficiently annoyed to have wished +that he and the Judge were in some situation where they might punch each +other's heads, and then, reverting to his habitual good humor, smiling +and finally emitting a chuckle. "You do seem to get in my way a lot. +Honestly, you've no idea what an annoyance you are to me."</p> + +<p>"Annoyance to you? That's good!" growled the Judge. "I annoy you!"</p> + +<p>"You do! You do!" retorted Jimmy. "I suppose you've caused me more +trouble one time and another than any other man I ever met. Isn't it +about time we buried the hatchet and forgot all about that joke of mine +up at Yimville? I've apologized in every way I could think of."</p> + +<p>As if the reference to Yimville had proved<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> unfortunate, the Judge's +face flushed with anger and he bent forward and shook a threatening +finger at Jimmy and declared, "I never make terms with a malefactor. If +you had an idea that I am the type of man to use as the butt for a +silly, asinine jest, I'll teach you to think differently. Mark that and +remember it!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, come now!" Jimmy protested. "That's no way to look at things. It's +unbecoming of a man of your importance to cherish animosity for an +insignificant chap like I am. If we can't be friends, you might at least +be big enough to leave me alone."</p> + +<p>The Judge snorted with contempt.</p> + +<p>"How far are you going?" he finally growled, after a prolonged +inspection of the imperturbable Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"Baltimore. Why? Like to get off where I do so you can keep with better +company than yourself? You can get off there if you wish. I don't own +the town."</p> + +<p>This seemed the final straw to the camel's burden; for the Judge +suddenly popped up in his seat, called to the Pullman conductor who +happened to be standing at a little distance down the aisle, and when +the latter approached asked,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> "Isn't there any possible way of +exchanging my berth for another?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, do help him out, Conductor," implored Jimmy with marked +solicitude. "He doesn't like me a bit."</p> + +<p>The Pullman potentate stared at the two men incredulously, now that he +noted their physical similarity, and, accepting it as a banter, +remarked, "Can't see why twin brothers should disagree."</p> + +<p>"I'll not brook any of your impudence," thundered the Judge in such +unmistakable anger that the conductor speedily became apologetic, and +consulted his book.</p> + +<p>"Beg pardon, sir," he said; "a stateroom reservation ordered for +Harmonsville has been canceled. You are going through to Washington, +aren't you? Well, you can have that on payment of the extra fare."</p> + +<p>"Let him have it. I'll pay the difference if he's at all short," Jimmy +urged, hopefully. "It's very kind of you, Conductor, because he's not +feeling at all well. What he needs is a long rest."</p> + +<p>"What you need is a jail," growled the Judge,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> and ordered his luggage +removed to the vacant stateroom.</p> + +<p>"See that the windows are closed, Conductor," said Jimmy. "He catches +cold so easily. Frightfully delicate and sensitive. Been that way since +he was but a dear little child. Do take care of him, won't you?"</p> + +<p>But the Judge, purple with anger, stalked majestically away from his +tormentor without arriving at any adequate reply, and Jimmy was left +alone. In the gray, cold dawn of four o'clock the next morning, as Jim +followed the porter out, he paused behind just long enough to rap loudly +on the Judge's stateroom door and to explain, "Baltimore. I'm leaving +you now. Pleasant journey!"</p> + +<p>But presumably from the Judge's remarks, this little parting courtesy +was not appreciated, although it afforded the cheerful Jimmy some +amusement as he made his way out of the station. Indeed, considering +that inhospitable hour of the morning, he was made fairly happy by what +the Judge said. Furthermore, to palliate the dreariness of the winter +morning, was the thought that now he could break the news of his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> +discharge to his mother because he could couple it with a hopeful +prospect.</p> + +<p>For two whole days, and considerable portions of the nights, Jimmy +plunged headlong into his proposed organization of a sales and publicity +department for the Sayers Company, and his lively imagination stimulated +itself as his enthusiasm grew. Expert salesman that he was, and +untrammeled by traditions of the motor car trade, his originality found +full vent, and, all unaware of it, he proposed plans that would have +been seized upon by any progressive and daring firm in the automobile +industry. In fact "he builded better than he knew"; but, after his +manuscript had been duly typed and mailed, he suffered anxious hours +thinking of how this or that part of his scheme might have been +improved, and went through all that mental agony with which every +composer reviews his completed work when too late for alteration. At the +end of the second day's wait he became fearful, and at the end of the +third day was beginning to lose hope. On the fourth day he said, +somberly, "Well, Maw, I reckon it was a flivver! I've got to get back to +New York to-morrow and look for a job in my own line."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span></p> + +<p>His optimism was being sorely tried; but his courage was still +unweakened. It was while he was packing his suit case on the following +morning that a telegram came.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Meet me at Engineers' Club at noon to-morrow, Martin." </p></div> + +<p>Even the message offered small consolation or encouragement; but it was +his way to hope for the best, so he whistled bravely as he left his +home. He put in all his spare time, after arrival in New York, in +visiting automobile agencies and studying as far as possible their +selling methods, and he absorbed information as a dry sponge thrown into +a whirlpool absorbs water. He made notes in his memorandum book after +each visit and soliloquized, "If nothing comes of the Sayers thing, I'll +have learned a whole lot more than I ever knew about this car business, +and some day it might prove worth while. I can at least walk up to a +motor car now and look it in the face and shake its hand as if we were +old acquaintances; I used to take off my hat to a taxicab, but now I +regard 'em as errand boys<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> running here and there through the streets. +This car line is a mighty big game, after all."</p> + +<p>And it was with this feeling that he entered the Engineers' Club and was +met in the hallway by Martin, who had just arrived.</p> + +<p>"On time, I see—I like that," was the elder man's greeting. "Now, first +of all, we shall have lunch, because I'm hungry. I never talk business +during meals. I believe in relaxation."</p> + +<p>"But—but—what's the use in eating when there's anything more important +to do?" asked Jimmy, eager to hear Martin's verdict.</p> + +<p>"Nothing is as important as eating when one is hungry," was his host's +remark, and Jimmy had to be content. "Hope you had a nice trip out to +Princetown?" was Martin's next remark, and Jimmy gave him a highly +humorous account of what that nice trip was like, much to Martin's +amusement.</p> + +<p>"This—this Granger person does seem to bear you a grudge," he +commented. "Have you made any attempt to calm him down by rubbing his +ears, or stroking his fur the right way?"</p> + +<p>And then Jimmy became serious and said, "Yes, I did try to get him to +bury the hatchet when I met him on the train," and detailed that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> +unhappy conversation. "You see," he added, boyishly, "I didn't care much +what he thought of me; but I thought it was my duty to get the whole +affair wiped off the slate if Mr. Sayers decided to give me a chance. It +wouldn't be fair to Mr. Sayers to have a man of the Judge's influence +angry with one of the company's employees. If I get that place, I've got +to fill it well. I've just naturally got to do it!"</p> + +<p>"Um-m-mh! Do you intend to tell Sayers all about it?"</p> + +<p>"Of course I do."</p> + +<p>"But—but suppose, after he heard the story, he declined to employ you?"</p> + +<p>"I can't help that," said Jimmy ruefully. "It wouldn't be fair and +honest to take the place unless he knew all about my reputation out +there."</p> + +<p>"Is it your habit to confide all your mistakes to your employer?" his +host asked, as if surprised.</p> + +<p>"Of course," asserted Jimmy. "When I work for a man, I'm his and whether +he likes it or not he's more or less responsible for what I do. And, +what's more, I feel responsible for him. If anything fails in the goods +I sell, I'm as hurt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> over it as if I had made 'em. I worked for one man +I didn't like, and he didn't like me; but we got along for the sole +reason that we both believed in his line of stuff because it was honest. +It was the only thing we ever did agree on. And I suppose I'd have been +with him yet if he hadn't sold out to a company that began to make +inferior stuff to add to the profits."</p> + +<p>After luncheon they found a secluded corner and Martin said, "Well, +young man, now we shall get down to brass tacks. I read that report you +made and I can think of a few objections you might have to meet before +you can get the position, and there are some other points that might +come up and require explanation."</p> + +<p>And then, with shrewdness, he began his discussion of Jimmy's plan, and +no expert investigator could have made a more exhaustive examination +than he did. Jimmy's wits were sharpened by this catechism, and his +ideas improved and grew apace. He even admitted that he had studied the +sales methods of other firms and apparently gained the elder man's +approval for his activity and judgment.</p> + +<p>The afternoon daylight had waned before they realized the passage of +time, and Martin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> consulted his watch and said, "So far we seemed to +have threshed this matter out pretty thoroughly; but there's one very +important detail you've neglected, and that is to state what you expect +in the way of salary."</p> + +<p>"By jingoes!" exclaimed Jimmy, straightening in his seat. "I forgot all +about that. Do you know, I got so interested in working out this project +that I never so much as gave the pay part of it a thought?"</p> + +<p>Martin laughed as if delighted by such an absurdity.</p> + +<p>"Well," he remarked, "if that's the way you handle your private affairs +it doesn't look promising for whoever employs you. No, I'll retract +that, and on second thought reverse that judgment. I'll say that if you +invariably put your employer's interests before your own your sole +chance to succeed is to become a member of any firm you work for. I +suggest that you put that up to—Sayers."</p> + +<p>"Don't quite get you," said Jimmy, as if puzzled. "You aren't having fun +with me, are you?"</p> + +<p>"I am not," asserted the shrewd old business man. "I'm in earnest."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But mightn't Mr. Sayers think I had an awful nerve? Perhaps he'd not +give me a chance at all and—I want that job because I'd like to prove +that there's a little more to me than a comic supplement. I need money, +but about the biggest reward a man can get is the absolute conviction +that he made good."</p> + +<p>Martin studied Jim's face with a look of warm approbation, but Jimmy, +entirely unaware of the scrutiny, stared into the fireplace with eyes +that seemed glowing with big dreams.</p> + +<p>"If I thought Mr. Sayers wouldn't think me a fool," he said, almost as +if to himself, "I'd like to have him give me a chance with these schemes +of mine on this basis: That I'd go to work for him for my bare living +expenses—I'd work for just half the salary I got from the Columbus +people—and that he would give me a percentage and all the increase of +sales. And—I'd like to take that payment in stock in the business, so +that if I did make a big success of it, I'd feel thereafter, year by +year, that I was hustling for myself as well as the Sayers Company."</p> + +<p>"You know that it's not an ordinary corporation, don't you?" Martin +asked. "No? Well it's the closest corporation I know. Sayers owns<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> +seventy-five per cent of it. His daughter is the next largest +stockholder, and his superintendent has practically all the remainder +which, by the way, was given him as a bonus for efficient work."</p> + +<p>"Phew!" exclaimed Jimmy. "I didn't know Mr. Holmes was a stockholder, or +I'd have been more circumspect. Good Lord! I criticised the selling +organization and roasted it from top to bottom, and even told him one or +two things I thought might improve his plant. Just my luck! I'll never +get sense enough to keep my mouth shut about things over which I +enthuse."</p> + +<p>"There's where you are wrong. The superintendent has given you the +biggest boost I ever knew one man to give another. He says you are the +livest wire he ever met and that the plant must have you at any price; +says that he never met a man in his life whose head was so filled with +new and original ideas and that half the time you had him dazed with +trying to keep up with you. So, you see, it paid you to be frank and +outspoken with him at least, and—Sayers thinks a lot of what that +superintendent says! I can tell you that."</p> + +<p>He stopped, relighted his half-burned cigar,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> appeared to consider for a +time while Jimmy, waiting his friendly advice, watched him eagerly, and +then said, "Well, Gollop, I'll tell you something more. I've been +authorized to go fully into this thing with you, and to decide it. The +job is yours, on the terms you propose, save for this. You shall draw +exactly the same salary that the Columbus Company paid you. You shall +have a full year in which to prove that your management of your +department is good, or a failure. If you succeed, you're made for life. +If you fail you can expect nothing at all in the way of leniency from +old Tom Sayers, because he's as hard hearted an old wretch as ever began +at the very bottom and worked himself to wherever he now is by hard +knocks and worshiping efficiency."</p> + +<p>Jimmy suddenly gasped, and then impulsively reached forward and clutched +the elder man's hand in both his own.</p> + +<p>"I'm not going to fail," he said, simply, "because that would be a slam +on your judgment and—you've been mighty kind to me, Mr. Martin and—I +can't throw down a friend. If for no other reason on earth I'll make +good or bust myself trying, just because you got me the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> chance. I mean +it! I do! And——" He hesitated and then added, almost timidly—"I'm so +desperately eager to make a big success of this that—would you mind, if +I get worried, or doubtful—like a chap does sometimes if—if I came to +you for advice? You're so deucedly sane and wise, and the only thing I +seem to lack is plain horse sense!"</p> + +<p>He was so ingenuous, so frankly in earnest, so open in his gratitude and +admiration, that Martin, square-jawed, taciturn, and repressed, turned +away to hide the sudden flash of liking that warmed his eyes.</p> + +<p>"I'll take it as a favor if you'll ask my advice," he replied. "In fact, +I'll probably give you a darned sight more advice than you'll either +like or follow. Well, what are you going to do now?"</p> + +<p>"Send a wire to my mother," said Jimmy, "You see, Maw's worried, +and—it'll make her so happy that I can't put that off for another +minute. Do you mind if I tell her that I got the job through your +kindness?"</p> + +<p>"If you wish," said Martin, with a smile. "You can step to the desk over +there and find a form, and I'll have it sent from here."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p> + +<p>Jimmy rushed to the desk and returned in a few minutes, with a jubilant +face. Martin took the message outside to have it sent and was compelled +to read it to settle a question of the count of words and read this +eulogium:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Martin finest man on earth. Never knew any so good and kind. Got +Sayers job for me on better terms than I could dare ask for. +Glorious chance. Martin will help me make good. Marvelous fund +common sense. Can't fail when he so kind and friendly. Writing long +letter. Love. God bless you. Jimmy." </p></div> + +<p>"Lack of gratitude certainly isn't one of his failings," thought Martin; +but somehow his face appeared neither harsh nor cynical, from which it +might be surmised that he was not at all displeased. He sauntered back, +rejoined his guest, and then said. "When do you propose to begin work?"</p> + +<p>"I've already begun," said Jimmy, looking up at him. "Been thinking +about it since you left. But—I can't see just how I'm to do it until I +can meet Mr. Sayers and tell him all about Judge Granger. I think I +should go back to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> Princetown first of all and get full knowledge from +the superintendent of our technical advantages over all other cars. And +if I go back there Granger will have me pinched! Isn't it rotten luck? +What a chump I was! That man hates me because we look alike. It's not my +fault at all. I didn't make his lookings. If I had, I'd have tried to +make a better job of it. It seems to me that either he or I will have to +change his face. He ought to wear whiskers. A Judge without whiskers +isn't any good, anyhow, I reckon. So here I am with the biggest chance +of my life, and it's all mucked up because I can't get that chap to +forget that I helped him out with a single speech I made for him up at +Yimville. Why, if he had sense enough to appreciate it, I gave him more +free advertising than he ever had before in all his life! That apology +of mine should have made more votes for him than he'd ever have grabbed +through his own eloquence. I wouldn't harm him for anything and yet he +hates me. I tried to make it up when I met him. I went the limit. But he +was so sore he wouldn't even think of sleeping in the same section with +me, although I had the upper berth and never snore nor talk in my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> +sleep! He's a big man and I'm a slob; but all of that doesn't seem to +count with him. He can't forgive me because we look alike. If I were in +his place I'd feel sorry for the other chap. I'd hold conference with +him about our mutual predicament. I'd send him clippings from +interesting folks who make things for noses and tell how to grow +eyebrows and how to flatten ears and make wide grins into sweet, +diminutive smiles. I'd put him next to people who change gray eyes into +brown ones, and purple eyes into greens. What on earth am I to do to get +a passport into his state from J. Woodworth-Granger so I can keep my +job?"</p> + +<p>He spoke almost tearfully, as if contemplating an unsurmountable +obstacle, but Martin appeared unimpressed by his woe. Indeed, he +chuckled as if amused.</p> + +<p>"It might take time," he said, "to persuade the judge; but—suppose you +leave it to me. I have an idea that I can do it within a week or ten +days, or at least gain an armistice. And you needn't worry about Sayers. +I'll tell him how the matter stands. You can put in your time for a week +or two scouting around car agencies here in New York, and in the +meantime, can consider your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>self employed. Meet me here to-morrow at +three o'clock."</p> + +<p>Jimmy experienced several paradoxes in his surroundings when he stepped +briskly out of the skyscraper wherein he had been entertained. It was +nearly five o'clock in a dark afternoon, but the universe seemed filled +with sunshine; heavy flakes were falling softly, but they appeared rose +petals; men and women wore overcoats but the air was benignantly soft +and warm; each sputtering arc light had a rainbow or a beautiful halo; +street cars clanged, taxis honk-honked, the wheels of trucks screeched +and ground across paving blocks and metal rails; but the whole blended +into a strange triumphal march as if performed by some immense band of +music. Mr. James Gollop had to fight an impulse to sing, dance, shout +and altogether conduct himself with the improprieties that are +chronicled against one King David, who played on timbrels and recklessly +jazzed himself out of his job. Unlike King David, he came to his senses +in time to commune with himself and to admonish himself.</p> + +<p>"Steady, Jimmy! Steady! Whoa there! Back up! Ca'm yourself! Ca'm +yourself. You've<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> got the job, but there's a lot of work to be done +before you become part owner of the finest car on earth, the peerless +wonder of the transportation world, the winged victory of the roads. +Don't let your head swell, James. Better keep it solid bone than have it +turn into a toy balloon; because the latter can be pricked with a bare +bodkin."</p> + +<p>But nevertheless his happiness was so great, his hopes so high, his +dreams so insurgent, that he longed, most fervently, to share his glad +news with someone. As he said to himself, "If I can't tell someone +pretty soon, I'll just naturally blow up! That's all there is to that!"</p> + +<p>And evidently the "someone" he wished to make his confidant was pretty +well known in the back of his head, for he suddenly hurried out to the +nearest corner and boarded a car that would take him into old New York.</p> + +<p>As the car came under the big electric sign reading "Gonfaroni's" it +shone up there in the heavens like a lighthouse to a homecoming mariner, +and he blithely stepped off and hastened down the side street to the +entrance of MacDougall Alley. It was dark, chill and deserted. Lights +shone through the cracks of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> one window at the far end, but the studio +which was his Mecca was rayless.</p> + +<p>Jimmy stood for a long time in front of it, staring up at its darkened +windows, and derided himself for his pangs of disappointment.</p> + +<p>"This can't go on any longer," he told himself, savagely. "To-morrow +I've just got to know Mary Allen's real name. I'm a big enough man +now—prospectively at least—to dare to walk into that Martha Putnam +hotel, glare at the ogress who guards the pearly gates, and tell her to +send my card up to Miss So-and-so and to step lively. Here I am, just +bubbling over with glad news like a tin tea kettle on a red hot stove +spouting steam, and I can't go uptown to that hotel and send up my card +because I've never had the courage to ask her real name. I've been a +coward all along, but now it's got to stop."</p> + +<p>Nevertheless he did return to the uptown precincts and for a long time +stood guard in front of the distinguished woman's caravanserai, hoping +against all common sense that Mary Allen might appear. He remembered +reading an article in a Sunday newspaper on telepathy, and stood across +the street frowning at the Martha Putnam and concentrating his mind on +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> object of his adoration, and beseeching her to come to the +elevator, and thence down into the cold street in response to his great +desire. But somehow the telepathy stuff didn't work at all according to +propaganda. He shut his eyes and tried more earnestly until aroused by a +voice. "Hey! You can't sleep in that doorway. Move on! Wiggle your +stumps!"</p> + +<p>A fat policeman stood regarding him. Jimmy was discouraged, for he knew +that any policeman, anywhere, is an unfeeling wretch, who, if he met the +great god Cupid on the street, would promptly arrest that light of the +world for indecent exposure and perhaps carry him to the nearest station +by the tips of his golden wings as if he were but a vagrant chicken +destined for the sergeant's pot.</p> + +<p>"Come! Fade away!" the enemy ordered, belligerently.</p> + +<p>And Mr. James Gollop, crestfallen, faded.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + + +<p>At exactly three-thirty o'clock on the following day in the Engineers' +Club the taciturn Mr. Martin, after some further questioning, took from +his pocket a contract and duplicate that assured Mr. James Gollop +employment.</p> + +<p>"I've been in a peculiar situation in this affair," said Martin. "I've +had to fight against some personal likings and inclinations, and stand +as a mediator; for I must look after the best interests of the Sayers +Automobile Company as well as the interests of Jim Gollop. However, here +you are. Sign these."</p> + +<p>Jimmy signed the contracts with as glad a hand as if he had been +affixing his signature to some document of inheritance that would bring +him a million. He put his own copy in his pocket with as much care as if +it were precious beyond computation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Now," he said, "when do I meet Mr. Sayers?"</p> + +<p>"Sayers," said Martin, as he put the original contract into his pocket, +"is going somewhere West to-day. You'll see him soon enough. His +instructions are that you are to go immediately to San Augustine, +Florida, to see what is being done by rival concerns down there at the +beach races. I suppose he expects you to pick up points and information. +Keep track of your expense account. Learn all you can. Then report at +Princetown."</p> + +<p>"But—about Granger! Am I to——"</p> + +<p>"You'll be away at least two weeks," said Martin. "Many things can +happen in that time. If I were you, I'd forget that the Judge is on +earth. I'll—I'll tell Sayers about this matter," said his benefactor, +with the first sign of hesitancy that Jim had ever seen him display. +"And in the meantime, I'll do all I can to get that Judge to show some +sense. You can be certain of that. Well, may good luck go with you!"</p> + +<p>At exactly seven-thirty that evening Mr. James Gollop reluctantly +departed from the street in front of the Martha Putnam hotel,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> where he +had taken up sentry go after convincing himself that MacDougall Alley +was dark.</p> + +<p>"Got to catch my train to San Augustine," he warned himself. "Can't put +it off a minute longer because the meeting is on there day after +to-morrow, and it won't wait until I can tell Mary Allen all about it! +But if I don't straighten this matter out so that hereafter I can at +least write her, or send her a wire, I'm no organizer at all and my +chance with the Sayers Company isn't worth a tinker's curse."</p> + +<p>As if he were forever scraping under the wire just before the barrier +fell, Jimmy got the last vacant berth in the sleeper and, recovering +from his Martha Putnam disappointment, whistled blithely as a porter +carried his suitcase to the Pullman steps. He stood outside to enjoy the +last of his cigar and was mildly interested in the final rush of +passengers when a porter came rapidly wheeling an invalid's chair in +which sat a man bodily broken and hideously scarred. The porter halted +the chair and the man asked, anxiously, if it were possible to secure a +berth.</p> + +<p>"Sorry, sir," said the Pullman conductor, "but we're full up. You should +have engaged one earlier for this train. It's always crowded now."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I didn't know until half an hour ago that I could come," said the man +in the wheel chair with such evident disappointment that Jimmy's +sympathy was enlisted. "Isn't there some place you can put me? +It's—it's like a day out of my life if I miss this train to San +Augustine!"</p> + +<p>That was more than Jimmy could endure.</p> + +<p>"Give this man my berth," said Jimmy to the conductor. "No. 12 in this +car. I can stick it through the night in the smoker. I've done it heaps +of times!"</p> + +<p>And with that he brushed the porter aside, bent forward, lifted the +wreck from the chair and with his sturdy strength carried him up the +steps and to the relinquished section.</p> + +<p>"There," he said cheerfully, as the porter came bearing the cushions +with which to make the invalid comfortable. "Now you'll be right as a +top."</p> + +<p>The train took on motion and Jimmy was starting to carry his suitcase +forward when the Pullman conductor, proving that kindliness commands +kindliness, came hurrying forward and said, "Here! Let the porter find a +seat for you. It's pretty crowded out there now. Or, if the gentleman +has no objections, you might<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> sit here with him until it's time to make +the berths down. The day coaches and smokers usually get thinned out a +little by ten o'clock at night."</p> + +<p>And thus it was that Jimmy made a new friend.</p> + +<p>"You see," explained the man he had befriended, "this race meeting down +there means a lot to a chap smashed up as I am. It's about the only +thrill I ever get since—since—I had to live in a chair. My name is +Carver. Dan Carver. What's yours?"</p> + +<p>"Jim Gollop," said Jimmy, puzzling his excellent memory to recall why it +was that the name Dan Carver suggested something, and then, after an +interval, blurting, "Carver? Are you the man who used to be a famous +race driver two or three years ago? The man who wrecked himself in the +Vanderbilt Cup races rather than take a chance on throwing his machine +into the crowd at a turn?"</p> + +<p>"The same—what's left of him," Carver admitted.</p> + +<p>"Then," said Jimmy, "I wish I could have given you a whole Pullman +instead of just one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> berth! By gosh! You deserve it. The firm you drove +for ought to have seen to that."</p> + +<p>"Firms forget, when a man is no longer of use," said Carver with a shake +of his head.</p> + +<p>"Some of 'em do. Mine isn't that sort. But, you see, my firm is head and +shoulders above the others—in some ways. The Sayers Automobile Company +isn't one of these big, swollen concerns. Old Tom Sayers looks after his +people."</p> + +<p>He was in true form again, proud of his firm, boasting its merits, +advertising it and ready to defend it quite as valiantly as if he had +been with it from its beginnings.</p> + +<p>"I've heard of it," admitted Carver, politely. "Suppose it's because I'm +so out of the game that I don't know more about it than I do. My fault! +How long you been with 'em?"</p> + +<p>"Since about five o'clock this afternoon," said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>The crippled record breaker took out his watch, consulted it, and +slipped it back in his pocket.</p> + +<p>"Long time, isn't it?" he commented. "That's nearly three hours. I've +broken a few records in my time, but you beat anything I've come across. +It took thirteen years for me to learn<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> that one concern I worked for +was no good. It took you three hours to learn the one you work for is +the best there is."</p> + +<p>"But I believe it!" declared Jimmy, with his unquenchable enthusiasm. +"Why? Because I believe in Tom Sayers. I believe in his honesty, and his +reputation, and—well—because he gave me a chance."</p> + +<p>"Know him very well?" his seat mate asked.</p> + +<p>"Never met him," Jimmy admitted.</p> + +<p>"Know anything about his cars?" Carver somewhat cynically asked.</p> + +<p>"I know that some of those who have them brag about them," said Jimmy. +"And I know that the men who work for him, from the superintendent down +to the yard boy, believe in them and say so, and would tear to pieces a +man who says they aren't the best. That's good enough for me. Know +anything about cars? Um-m-m-mh! I reckon I don't know a thing on earth +about 'em. If my life depended upon starting a car that somebody had +handed me on a platter, I suppose I'd be a deader. But a man doesn't +have to know it all to succeed. Noah couldn't have started the +<i>Aquitania</i>; but he did navigate the ark pretty successfully, and nobody +denies<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> that he was the first admiral that ever sailed the seas. Admiral +Nelson and Commodore Paul Jones got there, somehow, but if they had seen +a motor launch tearing down on them at twenty miles an hour, I can +imagine both of them diving off the poop!"</p> + +<p>Before they parted that night, the expert and the novice had become +friends. Before the race meeting was over, Mr. James Gollop knew more +about the merits of cars, the advantages of one over the other, and the +prevailing failings and universal obstacles than he had ever dreamed +before. Incidentally, he had established a friendship that lasted and +was to be of mutual benefit thereafter. He jubilated when considering +fortune. All things were coming his way. He would have accepted it as a +part of the regular procedure had he found a twenty dollar gold piece on +the pavement. His luck was in.</p> + +<p>And so, like a happy victor, Mr. James Gollop of the Sayers Automobile +Company returned to New York one evening and, knowing that it was too +late to base any hope on either MacDougall Alley or the Martha Putnam +hotel, repaired, in lieu thereof, to the palm-garden precincts of the +place in which he had last<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> dined with Mary Allen. He made plans for the +morrow, thought of what he might say to her, determined that the mystery +should end, and was anything but discontented. He ate leisurely, enjoyed +his food, and perused an evening paper. He liked the black coffee, and +felt civilized when he resorted to the finger bowl. He got to his feet +leisurely, well content, and then stopped, bent to one side, moved a +pace and through a screen of palm fronds stared as if transfixed. What +he saw was Mary Allen seated at a nice little table, inspecting a bunch +of violets in her hand, whilst across from her, stiff, pompous, +self-conscious, but entirely self-satisfied, sat the man who might have +been Mr. James Gollop but who was, indubitably one J. Woodworth-Granger, +Judge of the Fourth District Court. Others might not identify him, but +Mr. James Gollop did and for a moment his mind was in a turmoil of +surprise and anger. Granger! That wind bag had somehow, probably by mere +accident, met the only girl on earth, taken base advantage of his +likeness to one Jim Gollop, and was profiting thereby! How dare he! To +impersonate another man under ordinary circumstances was in itself +sufficiently culpable, but in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> private affairs, extraordinary and +personal, it became outrageous.</p> + +<p>A great wave of indignation surged Jimmy Gollop as if he had been thrust +into a turbulent sea and was being helplessly bobbed up and down +thereon. He was undecided whether to create a scene by rushing forward, +seizing the impertinent Judge by the short hair at the back of his neck, +which country barbers had encouraged to a bristle, or to stalk +deliberately forward like the long lost hero in the cinema and—after +the screen had announced his words, "This girl is mine!"—scornfully +indicate to the impostor the door through which the latter, crestfallen, +must inevitably depart. For about a half-minute that seemed a +half-century, he didn't know what to do. And then, upsetting all ethics +and standards of the melodrama and the movies, he did just what anyone +else would have done in like circumstances; stalked majestically toward +the hat pirate in the outer hall, fumbled for his hat slip, presented it +with humble fingers, got his head covering and his overcoat, and +shuffled out into the street dejectedly to ponder over the exigencies of +this calamity, this tragedy, that threatened to end the world. How dared +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> Judge to look like him! What a dirty trick to take advantage of +their unfortunate resemblance and impose himself into such a situation! +It was incredible, and base. He didn't know what to do about it, because +she was involved. He felt himself in a peculiarly helpless position. He +could but pray that the Judge's intentions were honorable.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + + +<p>After a rather disturbed night in which he slept by fits and starts, +mostly starts, and occupied the intervening wakeful hours in considering +the Judge's unparalleled effrontery, Jim dawdled over a breakfast for +which he had no appetite, reflecting meanwhile what he could do. +Ordinarily his nerves were equal to any strain; but now he found himself +fidgety, which but added to his general perturbation. For her sake, as +much as his own, he was indignant over the deception practiced upon Mary +Allen, and resolved to punish the impostor if ever opportunity offered. +He decided that his first move must be to warn her. That, too, presented +its difficulty, as his one certain chance of finding her was at her +studio, and he doubted if she would be there before the late forenoon. +He scanned the list of hotel arrivals and learned that the Judge was a +guest at the Van Astor.</p> + +<p>"That," he soliloquized, "is worth knowing;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> because after I have had a +talk with Mary, I'll call upon that human airship or write him a note +telling him what one James Gollop thinks about him!"</p> + +<p>He was still perplexed and absent-minded when he somewhat listlessly +walked out into the morning sunlight and started rather aimlessly down +town; nor was he aware that he was passing the Van Astor until disturbed +by a sharp "Harrup! Ahem!" snorted out as if by a hippopotamus that had +just emerged from deep water, and looking around saw the object of his +indignation advancing toward him. If Jim's usual frown looked black, the +scowl that was on the Judge's face was cyclonic.</p> + +<p>"You unspeakable scoundrel!" the Judge exclaimed, as he confronted +Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"That, sir, is precisely the term I should have applied to you!" +retorted Jimmy. And then, before the Judge, who was not so quick on the +up-take, had time to recover, Jim poked his face belligerently forward +and added, "The sole condition that prevents me from giving you just +what you deserve—a punch in the jaw!—is that we are here on the +street; but I'll promise you this, you infernal windbag, that if ever I +get you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> alone, I'll change your facial boundaries until you'll never +more be mistaken for me."</p> + +<p>"You—you—how dare you!" exclaimed the Judge, drawing back as if +aghast, and considerably alarmed by the threat of physical peril.</p> + +<p>"See here," said Jim, advancing a step as the Judge retreated, "we'll +mention no names, but I'll say this: that if ever again you take +advantage of our resemblance to force your attentions on the young lady +with whom I saw you last night, I'll expose you. You should be ashamed +of yourself. There is a limit to everything, and your actions are beyond +the lines of decency—you—you—hypocritical blackguard!"</p> + +<p>"Not another word! Not another word!" roared the Judge, as if he were +admonishing a highly obstreperous witness in his court "It's all I can +do to keep from turning you over to the police, and——"</p> + +<p>"And it's all I can do to keep from putting my fist into your face until +someone calls for an ambulance! By God! I think I'll do it anyhow!" +exclaimed Jim with such evident intention that the Judge got from reach +not an instant too soon, and, deciding that he might as well continue +his progress after such a flying start,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> did not pause until he had +reached the security of the hotel rotunda. Jim's first impulse had been +to assist his departure with his boot, but after his leg had got +half-way into the air he recovered his senses, and then angrily turned +and walked down the avenue. Once around the corner of an intersecting +street he stopped, got out of the line of traffic, and despite the +coldness of the day, removed his hat and wiped moisture from his +forehead.</p> + +<p>"Good Lord!" he muttered, "what a narrow escape! I came as near to +making an absolute fool of myself then as ever I have in my life. If I +hadn't controlled myself at the right moment I would have probably +booted the Judge; but would have kicked away my new job at the same +time. Will I never, never, never learn sense?"</p> + +<p>The fact that the Judge had opened a meeting with an insult that +scarcely any red-blooded man could have failed to resent, did not, in +Jimmy's sober self-arraignment condone his own conduct.</p> + +<p>"What I should have done," he thought, "was to keep my temper cool, and +let him know beyond any chance of misunderstanding just where we stand, +right now and in the future. I'm not going to run away from that big +bluffer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> any more. It's come to a show-down between him and me! I'm +done, not only with apologies, but, with side-stepping. If ever he +sticks his nose into my affairs again I'll make him wish he'd taken it +to a shipyard and had it armor plated. But how on earth did he happen to +bump into Mary? And where? That's what gets me!"</p> + +<p>He thought he could picture it all—the chance meeting, her cordial +greeting, the Judge's joy at being hailed by such an extraordinary +beautiful and attractive creature when all the girls he had hitherto met +had been of the small town or tea-party variety, and his tacit +pretension that he was her accepted friend and pal, James Gollop.</p> + +<p>"I reckon he'd smirk, and bow, and try to be clever and witty, and all +the time he'd be either patting himself on the back for his luck, or +envying or hating me," thought Jimmy. "When I let the people out in +Yimville think I was him, it was a joke; but this is a serious matter +and—it's positively indecent! That's what it is! It's an outrage!"</p> + +<p>Imbued with a frantic wish to have Mary Allen share his indignation, he +started toward MacDougall Alley. And then his consideration<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> for her +feelings and wish to shield her from distress caused him to ponder +whether it were not the best to avoid mention of the Judge unless she +broached the subject of the supposed James Gollop's actions on the +preceding night. That brought him to another tormenting question, which +was how long this affair had been going on. How long had the Judge been +in town? How many times had he met and entertained her? And—horrible +condition!—suppose of the two men she had learned to like Judge +Woodworth-Granger better than James Gollop? That would be a tragedy. +Never a doubt entered his mind but that the Judge would speedily fall in +love with such a paragon, and throw himself at her feet. It was +impossible that he should be such an imbecile as to do otherwise! Any +man in the world would do the same. It was to be expected, in the +natural course of things. Being something of an opportunist, he decided +to stop pondering over everything until he was in the presence of Mary, +and then to guide himself by his reception. He hoped that the Judge had, +as nearly as his capabilities permitted, lived up to the high standard +of the Gollop form, or, as Jimmy himself might have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> expressed it, that +the Judge "hadn't queered his pitch."</p> + +<p>"It'd be just like him to make her hate me after one interview. +Considering how I hated myself after one meeting with him I couldn't +blame her," he admitted, dolefully.</p> + +<p>With an unwonted trepidation he climbed the studio stairs and rapped on +the door.</p> + +<p>"Come in." Her voice, sounding to Jimmy like a long unheard and +beautiful song, responded and he turned the handle and entered.</p> + +<p>She was sitting in front of an easel and the forenoon light from outside +lent finer lights and shadows to her face as with her head half-turned +over her shoulder she regarded him.</p> + +<p>"Oh, hello! It's you, is it?" she greeted, and then got to her feet +quickly, and stepped toward him as if to inspect him at shorter range, +or else as if wondering what mood he might be in at the moment. There +was a palpable uncertainty, curiosity, and perhaps reserve in her +attitude, as if she wondered whether he would begin talking pompous +platitudes or, on the contrary, breezing into some whimsy. He didn't +quite know what to say or do. He felt like a human interrogation point; +aware of the necessity of finding out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> something and adapting himself to +that knowledge.</p> + +<p>He had kept away from her when discharged from the old employment and +sought her when his outlook was brightened by the new. He had tried to +find her when his dreams were flashing fast. He had anticipated this +interview. His imagination and love had so gilded her and her +surroundings with glamour that now, as he stood there, awkward, +irresolute, with hat in hand, everything seemed unreal. Everything +seemed reduced to hard realities. The fire that warmed the studio was a +real fire. The light that entered through the windows was real light. +The studio was but a real working room, and she but a real +flesh-and-blood girl standing there in a paint-soiled apron with a +palette in one hand and a brush in the other.</p> + +<p>And then her voice brought him back to earth.</p> + +<p>"For goodness sake! Can't you speak?" she asked, and extricated a thumb +from the palette, and turned to lay it and the paint brush on a littered +table near her easel. Inasmuch as her eyes were for the moment diverted +from him he succeeded in recovering some of his customary wits.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Speak? Speak! I've got so much to speak that I'm smothered with talk," +he replied. "Aren't you going to shake hands before I begin?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose it's polite," she said, extending a hand which, with all the +delightful inconsequence of a man infatuated with love, he had +frequently craved to hold forever. "Suppose you sit down to tell it!" +she suggested, withdrawing her hand from his. "I'm—I'm rather curious +to hear you talk."</p> + +<p>"Why?" he asked. "Don't I talk enough—usually?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but——" She stopped, appeared to hesitate, and then almost +irrelevantly said "You've never said what you thought of my work. Do you +think I should continue it, or drop it?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy was so astonished by the unexpected that he forgot his +embarrassment.</p> + +<p>"Drop it? Of course not. How absurd! It was never in me to do anything +very well," he added almost wistfully, "for I have no gifts. But if I +could sing even a little, I would cultivate my voice. And if I but knew +how to paint at all, I would work to paint better, always hoping<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> that +some time I might do at least one picture. But—isn't it unusual for you +to be either discouraged, or questioning?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," she said, looking away from him. "But—suppose I had to give +it up?"</p> + +<p>"Why?" he cried solicitously. And then, remembering that all his recent +worries had been of a financial nature, he was fearful that some wolf of +poverty had thrust its head into the studio door. "If—if—it's money +that keeps you from going ahead as you have been, I—look here! Your +work mustn't stop. We're too good friends to be falsely modest. If—if +you're broke, I'd like to let you have some money. I haven't got much, +but—Mary—I'm going to make some. I'll—I'll buy a picture. I'd like +one. I've always wanted one of yours."</p> + +<p>She smiled a trifle sadly and shook her head in negation. He thought she +doubted the affluence of a mere chocolate salesman and it brought his +mind back to his own good news.</p> + +<p>"See here, Mary Allen," he expostulated, "a lot of things have happened +since I saw you last. I'm no longer Jimmy Gollop, candy drummer. I'm Mr. +James Gollop, Sales Manager for one of the best institutions on earth, +and I'm going<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> to make good. I know I shall. I feel it here," and he +tapped his breast with his knuckles. She did not observe his gesture, +for she had turned still further from him, and was looking out of the +window as if half distracted by her own thought.</p> + +<p>"Why," he blurted, "you'd be as unhappy without paint as I'd be without +work. Rather than have you give it up, I'd—I'd send you down to +Maryland to my mother. Why not do that? You'd love her, because everyone +does. And she'd love you because—well—just because she couldn't help +it. Mary—if you'd only go down there you could have a home—no fussy +hotel, and—and—I'd be so happy to——"</p> + +<p>She suddenly turned toward him with a tiny gesture, then laughed. He was +rather hurt, and felt that possibly she was ridiculing his honest and +generous offer. As if she read his thought she came quickly toward him +and held out her hand and caught his and said, using the old jocular +name, "No, Bill Jones, Pirate, it isn't money! But don't think for an +instant that I don't appreciate the offer that comes from your big, fine +heart! I do! And—I wish I could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> accept it. I think I know what your +home is like—and what your mother is like."</p> + +<p>She dropped his hand and now turned toward the easel, smudged a blotch +of paint with a slender finger tip in awkward pretense at being +interested in her study, and without looking at him said, "It's not +money. It's because the man to whom I am engaged to be married +disapproves of my little hobby and has asserted so in most emphatic +terms."</p> + +<p>It seemed to Jim that the whole room was reeling, and that there was a +great burst of sound, followed by a stillness so profound that the +distressed beating of his heart had become loudly audible. His knees +trembled. His hands clutched and quivered. He felt mentally and +physically stricken, tried to speak, could utter no sound, and then, to +conceal his hurt, turned almost mechanically to the chair she had +proffered, groped blindly for its arm, and slowly subsided into it. He +was pitifully thankful that she had not observed his distress; that she +was still standing there in front of the easel. This betrothal was an +intervention that had never entered into any of his thoughts or dreams +of her. He had always pictured her as free, quite<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> free, following her +whims and ambitions within the limitations of a meager purse. He sat +there, stunned, for a moment, and then remembered, dully, that he did +not even know her name. The absurdities of his position, and the +futilities of all his long aspirations and love dreams seemed magnified +through the shock of sudden and bitter knowledge. In a moment of bitter +disappointment, he wondered how he had ever dared to advance from the +accident of a chance meeting to friendship, and from friendship to love.</p> + +<p>"I—I congratulate you," he said, lamely, for want of something better +to say.</p> + +<p>"On what?" she asked. "Because the man to whom I am engaged doesn't +understand what this daubing of mine means to me?"</p> + +<p>"No, not on that; but on being betrothed," he replied, and then added, +bluntly, "You see,—I—I didn't know it. You never told me. No, you +never told me anything about it in all these months in which—in which +you've been just Mary Allen, and I, Bill Jones!"</p> + +<p>He was not aware of the sorry tragedy in his voice that contrasted so +sharply with the banality of his words. He felt that he was but a +pitiful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> jester who was like a clown, compelled to play a merry part +when there was anguish in his mind. But—he must play.</p> + +<p>"I don't know why I was such a fool!" he declared. "Why I thought it +could go on in this way—with you as Mary Allen, and I as Bill Jones. +You see—I may as well tell the truth—now that it's come to this—You +see, I didn't know your name, or who you were! I thought on the day that +we met in Fifth Avenue you were someone in the trade, and I was ashamed +to admit that I'd forgotten where you came from. You knew who I was, but +I couldn't remember you. And so, after that first meeting, I was a +coward. I'm a coward now, Mary! Now that it doesn't matter!"</p> + +<p>He sat staring at the rug and striving to his utmost to think of +something to say in his own defense.</p> + +<p>"Well," she said, "since you have been so frank, I suppose that I may as +well add my confession. I never knew, until within the last five +minutes, who you were. Therefore I had nothing the best of you."</p> + +<p>"What? What's that?" he asked as if incred<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>ulous, or in fear that he had +not heard her words aright.</p> + +<p>He lifted his eyes and saw that she was now facing him.</p> + +<p>"It's the truth," she bravely admitted. "I never knew that your name was +James Gollop, and that you were a commercial man, until within the last +five minutes! If there were need I could swear it."</p> + +<p>"Then," he demanded, blankly, "who in the deuce did you think I was, +anyhow?"</p> + +<p>"I thought," she said with a slight shrug, "that you were Judge James +Woodworth-Granger, of whom I suppose you have never heard. He is the +Judge of the Fourth District Court, seated in a small city called +Princetown."</p> + +<p>He was so astounded that for the moment he was speechless. It seemed to +him that all his chickens had come home to roost.</p> + +<p>"Granger? Judge Granger—that inflated, stiff-necked, egotistical bag of +conceit! And—and—you thought I was Granger!"</p> + +<p>There was reproach in his voice as well as words.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she admitted, "I thought you were Judge Granger. But—please wait +a moment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span>—I thought that you were different when away from your +judicial position, admired your reticence concerning your profession, +and—and I thought that I knew the real man better than anyone else. And +I liked the change."</p> + +<p>She uttered the last almost defiantly.</p> + +<p>"I can at least thank you for that preference," his said, lowering his +eyes. "I've come to dislike myself since I met him. He's bothered me a +lot. Maybe I've bothered him. I played a joke on him one time and—he +hasn't ever forgiven me, although I've tried to patch it up. I think +he's about the most stupid, unforgiving, inhuman bounder that—"</p> + +<p>"Please!" she objected, and Jimmy saw that she had turned toward the +window, and so paused whilst she walked toward it, and stared out before +again facing him. He wished that the light from without were less +glaring, for it rendered her face and expression indistinct.</p> + +<p>"It's not quite fair for me to listen to anything disparaging Judge +Granger," she said. "That wouldn't be playing the game. Judge Granger is +the man to whom I am betrothed."</p> + +<p>He was incredibly shocked. Mary Allen betrothed to Granger! It was like +the last blow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>—his ultimate humiliation. Had it been anyone but Granger +it might have been less unendurable.</p> + +<p>"I apologize," he said, mechanically. "I didn't understand the +situation. Judge Granger is—is a very prominent man."</p> + +<p>"Quite so," she assented. "A man who is distinguished, and I think will +be more so."</p> + +<p>"I expect he'll be a governor, and then a senator, and—maybe a +president," said Jimmy, helplessly, and feeling his own insignificance. +"But—but does Judge Granger know that you knew me? I ask this because +I'm afraid that if he does, he might object to our—our +acquaintanceship. He doesn't exactly approve of me."</p> + +<p>Somewhat to Jimmy's surprise she laughed as if amused.</p> + +<p>"No," she said, "I don't think he does know that we are friends. Indeed, +I'm rather certain of it. But—just the same, if you are such +enemies—it's not fair for me to show friendship under existing +circumstances, is it? See here, Mr. Gollop—that's a terrible name!—You +could scarcely respect me if I who am engaged to marry Judge Granger +were to stand here and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> let you criticise him. There is a limit to most +things, isn't there?"</p> + +<p>"There is," agreed Jimmy, soberly. "You are quite right in your +attitude. I'm helpless." He paused, got to his feet, buttoned his coat, +looked absently for his hat, found it on the window ledge, and seemed +undecided. It was the old, boyish impulsiveness that made him turn to +her in what he believed to be a parting and say, "But—Mary! Mary Allen! +It doesn't matter what I am, or anything about the accidents and the +misunderstandings—nothing matters now—to me—only this, that—that you +believe that I was honest to you and to myself when you were but Mary +Allen, and I but Bill Jones!"</p> + +<p>"No," she said, "nothing else matters. That is something quite yours and +mine—our own. Conditions are about as we all make them for ourselves. +Sometimes they run away from us. But we can't alter things that have +been. This has been a mixup. Neither of us could help it."</p> + +<p>He could find nothing to say, for he seemed involved in a cataclysm that +had crushed him, and so moved toward the door. She walked by his side +and stepped back when he opened it. He held out his hand as if to bid +her good-by,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> for the last time, but she appeared to disregard it and +stood quietly by his side.</p> + +<p>"It—it seems a travesty—a blunder," she said, at last. "I—I don't +know quite what to do about it all! I feel as if this were a farewell. +I—I don't like to think of it as such. You have been so kind, and so +encouraging, and you are so frank and—Can't we have one day more? Can't +you come back to-morrow afternoon,—here—and be just Bill Jones, the +Pirate, for another day? I think we'd be happier—afterward—if you +could, and if we could forget certain things. Say you will come."</p> + +<p>And as he walked dejectedly up the narrow confines of the blind little +alley after leaving her he loathed himself for his weakness in promising +that he would.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + + +<p>It's a long way from MacDougall Alley to Fort George at any time. It is +rendered longer when the wind is chill; but Jimmy, no longer the jester, +could never remember how he reached there on that wintry afternoon, and +its hills, bleak with snow, were no more drab and cold than the dead +fires of his dreams. The skies above were leaden, with no ray of +sunlight. Away behind him the smoke of the city seemed leveled like a +shroud. Its distant monotone of sound became a dirge. Unmindful of the +chill, he found a bench, brushed the snow from a corner and sat there +for a long time, seeing nothing, unobservant of his surroundings, and +thinking of all that somehow seemed left irrevocably behind. It was as +if it had been ages ago! It had been ages ago since happiness had fled. +There was not a laugh left in all the sad world that had abruptly grown +old, and savorless. A vagrant, aged, dirty, ragged, accosted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> him, +begging alms, and without looking up, Jimmy thrust a hand into his +pocket and took therefrom a dollar note. The beggar mumbled thanks, +stamped his feet, turned away, and then came back and said, "Hope you're +not down on your luck. I wish you luck, sir!"</p> + +<p>"Luck? Oh, no. It's all right. I'm not down on my luck. Only—'They're +hanging Danny Deever in the morning!'"</p> + +<p>The vagrant shuffled away, shaking his head. He did not in the least +appreciate the sorry quip. All that he knew was that sometimes +well-dressed men who came and thus sat in the parks, were sometimes +found in the same place by a policeman—and usually such men had holes, +self-inflicted, in their heads. But long before he had passed from sight +Jimmy had reverted to the thought that to-morrow was the end. To see her +just once more, and after that—nothing to look forward to, nothing to +hope for, nothing to dream about. Strangely enough it is the men whose +laugh is readiest, whose mental sufferings and depressions are greatest. +Often the laugh is but a forced cloak for grief. Well, to-morrow he +would laugh! Be Bill Jones for the last time! Make a decent finish of +the dream! Leave with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> this girl he had so loved a kindly recollection +of a strange adventure as he made his exit from her life! There should +be neither sighs, sentiment, nor repining.</p> + +<p>Despite the fact that he had slept so little on the previous night, he +moved restlessly about his room all that evening, standing before his +window now and then to look out over the lights that flared and +glittered from electric signs, hearing absently the hoarse whistles of +ships out in the harbors, and the clamor of street cars that surged up +and down the arteries of the city and went heedlessly on with its +existence. Jimmy wondered, as the street life of the night waned and the +lights went out, if there were others out there in the darkness as +unhappy as was he. His new employment that had so elated him with its +promise of golden opportunity sometimes came to his mind, but now he +felt that success was empty without Mary Allen to share it with him. It +was not until dawn that he fell asleep, exhausted, and even then trouble +pursued him in his dreams.</p> + +<p>When he awoke, at noon, he tried for a few minutes to imagine that it +was still a very happy, prosperous and promising world; but it was all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> +in vain. He sat on the edge of his bed, and again thought that if he had +lost to any other than the Judge, it might not have been so distressing. +He got up and looked at his own face in the glass, and hated it for that +peculiar resemblance. It was certain now, after her confession, that all +the time she had believed him to be the Judge and yet, because when with +Mary Allen the Judge's very existence had been forgotten, Jim could not +accuse himself of having fostered her illusion. Honesty would compel her +to admit that. And, on the other hand, thinking it over, he could not +remember that he had ever talked of the road, his business, or +commercial adventure, because it was a rule of his never to "talk shop" +out of hours. He thought she had already experienced too much of that +and she had told him once that she detested chocolates. The only feature +for which he could at all censure himself was for lack of frankness.</p> + +<p>"If I hadn't been such a rotten coward, and had told her plainly after +the first afternoon I ever had with her who I was, that I'd forgotten +her name and all, it would never have come to this!" he soliloquized, +and then, an instant later, reversed himself, considered that if he had +been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> frank he might never have got to love her at all, and—to have +loved her for so long and to have been with her so many times, was worth +more than all else. Could he but have that measure of delight again, and +then die, Death wouldn't be so grim and hopeless as this present pass. +He flattered himself that she could never imagine all his folly of love. +He was grateful to Fate that he had never uttered such avowal and +suffered its inevitable rejection; for now she could always remember him +as a friend. Rejections, he decided, must inevitably leave unpleasant or +harrowing memories. He throttled all his sad eagerness for the farewell +visit and resolutely delayed it until late in the afternoon. He schooled +himself to the determination that there should be no sentimental speech +or action lest she suspect his wounds and perhaps be thereby saddened. +He had come to her with a laugh, he would leave her with a laugh. That +was the brave way.</p> + +<p>When he entered the studio for the last time, it seemed in twilight, for +the shadows of a midwinter afternoon were already long. He saw that she +had set out a dainty little tea table and his heart gave a throb when he +discerned in its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> center, in a cut glass bowl, the violets that he had +brought her on the preceding day. They seemed to scent the room with a +definite and yet elusive fragrance, quite like her personality that was +so soon to be but a memory.</p> + +<p>"Well, Bill Jones, Pirate, you are late," she said, as she took his hat +from his hand, while he removed his overcoat and hung it on the tiny +little cloak stand in the corner, thinking as he did so, that there it +brushed, honored, against her hanging garments.</p> + +<p>"The obsequies of a pirate are best held in late afternoon," he replied. +"It's a time-honored form. I'm very formal, as you know."</p> + +<p>"I suppose Mary Allen has to die, too, doesn't she? That's the way +pirate romances should end," she retorted. "I don't see why we never +hear what becomes of the pirate's lady friends. Surely any decent, +self-respecting pirate who is an honor to his profession, should have a +woman somewhere to either mourn his loss or—as I suggested—go to the +gallows and hang with him."</p> + +<p>She turned to shift the tiny brass tea kettle that was beginning to +steam in the little grate, and, fascinated by her grace, he forgot to +speak.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> He thought he should always remember the firelight on her +profile—there in the shadows of the room.</p> + +<p>"Remember the time we had tea together in that funny little inn out on +Long Island?" she asked, and then, before he could answer, laughed, +gently, and added, as if pleased by the reminiscence—"and the car broke +down on the way home, and we had to walk three miles to get another? And +then we were so hot and thirsty that we stopped in the inn and had +beer—plain, frothy beer—while the chauffeur was trying to start his +old contraption into life. Um-mh! That seems a dreadfully long time +ago."</p> + +<p>"It does! It does!" he assented glumly, and fell to staring into the +fire as if therein he could bring it all back to vision. "We agreed, +then, that some day when summer came again, we'd do it all over. And +now—there will be no more summers!"</p> + +<p>Unconsciously he had betrayed himself in a despair of voice and twitch +of movement.</p> + +<p>"Are—are you sorry?" she asked, softly. "Are you sorry that Bill Jones +and Mary Allen are finished?"</p> + +<p>All his previous resolutions were forgotten,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> swept away as it by the +hand of grief. All his pre-imagined repression vanished. He was but the +heart-broken jester now, impulsive, outspoken.</p> + +<p>"Oh, if I could live these few times over again, I think I could die +happy! Mary! Mary! I never knew until yesterday how precious they were. +Never knew that when Bill Jones died, the heart of me died with him! +I'm—I'm——" He checked himself, shut his hands tightly over the arms +of his chair, and exclaimed, "I'm sorry I said that. I didn't mean to +tell you anything; because I've no right to say anything of the sort to +you—now that Bill Jones is dead! I can't seem to remember that he was +executed in that moment when you told me of your betrothal."</p> + +<p>She abruptly dropped the steaming kettle back into the fender and he +feared that she thus indicated resentment of his outburst. She got to +her feet and walked across to the window where the rapidly waning light +seemed hastily pulling drop curtains over their brief romance and he, +fearful that he had offended her, sat dejectedly in his chair.</p> + +<p>"One imagines many things! One is curious about them, sometimes," she +said, softly. "And<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> so—and so I wonder what you would have said, if +Bill Jones had not passed out."</p> + +<p>She stood as if considering something of grave importance and then, as +if resolved, turned and came back until she stood near the chair in +which he sat with bent head and shoulders, so unlike the buoyant, erect +man she had known.</p> + +<p>"It is but a week ago when being—being somewhat tired of neglect, I +wrote a letter. Oh, I could kick myself for that! I suppose it must have +been rather—let's say—familiar. It was addressed to Judge Granger. By +return mail came a proposal of marriage and—well—I accepted it. Then +he came on and—oh, it was a dreadful mixup! After just one evening +together I knew that he wasn't, and never could have been, Bill Jones, +the Pirate. And I didn't know what to do, or who, or what Bill Jones +really was, and—and I was furious, disappointed and humiliated, and +then you returned and—and——"</p> + +<p>She paused and he looked up to find that her eyes were not on him, and +that she was twisting her wisp of a handkerchief between her fingers +quite as if considering whether such fury, disappointment and +humiliation could ever be for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span>given. He felt that he was on trial and +that his future hung upon her judgment.</p> + +<p>"But—but—it wasn't altogether my fault—Mary," he pleaded in a voice +in which contrition, distress and desire were eloquently blended. "I +didn't mean to be dishonest. Coward I may have been but—but—oh, Mary! +What can I say or do to be forgiven? To be at least kindly remembered?"</p> + +<p>He bent forward again, resting his elbows on his knees and clutching his +temples in his palms as if utterly given over to despair. It seemed to +him that there was a prolonged wait in which she was coming to her +decision, an interval filled with portent and so lifeless and still that +tiny sounds from without became magnified.</p> + +<p>Her voice, hesitant, and low, but, to his relief, gentle, broke the +interminable spell.</p> + +<p>"Suppose—suppose I were to tell you that—that I'm not going to marry +Judge Granger, because after you came here yesterday I knew how +impossible it was and wrote and told him so. And——"</p> + +<p>"Mary! Mary, don't make it supposititious," he appealed, leaping to his +feet. "That would be cruelty! Tell me that it's true, and that I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> am +free to tell you that I love you—love you! You know that I do, and that +there's no use in my trying to hide it."</p> + +<p>She retreated from him a trifle, as if to escape his impetuosity, then, +when he paused as if fearing to frighten her with his ardor, smiled at +him and said, "Yes, Bill Jones. It's true!"</p> + +<p>He caught her in his arms. For a moment he held her close while she made +her last resistance, and then slowly lifted her hands upward until they +came to rest about his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"That's why I made you promise to come back," she said. "I—I couldn't +let you go! I couldn't! I don't care what anyone thinks of it, I am what +I am, and—I love you!"</p> + +<p>They were suddenly aware of heavy steps climbing the studio stairs and +she pushed him away hurriedly, bashfully.</p> + +<p>"My Father!" she whispered. "I—I forgot that he was coming to get me. +But—you'll love Dad," and then, as if suddenly remembering something, +she laughed softly and added hastily, "I don't believe you even know my +name. Don't forget it, now that Mary Allen is dead. My name is +Sayers—Margaret Sayers, and my father's name is Sayers, Thomas Sayers, +and he's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> in the motor business and—for heaven's sake!—pretend we've +known each other for years and years!"</p> + +<p>"Good Lord!" exclaimed Jimmy, panic-stricken, as she hastened toward the +door. "Tom Sayers! My job's gone bust! I'm done!"</p> + +<p>The door opened and her hand swept up to a light switch in the lintel, +there was a click, and the room was brilliant.</p> + +<p>"Dad," she said, trying to suppress some trepidation of voice, "I want +you to know Mr. Gollop. And I'd like to have you like him, because you +see, I'm going to marry him, if you do."</p> + +<p>Jimmy had been tempted to run; but now stood bending his head forward, +blinking, and holding his breath in astonishment</p> + +<p>"Martin—Martin—Mr. Martin—and you are not Martin, but are Mr. Sayers, +and——"</p> + +<p>But the man he had known as Martin smiled, for the moment ignored him, +permitted his daughter to cling to him, and as he caressed her hair with +tender fingers, said soothingly, "There! There! Don't be afraid of me, +my girl. I've known this boy Jim for some time. I knew that he knew you, +and I satisfied myself what sort he was, too, before things went too +far.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> I never did like Granger. When you first told me that you had met +Granger here in New York, I knew it couldn't be so, because I had seen +him going through Media City on the previous day to keep some political +appointment. And then I met Jim, and—I fooled him a little bit because +I wanted to know just what sort of a man it was who had dared to look at +you, and to take you to a horse show. Let go now! Let go, while Jim and +I shake hands. But—inasmuch as your mother has always belonged to the +Granger party, I suppose—I suppose she'll just raise hell! That's a +part of the affair that I reckon you two had best leave to me. There's +time enough, because, mark you both, there'll be no wedding bells in +this firm until Jim satisfies me that he can make good."</p> + +<p>And then he turned discreetly to hang up his overcoat and hat as if +unaware that Mary Allen, struggling artist, and Bill Jones, Pirate, +jubilant and unabashed, were again in each others' arms.</p> + +<h4> +THE END +</h4> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<blockquote><h2>FLORENCE L. BARCLAY'S NOVELS</h2> + +<p class="center">May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list.</p> + + +<p class="u">THE WHITE LADIES OF WORCESTER</p> + +<p>A novel of the 12th Century. The heroine, believing she had lost her +lover, enters a convent. He returns, and interesting developments +follow.</p> + + +<p class="u">THE UPAS TREE</p> + +<p>A love story of rare charm. It deals with a successful author and his +wife.</p> + + +<p class="u">THROUGH THE POSTERN GATE</p> + +<p>The story of a seven day courtship, in which the discrepancy in ages +vanished into insignificance before the convincing demonstration of +abiding love.</p> + + +<p class="u">THE ROSARY</p> + +<p>The story of a young artist who is reputed to love beauty above all else +in the world, but who, when blinded through an accident, gains life's +greatest happiness. A rare story of the great passion of two real people +superbly capable of love, its sacrifices and its exceeding reward.</p> + + +<p class="u">THE MISTRESS OF SHENSTONE</p> + +<p>The lovely young Lady Ingleby, recently widowed by the death of a +husband who never understood her, meets a fine, clean young chap who is +ignorant of her title and they fall deeply in love with each other. When +he learns her real identity a situation of singular power is developed.</p> + + +<p class="u">THE BROKEN HALO</p> + +<p>The story of a young man whose religious belief was shattered in +childhood and restored to him by the little white lady, many years older +than himself, to whom he is passionately devoted.</p> + + +<p class="u">THE FOLLOWING OF THE STAR</p> + +<p>The story of a young missionary, who, about to start for Africa, marries +wealthy Diana Rivers, in order to help her fulfill the conditions of her +uncle's will, and how they finally come to love each other and are +reunited after experiences that soften and purify.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h2>ETHEL M. DELL'S NOVELS</h2> + +<p class="center">May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list.</p> + + +<p class="u">THE LAMP IN THE DESERT</p> + +<p>The scene of this splendid story is laid in India and tells of the lamp +of love that continues to shine through all sorts of tribulations to +final happiness.</p> + + +<p class="u">GREATHEART</p> + +<p>The story of a cripple whose deformed body conceals a noble soul.</p> + + +<p class="u">THE HUNDREDTH CHANCE</p> + +<p>A hero who worked to win even when there was only "a hundredth chance."</p> + + +<p class="u">THE SWINDLER</p> + +<p>The story of a "bad man's" soul revealed by a woman's faith.</p> + + +<p class="u">THE TIDAL WAVE</p> + +<p>Tales of love and of women who learned to know the true from the false.</p> + + +<p class="u">THE SAFETY CURTAIN</p> + +<p>A very vivid love story of India. The volume also contains four other +long stories of equal interest.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h2>EDGAR RICE BURROUGH'S NOVELS</h2> + +<p class="center">May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list.</p> + + +<p class="u">TARZAN THE UNTAMED</p> + +<p>Tells of Tarzan's return to the life of the ape-man in his search for +vengeance on those who took from him his wife and home.</p> + + +<p class="u">JUNGLE TALES OF TARZAN</p> + +<p>Records the many wonderful exploits by which Tarzan proves his right to +ape kingship.</p> + + +<p class="u">A PRINCESS OF MARS</p> + +<p>Forty-three million miles from the earth—a succession of the weirdest +and most astounding adventures in fiction. John Carter, American, finds +himself on the planet Mars, battling for a beautiful woman, with the +Green Men of Mars, terrible creatures fifteen feet high, mounted on +horses like dragons.</p> + + +<p class="u">THE GODS OF MARS</p> + +<p>Continuing John Carter's adventures on the Planet Mars, in which he does +battle against the ferocious "plant men," creatures whose mighty tails +swished their victims to instant death, and defies Issus, the terrible +Goddess of Death, whom all Mars worships and reveres.</p> + + +<p class="u">THE WARLORD OF MARS</p> + +<p>Old acquaintances, made in the two other stories, reappear, Tars Tarkas, +Tardos Mors and others. There is a happy ending to the story in the +union of the Warlord, the tide conferred upon John Carter, with Dejah +Thoris.</p> + + +<p class="u">THUVIA, MAID OF MARS</p> + +<p>The fourth volume of the series. The story centers around the adventures +of Carthoris, the son of John Carter and Thuvia, daughter of a Martian +Emperor.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h2>JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD'S STORIES OF ADVENTURE</h2> + +<p class="center">May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list.</p> + + +<p class="u">THE RIVER'S END</p> + +<p>A story of the Royal Mounted Police.</p> + + +<p class="u">THE GOLDEN SNARE</p> + +<p>Thrilling adventures in the Far Northland.</p> + + +<p class="u">NOMADS OF THE NORTH</p> + +<p>The story of a bear-cub and a dog.</p> + + +<p class="u">KAZAN</p> + +<p>The tale of a "quarter-strain wolf and three-quarters husky" torn +between the call of the human and his wild mate.</p> + + +<p class="u">BAREE, SON OF KAZAN</p> + +<p>The story of the son of the blind Grey Wolf and the gallant part he +played in the lives of a man and a woman.</p> + + +<p class="u">THE COURAGE OF CAPTAIN PLUM</p> + +<p>The story of the King of Beaver Island, a Mormon colony, and his battle +with Captain Plum.</p> + + +<p class="u">THE DANGER TRAIL</p> + +<p>A tale of love, Indian vengeance, and a mystery of the North.</p> + + +<p class="u">THE HUNTED WOMAN</p> + +<p>A tale of a great fight in the "valley of gold" for a woman.</p> + + +<p class="u">THE FLOWER OF THE NORTH</p> + +<p>The story of Fort o' God, where the wild flavor of the wilderness is +blended with the courtly atmosphere of France.</p> + + +<p class="u">THE GRIZZLY KING</p> + +<p>The story of Thor, the big grizzly.</p> + + +<p class="u">ISOBEL</p> + +<p>A love story of the Far North.</p> + + +<p class="u">THE WOLF HUNTERS</p> + +<p>A thrilling tale of adventure in the Canadian wilderness.</p> + + +<p class="u">THE GOLD HUNTERS</p> + +<p>The story of adventure in the Hudson Bay wilds.</p> + + +<p class="u">THE COURAGE OF MARGE O'DOONE</p> + +<p>Filled with exciting incidents in the land of strong men and women.</p> + + +<p class="u">BACK TO GOD'S COUNTRY</p> + +<p>A thrilling story of the Far North. The great Photoplay was made from +this book.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>ZANE GREY'S NOVELS</h2> + +<p class="center">May be had wherever books an sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list.</p> + +<p class="u"> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE MAN OF THE FOREST</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE DESERT OF WHEAT</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE U.P. TRAIL</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">WILDFIRE</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE BORDER LEGION</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE RAINBOW TRAIL</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE HERITAGE OF THE DESERT</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE LIGHT OF WESTERN STARS</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE LAST OF THE PLAINSMEN</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE LONE STAR RANGER</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">DESERT GOLD</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">BETTY ZANE</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> +<p class="u">LAST OF THE GREAT SCOUTS</p> + +<p>The life story of "Buffalo Bill" by his sister Helen Cody Wetmore, with +Foreword and conclusion by Zane Grey.</p> + + +<h2>ZANE GREY'S BOOKS FOR BOYS</h2> + +<p class="u"> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">KEN WARD IN THE JUNGLE</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE YOUNG LION HUNTER</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE YOUNG FORESTER</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE YOUNG PITCHER</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE SHORT STOP</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE RED-HEADED OUTFIELD AND OTHER BASEBALL STORIES</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h2>KATHLEEN NORRIS' STORIES</h2> + +<p class="center">May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list</p> + + +<p class="u">SISTERS. Frontispiece by Frank Street</p> + +<p>The California Redwoods furnish the background for this beautiful story +of sisterly devotion and sacrifice.</p> + + +<p class="u">POOR, DEAR, MARGARET KIRBY. Frontispiece by George Gibbs.</p> + +<p>A collection of delightful stories, including "Bridging the Years" and +"The Tide-Marsh." This story is now shown in moving pictures.</p> + + +<p class="u">JOSSELYN'S WIFE. Frontispiece by C. Allan Gilbert.</p> + +<p>The story of a beautiful woman who fought a bitter fight for happiness +and love.</p> + + +<p class="u">MARTIE, THE UNCONQUERED. Illustrated by Charles E. Chambers.</p> + +<p>The triumph of a dauntless spirit over adverse conditions.</p> + + +<p class="u">THE HEART OF RACHAEL. Frontispiece by Charles E. Chambers.</p> + +<p>An interesting story of divorce and the problems that come with a second +marriage.</p> + + +<p class="u">THE STORY OF JULIA PAGE. Frontispiece by C. Allan Gilbert.</p> + +<p>A sympathetic portrayal of the guest of a normal girl, obscure and +lonely, for the happiness of life.</p> + + +<p class="u">SATURDAY'S CHILD. Frontispiece by F. Graham Cootes.</p> + +<p>Can a girl, born in rather sordid conditions, lift herself through sheer +determination to the better things for which her soul hungered?</p> + + +<p class="u">MOTHER. Illustrated by F. C. Yohn.</p> + +<p>A story of the big mother heart that beats in the background of every +girl's life, and some dreams which came true.</p> + + +<p class="center"><i>Ask for Complete free list of G. & D. 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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: Mixed Faces + +Author: Roy Norton + +Release Date: August 10, 2009 [EBook #29657] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MIXED FACES *** + + + + +Produced by David Garcia and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + + + +MIXED FACES + +BY + +ROY NORTON + + +GROSSET & DUNLAP + +PUBLISHERS NEW YORK + +Made in the United States of America + +COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY + +W. J. WATT & COMPANY + +_Printed in the United States of America_ + + + + +MIXED FACES + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +If Nature is infallible, there should be some philosophic or eugenic +professor arise and explain why she made such a grievous error in the +personal appearance, vocal qualities, and general gestures of the +learned judge, astute politician and hopeful statesman, Hon. J. +Woodworth-Granger and Mr. James Gollop, perigrinating drummer for a +chocolate house. Either the Honorable Judge should have been a +commercial traveler, or the commercial traveler a judge. Outwardly they +could have passed for specimen twins, given handicaps to all comers, and +easily won the blue ribbon. Inwardly their characteristics were as +different as those of any two animals could be, the Judge having the +ponderous gravity of a camel, whilst Mr. James Gollop was as sedate as +a monkey and twice as ebullient. The Judge suffered from a prodigious +sense of responsibility and dignity, whilst his double was given to +frivolities, a distressing sense of the ridiculous and was as +irresponsible and happy as a flea hurdling from one boarding house to +another in a dog pound. + +The first intimation the Judge had that some other person dared to look +like him was when, as he strode into the lobby of the Media City hotel +in the best city in his state, a grinning porter rushed up, seized his +suit case and said affably, "Righto, Old Sport! Got here just in time +this trip and I'll send your cases to number two sample room, and open +'em up if you'll gimme the burglar's kit. The room you kicked for last +month--remember." + +The Hon. J. Woodworth-Granger, who from force of habit never said +anything until he had formulated the complete sentence and then edited +it, and having a mind that moved with the frantic speed and wild agility +of a tractor engine pulling a carload of coal, glared ponderously at the +porter who took it as a joke. Gollop sometimes assumed that prodigious +seriousness when about to pass out specimens of his best humor. + +"Spring it! Spring it! I'm ready to laugh," the porter encouraged him. + +"Young man," said the Judge, "I am not accustomed to having those in +your evident station of life address me with any such familiarity. You +should be old enough to know that it is unseemly. You can not succeed, +even in a menial occupation, unless you cultivate that respect which is +due not only to your superiors, but to those who patronize the hotel, or +any other undertaking in which you are employed." + +He might have gone ahead and imposed a fine for contempt of court, or +sentenced the unfortunate porter to ten years in the penitentiary, had +not other arrivals come surging through the door, which reminded him +that perhaps it were wiser to register ahead of all newcomers and thus +endeavor to secure the choicest room for himself. The Judge had the +trait which is shared alike by some human beings and many hogs, that he +demanded the best though every other human--or hog--has to suffer. He +liked to make sure that his own feet were firmly planted in the choice +end of the trough; so he hurried to the desk, leaving the jovial porter +still grinning, still expectant and quite hopeful that the tip would be +of its usual generous proportions. Jim tipped liberally, because his +firm was what is known as "easy on the tabs." Anybody can be liberal if +someone else furnishes the platinum. That's why trust magnates and +drummers can't be distinguished, because somebody else always pays the +bills, although there has never yet been invented any painless dentistry +for extraction of the purse. The room clerk in the hotel was new to her +job, and so was the boy who conducted the Judge to his room; but, sad to +relate, the chambermaid winked at the Judge and blew him a kiss. She was +rather pretty too. Now to have a pretty chambermaid blow one a kiss when +he arrives in a fine hotel is not objectionable to most travelers. It +shows such a friendly spirit, and makes one feel at home, or else fancy +that he is still in the running and not so old and ugly as he had begun +to believe. Some men immediately adjust their ties and brush their hair +and grin into the mirror; but the Judge wasn't that sort at all. The +proof that he was no gentleman lies in the fact that he scowled in +outraged dignity at that pretty chambermaid who had most prettily blown +him a kiss, and that she gasped, sniffed, simpered and said, "You ain't +forgot me, have you?" + +"Forgotten you! Damn it! I never saw you before in my life!" said the +Judge, annoyed and exasperated to the rare point where his temper +overcame his language. + +"G'wan Jimmy, you little josher! You'll be round chuckin' me under the +chin before the lights come on. Gee! There goes the bell again! I'll bet +my switch it's that scraggy old hen in forty-four, wantin' me to run out +and buy her some hair pins, or to hook her up so she'll look like a +prize winner at a wasp show. She makes me sick, she does! But I'll--Yes +Ma'am! Coming right away," she answered in a honeyed voice, as the lady +guest was heard calling her name through a transom somewhere in the +distance. + +The Judge carefully shut and locked his door. He was a church member in +good standing and an unmarried man, so had to lock the girl out or +perhaps thought it best to lock himself in. One never knows! The porter +appeared with his suit case in his hand and perturbation in his soul, +the double burden sufficing to render him serious. + +"The baggageman says your sample trunks ain't come. He says he went to +the baggage master and they had a look. He says you orter get busy on +the wires because maybe they carried 'em through on sixty-two and her +next stop is at Chicago, and you can't get your layout back before----" + +"I have no trunks, I tell you," interrupted the Judge, with freezing +dignity. "Put that suit case over there in the corner and get out. Who +do you think I am, may I ask? A commercial traveler?" + +He had intended this as a stern piece of sarcasm; but it had the effect +of causing the porter to blink, stare, drop the suit case and then blurt +out, "Good Lord! You're Jimmy Gollop what travels for the Columbus +Chocolate Company, ain't you? You're Jim Gollop what has stopped here +for years, ain't you? If you ain't----" He jerked off his cap, scratched +his red head and added--"If you ain't---- For the Lord's sake don't say +nothin'----" + +"Jimmy Gollop! A commercial traveler! Me?" the Judge actually spluttered +and then, recovering all his overpowering magisterial arrogance, +responded loftily, "I am J. Woodworth-Granger, Judge of the Fourth +District Court. You go down and tell the manager of this hotel to come +here at once. I wish to see him. I demand an explanation for all this +outrageous flippancy. If his guests are to be subjected to such coarse +impoliteness, discourtesy, annoyance and familiarity, he should be +notified or ousted from his position. It is an imposition on the public +which can not be condoned by any one with a sense of propriety, or any +citizen with regard for public welfare. Go and get him!" + +The manager, anticipating some rare practical joke, or perhaps +apprehensive of such, having experienced some of Mr. Jimmy Gollop's +freakish efforts in the past, appeared and greeted the Judge with, "Look +here, old man, for my sake let go. Don't pull anything this time. My +board of directors is to have a meeting this afternoon and----" But the +stern eye of the angry judge checked him. + +The manager in his turn blinked, and gasped and then exclaimed, "Jordon +says you told him you were the Judge of the Fourth District Court. You +look to me like Jim Gollop. If you're really Judge Woodworth-Granger, I +beg your pardon and think you ought to get your face changed for your +own protection. If you're Jimmy Gollop--and I'm a Dutchman if you +aren't--have some sense and quit your kidding. This has gone far enough! +Look here, Jimmy, there's a limit to even one of your jokes. I can't +stand for it to-day when my board of directors is coming. The last time +you were here and put red fire on the roof and then turned in a fire +alarm cost me twenty-five iron men and the hotel company a round dozen +of Pommery. It's going too strong, I tell you! I'm a joke hound myself +but a starving Dutchman can get too much limburger if he's locked up in +a cheese factory." + +Mutual explanations, and abject apologies on the part of the manager and +the porter followed. Everybody apologized, except the pretty +chambermaid, and the judge never saw her again. Also that was a detail +he didn't mention. He rather hoped she would come and apologize. In fact +he thought hopefully of what he might say to her in his kindliest +judicial manner, and occasionally took furtive glances into the hall to +see if she was coming. He was disappointed, perhaps, because she didn't +come, for he was positive he could say things for the good of her soul, +and--Oh, well!--he always subscribed for the Home Missionary Society. +Moreover she was a particularly pretty girl as chambermaids go, and +there is never an orchard without its peach. + +So, in due time, the Judge got away from that hotel unscathed; but to +his extreme annoyance, now that he had openly plunged into politics and +felt the necessity for becoming acquainted with the larger cities in the +state despite the consequent discomforts of travel and sojourn, this man +Gollop always intruded. That unfortunate similarity in appearance and +gesture, voice and manner, was proven on a dozen occasions. That the +habits of the Judge and the drummer were divergent made it all the more +annoying. The Judge never had associated with, nor understood, what some +persons called "A bully good fellow." He thought it was a rank and +preposterous assumption on the part of a mere drummer to look, and talk, +and act like a real judge who nursed an ambition to be governor of the +state. It preyed upon his mind and caused him occasionally to say things +that he wouldn't have said if he hadn't lost his temper, become +momentarily a real human being, and found an unexpected safety valve in +speech. Men merely vary in the choice of words. One says "Oh, dear me!" +Another "Oh, Fudge!" another "Oh, Pshaw!" and so on down to the common, +vulgar, horny-handed sonofagun who blurts out "Damn it all!" or worse +and--the judge finally got to the limit. One writes this with glad, +cheerful hopefulness for the entire human race because it's a fine thing +to be natural and human, after all. + +In the meantime Mr. James Gollop was working his Eastern territory. +Working it both ways and up and down the middle; selling chocolates to +people who thought they might do better with So-and-So, inducing some +men to overorder, others to underorder, tipping porters, buying--sody +pop (?)--now and then, spinning yarns, peddling the latest funny story, +explaining to his house why his expense account should be passed without +those querulous protests, and generally comporting himself according to +his own erratic and sometimes pyrotechnical ideas. And when Jimmy +breezed westward again and heard that the Judge of the Fourth Judicial +District was his double he chuckled, laughed, and finally beat his plump +legs at what was told him. + +"By Gosh!" he chuckled to a confrere, "if that judge looks and sounds so +much like me, I'll make a trip up to Princetown just to have a look at +him and shake his paw, and congratulate him. We ought to make a right +good team, although I can't exactly recommend him for his judgment in +the choice of faces. I never yet won a beauty prize, although once upon +a time I did win a family photograph album at a pie eating contest. +Huckleberry too! Spoiled a forty-dollar suit of clothes and a two-dollar +tie to win a sixty-cent album at a town fair. Got the album to prove it. +Got it on the parlor table with the marble top down home in Maryland, +and every time Maw looks at it she smiles and says 'Jimmy may be not +much good at anything he's tried yet, but he can eat pie!'" + +Now the peculiar part of Jim Gollop's makeup was that underneath all his +banter, and his lightness, and his irresponsible sense of humor, there +lurked something which made him keep his resolutions. He was a pretty +good sort after all. Just a very human, contented, work-a-day man who +liked other good fellows, was sorry for those who took life too +seriously, never did any person a contemplated harm, knew neither malice +nor envy, was always a booster and never a knocker, and whose sense of +humor was generously given out for expansion rather than preserved to +harass his own soul. So, one day, he made a sixty-mile journey out of +his way to see, become acquainted with, and felicitate this judge whom +he so startlingly resembled. For sixty miles he chuckled and bubbled +with anticipation and curiosity. He even thought of a forgotten joke or +two to spring and resolved that what he spent in entertainment for this +meeting should come from his own purse and never appear on the expense +account. True, it cost him a pang to forego that expense account, but he +didn't see how he could ever explain to his firm that it had been +necessary to travel sixty miles and entertain a judge of a state court +in the hope of selling him a big order of chocolate drops. He was afraid +the firm might be skeptical. Some people can't be convinced. + +And so, picturing a mutual hand shaking, some lively interchanges and +facetious comments on what constituted good looks and bad looks, perhaps +a luncheon or a dinner, and a new friend through the strange accident of +nature, he climbed the stairs to Judge J. Woodworth-Granger's office +with a cheerful smile on his face, and after a gasp from the office boy +and some stares of astonishment from a clerk or two, was ushered in. He +had expected to enter the tropics. He found himself as "happy as a +Mexican hairless dog in the Arctic regions" as Marshall would say. Cold? +There may be in the vast, dead planets of space places much colder than +the North pole; but these would have been warm and comfortable compared +with the atmosphere of Judge Woodworth-Granger's austere office when he +turned his eyes on the person of Mr. James Gollop. Here before him, +grinning and sticking out a plump, friendly hand, was the man to whose +personal similarity he strongly objected, and of whose personal ways he +disapproved. + +"And so, sir," said the Judge icily, as he stood up and scrutinized the +drummer, "you are the man who has caused me so much personal +embarrassment, indignity, familiarity, and--if I never loathed my own +appearance before, I can do so now after looking at you!" + +Jimmy's grin froze on his face, became hard, and slowly changed to +something very different. His well-meaning hand slowly came back as if +half-paralyzed by such a reception. It had never before been rebuffed. +It was a liberal hand that had gone into its pocket many times to help +those in hard luck. It had never been slow in friendliness or that +courtesy which prevails between well-meaning and generous hands +throughout the sad old world. It had seldom been hastily raised in +anger. But now it shut hard and its owner said, "So that's the way of +it, eh? You're sore because I look like you. Why shouldn't I get hot +under the collar because you look like me? About the only difference +between us is that you're a judge and I'm a drummer. That doesn't keep +you from being a good sport, does it? I came a long way to get +acquainted with you and I like most people. It's not my fault that you +look so much like me, is it?" + +"Look like you? It's your fault that you look like me!" snapped the +Judge as if that fault were an impertinence. + +"Phew!" said Jimmy, puffing out his cheeks. "That's the sort you are, +eh? Guess I made a mistake." + +"I guess you did," grimly said the Judge, mimicking Jimmy's voice +without in the least realizing it. And then he added, "Good day, Mr. +Gollop. I hope I may not see you again and that you travel in some +other territory than this." + +As if incredulous, Jimmy stared at him for a full quarter minute and +then, recovering his good humor, clapped his hat on his head and +assuming a highly melodramatic air in imitation of the Judge's ponderous +methods said, "Harold, beware! Beware! I say! It's a long worm that has +no turning. Them papers shall be mine! I swear it on me lyfe." And with +a boisterous shout of laughter turned out through the door and down the +stairs. That ribald laughter still floated upward as he made his +departure, and the Judge was annoyed. Very much annoyed. He felt himself +soiled; quite as if the garbage van man had suddenly tried to kiss him +with brotherly affection. It was outrageous! Impossible! And a mere +drummer, too! + +Jimmy retired to an hotel, pausing on the way to buy a pair of blue +goggles, and to fit them on, and to pull his hat down over his eyes. + +"I don't intend to look like that old catamount in his own town anyhow," +he said to himself. "If he's as popular with his fellow citizens as he +is with me it might not be safe. Wish I had a set of false whiskers to +wear during my sojourn. Wonder when the next train leaves? I'm like the +chap that got pinned down under a burning railway wreck and said he +thought he really ought to get away from there. That's me! I want to get +away from here." + +In the hotel room he dug his pocket time table from his grip, and no +hungry reader ever plunged into the pages of the latest "Best Seller" +more avidly than did he thumb those flimsy pages. His capable fingers +turned the leaves rapidly and, being expert and highly trained in +working out the abstruse puzzles and problems with which time table +people always try to fill their books so that people will get tired of +seeking information and look at the advertisements, in less than five +minutes he slammed the book shut and almost viciously hurled it back +into his bag. + +"By Heck!" he muttered, despairingly, "no train out till four o'clock +to-morrow morning and--I'll bet it smells of new laid milk and long laid +cows. There'll be an hour's delay while they fill the baggage car with +chickens in coops. Serves the chickens right for getting up that early. +Ought to go some place and have their heads chopped off. There'll be +one combination smoker car filled with yawning farm hands who wear +fertilizer on their boots. But it's me for that train!" + +Then, recovering his cheerfulness, he sallied out to visit all the +confectionary shops; but met with no success and attributed his failure +to the hideous goggles and the fact that his customary happy and +seductive grin was slightly stiff about the corners as if his face +needed oiling. "Hang it all! Nobody but an undertaker could look happy +in this town," Jimmy thought after his final effort. "No wonder that old +cuss is so solemn. I'd be too, if I lived in a morgue!" + +To escape the town he decided to make a pedestrian trip to where the +only big enterprise near Princetown was in full blast. It was spoken of +as "out at the falls" as if they were the only ones on earth. It was two +and a half miles from the town and the day was hot. "Thank Heaven it +might be worse," thought Jimmy. "I might have to tote a hundred pound +grip this far in the hope of getting an order, and now all I've got to +lug is my goggles." He took them off, wiped the sweat from his face, +stopped to watch some fish in a stream, regretted that he hadn't +brought some string and a fish hook, contemplated a swim, and then +trudged onward, whistling as he went and wholly forgetful of his woes. +He came in sight of "The Falls," and stopped. + +"Whew!" he puffed. "Of course they're not as big as Niagara--except to +the folks of Princetown; but by Heck! They're some falls after all. And, +what's more, some live individual knows it. Bet he wasn't born in +Princetown anyhow. This looks like business." + +He leaned on the railing of a bridge and speculatively regarded the +considerable manufacturing plant that was in full industry, saw that its +prosperity was evidenced by some big new buildings under course of +construction, and deliberated over a long white sign on top that read +"Sayers Automobiles." + +He rather objected to that sign. If he had designed it it would have +been twice as high, twice as long and might have read "Sayers +Automobiles, best on earth for the money. Cheapest at any price. No home +complete without one." + +He remembered that he had ridden in one a few days before and that it +was what he called "nifty and nippy." In fact he had thought he would +like to have one--just a very small one to suit his purse, and had +intended to ask what they cost. All his automobiling experience had been +at the expense of his firm; but he had done quite a lot of riding. In +fact the cashier had once asked him, sarcastically, whilst checking up +his expense account, if he took an automobile to bed with him. + +Jimmy got out his goggles, and visited the works. He was fascinated by +the machinery, the noise, the way things were made. He wished that his +line was automobiles instead of chocolates; but regretfully concluded +that probably it took a long time to learn the patter, and how to run +one, and that the only hopeless individual in the world was a candy +drummer, because, "once a candy drummer always a candy drummer" was the +proverb of the road. + +A whistle blew and with a start he looked at his watch, scarcely +believing it possible that he had passed the afternoon so quickly. He +walked out through the big gates and started his homeward journey, and +was surprised to realize that he was as tired as if he had done a heavy +day's work. Absorbed in reflections concerning automobiles, and trade, +he suddenly brought up with a jerk and heard behind him a man jamming +on the brakes of a car, and using several shining expletives. Jimmy made +the jump of his life and got out of the road just in time. + +"Gee Whizz!" he exclaimed. "If I've got to be run down by a taxi let it +be on Broadway, not on a rube trail. Thank the Lord it wasn't a hay +cart, because it'd have got me, sure!" + +The motorist, looking back in exasperation, abruptly brought his car to +a halt and turning half round in his seat shouted, "Sorry I missed you +so close." + +"Why, did you want to get me? It was close enough to suit me," replied +Jimmy, recovering his grin. + +"Of course I didn't know you were blind, sir. I'm very sorry," said the +man. + +"Why? Do you prefer to run down the blind ones?" queried Jimmy, coming +abreast of the car and then laughing when he remembered that he was +still wearing those ridiculous blue goggles. "I'm not blind. I just wear +these for ornament. But it's all right, old chap. Don't you worry. I +reckon I was so busy thinking that I didn't hear you coming at all. I +get rather fond of myself when I think, which isn't often enough so but +that it surprises me to catch myself doing it. It's all right. No harm +done." + +The man surrendered to that entrancing smile and the glitter of exposed +and perfect white teeth. + +"Well the least I can do is to give you a lift, if you're going toward +town," he said, with a return grin. "Get in, can't you?" + +"Can't I? Watch me, as the drunk said when the policeman tapped him and +told him he couldn't sleep sitting against a lamp post," and, grateful +for conveyance, he climbed aboard. "It's the first time I ever won +anything by missing anything," he said, laughing at his own paradox. "My +feet are so sore from walking over these country roads that after this +I'll never be able to look at a farm horse without tears in my eyes, and +I'll take him by the hand and give the poor chap a box of corn salve. +Phew! Pavements for mine. Do automobiles ever get sore feet out here?" + +Jimmy learned that the driver was a foreman at the Sayers plant and was +very enthusiastic about the merits of the car. + +"It's not old enough or advertised enough to be well known yet," he +said, "but she will be. I know. Been in automobile factories all my +life. Worked for some of the best of 'em. These are A-1. And Sayers is a +live one. Fine old feller, too. That's his house up there on the hill. +Some swell, eh?" + +Jimmy looked up and saw a fine home that he had admired on his way out +and had deduced that it belonged to the nabob of the town. + +"I could do with it first rate," Jimmy assented. "All except the society +stunt and that----" He concluded with a little cluck of his tongue. + +The driver laughed. + +"You don't know old Tom Sayers," he said. "Old Tom doing society stunts! +Humph! He began as a machinist. Then got to be a designing engineer and +now--well--there you are! Self-made man, Old Tom, and as fine as they +make 'em. I don't reckon he'd care for a house as grand as that but you +see he's married. Funny how some women first want to get married, then +want their men to get rich, then instead of bein' satisfied get the +society itch and after that are forever scratchin', ain't it? Mrs. +Sayers spends about half her time in Europe. Schools here weren't good +enough for her girl Margaret, so she took her over to some of those +nunneries in France and Switzerland, and goodness knows where. Gone +some time now. Mighty pretty girl. But Old Tom? If you think he's ever +gallivantin' anywhere except around his works, you ought to be up there +loafin' some day when you think no one's about to see you! Old Tom can +say things in five minutes that you don't have to learn by heart to +remember the rest of your life. He works four hundred men now and he +knows 'em all. Don't you doubt that!" + +Jimmy, who was so keenly alive and imaginative that he was interested in +nearly everything and everybody, looked back over his shoulder at the +fine old remodeled colonial house on the hill with its broad sweep of +lawns, its background of splendid trees, mountains in the distance, and +the lively river at its feet, and, distinctly urban as he was, thought +that if Mrs. Sayers knew when she was well off she'd stay at home. + +"If I had a place like that with Maw in it--say sitting up there on the +veranda, knitting--she's great on knitting, Maw is!--I reckon the show +hasn't hit Broadway yet that could drag me out for a single night. +No-sir-ee! Not if the whole chorus had chocolate legs!" he said to the +foreman, who vociferously agreed. + +"Beats the Dutch how some folks get everything, and others nothin'," he +half grumbled. + +"Cheer up, son!" said Jimmy. "You never get anything by envying somebody +else. Why, look at me! I haven't even ever owned a run-about! And I'm +not kicking! I like to see others have a lot of things I can't have +myself, because it makes me glad to think that most likely they're happy +owning things I'd like to have too, if I could afford 'em. By gosh! It's +the finest feeling in the world to know that other folks are happy. +Keeps you from feeling unhappy yourself. Makes it a mighty pleasant +world for all of us. All the money I've got in the world, if made into +cloth, wouldn't make me a patch if I had a hole in the seat of my pants +as big as a postage stamp; but I don't lay awake nights grieving for +fear I'll be pinched for indecent exposure. Not me! I just thank God the +hole's not any bigger and keep plugging along, and I whistle while I +plug. It helps. Plug & Whistle, I reckon, is the best firm on earth." + +His benefactor had become so engrossed in his quaint passenger that the +car was driven squarely up to the hotel door to let him out. + +"Got any kids at home?" Jimmy asked, and on being told there were three, +said cheerfully, "Wait a minute," and ran up the steps three at a time +to return with a box of chocolates purloined from his samples. + +"Take that to 'em," he said to the driver. "They're all right, I know. +I'm a candy drummer. Good thing you've only got three because I couldn't +spare a bigger box. My boss isn't a bad old chap, but he did ask me one +time if I went on the road to sell candy or to give it away. The only +man in the world I'd like to change jobs with is Santa Claus. Much +obliged for the ride." + +He loitered in the hotel lobby long enough to read a bill announcing +that there would be a mass meeting that night in the "Grand Opera House" +under the auspices of the Princetown Municipal Improvement League and +then saw in big letters, that the meeting would be addressed by "His +Honor, Judge J. Woodworth-Granger." + +Jimmy had forgotten his rebuff, but now frowned a trifle at the +recollection aroused by that name. He was entertained at supper by his +sole fellow guest who sold machinery and hoped to get an order from the +Sayers' plant. And although the technical part was as foreign as Greek +to Jimmy, he was mightily interested and wanted to know all about it. +After dinner he sat alone on the veranda in front of the hotel and +watched people coming down the drowsy, shaded street or loitering in the +town square. There was nothing else to do. No theaters, cinema shows but +three nights a week, and this an off night. Some wandering fireflies +absorbed him for a while, and then they flew away, leaving him alone. +Suddenly he dropped his chair from where it had been tilted back against +the wall, and said, "Well, I reckon I'll have to go and hear what the +judge has to say about improving this place. It needs it!" He found the +Grand Opera House readily enough by following the slowly moving people +who traveled in but one direction. Also he found on entering that +there's not much in a name, its grandeur consisting of a lot of badly +worn wooden seats, dingy painting, and some strips of jute carpet in the +aisles that looked as if they had been collected after a cyclone. The +stage was the bright spot, due to the decorations of flags, banners and +bunting. Jimmy got a seat in the back row after some difficulty. The +Opera House was full, perhaps because there was no charge for admission, +perhaps because there was no other place to go; but Jimmy charitably +thought the town should be patted on the back for its interest in public +improvements. Two girls played a duet on a piano and played it rather +badly. And then there came in from the wings those who were to occupy +the chairs on the stage. They entered as solemnly as if each was alone +and about to recite Hamlet's soliloquy. Some of them threw out their +chests and glared at the audience, others slunk in like harness makers +visiting a lace factory. All were seated before there stalked in the +counterpart of the drummer in the back row, and there was some evidence +in the Judge's deportment that he had the dramatic sense to wait for a +proper pause so that the spectators might see him in all his aloof +magnificence. Had the two girls played "See the Conquering Hero Comes," +he might have accepted it as befitting. + +"Stranger here, ain'tchu?" Jimmy's neighbor, a dried up little old man, +queried. + +"Yes, why?" Jimmy mumbled back. + +"Come to stay long?" + +"Never can tell," replied Jimmy aloud, and mentally added, "Hope not." + +"Goin' inter business?" + +"No." + +"Lookin' fer a job? I hear as how old Tom Sayers is hirin' all the men +he can git to work on his new buildin's." A moment's wait and then, +"Ain't a bricklayer, be you? You don't look like one. Look more +like--like a feller that don't know much about hard work. Interested in +autymobiles?" + +"Yes," said Jimmy, telling the truth. + +The old man cackled and said, "By gum! I thought so--I can spot 'em." + +"How do you do that?" queried Jimmy, instantly curious concerning this +new psychological art. + +"They all wear goggles and scarf pins," said the old man, triumphantly, +and then, as a speaker got up to open the meeting, whispered, "That's +old Smith. He's the mayor. He can't talk. Wait till you hear the Jedge +spout. Then you'll hear somethin' if he gets goin' good. He can talk so +loud that when he was in court before he was elected jedge, you could +hear him four blocks away from the square. Best lawyer in the state +because you could hear him the furdest." + +"Hope he doesn't get going to-night," said Jimmy, and listened to the +mayor, who mumbled something about "Distinguished fellow townsmen," +"Ardent believers in City Beautiful," "Great and growing city of +Princetown," and "Future metropolis of the state." + +"The object of this meeting is to raise money enough to build a band +stand in the middle of the square. Mr. Sayers has kindly agreed in +consideration of the city's building such, to donate the cost of the +instruments." + +Jimmy's neighbor had cupped his hand behind his ear and was evidently +disappointed. He started to ask Jimmy for an explanation but was +interrupted by the applause which greeted the introduction of the Judge +and relapsed, doubtless, hoping that he could enjoy such a golden +tongued orator as one who could be plainly heard for four blocks when he +"got goin'." + +The Judge got up and bowed as the audience applauded. He stalked stiffly +to the little center table in the forefront of the stage, buttoned his +coat, shot his cuffs, and said "Ahem!" After that he took a long pause, +carefully poured himself a glass of water, daintily wiped his lips with +his pocket handkerchief, and in a louder tone said, "Ahem!" + +"It's a mighty fine speech so far all right," commented Jimmy to the old +man, who began excitedly, "You just wait! If he gets goin', I tell +you----" + +"S-s-sh" hissed someone in front of them, turning and glaring at the +offender, and the conversationalist subsided and looked at Jimmy and +glared and said, "S-s-sh!" as if the latter were the culprit. + +"Friends and fellow citizens," said the Judge, condescendingly, "I +esteem it a great honor to be called upon to address you to-night on a +subject so near and dear to my heart as the welfare of this, my home +city, the greatest city in the world as far as my affections can be +bestowed. I have lived amongst you for nearly ten years ever since +leaving the great universities beyond our borders, and I crave your +indulgence for putting some of my larger views before you ere I speak +on purely local topics. Friends and fellow citizens, we must make the +world free for democracy. Let freedom of the seas be that shining +shibboleth which through its ulterior meaning, when considerately +scrutinized to its utmost and ultimate, and defined as we Americans who +are fully cognizant of our grave responsibilities toward humanity and +the affairs of other nations, races, and peoples of this globe, which is +round--those responsibilities handed down to us by the father of our +country, George Washington--interpret as meaning that we wish freedom of +the seas. Not in the abstract, but in the concrete, not in modicum but +in unconditional unobstruction and under such international statutes and +regulations as shall confine sea spaces to neither the individual, to +the group, to those who live within certain prescribed boundaries which +constitute government by the people for the people and of the people, +nor yet again for any comity, compact, or treaty-tied group of nations. +Small nations must be free by the exercises of their God-given processes +of reasoning and power of thought to so constitute their affairs that +they may, by their own approval and their own desires, succeed in +securing that power of growth and expression which can come to a people +solely and singularly when permitted the right of self-government." + +"What's that?" whispered the old man, cupping his hand to his ear and +looking a trifle bewildered. + +"He means people ought to be allowed to govern themselves," explained +Jimmy. + +"Good Gawd! Did it take him all that time to say that?" questioned the +old man. + +"S-s-s-sh!" cautioned a highly impressed person in front, impatient lest +he lose any of these obfuscated words of supposed wisdom. + +"The way to be a good citizen is to be a good citizen," said the Judge +impressively. "We learn by learning. The man who lives the longest is +the oldest. All of us who do our best do our best. Our country is the +home of the free and the brave, let us cherish its traditions. The best +townsman is the man who does the best for his town. I can not stand +before you to-night without feeling that the entire sentiment of the +people is with me, my fellow citizens, and I should deem myself unworthy +of addressing you here to-night, upon this platform, did I not make it +plain to you, or as plainly as I can, that I consider myself as one of +those in the vanguard of that high and lofty motive whose purity of +purpose none dare assail, municipal improvements!" + +In the tumultuous burst of applause that followed the old man croaked to +Jimmy, "What was that he said?" + +"He says he's for the band stand," Jimmy interpreted with great brevity. +"That is, that's the way I understand it. Maybe that's not exactly what +he means. It takes a lot of hard thinking and consideration to find out +what some men really do mean when they talk." + +"To hell with the band stand. I been here forty year and we got along +all right without it, say I! If that's what he's talkin' about, I'm +goin' home. I understood it was somethin' about taxes we was to hear. +They got me taxed plumb out of my socks and----" + +"S-s-sh!" cautioned those in the vicinity. + +"And if they tax us for this I can't have any underwear at all! Lemme +outer this. I'm goin'!" said the veteran and Jimmy was compelled to +stand up to let him pass, and then, thinking this an excellent +opportunity to escape, himself fled. The Judge was still uttering +profound nothings when his last words were audible, and that proved that +he was a great and blossoming statesman for whom no dignity was too +high! + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +Jimmy found the train all that he had anticipated, and then some; but +being one of that fortunate cult who arise happily, sing in bathrooms to +the annoyance of neighbors who waken with a grouch, enjoy breakfast, and +tackle each day as if it were certain to be filled with sunshine, soon +found the position entertaining. Although he knew nothing at all about +the subject, he even indulged in a learned discussion on cattle with his +seat mate, and held his own until he suggested that if milch cows were +put in nice comfortable homes and liberally fed with condensed cream +mixed with flour paste they would give pure cream instead of pure milk. + +The farmer stared at Jimmy wondering whether he was seated with an +insane man or not, and if so whether the latter might develop homicidal +mania. + +"I've always believed that cows were badly treated," Jimmy explained +very soberly. "Their esthetic development isn't looked after properly. +Now milk ought to be rich, creamy, sweet, and fragrant. Feed a cow on +onions and her milk smells like onions, doesn't it?" + +The farmer admitted that it did. + +"Well then, here's an idea you could make a fortune out of. By Jove! I +don't believe it's ever been tried! Why not raise flowers on a dairy +farm. Pick out cows with naturally sweet and kindly dispositions. Make +nature fit nature. For instance, take a nice red cow and feed her on red +roses. Nothing but red roses. Her milk is specially bottled and sold as +rose milk. By and by, maybe, its color would be a beautiful red. It +would smell like red roses. White cows should have lilacs and lilies of +the valley. Yellow cows ought to be fed on daisies and such. Think of +the advertising possibilities. 'Try our Rose milk, or Lily of the Valley +milk or Daisy milk.' And say, what's the matter with feeding violets to +blue cows? Violet brand would of course be the favorite for blonde +women, and Rose milk for the brunettes. Make the cow's home surroundings +lovely. Don't shut her up in a filthy stall but give her a room, and a +nice bed, and pictures on the wall so she can have something to look at +besides the doggoned scenery she has to see during working hours, when +she's busy making milk and wishing the whistle would blow so she could +lay off her overalls and go home to her family. Cows, I tell you, +are----" + +He turned towards his seat mate to find a vacant space and to discover a +man with wild eyes and hasty furtiveness making his way toward the door +of the other compartment, as if seeking safety. + +"Well what do you think of that!" exclaimed Jimmy, sotto voice. +"Confound it. It's the darned farmers that need educating; not the cows. +I swear I believe cows have more sense of humor than some men. And I was +just beginning to get good, too!" + +And then, chuckling, he consulted his watch, and began leisurely +collecting his belongings. + +All his leisureliness vanished, however, from the moment when he issued +from his hotel, and he became as brisk and busy as a cricket intent on +ravaging an entire wheat field in a series of swift swoops. + +"You seem to be in a mighty big hurry, Jim," complained one customer, +later in the day, "What's the rush?" + +Jimmy, mopping his forehead, for the first time appeared a trifle +diffident, flushed like a school boy and then blurted, "Well, to tell +the honest truth I am in a hurry. I'm trying to clean up and catch the +six-thirty train east. You see--I don't know as there is anything to be +ashamed of--I've got to get home to my mother." + +Observing that this statement provoked no ridicule, he expanded. + +"I suppose I've got as fine a mother as ever lived. She's down in +Baltimore and she's due to have a birthday in just three days, and--you +know, I've been with Maw on her birthday ever since she was born! That +is--I mean ever since I was born. No sir-e-ee! Never missed once. We +always looked forward to it, Maw and I do. Seems as if it was just our +day, and nobody else's at all! Maybe it's more important to her because +it happens to be my birthday too. I go home because I want to be with +her on her birthday, I reckon, and she likes to have me come home +because it's mine. So, come rain or shine, loss of business or train +wrecks, I'm home on that day, and--and the minute I step inside the +front door, I'm--I'm just a kid again." + +Two days later there leapt up the cement steps of a neat old-fashioned +house in the suburbs of Baltimore a man who had come home to "feel like +a kid again," and with a shout bolted inside to be received by a gentle +gray-haired woman whom he picked up in his arms and kissed with boyish +demonstrativeness. + +"By Gosh, Maw! You're looking younger and prettier, every time I see +you!" he exclaimed, holding her off at arm's length and studying her +solicitously. "I never see you without wishing I could stay here all the +time--just you and me. All alone! Just we two." + +"Jims," she said, using an old pet name, "you'll get over that sometime. +And--it's about time, too, isn't it, that you stopped courting your own +mother, and began to remember that you're grown up. You will be +thirty-four years old to-morrow and I shall be----" + +"Twenty-four! Always twenty-four." + +"Sixty-four!" + +"Twenty-four! Don't I know? Haven't I kept count?" + +"I can keep my own count. Sixty-four. I hope you didn't bring me +another foolish thing for a birthday present. I always think of that +hat!" And she lifted her fine chin and laughed amusedly. + +"That hat," Jimmy expostulated, "was bought in the best shop on Fifth +avenue and the girl that sold it to me put it on to show me how well it +looked." + +"It must have been the girl rather than the hat that hypnotized you into +paying fifty dollars for something that would look better on someone of +about sixteen rather than sixty." + +Jimmy did not appear to take the joke in his usual good tolerance but +soberly insisted that the hat was "A peach." + +"No, the trouble with you is, Maw, that you don't realize how young you +look, and how handsome you are. It's not my fault you look like twenty, +is it? I told that lady hat drummer that I was going to give the hat to +somebody that was a darned sight better looking than she was, and she +said 'How old is the lady?' and I told her I wasn't discussing a horse +and that the age was none of her business, but that if she'd think of +someone who looked twenty, and get me a hat that would be the best in +the shebang in the twenty-year-old class, and tell me the price +and----" + +"Well, Jims, don't you mind what I say," she interrupted with a smile. +"You are a good son, though terribly extravagant. You bought sealskin +furs that I can't wear, and a grand piano on which I can't play. +But----" and she went over and put her hands on his shoulders and looked +into his eyes with ineffable fondness--"Jims, what you gave didn't +matter because I knew that your heart, all of it, was there in the gift! +And often, when you are away, I thank God for giving me a son so +unselfish, so loyal, so thoughtful, so true!" + +There were many of Jim Gollop's customers who would scarcely have known +him then; for there was a strange softening and adoration of his rugged +face, quite as if beneath that careless, half-cynical, humorous mask +there dwelt, abashed, seldom visible, some great tenderness of soul that +now issued forth without reserve. He bent forward with a sudden +reverence, very gently, with shining eyes, and then, folding her still +more gently to his arms, kissed her white hair, and for a moment held +her very close. + +"Well, Jims," she said at last, slowly disengaging herself, "your room +is just as you left it. No--not quite. I take it back. We had to remove +your discarded shoes from the bed where you left them, and I think you +left one slipper in the bath room and the other in the grate. Also some +collars on the floor, some more scattered over the dresser, and a rather +smelly pipe on a chair. Otherwise it's ready for you and Bessie has by +this time drawn your bath, and----" + +"I'm mighty glad about that pipe! I thought I'd lost it somewhere +between Plattsburg and Buffalo. Funny, isn't it, how you become fond of +a particular pipe? I always liked that one. This is a real home coming! +You see that pipe was given to me by Billy Baker. I've told you about +Billy, haven't I? He's the chap that lives down in Greenville, +Pennsylvania, who used to make the same ground I did, and sold that +Florodora line. Poor chap! Married now. Got a kid he calls Arture Davis +Baker! Now if he'd called that kid Jim----" + +"It might have been as foolish as you! Hurry and come down stairs. We +have chicken Maryland, oysters out of season, and corn cakes, and--don't +moon about the bath room and try to sing, Jims!" His mother thrust him +towards the stairs and as he ascended like a bell boy expecting a tip, +watched him from sight. + +Jimmy paused to look through his open window of his room at a big elm +whose branches he could almost touch. "Hello Bill, old feller. Glad to +see you looking well. How's the birds' nest business this summer? Oh. +Got a dozen aboard have you, and you say mostly robins? Well, well, +well! That's good! Tell 'em to sing to me at six o'clock to-morrow +morning, will you? Thanks!" + +He smiled fondly at the lawns and homely flower beds in the rear and +thrust his head far out of the window to estimate the growth of a +creeper that he had planted with his own hands. It seemed to him that +there was no home, anywhere, as homelike as this old-fashioned house +that since the death of his father he had gradually modernized inside to +suit his tastes, despite his mother's protests against his extravagance. +He rarely thought of those hard years following the death of his father, +when the home was learned to be the sole remaining asset of what had +been regarded as a fine prosperity; of how he had insisted on its +retention; of how he had been compelled to work out of school hours; of +his and his mother's reluctant surrender of the cherished dream that he +might go through Yale; of how, long after he had found employment to +support his mother, he had doggedly insisted on night study to complete +his education following the foolish traditions of nearly every old +Southern family that its male members must have a profession. Sometimes +he remembered how reluctantly he had abandoned his dream of becoming a +lawyer because he could not afford to let an opening "on the road" at a +good salary pass by; but he was secretly proud of the fact that he had +bravely concealed all the disappointment. + +"My mother, our home, a few good friends, a little more in the bank at +the end of each year and something each day to give me a laugh. What +more could a man wish!" This had become his creed and he lived up to it +in all ways, even if he had to create the laugh for his own amusement. +He had gradually learned the hard lesson that a wise man cuts his suit +to fit the cloth at his disposal and was thereby content. He had learned +to lose with a grin and win without a boast. + +Mr. James Gollop, despite his unserious demeanor when abroad, never +departed from his home to resume his never ending circle "on the road" +without a sigh. It was so on the day when, his birthday holiday over, he +tripped down the steps throwing a parting joke over his shoulder at his +mother, and hastened to the end of the quiet residential street to board +a street car; but in the street car and later, in the train, he sat +soberly thinking and wondering if there was no way on earth by which he +could be at home each day. + +"Maw's not getting any younger," he thought to himself. "Every day I'm +not with her is one day less on my account that I can never catch up. +And all accounts sometimes come to an end when the Big Auditor decides +it's time to close them." + +He threw off his brooding when he reached New York, and was the old, +alert, bubbling Jimmy when he reached his firm's headquarters, where he +was prepared to wrangle with the auditor over items on his expense list, +demand better samples than the last lot, suggest some special cartoons +for a special trade, cajole the house in sending out some special +souvenirs for some special customers, and find out from the credit man +what he thought of Jones Jobbing Co. for a little larger order. And +then, all these affairs adjusted diplomatically, he went out to make +some personal purchases. He was reflecting on the fact that everybody in +New York seemed in a hurry to get to some place or another when he was +arrested by a cheerful voice so evidently aimed in his direction that he +looked up with a start; a rich voice that said, "Well for goodness sake! +Fancy seeing you here; but of course that is foolish, because I know you +have to come here on business at long intervals. How are you?" + +"Very well, thank you," said Jimmy, accepting the proffered hand and +shaking it warmly, but at the same time mentally perturbed because he +could not think of the charming young lady's name, nor whence she came. +"And I am somewhat surprised to meet you here, too." + +"Oh, Mother had to come to do a lot of silly things and dragged me along +to chaperone her, I suppose," said the girl with a laugh that exposed +teeth fascinatingly small, white and regular, between lips fascinatingly +generous and well formed. "And what is more, I hate New York and like +the country, and--I'm bored stiff with tagging around into millineries, +and shops, and such. I can get enough of shops at home!" + +"Of course! Of course!" agreed Jimmy affably, but feeling himself a +little pompous through his failure to remember where such a charming +creature dealt out chocolates when on her job. His mind was working like +lightning and speculated, "Plague on it all! They look so different in +their go-away-duds from what they do behind the counters with nice white +aprons and nice little white caps and nice white linen gloves and--why +can't I remember!--Where does she work? She's familiar but--ummh!--It +never does to let 'em think you've forgotten 'em, because they resent it +and knock your sales when you come around again. Isn't she the +manageress at Bodley's out in Cincinnati? No-o--I think--I think she's +at the Bijou in Pittsburgh. Ummmh! It's up to me to make her believe +I've been thinking about her ever since I sold her place my last order." + +Aloud he said, "Well you're no more bored stiff than I am. And I, too, +only come to New York because I have to. Which way are you going?" + +"Nowhere in particular just now," she said, "except to look in that +shop window up there. Are you interested in windows?" + +"If they've got chocolates in them," he replied with a wry grin, and she +laughed. + +"Chocolates? I detest them!" she exclaimed, and Jimmy knew just how she +must feel about chocolates when all day long she saw people buying them, +and sometimes gobbling them. + +They looked in the window and Jimmy was glad that it was a leather show +that had not only gloves and knickknacks but some good horse furniture +as well. His companion seemed to know all about saddlery and went into +raptures over a pigskin creation; but with a sigh, remarked that she +didn't feel able to afford it, and they explored farther. She kept Jimmy +too busy mentally to permit even his agile mind to indulge in continued +speculations as to her identity. He knew that his first duty was to +prove entertaining, and in some distress as to what might be the best +tack, suddenly took advantage of a sandwich man's conspicuous overcoat +that read, "The Marvelous Age. Matinee to-day. Royalty Theater." + +"Oh, I'd love to see that!" exclaimed his companion, and that gave him +his cue. + +"Off we go then," he said. + +"What? You take me to a theater without a chaperone? I'm astonished!" +And then she laughed as if highly amused by something extraordinary. + +"Mabel," he said, gravely, "you don't know me when I'm in New York. It's +the matinee for ours." + +"The 'Mabel' settles it," she declared mischievously, and went with him +gayly down the cross street leading to the theater. + +Dexterously as he fished to glean from her where she worked when at +home, he was still ignorant of that important point when, the +performance over, they emerged into the street. + +"Now," she said, "you can leave me at the Holland House. That is, unless +you wish to come up and pay your respects to Mother; but come to think +of it, she may not be home yet." + +"No," said Jimmy, in perplexity, "I have an appointment. You must extend +my respects and good wishes. But--say! There's the big Horse Show on in +Madison Square Garden to-morrow afternoon. Can't we see that? If you +will but say 'yes,' I'll book seats for your mother, and for you, and +for me. How about it?" + +"Get Mother to a Horse Show? Heavens! But--I'd like to go." She spoke +with bright wistfulness that absolutely finished him. + +"Well, your mother will let you, won't she?" he asked hopefully. + +"Let me see," she said thoughtfully as they stood in the hotel entrance, +and drew from her bag a tiny silver mounted appointment book and +consulted its pages. "Oh, goody! Mamma has an appointment up town that I +can easily beg off from. Yes. Do get two tickets and we'll go." + +"I'll call here for you at two o'clock," said Jimmy. "Will that do?" + +"Excellently. But, mind you, no box! I like to see a horse show from +close down to the ground. They don't look so dressed up and silly as +they do from the boxes. I rather suspect that the horses don't like +those in the boxes," she said with a smile. + +"Agreed," he answered, and made his devoirs. + +He walked briskly as far as the corner, then turned and looked back to +make certain that she had disappeared. He hastened back, intent on +gaining the desk before others had reached it, but found himself too +late. He was compelled to bide his time whilst several people +registered, and then sidled up to the desk. A very haughty young man +swung the register toward him but he ignored it and, leaning +confidentially across, said, "There's a young lady and her mother +stopping here and I can't remember their names. Perhaps you could tell +me what----" + +"Sorry! There are probably fifty young ladies and their mothers stopping +here," said the hotel clerk, icily. "If you're on the square in asking +for such information, I'm sorry I can't give it; but if you've got some +lay of your own, you're in the wrong nest. This isn't the Sports +Half-way House, you know." + +"But see here. I'm in earnest about this, you know, and----" began +Jimmy, and was interrupted with a curt "Sorry! Nothing doing!" + +He might have argued the point had not there been another interruption +and after a moment he left, shrugging his shoulders a trifle, and +condemning himself as an ass for his failure to remember who this +"Mabel" was. The failure rendered him doubly keen, for it was a part of +his business training, self-imposed, to remember names and faces. He +went to his own hotel and for an hour ran through the pages of his blue +book. It was a peculiar creation of his own. It was strictly private. It +contained details concerning customers. It was like a highly developed +"Who's Who," diary in his trade and made interesting reading. + +"Barclay, James W. 114z Chestnut, Philadelphia. Credit AAA1. Rather +stiff. Likes to be Mistered. Teetotaler. Chief entertainment, Y. M. C. +A. lectures. Home mission movements and prayer meetings. Hot stuff on +religion. Show him the Zoo. P. S. Five children, all girls, oldest named +Martha. P. S. On Oct. 14 youngest kid, Ruth, suffering from the flu. +Note--don't forget mention it when next see him and express hope she has +recovered satisfactorily. + +"Barnes, Thomas R. 1627A La Salle St., Chicago. Credit fair. Called +'Tommy.' Red hot sport. Horseraces. Prize fights. Poker. (Go easy on +stakes because unless careful will boost the comein.) Likes Pommery Sec. +P. S. Likes chorus girls. P. S. Dangerous josher when loaded. P. S. When +he expresses desire to spend quiet evening skidoo. P. S. Oct. +27th--Bailed Tommy out for hitting a policeman. Policeman not much hurt, +Tommy a wreck. P. S. Jan. 15th, sent bell boy 3 a. m. to my room to +borrow fifty bucks. P. S. Jan 17--Tommy paid the fifty. P. S. Jan 19, +got Tommy off on Century Limited, and separated him from girl named +Lulu. P. S. Feb 1, letter from Tommy thanking me for separating him from +girl named Lulu. + +"Coldwell, Henry J.; Mgr. Fountain Conf. Co., Savannah. Credit A1. Likes +a decent show. No legs. Moony about wife and family when away from home. +Spiritualist. Wife a blonde who likes to think she's reforming lower +classes. Grandfather old cuss named Poindexter who was defeated for +Congress by but seventeen votes. P. S. Nov. 5, great grandmother a +Fairfax of which very proud. P. S. Dec. 7, great great grandmother a +Lee. P. S. Jan. 15, great aunt a Washington. P. S. Feb. 4, great +grandmother danced with Lafayette. Mar. 15, brought ugly old painting of +joker in wig and stock at second-hand shop Bowery and expressed to H. J. +C., with note that was assured this was portrait of ancestor. Total cost +$1.15, charged exs. Mar. 23--Enthusiastic letter thanks from J. H. C. in +which says exactly like miniature portrait in possession his aunt and no +doubt of its authenticity. Mar. 28, got biggest order ever received +from J. H. C. Hope cr. man will O. K. it" + +There were some names and records in this interesting book that dealt +with employees. For instance: + +"Bangs, Reginald, 1 R Mohawk St., Buffalo. AA1. Sentimental cuss. Quotes +poetry. Thinks has artistic temperament. Not much business head. Place +made a success by head clerk, Miss Norah Cahill, who runs it and him as +well. Play Norah to win, for first, second, and place. P. S. Jan. 13, +gifts and hot air wasted on Norah and no good. Got to have the goods and +the prices. P. S. Mar. 4, Cahill nearly scalped me over seventeen cents +difference in accts. LOOK OUT FOR THE LOCOMOTIVE when dealing with this +Cahill person. P. S. Cahill can be influenced by clerk named Mary +Mooney. $1.50 Dr. Exs. flowers for Mooney." + +In nearly all cases where clerks or counter girls had influence on +orders, their names and foibles and identifications were carefully +registered as they were learned; and these were scattered through as +appurtenances to the different shops. "Mary Smith. Red-headed. Does +hair up like a Hottentot. Jingles with bangles and is color blind"; or +"Chief salesgirl Freda Isenheimer. Nose like prow of ship. Warts on her +neck, grin like a cellar door, teeth like an old horse. Flaps hands when +talks. Voice like saw mill and waddles like a duck lost on a desert." +And "Jenny Gray. All peach. Goo-goo blue eyes. About thirteen hands high +and chestnut in color. Well-gaited and has boss under thumb." But +although Jimmy carefully read all these and pondered each, he was still +uncertain regarding whither the name or place of the young lady he was +to entertain at the horse show. And, the most annoying part of it all +was that he, confirmed bachelor, suffered from an unwonted sense of +liking for this same girl. Her conversation seemed to him peculiarly +bright and entertaining. She looked so much more attractive than any +other girl he had ever entertained. There was something about her face, +and the line of her throat that he had discovered while surreptitiously +studying her there in the half darkness of the theater that was so much +more graceful, so much more refined, so much more beautiful than he had +ever observed in any other girl. It began to seem difficult to believe +that he could ever before have seen her, and yet failed to note such a +combination of charms. He thought he must have been blind as a bat when +he passed her by; but again he fell back on the excuse that a girl in a +shop uniform was an entirely different appearing person from the same +girl out on a holiday. He did not at all realize that his interest in +this unidentified queen of chocolates was becoming less and less of a +business nature until he finally blurted in desperation, "I don't give a +cuss where she peddles the sweets; but by gosh! I've just got to learn +her name and address because--Oh, hang it! Because!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Jimmy Gollop, like most commercial travelers of the first flight, not +only knew how to wear clothes but what clothes to wear. And on this day +of days paid particular care to his appearance. He rather anticipated +that the candy girl would appear in some plain, tailormade gown. Her +hair, one of her chief charms of personal appearance, was heavy and +beautiful, and of a most baffling shade of color that shone brown in +darker shadows and yet in full light glinted as if subtly suggesting +gold. Jimmy, who had a natural sense for color, pondered over this and +decided that the tailormade would be of navy blue and that therefore +violets would be the correct thing in the flower line to show his +appreciation. + +"But how in the deuce am I to send them up to her hotel when I don't +even know her name!" he thought. + +However, he was sufficiently independent to buy the finest violets he +could find and to appear at the hotel entrance with them in his hand. +The young lady was not there. Jimmy tried to appear unconcerned, and for +a time stood like a rather modern statue of "Cupid bearing flowers." Now +and then he peered into the hotel lobby and it seemed to him that +whenever he did so the human icicle behind the desk was glaring in his +direction as if contemplating a call for the police, or sending a +message to the Ladies' Protective Association for Attractive Young +Females. + +At last when he was becoming fidgety and consulting his watch at +intervals of not longer than three minutes, the girl appeared. + +"Well, in the name of common sense," she demanded, "why didn't you send +your card up, or have the desk call me? I hope you're not in the habit +of expecting young ladies to meet you on the corner. I waited and +waited, and then was just about to----" She stopped at sight of his +lugubrious face, relented, and laughed. "Never mind! Don't take it to +heart, and--are those violets for me? You are a dear, after all! I love +them." She took them from his outstretched hand and buried her face in +them, whilst he, usually so nimble of tongue and ready of word, was +striving to overcome this alarming confusion and embarrassment that +rendered him about as quick of wit as a soft-shelled clam. In fact, he +felt like a jelly fish save that he was twice as incompetent. + +"You see," he began lamely, "I didn't quite know what to do. I was +afraid that maybe your mother had objected to your going to the horse +show, and----" + +"Why, you're not afraid of her, are you? You never seemed so before. I +thought--I thought you and she were rather good friends." There was a +vague tinge of sarcasm in her words and tone but like a wobbly legged +pup trying to catch a butterfly he mentally leaped at this offering and +began cudgeling his memory in quest of women who ran chocolate shops. +Could it be that she was the daughter of the widow Haynes who owned the +Bon-Ton in Detroit? Impossible! The widow was not more than thirty. +Maybe Mrs. Harris of Miami? No, if Mrs. Harris had a daughter she would +have that unmistakable Southern peculiarity of speech. This girl was +from somewhere farther north. It couldn't be that she was the daughter +of Mrs. Schumann of Milwaukee? Heaven forbid! For Mrs. Schumann was so +fat she shook like an unsupported pyramid of blanc-mange whenever she +moved. + +"I had hopes for you yesterday," a voice aroused him from his lapse. +"You acted as if you could talk when you turned loose; but now you're +back in your old hopeless form. Come on! Wake up! Oh, I forgot to tell +you the great news. Like to hear it?" + +"I like to hear you say anything," said Jimmy, hopelessly at her mercy +and speaking the truth, and nothing but the truth so help him Bob! and +glancing at her with that unmistakable sick-calf expression that seems +to be the inevitable accomplishment of all lovers, and that the original +Eve must have noticed in the eyes of Adam as he stood lolling around +Eden in his red flannel underwear. + +"Mamma got an invitation to spend the winter down in St. Augustine with +the Charles K. Wilmarths, and she knows I hate them. She wanted to go +because, as you know, she thinks she's not at all well, and also because +the Charles K. Wilmarths are rather swagger. Either because she wished +to get rid of me, or because I raised such a fuss, she compromised. I'm +to be allowed to stay here for the next four months and take painting +lessons from Jorgensen. I intend to have a studio of my own. I'm to live +at the Martha Putnam hotel, which, as you know, never, never allows a +man farther through its doors than the waiting room. Happy? I'm so happy +I could shout!" + +"Then you've no longer any interest in the business?" inquired Jimmy, +for the want of something better to say. + +She looked out of the taxi-window for an instant, as if recalling +something and then said, slowly, "Yes, to tell the truth I have. It +means so much. I'll admit that I'm more or less a business person. I +like to see things grow bigger and bigger, and sell more and more, and +get to mean something. Not that the dollars and cents count so much, +after a time, but because a name somehow becomes a standard. Yes, I +shall miss what you call the business; but, after all, it will not stop +because I'm not there to enthuse over it, and----" She interrupted +herself with a half-suppressed laugh--"Mother doesn't look at things +exactly as I do. She detests it and is ashamed of it, I have an ideal!" + +Jimmy never quite idealized the chocolate trade before; but there was +something rather fine in what she said, he thought. After all, maybe it +was one form of Americanism that she had voiced, and it became a trifle +nobler when he considered that it meant industry, energy, and honesty. +To do something and do it well. To be proud of doing something well. To +be proud that one wasn't a loafer or a drone, or a parasite on the body +economic. He was striving to correlate all this when made aware that the +taxi had stopped and that they were at their destination. He actually +submitted to an overcharge of a half-dollar inflicted by the +hatchet-faced brigand who had jerked his taxi-meter over with a bang +before his fares had time to inspect it. And then, resolving to forget +everything save the fact that they were entering the Horse Show, and +that he was somehow treading in ether because he had found a girl who +was different from all others, he became himself again. + +"We're not so very late after all," he exclaimed as he glanced up at the +big tower clock. "I thought I waited an hour for you. But, anyhow, here +we are, and now for it!" + +They sauntered in and he was proud to observe that many eyes were +turned in the direction of his companion. It made him feel rather +egotistical, for there were many girls there well worth looking at, and +people don't always go to horse shows to look at horses. Jimmy forgot +all about chocolates. Unconsciously he relapsed to his habitual self, +and, inasmuch as most any one who is unassuming and entirely natural is +entertaining, seemed to keep his companion happy. + +"I like it all," she said, in an interval. "I like to look at those in +the boxes who came here for nothing else than to be looked at. It makes +them happy to see others looking at them. I suppose they must feel for +the moment that they are as good as the horses. Some people will make +mistakes of that sort, you know, and never learn the truth. And I like +the horses for themselves. They are so unlike. So like people. Some of +them are shy, some of them nervous, some of them conceited, and others +are as self-satisfied as if already they had won the blue ribbons. +Funny, isn't it, that I never suspected that you had any interest at all +in them?" + +"Well, you see," said Jimmy. "We never had much of a chance to +understand really what either of us enjoys or dislikes before we met +here. It makes a lot of difference when, how and where people meet. I +suppose you'll laugh if I tell you when I first fell in love, because it +was with a horse. Honestly, it was! I'm in earnest about it. Things +didn't come any too easy around our house--I mean Maw's and mine--after +my father died. Somehow his death sort of changed me from a boy into a +man, and,--well, I just couldn't think of enough ways to keep her from +wanting anything. I felt as if I'd have to be a man big enough to fill +my father's place and to take care of her. There wasn't a way to make a +penny that I didn't consider just on her account. And I got a job after +school hours delivering stuff for a grocery store, down in our town. I +had to care for and drive a poor old feller with the string halt, and +spavins, and I used to wonder why I couldn't get his tail to grow +longer. Honestly, I thought all horses' tails were about eight inches +long until an old horse trader looked my friend over one day and said, +'Hello! That nag's been docked sometime! He didn't always pull a grocery +cart. Shouldn't wonder if there'd been some class and pedigree to him +sometime.' Then he had the impertinence to stick his dirty fingers into +my friend's mouth and hoist his upper lip and say, 'Methusalem was old, +but this plug could make him look like a suckling,' I remember that I +was angry, and that I wished that my friend had bitten him. I'd have +done it myself if I had been big enough, or a horse. You see, I was +proud of that horse, and liked him, and he loved me. As a joke the +hostlers down at the boarding stable where we kept him called him +Bovolarapus; but I called him Bo for short, because it didn't seem fair +that we shouldn't be familiar with each other. I'm sure he thought of me +as Jim for short; so I called him Bo. He used to take a kick at anybody +else who came near him, but I could put a hot iron on his poor old heels +without a single vicious jerk from him. He bit nearly everyone who got +too close or too curious, but he'd put his lips up to my cheek and kiss +me when something had hurt my feelings, and I'd get into some quiet lane +and tell him all about it--sometimes with my arms around his tired old +neck! I tell you he was mighty comforting to me when everything went +wrong. You won't believe it, but I used to fancy that sometimes he tried +to whisper into my ear and that he said, 'Take it quietly, boy! Just do +the best you can. I know that sometimes the hill is terribly hard to +climb, and bitterly long, but somewhere there is always a top. Don't +think of the load, the whip, or the hill, but keep thinking, always, of +what it's like on top. Many times they'll hurt you when you're doing +your best, because they're cruel, or don't understand. But most of those +who drive you--and someone or something must drive you as long as you +live,--don't really mean to be hard. It's merely because they don't +understand. Sometimes you'll be very tired, and out of breath, and the +sweat of hard work will drip and trickle from your ears down over your +eyes, and you'll think that another yard is beyond all you can do. But +keep on! Stick it! You can always do a little more than you think you +can if you've the courage to try. And there's always a top to every +hill, lad! It's only up there that you can breathe, and that the load is +light, and that there is rest!'" + +A band that had been playing off up in the balcony at the far end +stopped, as if waiting for the next event, and abruptly aware that he +had said so much, and surprised by his own unmeasured loquacity, he, +too, stopped, abashed, and for the first time in his speech looked at +her and met her eyes. They were soft, filled with wonder, absorbed. He +could not have defined why he was so swiftly ashamed of thus openly +flouting that boyhood heart of his upon his sleeve. He could not have +explained what strange lapse had overpowered him to thus unbosom long +forgotten things. He looked away from her toward the entrance. Men were +bringing tall hurdles outward to place them in the arena. The jumpers +were coming for exhibit. + +"But," she insisted breathlessly, leaning toward him, and her hushed +voice sounding distinct from all the murmur surrounding them, "Tell me +the rest of it!" + +"Tell you the rest of it? There's nothing more to tell! Nothing +except--except----" He hesitated, then laughed as if in self-derision. +"My friend fell down one day, half way up a hill. The top was there, +just above him. The top for which he had so valiantly tried. I, a boy, +his only friend, got his tired old head up on my knees and cried. A +policeman came and shook his head and went away and phoned. A vet came +and said, 'The best thing to do is to shoot him,' and then the +policeman pulled out a gun, and went toward Bo's head and bent over the +brave and tired old eyes of my friend, and--I fought! Fought so hard +that they had to give us a chance, Bo and me. They laughed, but the vet +phoned my employers and what they said, I never knew; but I do know that +they gave me my friend, and that about midnight I got him home, weak and +tottering, and put him out in our back garden, and told Maw all about +it. I thought she would understand and she did. She understands +everything. Everything! No one else ever could. And so--um-m-mh! +Bovolarapus was the first horse I ever owned and the last. We had to go +without some few things, Maw and I, to pay pasturage for a year or two +until he died, but it doesn't at all matter now. You see he was a sort +of inspiration to me because he told me so many things, and--that +somewhere, a long way I fear from where I've ever reached, there's a top +to the hill. He taught me that be we driver or driven there's a heart of +things that has to be learned. That the driver may learn from the driven +and that there is always the promise that the driven may drive. And so +may God pity the man who thinks that he can drive his world alone, +because, as far as I can dope it out, everything in life is made up of +give if you would take, and take only when you give. I may be wrong. One +never knows. That's the pity of it all. But that's the way it looks to +me, and--that's the way communing with a poor old horse taught me, the +only game I try to play. It's only when we've lost the true sense of +things that we say 'Life's nothing but a horse show--after all!'" + +Staring at the arena, and bringing his thoughts back to their +surroundings, he waited for her to speak; but for the moment they seemed +fixed in a little oasis of silence, embodying but them alone. It was the +girl who broke the peculiar stillness. + +"I--I--never thought you were like that," she said, almost as if +soliloquizing. "I thought you were out for yourself and nothing else! I +didn't in the least think you could ever feel anything beyond yourself. +You humiliate me--in a way--my stupidity! And I feel like apologizing +for my past unkindness, because I didn't; as you say--because I didn't +at all understand!" + +He couldn't quite grasp it all, although her every word had been audible +and distinct. To what did she refer? "Past unkindness?" He strove to +think when she had been unkind to him and where. The baffling sense of +having forgotten something he should have remembered, again disturbed +him and drove him to jest. + +"Don't say that!" he cried in pretended alarm. "You make me feel like +the coon who was sentenced for stealing chickens when the judge said, +'You are incorrigible. This is the twenty-seventh time we've had you up +for this heinous, fearsome crime. But now you have gone the limit! You +stole two black hens on the night of April seventh.' Then he stopped and +glared at the nigger who leaned over the dock rail, hopefully, yet +frightened, and said, 'I think you should be sentenced to ninety-nine +years in the penitentiary!' And the nigger thought it over and looked at +the judge, then around the court and gasped, and said, 'Jedge, sah! I +thank my Gawd them chickens was black. It must have been the color, sah, +that made you so kind, because I reckon if they'd been white you'd have +sure had me hanged!'" + +But she did not seem to accept it as a joke. + +"I have been unkind," she said, with a shake of her head. "I had no idea +you could be like--well--like you are. So there! And besides, I don't +like to be made fun of." + +"I'm not making fun of you," he declared. "I'm making fun of myself. I +can't help it. I've a sense of proportion. I know what a mut I am better +than anyone else does. It does me good to admit it whenever I get a +proper chance." + +For another interval she studied him, curiously, looked away, and again +turned toward him as if still unconvinced of something, and then said, +"Well, if you were wise, you would keep on being just yourself. You've +something to learn from horses yet. I believe they are always natural, +and unassuming, and sincere. That's a beautiful animal there now, isn't +it? Well done! What a jump! Seven bars! That's pretty good for a +practice take-off, I should say. What do you think?" + +"I'd jump higher than that to remember something I've forgotten," Jim +murmured; but his remark went unchallenged, due to a second splendid +leap in the arena that was so swift and graceful that it resembled +nothing so much as a glistening bay flash, a compound of splendidly +correlated muscle, nerve and sinew, and the spectators burst into a +storm of applause as the horse, proudly and daintily stepping on +springing hocks, lifted a beautiful head, pricked sensitive ears, and +stared through big, intelligent eyes at the boxes. + +Even the perplexed and infatuated Jimmy forgot his secret questionings +and gave himself up to the joys of the display. Event followed event in +such rapid succession that he was astonished when the military band +struck up its dispersing air, and he and his companion "The Candy Girl" +as he had come to think of her, were caught into the leisurely maelstrom +that surged slowly toward the exits. He had even forgotten the fact that +he had as yet failed to learn his companion's name; but at the hotel +entrance maneuvered for another chance. + +"Isn't it possible to induce you and your mother to see a show, or hear +a concert, or something of that sort to-night?" he asked wistfully. + +"I wish we could," she said; "but I'm afraid it's quite impossible. We +are dining with some friends." + +"What about to-morrow, then?" he insisted, somewhat crestfallen. + +"To-morrow we are going to visit some relatives in Connecticut where we +shall spend the week-end." + +His face, usually so cheerful and optimistic, might have competently +served for an artist's study of "Gloom." He felt as if the props had +been kicked from beneath a line on which swung all his best linen. + +"I've got to get back to my work not later than day after to-morrow," he +lamented. "In fact I ought to take the five o'clock flyer west to-morrow +afternoon to keep up with my dates. I've sent out my cards that I am +coming." + +"Then for goodness sake, go!" she insisted. "I'll see you at home--no--I +forgot I shall not be there for weeks, or perhaps months. I mustn't let +this Jorgensen opportunity go to waste. I'm very keen on it. But you +will be in town again and must come and call for me at the Martha +Putnam. I shall--I shall look forward to it!" + +She suddenly flushed as if she had somehow committed herself, and before +he could reply had almost run from him into the hotel lobby. But he had +caught a look in her eyes that caused his heart to lose a beat, then to +thump like a bass drum in martial band. He was made suddenly aware that +he was gawking after her with his mouth hanging open and his eyes +bulging, by the delighted snickers of a pair of impertinent door boys +and the suppressed comment of one, "Betchu a nickel she's thrown him +down! Gee! Ain't he got it bad!" + +And Jimmy, turning away with a heavy-villain air of dignity, was ashamed +of himself because he had blushed profusely in sight of two mere urchins +in brass buttons. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +"I suppose," said the buyer for one of the biggest middle Western +jobbing houses, addressing a friendly competitor across the table at +their club, "that Jim Gollop comes as near to being the synonym for +sunshine as any man can be." + +"Yes, and that's why he succeeds so well. Somehow when I'm tired, or +depressed, I like to see Jim Gollop coming through the door. And he's +about the only commercial traveler I would ever say howdy to at those +times. He's like a tonic, Jim Gollop is. He just seems to radiate good +will, and friendliness, and optimism wherever he goes. I think I noticed +that surprising faculty of his more on this last round of his than ever +before." + +The manager looked up thoughtfully, and said, "Come to think of it, I +noticed that, too. Not that he wasn't always cheerful, and persistent, +and smart enough in his business, but this last time he seemed to +fairly outdo himself. I asked him if his aunt was dead. 'Why?' says he. +'Oh, you're so happy I thought maybe you'd fallen heir to an unexpected +fortune,' I told him." + +"What did he say?" + +"Said 'Old man, I've found something that beats that all hollow. I've +found the philosopher's stone. I've found the back door at least to the +house of happiness.' And I'll swear I don't believe he was joking, +although it's sometimes hard to tell when Jimmy is in earnest." + +"Humph! Must be in love," said the other man. + +"Well, he might be worse off," said the manager. "If he draws as luckily +as I did--well--You've met my wife and kiddies." + +And it did seem as if Jimmy, making his long rounds, was meeting with +inordinate success; for life smiles on those who smile and the happy +salesman is like the Happy Warrior, because all things, sooner or later, +come to his feet. The art of salesmanship is the art of winning, and +there is no such animal as a successful drummer with a perpetual grouch. +But just the same the astute Jimmy's progress was not so easily +profitable from the personal point as he had conceived, and as he had +ardently hoped. He had left New York in his customary optimism with the +boastful prediction, "I'll learn the candy girl's name, and where she +lives when she's at home, and when her birthday is, and all about her, +before I get back. And on the day I get her name I'll telegraph an order +to a New York florist to take her the biggest bunch of violets she ever +saw." + +At the end of the first week he felt that the next week must surely +bring the coveted information, and at the end of the second week he made +a bet with himself that he'd find it out in the third. Then when the +third week proved equally barren, he doubled the stakes and lost them on +the fourth week. + +"Anyhow," he communed with himself, "I'm more than half way through, and +shall win on the next stretch." + +But his hopes, increasing as his tour of elimination progressed, began +to turn to anxieties as his margin for developments narrowed until he +was almost feverishly eager in his pursuit when he entered his last and +final week. Everywhere he went there were the same old names and the +same old faces. One or two customers had sold out, but invariably they +were men. It was on his last day, when hope had waned, that he found +what he hoped was a clue. Mrs. Ellen Sturgis, of Lansing, Michigan, who, +according to his blue book, was "quite a lady, credit A1, tall, good +dresser, very quiet, somewhat standoffish, fond of horses, because, owns +her own trap outfit and nice little cob," had sold out and gone to parts +unknown. + +"Didn't she leave any address?" inquired Jimmy of the new owner, who was +an affable, elderly gentleman given to loquacity. + +"Not with me. Probably at the post office. Hope I can do as well with +this business as she did, and I think I can do better. But she made +money here, all right. Of course she had a society pull to start with +because you see she was the widow of a man who was thought to be pretty +well heeled until he died; then she had to go into business to support +herself, and all the best people in the town patronized her and--anyone +can do business with that kind of a pull." + +Jimmy closed his order and loitered around the mirror-garnished shop +until he got an opportunity to talk with a girl whose face was +familiar. + +"Let me see," said Jimmy, thoughtfully, "Didn't Mrs. Sturgis have a +daughter who was 'most always here?" + +"Nellie? Sure. You remember her, don't you? Nice looking girl with brown +hair and wonderful teeth. We all liked Nellie a lot more than we did her +mother. Stuck-up old dame, I called her. But Nellie was all to the +good." + +Jimmy suddenly developed a mad desire to get away from there. He got as +far as the corner and was tempted to turn into an alleyway and do a +brief but sprightly dance on his own; but decided that he would lose no +time in finding the telegraph office. + +"Got her! Got her at last!" he jubilated mentally. "Now for the violets, +then it's me for the hotel, and the long letter apologizing for not +writing sooner and--um-m-mh!--I'll tell her I broke my wrist in +Ashtabula. That's a good place to break one's wrist in. No--that won't +do. She'd wonder why I didn't dictate a letter to some blonde +hop-o-my-thumb in some nice quiet hotel. How about the flu? +Um-m-mh--afraid that wouldn't square up with my keeping on the road. +Urgent and continual business sounds too cold--considering how warm I +feel. I must never tell her the truth that I'd forgotten her name, and +what she looked like, and be the boob I am by admitting that I'd never +paid enough attention to her before then to take notice of her. Girls +don't like to think that anyone could possibly forget them after one +good, square look. Hurts their vanity, I reckon. And she's not the sort +I can write to and say, 'Kid, you made a hit with me and I'm your little +stick of candy from now until I go to some place so hot I melt!' No, +I've got to get some excuse that'll get by, or--go out into somebody's +town park and cut my throat. I'm hit so badly it hurts! And if anything +goes wrong with this deal it's--it's all off with Yours Truly. It just +seems to me that would be the one thing I've ever had happen that I +couldn't recover from!" + +He had thought of her so much, by day and night, that he entertained a +strange sense of familiarity, as if he had known and loved her all +through life. So vivid were his impressions that he could not forget +little inflections of her musical voice, tiny feminine gestures, stray +sparkles of her eyes, the very echoes of her modulated laughter. All the +weeks of his search, forever arousing in him by disappointment an +increased determination, were but additions to their acquaintanceship. +All the smothered, dormant sentiment accumulated throughout his life had +been exploded, as by a spark, to burst into a brilliancy that filled his +entire horizon. Life was filled with dazzling and unexpected stars of +shining gold. There was but one moon in all his heavens, a warm, +friendly, almost mystic moon that rendered gentle and fine everything +upon which it bestowed benignancy. His universe could scarcely note the +extinguishment of a sun. He had never paused to analyze it, but had +fallen upon the truth that the love of a man of thirty-four makes or +breaks far more irrevocably than does the evanescent love of a boy. The +latter patient recovers amazingly. The former seeks a hospital alone, +and the soul of him dies! + +Jimmy found less difficulty in telegraphing an extravagant order for +violets to be sent to "Miss Nellie Sturgis, care Martha Putnam Hotel, +New York," than he did in the composition of a suitable letter of +apology. + +"I've never been so darned particular about what kind of stationery I +used before," he thought, as he stared at the display in a shop and +cogitated over what was the best. "In fact, come to think of it, hotels +have paid for all I've ever used, and most times I didn't care much +whether it came in reams or in rolls. Just so it would show where the +lead pencil had traveled across. About all I ever thought of a letter +was that one begins writing in the upper right hand corner, writes +straight across, then goes back to the left hand again and does it over +until the page is full, then turns it over and does some more, and at +last thinks whether he ought to sign 'Yours truly,' 'Yours sincerely,' +'Your friend,' or 'Your old pal.'" + +He wished now that he had time to secure something in blue with his +monogram embossed either in the corner or the center, and with some +special envelopes to match. Ordinary paper, purchasable from a regular +shop, didn't seem good enough to be handled by those slender white +fingers he had longed to kiss. There was nothing good enough for them, +and anything less than the unattainable good enough might soil them. + +"Dear me! What a particular, hard-to-please old crank!" said the young +thing who served him after he, the traveling ray of sunshine, had +departed with the most exclusive box of paper in the shop under his arm. + +The fortunate, but to Jimmy Gollop unappreciated, fact is that this +world is at the present moment filled with men who have tried to write +just such letters, and that probably it always has been so since the +first cave man tried to write an excuse to the first cave girl on a +block or stone. Probably that cave man, too, lied with laborious +misgivings. Probably he pleaded everything from urgent business to a +broken head, or explained that the posts were delayed because for +thirty-four days a dinosaurus had been blocking the traffic. And +probably, just as now, the cave girl knew he lied, pouted, sulked, and +then forgave him. Perhaps in those vigorous days she swore. Perhaps some +of them do now. There are things of which, alas! one can never be +certain. + +At 6:32 o'clock, p.m., after fortifying himself with dinner, James +Gollop retired to the writing room of the hotel and began. At 7:35 +o'clock James Gollop thought he could write better in the privacy of his +room where there were no distractions intervened by a lot of fools who +should have been born dumb, but were unfortunately gifted with speech +that was devoted to subjects that were of no importance at all in +comparison with the epistolatory efforts of one James Gollop. By +midnight the persistent correspondent had used a box of stationery, and +had composed letters enough to have formed a book in the style of the +"Ready Letter Writers' Friend," containing everything from letters of +condolence to congratulation, and from stern business to effusive +sentiment The sole letter missing might have been one pertaining to the +birth of twins. And this was what he mailed: + + "DEAR MISS STURGIS: I have atoned for my seeming negligence by + having some violets sent you to-day, fortunately remembering that + those were the flowers for which you expressed a preference on that + memorable occasion when we together visited the horse show. I am + hoping to be in New York by Thursday next when I trust I shall have + the great pleasure of seeing you at your hotel. Please transmit my + cordial good wishes to your mother, and believe me, + + "Most sincerely your friend, + + "J. R. GOLLOP." + +In the morning he blithely whistled and sang as he packed his samples, +and, following his custom, left his route card at the desk when he paid +his bill. + +"Harrisburg, Philadelphia, and then home," he confided as he tossed the +card across to the clerk. "I don't suppose you'll get any mail for me; +but one never knows what the management of the biggest chocolate company +on earth might do. So I always play safe. Business first! That's my +motto. Got it hung on the lattice in my arbor in the garden down home in +Maryland. Keeps me from forgetting that I'm a drummer instead of a +millionaire and that I owe my feed to the firm that gives me work. So +long! Wish you house full and that you keep full too. Good-bye!" + +He danced his merry way through Harrisburg so ebulliently that a string +of dazed patrons breathed not until after he had gone, and in +Philadelphia outdid all his former efforts and doubled his previous +orders. The world was filled with glory and happiness. New York was but +a little way distant and above it there arched a sky of promise. He +returned to his hotel that evening and was handed two telegrams. The +first was from his firm and read: + + "Mrs. Ellen Sturgis, formerly Lansing, opening new place in Easton, + Pennsylvania, wishes you to take full order. Important." + +The second was from the New York florists: + + "Must be mistaken address. Miss Nellie Sturgis unknown at Martha + Putnam. Please advise." + +For a moment he was stunned, then his optimism, buoying him above all +rebuffs, caused him to laugh at himself. + +"Poor girl! Something happened! The New York studio, and the lessons in +painting by that chap with the crazy name blew up and she's had to go +back to work. Sorry! But--by heck--if she wants to take lessons in +painting she shall have a chance some day if I have to teach her myself! +Wonder what happened to the old lady's bank roll? Must have been +something unexpected. Hard luck! Will I go to Easton? By the first train +unless they've got an aeroplane service!" + +At an early hour on the following forenoon Jimmy stood outside a shop in +the fashionable quarter of Easton and read the neat sign: + + The Elite Confectionery will occupy these premises Dec. 10th. + Fittings and decorations being done by Merthyn Cabinet Co. + +Eagerly he advanced to the open door through which the sounds of +industrious hammering and sawing issued, and paused for a moment to +admire the growing interior. + +"She's going to have a nice place, all right," he thought. "It's +harmonious and strictly first class. That's the way to do it." + +He spoke to a man who was polishing some newly laid tile, who replied, +"Mrs. Sturgis? I think she's in her office. It's straight back through +the door. She was there a minute ago, with her daughter." + +Not Mercury of the winged heels advanced more swiftly than did Jimmy +Gollop, nor was Mercury's heart ever fluttering so gladly. In a +disorderly little office, plainly make-shift for the time being, sat the +proprietress whom he instantly recognized as "Mrs. Sturgis, formerly of +Lansing," and at a littered table beside her, checking up a collection +of bills, sat a redheaded girl wearing glasses and whose honest face was +illuminated by a friendly grin showing fine teeth, but who Jimmy +remembered as one always to be seen behind the counter in Lansing. + +"I hope you remember me too, Mr. Gollop," she said, after he had +automatically shaken hands with her mother. "I'm Nellie Sturgis. The one +you used to call 'Sturgis Number Two,'" and the friendly simper she gave +him was about as welcome as a punctured tire in a road race. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +Had Jim Gollop kept a diary, the entries for certain dates might have +ran thus: "Friday: Stood all day in front of Martha Putnam Hotel, +waiting for Candy Girl to come in or out. Very observant small boys in +neighborhood, and policeman who begins to suspect. No luck. + +"Saturday: Stood all day in front of Martha Putnam hotel, waiting for +Candy Girl to come in or out. Small boys a nuisance. Policeman asked me +if I'd lost anything in that neighborhood. No luck. + +"Sunday: Stood all day in front of Martha Putnam hotel waiting for Candy +Girl to come in or out. Boys not so bad. New cop asks questions. Gave +new cop a five. + +"Monday: Got to Martha Putnam early, and at ten o'clock saw taxi arrive +and ducked across street, and----" + +He never could have written the rest of it; for from the taxi there +descended a young lady who handed a light suit case to the porter, asked +him to pay the bill, and would have entered the Martha Putnam had she +not discovered a man nearly blocking her path, with an extended hand, +and with an ingratiating smile on his face, who said, "How lucky to meet +you just as I was about to leave. How are you?" + +The policeman on the corner grinned, pulled his mustache, winked at +himself, jingled the change in his pocket left from that grateful five, +and then swung up his hand to caution the taxi driver as the latter +turned into the cross street. + +"You're a nice one, I must say," she remarked, half petulantly. "You +might at least have dropped me a note to ask how I am getting along, and +whether I am industrious, and all that rot! But did you? No! You took me +to the horse show, and back to the hotel, and then vanished as if you +had withdrawn yourself into your musty old shell!" + +It was on the very tip of his tongue to tell her there on the street of +his long days and nights of hope and fear, of his terrible remissness of +memory, and of his desperation; but he checked himself in time and +expostulated, "I did write you!" and then, his moment of honesty +passing to the tortuous ways of diplomacy asked, "Didn't you get the +letter?" And he inquired as sincerely as if he did not already know that +this was an impossibility because he had not addressed it to her real +name, whatever that might be. + +"No," she said, "I didn't." But he saw by her glance of indignation +toward the hotel entrance that she believed someone therein remiss, and +credited him with thoughtfulness. His spirits raised and he was himself +once more, fencing as best he might for an opening. + +"Well, it doesn't matter, now that I've found you," he said with such +profound gladness in his voice that it caused her to glance at him, half +bewildered, and half curiously, and then to play her own part, as if to +prevent him from betraying too much. + +"I've been away for three whole days. Went up to visit some friends in +Montreal. Had a glorious time. Had my first lesson in skating and----But +tell me, how long shall you be here in town?" + +He was swiftly depressed by the recollection that already he had +overstayed his time by a whole day, and must at the latest depart that +night or--resign his job! A job without her was nothing. She without a +job an impossibility! He bowed to necessity and said, almost somberly, +"I've got to pull out to-night. I must! I've been here now for three +days, most of the time right here in front of----" and then flushed like +an embarrassed boy, checked himself, and was immediately glad that she +did not seem to notice his unfinished sentence. + +"Well, then, this whole day is yours," she said, gayly. "First of all, +come in until I run upstairs a moment. You can wait in the reception +room. Second, I'm gorgeously, terribly, awfully hungry, and you can take +me somewhere to lunch, or if you wish to call it so--breakfast. Thirdly, +you can then think over what we can do. I refuse to go to Jorgensen's +this day. It's been rather a poky all-work and no-play time for me ever +since you were here and--come inside. I shan't be more than five +minutes. You dear old thing! You are an oasis in the desert and I'm as +happy to see you as if I had never had a friend on earth!" + +He was too stupefied with delight to take advantage of her temporary +absence to conduct adroit inquiries at the desk. Indeed, he was drugged +with happiness, and sat like a big half-embarrassed, half-dreaming +youth, twirling his hat in his hands, pulling off and putting on his +gloves, and tracing patterns with his stick on the carpet until she +reappeared, and then he was strangely lacking in self-confidence and +readiness. + +He took her to one of the best uptown restaurants for breakfast and she +ate with an appetite that pleased him, giving, as it did, evidence of +glorious health. And then came his second fortunate moment of the day. + +"I'd tell you a secret, Mr. Sobersides," she said with a brisk little +laugh, "if I wasn't a little bit afraid you'd give me away to Mamma, You +know how horribly conventional she is--and--and it's only lately that I +came to think one could trust you with a secret of this sort." + +"Secrets," he assured her with a grin, "are my specialty. Secrets. Why +it's my business to know secrets!" + +"All right! Here goes!" she said, leaning toward him and displaying a +mischievous smile. "You remember I told you I intended to have a studio +of my own? Well, Mother set her foot down on it as if I had invited her +to share partnership in a snake. Oh, you should have heard her. You +know how she can freeze one out! She said that if I thought she would +permit me to become one of a crowd of mongrel Bohemians and such, she +would drag me off to the Wilmarths' with her, or cancel all painting +lessons, or--Honestly! I think she threatened to have me sent to an +Orphans' Home, or a hospital for the feeble minded. Well, I'm twenty-two +years old, and Mamma doesn't seem to know it yet. Also, I'm able to take +care of myself, and to have an idea of what I want. I'm going to be a +painter, Jorgensen himself says I have talent, and between you and me, +my sketches were the only ones done by his pupils that caused the +critics to say much at his last exhibition. They gave me a quarter of a +column and all the other girls together got a paragraph. Wasn't it +lovely? So I'm going to have a studio of my own, and that's the secret! +Understand?" + +"Not quite," he admitted. + +"Stupid! Don't you see, Mamma mustn't know I have one, and so no one +else must, either. Honestly, you're the only one within the charmed +circle up to now. Listen! I've taken a studio in MacDougall alley under +the name of Mary Allen. No one must know but what a real Mary Allen +really has that studio. Down Acre I'm going to be Mary Allen and no one +else. Now don't you start in to shake your head and look shocked." + +It dawned on him that this to him was like an anchor to a ship adrift. +He was in the conspiracy! He was participant in a location and a name! +He leaned back and laughed softly with exultation which she mistook for +amused support. + +"I swear to you," he said, lifting his right hand with mock solemnity, +"that as long as you have the lease on this place, wherever it is, I +shall know you only as Mary Allen! I shall write you there as Mary +Allen! I shall send cards and flowers to Mary Allen! And I hereby +solemnly swear never to divulge to anyone, even the queen's torturers, +who Mary Allen is, that she is any other than Mary Allen, a poor +struggling artist who lives by work on pickles, jam, and pate de foie +gras! Is that oath enough?" + +"Good," she responded, gleefully. "First rate! All we need to complete +the plot is some perfectly absurd title for you, and we have it +complete. How would Percival St. Clair do?" + +"Make it Bill Jones, the Pirate, and I'll agree!" he declared. + +"Bill Jones, Pirate, you are henceforth," she laughed. "Just fancy you, +of all people, leading a double life under the name of Bill Jones!" and +again she laughed so merrily that he joined in without reserve. +Fortunately there was none near save a staid old waiter to criticize +their freedom, and of him they were unaware. + +He was still desirous, however, of inducing her to betray her real name, +and so rather adroitly asked, "But I can't see why you didn't take the +lease under your own name. Surely this town is big enough so that all +leases aren't published, or if so, it seems a safe bet that your mother +never would read them daily. Why not under your own name?" + +"There you go, spoiling the sport!" she declared. "Do you know where +MacDougall Alley is? No? Well, I'll tell you. It's but a little way west +of Washington Square, is a blind alley in an old section, and is now one +of the best studio districts in New York. It's so famous that every once +in so often it is written up by enterprising special writers, and I have +seen pictures of it and its studios and frequent comments on the work +being done there by this or that artist or sculptor. So you see that, +sooner or later, Mamma would certainly hear of it if I used my own name. +That's the reason for Mary Allen!" + +"And for Bill Jones. Don't forget that low-browed ruffian, Bill Jones, +the pirate of the piece," he replied, secretly baffled, but outwardly +amused. + +Thinking it over afterward, Jimmy frequently wondered what ever became +of that wonderful day. He was assured that he had met the Candy Girl at +ten o'clock in the forenoon, and that he had bade her good-by in front +of the Martha Putnam Hotel at four fifteen, leaving himself not one +second to spare for reaching the railway station and by mathematical +computation that meant that he had been with her for six hours and +fifteen minutes; but as far as his sense of ecstasy was involved, that +day was certainly no longer than an hour in length. He recalled that she +took him to a private picture exhibit and that he was hopeful that her +signature on some of her work would give him knowledge of her name; but +that these were all signed with a funny little character rather than +with a name or initials; that he challenged her to show him the +published criticisms of her work, and that she again baffled him, +unwittingly, by declaring that she would mail them to him, and then +later decided that it was immodest to boast and would show them to him +only after she had repeated her success and felt her reputation +established. + +Looking into the doorway of the Pullman he saw two other commercial +travelers whom in other days he would have joyously rushed forward to +greet, glad of good companionship. Time and again he had altered his +route that he might journey with them; but now he withdrew through the +corridor into the adjoining sleeper, hailed the Pullman conductor and +exchanged his berth for a stateroom in another car whither he retired, +shut and locked the door, and sat down like a man in a dream. He craved +privacy that he might be alone to review that wonderful day and dream. +Furthermore, the complexities of his situation had been augmented by her +last and hastily uttered caution just before he had parted with her: +"I'm going to take Dad into my confidence the first time he comes to New +York where I can talk with him--or possibly I may do so by letter. But +don't you say anything to him when you see him. You might upset things. +I wrote him that you took me to the Horse Show, and--well--he replied +rather oddly, it struck me! And--see here, I may as well tell you +something! Dad doesn't like you. You see, he doesn't know you as well as +I do. Mother's all right but--If I were you I'd steer clear of Dad +until--I'm going to have a talk with him! You know how obstinate he can +be, and--He once said that you lived in a universe that had no stars and +but one sun, and that this single sun was yourself. Keep away from Dad!" + +His surmise that she was the daughter of a widow had thus been upset. It +was the first time he had been made aware that her father was alive. +Henceforth he must be circumspect with every male customer on his list +except jobbers and wholesalers. Any one of them might be the father of +Mary Allen, concealing a profound disapproval or active dislike. His +only hope was that this inimical one would betray his identity by +reference to the Horse Show! + +He was unaware that daylight had given way to dark, that the lights were +on, and that he was still staring blankly out of the window until the +steward from the dining car tapped on his door and asked if he wished +supper. + +"Yes, served in here," he replied, and so continued that pleasant +process of review and unpleasant consideration of obstacles. Not the +least ground for his happiness was the certainty that at last she did +have some name by which he could address her and a permanent address, +and--he liked that name, Mary Allen! + +When he arrived at the hotel in Media City he discovered a strange air +of depression in the demeanor of the porters, bellboys and clerks until +he signed his name, when the ice thawed to a noticeable degree. + +"What's the matter here?" he demanded of the girl behind the desk. "Am I +no longer popular around this caravanserai?" + +"You are, Mr. Gollop," she replied with a laugh, "but the truth is that +since there are two of you we have to act cautiously until we find out +which one of you it is! Here, boy! Show Mr. Gollop up to sixty-one." + +"I thought it was you, sir," said the boy with a grin that was at least +unrestrained. "I offered to bet it was you, and not that old stiff what +looks like you." + +"Hello, Jim. Glad to see you again," said the manager, appearing in his +private office door. "Since that last trip of yours your double has been +here twice. First time everybody called him 'Jimmy,' and I had to +apologize again. Since then we've all been rather shy." + +"Oh, you mean that judge, eh? Pleasant old party, isn't he!" + +"Pleasant and palatable as castor oil mixed with asafetida," replied the +manager with a scowl. "But see here, Jimmy, he cuts considerable ice +here in this state. Don't forget that. And he doesn't like you at all, +at all. What he said when I explained that there was a drummer named +Gollop who looked like him wasn't flattering to you or to my sense of +observation. Seemed to take it as an insult. Said you should be kept out +of this state. Called you an impertinent ass." + +Jimmy looked prodigiously hurt for a moment, and was then rather angry. + +"Shucks! That's no way to act," he declared. "I can't help how I look +any more than he can. I reckon that either of us, or at least it goes as +far as I'm concerned, would change his looks if he could. If I had my +way I'd be as pretty as a cinema star and twice as soulful. Anyhow, I'd +look as different from that Judge as I possibly could. His face and +disposition would raise storm waves on a lake if it were filled with +glue. And he'd better look out! If he thinks he can run around this end +of my territory knocking me everywhere he goes I'll give him something +to talk about. I tried to be a good fellow with him, and--well!--I'm +just as sore as he is!" + +The manager shook his head solemnly and rubbed his chin as if recalling +really unpleasant recollections. + +"Don't blame you," he sympathized. "He's a pompous buck, all right. He's +out to get the Republican nomination for the governorship. Papers all +mention him regularly now. And the nomination in this state's just about +as good as the election. That's a cinch. He's a standpatter of the +gilt-edged variety. The only issue on which he hasn't shot his mouth off +is on votes for women. Nobody quite knows how he stands on that issue, +because he keeps dumb as an oyster on that point. But--I'm telling you +all this so you can see that in a way it's unlucky you look so much +alike." + +"Good Lord!" declared Jimmy. "He ought to be mighty thankful he does +look like me. I'm a help, not a hindrance, to his campaign, if he had +sense enough to know it. Besides, as far as I can reason, politics isn't +of much more importance to the average individual than a rather pleasant +and easy dose of medicine he has to take about once every four years and +from which he never expects any benefit." + +"Not so in this state," asserted the manager. "If you think there's no +interest in politics here, you'll find out differently before you make +your territory. Politics? It's all anyone will think of or talk about +for the next six weeks!" + +"Politics may come and go, but chocolate runs forever!" declared Jim +with a wag of his finger, and then as the door blew open letting in a +draft of cold air, "Say, looks blizzardish, doesn't it?" + +"If we don't get four feet of snow within the next two days we'll be +lucky," grumbled the manager. "Last winter at this time half the +railways were blocked, and for eighteen hours the mails couldn't get +through." + +"Cheerful, merry cuss you are!" retorted Jimmy. "You certainly do fill +everyone you meet chuck full of hope and bright thoughts. Just the same, +I don't care to be snow bound here. But I think neither snow nor +politics will bother me at all." + +All of which proved him a bad prophet, as he learned within the next +forty-eight hours; for both snow and politics did enter into his +affairs, first because it snowed as if intent on smothering the earth, +and second, because every woman with whom he dealt insisted on bringing +up the subject of national suffrage for women, even the discussion of +chocolates being for the time relegated to a secondary place. + +"I traveled through the middle west after a drought; was on the coast +when they fought free silver; was in the northwest when it campaigned +for the referendum; in Wisconsin when they fought cigarettes and in +Maine when the original thirsty population tried to upset the +prohibition law; but of all places I've been in, and all campaigns I've +been through the outskirts of, this woman's vote thing here has the rest +looking friendly, peaceful and uninteresting!" he said to himself after +the second day. "I suppose women go to the polls in Heaven, and +according to reports it's a pretty well run sort of place, so maybe it'd +work down here." + +His soliloquy was brought to an end by the appearance of a bell boy +bearing a telegram. It was from his firm. + + "Go Yimville Saturday attend court proceedings re discharge of + Intermountain General Supply Company from bankruptcy Roncavour. + Matador our attorney Wetherby Carmen." + +He sat down on the edge of his sample case and said aloud, "Well, if +that isn't rotten luck! What in the deuce does Roncavour mean?" + +He rummaged through his grip and found the firm's code book and +interpreted therefrom, "'Important to show courtesy for future business +relations when credit fully restored.' And 'Matador' means 'Introduce +yourself to' and 'Carmen' means 'Have notified him you are coming.'" + +"Me the diplomat!" said Jimmy with a sigh, now opening a time table. And +again he was not particularly happy, because Yimville was a mountain +town up in another county, and the sole train he could take with any +degree of comfort was one that would land him at his destination at one +o'clock. A returning passenger train at 4:30 in the evening would bring +him back to his junction but it meant the loss of an entire day. It was +strange how much more important time had become to him--that is--how +much keener he was to return to New York at the earliest possible +moment. He had even begun the formation of a scheme whereby he had hoped +to steal two whole days out of his trip, and that, too, without the +knowledge of his firm. Such things have been done now and then by +gentlemen of the road. + +"The only thing that can save me from going up there is for the snow to +fall twice as fast," said Jimmy, and looked hopefully out through the +window of the sample room. The outside air was filled with big, gently +falling flakes, and already the street was deeply paved by its heavy +blanket. Groups of boys released from school were pelting one another +gleefully, and Jimmy observed that the snow on the pavement was already +high enough to cover their knees. A big electric sweeper was struggling +to keep the tram lines clear. Down past the corner he could glimpse a +tiny section of a park. The trees therein were like white pyramids, +their branches bending heavily beneath the weight. On the roof of the +building opposite the hotel a mass of telephone wires, each with its +little drift piled up as if the air had been rendered motionless, was +being scrutinized by a lineman on whose legs were spurs for climbing +poles. The man appeared to be quite anxious. Jimmy's spirits rose +bouyantly, finding in each view some hopeful sign. + +"Of course they'll keep the main railways open," he remarked, "and if it +blocks these branch lines I can have a good excuse for not going up +there. And it'll be all the better if the wires to Yimville fall down, +because it'll back up the account of the storm that I'll hand in as an +explanation why I didn't go. It's a good old world, after all!" + +Indeed he passed a happy evening, playing billiards with another drummer +who was a very good cue, and went hopefully to bed. He awoke hopefully, +and through his bedroom window saw that the snow was still falling and +that it was deep. Very deep! At the breakfast table the headlines of the +morning paper announced that traffic was disorganized for the time +being, and that the wires in many directions were down. Also that by +strenuous efforts and the aid of relays of snow plows the main lines of +railways had been kept open, although timetables were slightly +confused. And then after smoking his morning cigar and exchanging jokes +with anyone who looked pleasant and happy, he inquired at the desk as to +the possibilities of reaching Yimville. + +He loitered and whistled and hummed while the clerk phoned to the +station. + +"All right," said the clerk, smiling as if bestowing glad news. "Line up +that way will be clear by noon. Wires are down, but that doesn't matter +to you, I know. You're still in luck!" + +Jimmy's hopes went smash, and resignedly he turned away. He was in for +it, and was too conscientious to deliberately lie to his firm about the +impossibility of getting through. Promptly on time for his train he was +at the station and checked his baggage through to the "next jump," thus +relieving himself of impediments on this diplomatic side step of his to +Yimville. He boarded the train, but finding no one who looked very +approachable, and feeling eager for companionship, walked through its +entire length of three coaches, without discovering a single person he +had ever seen. Indeed, the coaches were nearly empty, as if traffic +were badly disrupted. The train caught up with a snow plow working +through great drifts in a cutting, and had to wait Jimmy got out and +watched proceedings with great interest. There was something fascinating +about the way those two locomotives drew back and then charged the snow +drifts furiously, and stirred up a miniature storm of white. Also, the +storm had ceased, and once the sun broke through for a few minutes. +Jimmy was glad for this, because now that a storm could no longer work +in his favor, he preferred everything to clear up. Sunshine fitted his +temperament. It was a good old sun, after all! + +He did not even complain when his train arrived at Yimville a full hour +late. He had never been there before. It was a pretty place, he thought, +with its white hills all around it, and its red station under a roof +that looked to be made of white stuff three feet in thickness, and a +town omnibus with fat driver who waddled importantly, and a half dozen +loafers drawling comments. He was the sole passenger to descend and was +starting toward the omnibus when accosted by a man in a full coat who +said, "This way, sir. Mr. Wetherby couldn't come to meet you, as he is +makin' a talk up there now. We wasn't any too sure you'd get here, on +account of this plaguey snow fall, but he sent me down to make sure that +if you did you'd get to the court house on the jump. Right around the +corner of the depot is our old bob sled." + +"That was decent of Wetherby. Hadn't expected to be met. Good old +Wetherby!" said Jimmy, climbing into the rear seat of the sleigh and +pulling a comfortable lap robe around his legs. A ripping team of bays, +sturdy, and eager to be off, fully occupied the driver's attention. The +sleigh bells sang a tune to thrill the blood. The steam from the horses' +nostrils blew out in regular spurts, ending in rhythmic and quickly +dissipating clouds. Jimmy Gollop enjoyed it all, and was glad he had +come. He leaned back and admired the road that stretched for a mile and +a half between the railway station and town. + +"Some town!" commented Jimmy with enthusiasm born of delight in +admiration for clean, well kept, modern houses. "And--Hello!--Pretty +good little stores, too. And there's certain to be a town square. Whole +town looks on it of course. Always that way in county seats. Square, +court house in the middle, lot of trees. Hitching posts, maybe, with a +chain around the square. Lot of farmer's teams tied there. Some place, +all right!" + +And his predictions were not far wrong, as was proven when the horses +came jingling out into the streets facing the square, the court house, +and the teams tied to the hitching posts. There were many of them, the +horses blanketed and unblanketed, drowsing where they stood. There were +stores and shops with a few pedestrians moving about their business--a +sleepy panorama of winter life in a nice, clean, comfortable little +town. + +The sleigh halted with a flourish in front of the court house steps and +two men rushed out as if astonished, then hastened to solicitously +welcome Jimmy, who was somewhat puzzled by their demeanor. + +"Mighty glad to see you, Judge!" declared the one who first clutched his +hand. "They told us down at the station that the railroad up to +Princetown from Media City was completely blocked. So we had given you +up. But you can see how interested in what you have to say the folks +around Yimville are when you get inside. Yes siree! Got the court house +full. Seems as if we had every farmer from forty miles around here, +and----" he stopped and chuckled loudly--"every farmer's wife and every +spinster! The women are certainly mighty anxious to know how you stand +on votes for 'em! Talk about home industries for the men, and the usual +bunk about protective tariff, but--go easy about national votes for +women, Judge!--Go easy. The men folks don't want it and they dassn't say +so for fear they'll get hit over the head with a maul or a fryin' pan at +home. Get me? If you say yes, that you're a woman's righter out and out, +you'll secretly lose the men's votes, but catch the women's. If you say +you're against 'em, Judge, it's most likely you're a plumb goner because +the women'll vote against you, and all the men that's for it'll vote +against you, and all them that dassn't do anything without askin' +permission from their wives'll hop you, and others won't count. So go +easy, Judge! Go easy! Keep on the fence as if you were a rooster that +had got frozen on the top rail. Bend a little this way and a little +that, so's to make both sides think you're for 'em. Say a heap that +means nothin' at all! Hurry up. They're waitin'!" + +At first Jimmy was half-paralyzed by misunderstanding. Next he was +half-hypnotized by the voluble man's stream of rapid talk. Then his eye +wandered to a big sign on a board wired up to a pillar of the court +house entrance, where he read: + +"GRAND PUBLIC RALLY! The distinguished Jurist, Hon. James +Woodworth-Granger, Judge of the Fourth District Court of Princetown, +will on Saturday, December 1st, address the voters of Yimville on the +issues of the campaign. TURNOUT! TURNOUT! and hear our next governor on +vital issues for the state welfare. COME ONE! COME ALL! EVERY MAN AND +WOMAN WELCOME! Time 2 o'clock P. M. sharp! Place, County Court House. +DON'T FORGET!" + +He digested this in a flash, and comprehended the situation. +"But--but--" he said, "Wetherby was to settle that affair of the +Intermountain General Supply Company to-day and----" + +"Oh, that was settled this forenoon, Judge," soothingly explained the +other welcomer. "Court got it out of the way so's the court room could +be open for the speech making this afternoon. Hello! Hear 'em? That's +the Yimville Silver Comet Band. Bill--I mean Mister Perry--has given the +band the tip you've got here. Come on! Now's the time!" + +Any man less jocular, less nimble witted, and self-possessed than Mr. +James Gollop, would have then and there declared himself, and his +identity; but Mr. James Gollop's wits and humor, running in team and +usually at a gallop, were now racing like lightning. It was too late to +be a diplomat in behalf of his firm's future business with the +Intermountain people; and this boob of a country judge, pompous, slow, +egotistical, had been carrying a hatchet for one Jim Gollop ever since +he had suffered through the peculiar likeness to this unmentionable +candy drummer and--Jimmy suddenly grinned, buttoned his coat, cleared +his throat and in ponderous dignity bent stiffly forward and said, "I am +here! I am at your disposal! It will afford me great pleasure to express +my views to such an attentive audience. Let us make haste!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +The distinguished Judge, as impersonated by that rank and, for the +moment, highly irresponsible, drummer, was led up a broad flight of +stone stairs and two men opened two big green baize doors in front of +him. The Silver Cornet Band played "See the Conquering Hero" with so +much zest that trombones cracked, clarionets made frantic goose-notes +and the cornets sounded as if made of anything other than silver. The +commodious court room was, despite the outer inclemency of road and +weather, packed with men and women who stood up and yelled a welcome +that for the moment dazed the impostor; but he recovered his nerve and +mischievousness instantly, and no actor ever fell into his part more +completely than did he. The Judge was ponderous, but Jimmy went him one +better. The Judge "threw a chest" when he had an audience, but Jimmy +swelled until his buttons strained. The Judge walked like the late +Henry Irving playing Mathias in The Bells, but Jimmy's feet dragged far +more lugubriously. Jimmy had observed that the Judge assumed what is +known as the "grave judicial" or otherwise "frozen face," and he +therefore looked as much like a wooden image as was possible. Not +immortal Caesar dead and turned to clay could have looked more claylike, +for Jimmy looked like a whole brickyard. He moved austerely up the main +aisle, now and then giving to right and left an imitation of the Judge's +peculiarly stiff and condescending bow, mounted the platform, +patronizingly shook hands with those thereon who hastened to greet him, +and then, when the band subsided for want of wind, advanced to the front +of the stage and was about to speak when he remembered the Judge's +procedure and deliberately buttoned his coat, shot his cuffs, barked a +stentorian "Ahem!" and poured himself a glass of water which he drank +with almost painful deliberation, still affecting the Judge's +mannerisms. + +"Fellow citizens, I stand before you this afternoon," began Jimmy, in +the hush, "first to apologize for my delay in reaching your welcoming +and friendly greetings which, as you who have traveled so far on this +momentous occasion, may appreciate as being unavoidable. Knowing that +you would be here regardless of winter's snows and winds to hear me +expound my views, I can assure you that had it been necessary to come on +snow shoes to prevent your loyalty to me from being in vain, I should +have made the attempt, and perhaps like the youth who cried 'Excelsior,' +might last have been seen plodding through the shades of night into your +Alpine fastness, still striving to reach you." + +Unwittingly he had made a flattering allusion to the locality, whose +residents firmly believed it a rival of the Alps in scenic glories and +hence he was well applauded. + +"Didn't know the Judge was such a good campaigner," whispered one of the +local politicians to his neighbor. + +"That's the mush for 'em," assented the other. + +Mr. James Gollop, beginning to feel more thoroughly at home, was now +thinking with ease and adroitness. Needless to note that he was mentally +grinning. + +"Inasmuch as I arrived so unavoidably late, and that the early darkness +of winter renders the roads so difficult for those who have long +journeys to make, I shall somewhat curtail the remarks I have in mind," +he said, pompously, and took another long drink of water. + +"The great issue before the nation to-day, my fellow citizens, is Tariff +Reform." And then he drawled and droned through a lot of stock arguments +familiar to every man, woman and child in America, but in the meantime +kept a furtive eye on the clock at the end of the court room, and +gleefully observed that the afternoon was waning, and that outside it +threatened an early twilight, intensified by a new fall of snow. He +decided that it was time to get in his precious work of assisting the +Judge's campaign with the final straws. + +"Now, my friends," he said, confidentially and observing that his +audience was growing restless, "I have given you the customary platform +remarks concerning tariff and free trade; but I feel that I am in the +hands of my friends, so I shall tell you that personally it doesn't +matter a hang to me whether we have free trade or protection or tariff +reform, or any of that wash!" + +A bomb shell dropped from a Zeppelin could have had but little more +effect. Everyone sat up and gasped; particularly the two or three local +politicians on the platform who half arose from their seats to protest. + +"All I care about, to tell the honest truth," said the ingenious Jimmy, +"is to get elected to the fat job of governing this state. It pays well, +and I, as well as you, are aware that in addition there are some few +pickings and perquisites which are well worth having." + +Somebody in the audience cried, "Shame! Shame!" and a few more hissed; +but Jimmy quelled the rising storm by holding up his hand for silence. + +"Listen and have patience, My Friends!" he appealed, oracularly. "Other +candidates from time immemorial have come to you with a lot of talk, but +I am the first one who has ever dared to be honest with you. Isn't that +true?" + +Some of his party adherents, doing their best to uphold him to the last, +loudly assented, and yelled, "Give the Judge a chance to finish! Let him +finish!" + +In tense silence and expectancy they settled back in their seats. + +"Politics are to me like the law," he said, thoughtfully. "All bunkum! A +man comes to a lawyer to get a tiny agreement drawn that if he had the +brains of a cow he could draw just as well himself. The lawyer looks +profoundly intellectual, terribly wise, considerably puzzled as if this +document might require a further course in a law school to be able to +handle, and so forth, but I tell you, My Friends, that down in his +innermost mind all he is thinking is, 'How much can I get out of this +gazabo for this simple little job?' and then he taps the poor victim for +all he thinks the latter will stand, pockets the fee, and after his +client has gone, hands a memorandum to a four-dollar-a-week clerk and +says, 'Jones, fill up a contract form with that stuff and mail it to +this John Doe person in Squashville.'" + +The crowd by this time was hopelessly divided, some believing the orator +facetious, and the others for the first time in their lives having +sympathy with a lawyer and believing they had for the first time met one +who told the truth. + +"Most judges, My Friends, are elected to the bench because their fellow +lawyers think they will prove easy marks after they get there, and not +because they are supposed to be particularly clever in the law. The best +judge is the one that whacks his decisions up so that Lawyer Skinem +wins this week, and Lawyer Squeezehard the next, and Lawyer Gouge the +next, and so on. If he can satisfy the lawyers he becomes renowned, and +as far as the litigants are concerned, they don't matter at all. If they +had any sense they wouldn't resort to the law anyway. Any fool knows +that!" + +Wetherby got up behind him, red faced and angry, to protest, but the +crowd howled him down. And Wetherby, muttering, stormed indignantly out +of the court room. Jimmy observed that he did so by a corner entrance +near at hand and saw through the door that had been left open that it +led into a cloak room and thence out to the street. He noted this with +satisfaction. It increased his daring. Also by now it was getting dusk +and someone turned on the electric lights. + +A tall, angular, mannish sort of woman, raw-boned, shrill, got up in +about the center of the audience, and said, "You've been honest I take +it, in what you said this far. But you don't dast to be honest, I'll +bet, if I ask you a plain out and out question, Mister?" + +"You ask it and see if I'm not," retorted Jimmy combatively. + +"Then what's your honest opinion about votes for women? That's what +interests a lot of us women more than all you've been talking about. +What about general national suffrage, eh?" + +The woman sat down and immediately around her was a group that +vociferously and shrilly applauded, and Jimmy knew at once that this +must be the militant suffragette party of that vicinity in full force +and that it had come to try to put the Judge on record. + +"First," he said, once more assuming great pomposity, "may I ask the +lady who just spoke, whether she does, or does not represent any +authoritative body of women of this grand and noble state?" + +"You should know that, Judge. Don't pretend you don't; because you have +seen me at a dozen meetings before, when I asked the same question and +you hemmed and hawed, and straddled the fence and gave no answer at all +that meant anything at all. You know well enough that I am the President +of the Women's Suffrage Society of this state, and that sooner or later +you've got to answer my question. Are you going to do it to-day, or do +we have to keep following you?" + +Jimmy looked carefully over to a chair at the edge of the stage where, +on his entry, he had deposited his hat and coat despite the invitation +of one of his supposed henchmen to hang them in the cloak room. Almost +involuntarily he edged closer toward that chair before making his reply, +and took time to drink another glass of water. + +"Since that question has been so repeatedly asked, and hitherto, I +admit, evaded, I shall now endeavor to make myself completely, plainly, +and fully understood on that subject," he said, impressively, and waited +until in the silence nothing could be heard save suppressed breathings. + +"As I understand it, I am asked what is my personal opinion concerning +the expediency and the justice of granting women of majority age the +right of franchise in both national as well as state elections. Am I +right?" + +"That's it, precisely," came the voice of the woman who had asked the +question, and there was a considerable note of triumph in her tone as if +at last she had run her fox to earth. + +"Then I say," said Jimmy, slowly, and emphatically, "that it is my +honest opinion that women should do as their mothers before them did, +stay home, work, and raise their families and keep out of politics. +Stop! Stop! Let me say what I have to say! I can't make myself heard if +you hiss and yell!" + +Some of them were on their feet. Some of the men applauded. Most of the +women hissed; but they slowly settled back to hear him conclude. + +"I say that a large majority--a very large majority!--of women don't +know enough about politics to vote, and that a big percentage haven't +brains enough to vote intelligently for a town dog catcher! And that if +I had my way any woman who wanted to vote would be arrested and given +six months in an imbecile asylum!" + +And then, before anyone could surmise his intention, and in the midst of +a wild pandemonium of noise he made a jump for his hat and coat, took a +flying leap for the cloak room door, jumped through, bolted it on the +inside, and like a flash was out in the street. The noise from the court +room he had left behind sounded as if a riot had broken loose. There +were shouts, screams, yells, and sundry intimations that a certain part +of Yimville's population wanted either his scalp, or to decorate him +with tar and feathers. A boy driving a delivery wagon reduced to sleigh +runners was passing by and Jimmy hastily waylaid him. + +"Sonny," he said, "I'm in a hurry to get to the railway station to catch +the four-thirty train. I've got just five minutes and if you make it for +me, you get a five dollar bill." + +That boy was a genius of finance. He lost small time in making a +decision. + +"Hop in, Mister. We'll make it or have a runaway!" + +But short as was the delay, it had given time for the crowd in the court +house to fairly heave itself into the street. And foremost in the lot +charged a tall, angular woman, screaming to her followers, "Come on! +Come on! Don't let him get away!" + +The boy brought his reins down on the horse's back with a loud thwack +and let out a yell for speed. The horse jumped like a sprinter taking +off the tape and it was then that the large angry woman who headed the +militant section of the state league, seeing that pursuit was futile, +found a pile of bricks conveniently left by some repairer and with +rather perfect aim let a chunk fly at the retreating orator. It caught +him neatly in its passage and although it barely grazed him, nearly +knocked him from his seat. + +"Wow!" he shouted. "That was a close one!" and then rubbing his scalp, +burst into roars of delighted laughter as the mob was left behind. "That +woman ought to get out of the bush league and pitch for the New Yorks! +Who said a woman could never throw a brick?" + +The boy, intent on earning the five, was on his feet and bending over +the dash board exhorting his horse into a run. The improvised sleigh was +careening madly as it took corners and an occasional bump, and in the +last glimpse Jimmy had of the court house square it looked as if a hive +of human beings had begun to swarm, or else that a nest of hornets had +been so badly disturbed that its occupants were undecided whither to +direct their stings. He looked hopefully forward as the station came in +sight, expecting to see the train standing there panting after its +previous run; but no train was in sight He began to speculate on which +way he could turn to escape the tempest of wrath he had aroused in case +he had missed the train. He doubted if he could induce the boy to take +him to the nearest town, and moreover, had no idea of the distance. +Also he doubted if he could escape a mob there, provided the news got +through. For once in his life he began to doubt the wisdom of practical +jokes. + +The boy brought the horse up skating on its heels, by throwing his full +weight back on the lines and shouting pacifyingly "Whoa-a-a! Who-oa, +Bill!" + +Jimmy leaped, out on the platform shouting, "Wait right there, son, till +I get some change. I think we're in time and--anyhow, you get the +fiver!" + +He ran into the station and, finding the window closed, opened the +office door. A placid, disinterested young man wearing an eyeshade, who +was sitting with his feet on a window desk and reading a novel, looked +up at him and said, "Well?" + +"Has that four-thirty train gone through?" demanded Jimmy, anxiously. + +"Sixteen? Naw! She's off the map as far as I know." + +Jimmy's spirits ebbed like mercury in a typhoon. + +"And--when will the next train come through?" he asked, striving to +speak calmly. + +"The next train? That'll be a freight. It's due now from Morgan City. +But you won't go on that?" + +"Why?" questioned Jimmy, grasping at straws. + +"Two reasons. One that she doesn't carry passengers, and the other that +she doesn't stop here at all. Just whistles up there by the tank, and +goes lobbin' along on her way." + +"But--but couldn't you stop her in case of emergency?" asked Jimmy, +feeling like a petitioner. + +"Only thing I could stop her for would be on an order from the train +despatcher," said the agent, with a grin of sympathy. "I'm not the owner +of the line, you know. They don't thank me for stoppin' heavy freights +on an upgrade such as they have to climb to get through here, just to +ask 'em how the weather is where they come from, or what time it is, or +to send a message to the engineer's beautiful daughter. Guess you'll +have to wait for Number Sixteen, Mister, or, if you're in too big a +hurry, hoof it. It's only eighteen miles to the next stop. Sorry!" + +And then he yawned as if bored, and deliberately resumed his interrupted +reading. Jimmy realized that he was knocking on the locked and unbending +doors of an inexorable fate, and backed out. He went outside and hailed +his rescuer, who had found a piece of gum that he was extricating from +some wrappings that indicated a rather dirty pocket. + +"Son, my brave youth, how far, I beseech thee, is it to the nearest town +from here?" Jimmy asked. + +"On a railroad?" queried the boy, biting off the tip end of the stick of +gum and testing its flavor. + +"Of course. What good is a town that's not on the railroad?" + +"I guess it's about seven miles to Mountain City up to the north, and +about eleven to Hargus. Hargus is down south." + +Jimmy thought for a moment and then said, winningly, "And do you think +you could drive me with old Bill as far as Mountain City?" + +"Not on your life! Me drive you there? Humph! What's the matter with +Jones? He runs a livery stable. I deliver groceries for the Emporium +and--say! Mister!--if they find out I drove you down here for that five +dollars I ain't got yet, I'd get fired! Now about that five, did you get +change?" + +Jimmy appreciated that boy's business sense and gave him a five dollar +bill that caused the young man much glee. + +"Now," said Jimmy, cajolingly, "if you were to drive me to Mountain +City, and I were to give you ten, and you were to go back to the +Emporium with a letter I would write them when we got to Mountain City, +a letter that would cause them to pat you on the back and maybe make you +a clerk in the store; or if they didn't do that and fired you, and I was +to get you a nice job somewhere in New York, maybe you might find the +way to Mountain City, eh?" + +The boy suddenly stopped masticating, and looked at him doubtfully. +Jimmy assumed his most seductive grin, took his wallet from his pocket +and exposed several bills, and fingered them with something like a +caress. + +"I could find the way all right, and I guess the roads could be got +across somehow, and I'd like to make that money--Gee! I never had that +much in my life! But--somehow it don't look square to treat the Emporium +that way!" + +Suddenly Jimmy was aware of a rumbling and roaring and puffing, and saw +the expected freight train approaching. It whistled at the tank, true to +form, and Jimmy ran across to the edge of the platform as it came +panting along, and stared at it wistfully. He wished that he were expert +in boarding trains, and then, as it passed, decided that it must be +traveling at a rate of at least a hundred miles an hour, although it was +barely doing fifteen. He made a desperate clutch at the rails of the +caboose, felt as if his arm had been jerked from its socket and his +heels into the air, and then found himself sitting in the middle of the +track with his hat some ten or fifteen feet away and a cooling mixture +of snow and cinders up his trousers legs. He got up, felt himself over +to learn that he was unbroken, and recovered his hat. + +"By gee whiz!" he exclaimed. "Never knew it was so hard to hop aboard +one of those things before. Hoboes have it on me all right! My +education's been neglected." + +His solicitous friend, the boy, had come to see if there was anything +left of him and said, "Hope you ain't hurted much, Mister? Humph! I +could have caught her all right, I bet you! You don't know how. The +minute you catch hold you want to jump. If you wait you can't do +nothin'. But I'll say you did look funny, all right, with your heels and +your coat tails and your hat all flyin' at onct!" + +"Well, I'm glad I amused you, anyway," said Jimmy, cheerfully. "Now +about going to Mountain City, where were we? Oh, yes! The Emporium. +Would you go if I got their consent--for a ten dollar bill you know?" + +The boy brightened visibly. + +"If you can get old Wade to say I can, you bet I'll go!" said the boy +with marked enthusiasm. "He's got a 'phone, and there's one in the +depot. Ask him!" + +Jimmy hastened inside as fast as his stiffness would permit and was +starting toward the ticket office to make a request for permission to +use the 'phone when he happened to glance through the window looking +toward the street. An arc light had sprung into being, and--he stopped +with a gasp. Down the street was coming a crowd that was evidently in +some haste and he recognized its leader. It was a large, bony woman, who +strode like a man, and Jimmy thought that she carried something in her +hand, something that he surmised might be a selected missile. + +"Good Lord!" he breathed. "If she hit me a clip with a little chunk +before, what'll she do with a full-grown brick? Why, it'd be murder I +I've got to get away from here if I have to steal the horse and kidnap +that boy!" + +Being quick in decision and swift in enterprise, and adaptable to sudden +emergency, he ran back out with great presence of mind and shouted to +the boy, "Come on, son! Get a move on you. Mr. Wade says it's all right +and for you to take me as fast as you can. Let's be off before that +crowd gets here looking for the train." + +The boy barely caught the tail of the sleigh and thus proved that he +might have boarded the train; for Jimmy, not waiting for him, had +clutched the lines and stirred the restless nag to action by a +surreptitious slap with his hand. + +"The shortest road is back the way we come," insisted the boy, as Jimmy +drove the horse recklessly across the end of the platform and into a +road that appeared fortuitously in front of him. + +"But I certainly do like this way best," insisted Jimmy, urging the +horse to speed. "I've always been fond of this road." + +"Well it's a mile outen the way," protested the boy. + +"What's a mile to us, eh? You see it's such a nice clean road and it's +been so well traveled that it's better than--what? Turn to the left you +say? I always thought we went straight ahead here." + +"Straight ahead would take us to the slaughter house," objected his +guide. + +"Oh! I thought the slaughter house was somewhere around the depot," said +Jimmy with a grin at his own joke, which was entirely unappreciated by +the boy. + +The station, with its menace, had by now been left behind in the whirl +of snow, and the heavy dusk of twilight. Jimmy was breathing again, and +cheerful, having escaped the most imminent peril. The horse was loping +steadily up the street as if imbued with the hope of a warm stall in a +warm stable. + +"Turn to the right! The right! That's the way," insisted the boy, and +Jimmy, after a single backward glance to convince him that they had +escaped the mob, said, "Son, I don't know these roads as well as you do. +Maybe it'd be better if you took the lines. But whatever you do, keep +going. Mr. Wade says you are to hurry--that is for the first few miles. +You see, he's afraid old Bill will catch cold if he's not kept moving, +and they tell me that it's an awful thing for a horse to catch cold on a +day like this for the want of exercise. Make him hustle!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +And Bill hustled them through the outskirts of the town, and into a road +that was fairly good going, and out to where snowladen fields and snow +weighted trees were on either hand before Jimmy's compassion swayed him +to suggest that after all there was no very great hurry. + +"I'm sort of glad of that," commented the boy. "Bill's about winded. +He's my friend, and--and I don't like to see him puffin' like that. I'm +right glad you'd just as soon slow down. I was worried about Bill." + +Jimmy thought about Bovolarapus, and then of Bill, and liked that boy. + +"To-night," he said, as he settled himself into his seat, "Bill shall +have a box of chocolate caramels for dinner. And--say! son, are you +cold?" + +"Not much," said the boy, looking up at him with a grin. "Just a little; +but I keep thinking about that fortune I'm to get and that sort of +keeps me warm." + +Jimmy opened his overcoat and gathered his driver inside, and pulled up +the tattered lap robe and said cheerfully, "Sporting life, this, eh?" +But at the same time he was thinking regretfully of his ill-spent +afternoon, and more than ever convinced that jests of a public nature +were not worth while. And yet, in the midst of his personal discomfort, +he did not miss the enjoyment of a chuckle at the thought of what he had +left behind, and that fine harvest which the pompous Judge must reap. In +fact, he began to find a certain pleasure in his adventure; for the snow +stopped, the storm clouds moved restlessly, becoming ever more pallid, +and then the newly risen moon broke through and made all his +surroundings beautiful. + +"The only things I miss," he muttered, "are sleigh bells and--Mary +Allen!" + +"Mary Allen? Who's she?" The voice of the boy disturbed him. + +"Mary Allen," said Jimmy grimly, "is a girl who isn't crazy to vote. She +likes horses. Probably she couldn't throw a brick. I've an idea she +never had a vote, and that if she had one she'd sell it as being the +quickest and easiest way to get rid of it. And--I hope to the Lord that +Mary Allen never visited Yimville before now, because if she hasn't, +I'll do all I can to spare her from ever going there in the future!" + +"I can't seem to remember that haystack over there," said the boy, with +entire irrelevance, "but there's a house with a light in it, and--maybe +we'd best ask if we're on the right road. They'll tell you." + +"Right road? Aren't you sure about it?" asked Jimmy, perturbed. + +"Well, you see, it looks different with all this snow and--better ask +'em in there, I think." + +"You go and ask them." + +"I got ter watch old Bill. He runs away sometimes." + +"I'll hold him. You ask." + +The boy got down and advanced to the house where, after a time, a woman +appeared in response to his rapping and then, to point out the way, came +to the gate and thence to the road. She pointed with an extended arm to +the skyline and gave cautions about land marks at a point where three +roads met. + +"If you'd taken the first road to the left instead of the second to the +right, down below there, you'd have been on the main track; but you're +not more than a half mile out of the way. And----" She stopped, suddenly +bent forward, and peered at Jimmy. "Oh, it's you, is it?" she said with +a toss of contempt. "You that believes women ain't got sense enough to +vote! Oh, I was down to the court house this afternoon and heard you! +And what's more, I can tell you it was mighty good for your precious +hide that they didn't catch you. If I'd known that it was you that +wanted to find the road to Mountain City I'd 'a' bit my tongue off +rather than let it tell you anything at all, you old puffed up smart +Alec! The only truth you ever told in your life, I'll bet, was when you +admitted that all lawyers is a lot of thieves. You, a judge! But let me +tell you that the women will get votes, and that when they do you +couldn't be elected judge at a chicken show. You're a mean-minded pig of +a man with no more manners than a pole cat! That's what the women who +heard you to-day think about you!" + +And with that she turned, banged the gate, and hastened toward her house +where, in turn, she banged the door. Jimmy, who had said never a word, +but had gradually withered into the farthest corner of his seat, said, +"Whew! She likes me all right! I could tell that by what she said." + +"Be you the man that made the speech in the court house?" asked the boy, +as he climbed into the sleigh and started Bill into action. + +"My son," said Jimmy, "I am that very unfortunate man. But you don't +care, do you? You don't give a hang about voting, do you?" + +"Not to-night," admitted the boy. "All I'm thinkin' about is how I'm to +get that ten dollars. It's a lot of money, ten dollars is. And--and," he +looked up at his companion rather speculatively, and added in a burst of +boyish confidence--"I don't think you're so bad as that woman said, +anyhow. I think I like you!" + +Jimmy, feeling for the moment rather friendless, vented a fervent "Lord +bless you, son! We'll keep on being friends." + +It began to seem to Jimmy that he was in for a chapter of accidents and +hardships. A snaffle gave away and they had to get out into the deep +snow and make repairs with fingers that were cold before the operation +was complete. They came to a stretch of unbroken road where the snow +was so deep that he had to climb out and break trail with the drift well +above his knees. + +They toiled along for another mile then Jimmy decided that it was rather +a lonesome place; but philosophized that any place without either a +crowd, or Mary Allen, would be lonesome, and then further cheered +himself with the reflection that if he had Mary Allen with him he +wouldn't miss the crowd, or that if he had a crowd he'd not for a moment +miss Mary Allen, all of which made it rather a cheerful if paradoxical +world. Now that he had escaped the clutches of the irate militants of +Yimville, it wasn't such a bad predicament after all. + +"Hello! What's that?" he exclaimed, sitting up with a jerk, as the boy +pulled the reins and yelled a loud "Whoa, Bill!" + +It seemed as if something had gone awry with the prow of their ship. +They climbed out to investigate. + +"They's a hame strap busted and Bill's loosin' all his furniture," +explained the boy. + +They got Bill's rig off to repair it as best they could. Again their +fingers got cold and their feet got cold, and the air got colder. Bill +was the only one who didn't seem to mind the delay and acted as if he +rather enjoyed a vacation. + +"Now we're off again," said Jimmy, as they resumed their journey. "After +all, breaking a hame strap's nothing. Bill gets extra feed for that. +Anybody that can work hard enough to bust a hame strap has my approval. +I never did. You see, son, it was in a way rather lucky, because I'd +never have guessed what a good old nag Bill is if he hadn't proved it by +snapping that strap! People most always get acquainted through accident. +I certainly made a lot of acquaintances to-day! Also a lot of people got +acquainted with me who might never, never, never have really known just +what I was like!" + +This pleasant reflection occupied his time for another mile, and then +suddenly Bill stumbled, his head went down and his heels flew up, he +seemed to stand on his neck for an instant, and then became a kicking, +obstreperous heap of horse and harness on the snow. + +"Hooray!" shouted Jimmy, again springing into action. "Hooray! I'll sit +on his head, son, while you see how many pieces you can unfasten in his +harness. Keep away from his heels. Tackle his belly band first. That's +the ticket! Now see if you can get the tugs loose. Got 'em? Now stand +back. William, arise!! Whoo-e-e! Come up like baking powder or patent +yeast, don't you, Old Sport? There! There! Steady now. You're all right. +Concentrate your thoughts on food and it'll ease your mind. I've tried +it." + +They restored Bill to his harness and backed him into the shafts. + +"Now everything's all right again," said Jimmy, quite happily. "Just +think what tough luck it would have been if he'd broken his neck. It +doesn't pay to drive a horse with a broken neck. Just a waste of time. +Never buy a horse with a broken neck, son, unless you are in the tallow +business." + +"Bill's all right, but--but--there seems to be somethin' wrong with the +shaft on this side. It wobbles," said the driver. + +Jimmy went around to the other side and inspected it. + +"Humph! Does wobble," he admitted. "It's cracked. However, that's all +right. Just think how bad it would have been if it had broken in two. +Now, as it is, maybe it'll last till we get to Mountain City, and I'll +pay for a new one. You see, partner, all these little things are sent +to try our fortitude and philosophy." + +Again they moved ahead, and Jimmy whimsically homilized that it wasn't +how a shaft looked or felt that counted, but whether it did its work. +"Why, if everybody in this world who is cracked was chucked aside as +useless, I reckon there'd be mighty few folks left to do things," he +insisted. "There'd be milk without crocks, and jobs without men; girls +without sweethearts and churches without bells, son. Being cracked isn't +a sin, it's just being common!" + +"Whoa! Whoa, Bill! She's busted for good now, Mister!" + +The damaged shaft had snapped ominously and the harassed Bill this time +threatened to kick the whole exasperating outfit to kindling wood if his +heels held out long enough to accomplish such a worthy job. + +"I'm getting used to this snow, now; I like it!" asserted Jimmy, as he +again got out to make an inspection. "We folks from Maryland always did +appreciate snow. It makes us understand the general air of chilliness +that seems to hover around New England Yanks. Well, looks as if we'd +have to steal a fence rail somewhere, boy, if we wish to continue this +delightful journey. Ah, there's a nice old stake-and-ridered layout over +there. I always knew they were the best kind of fences for country +roads. They do come in handy, all right. You hold William and explain +things to him while I grab one." + +He waded into a ditch where the snow was waist high, floundered up a +bank, and selected a fairly straight fence rail that would serve his +purpose, and wallowed back with it. Once he fell and got snow up his +sleeves as high as his elbows. + +"Now some folks would swear that was cold and uncomfortable," he +remarked as he shook it out in chunks, "but I like it, because I know +it's clean. It'd be awfully good in a cocktail just about now! Snow? Why +I've known time in a jay town down in Louisiana when I'd have cried with +joy for anything as cool as that to put in even plain water. 'We never +appreciate our blessings till we get 'em,' as the Mormon said just +before his seventeen wives swung him up on the limb of a tree." + +For a time he watched Bill struggling along dejectedly, but was glad +that his improvised shaft support served and contemplated the passage +of time that must intervene before they reached Mountain City. And then +Bill again stumbled, and stopped as if in despair. + +"I think maybe his feet's balled up," suggested the boy. + +Jimmy climbed out and lifted Bill's extremities, hoof by hoof, patiently +digging off the snow stilts with his pocket knife, until at last he +found one hoof with a shoe missing. + +"Well, well, well! No wonder you stumbled, old fellow," he sympathized. +"Cast a shoe, have you? Must have been back there where you fell! That's +too bad. You can't wear one of mine, or you'd be welcome. Must have +another put on up in Mountain City. Don't mention the expense. My firm's +rich. We often give horse shoes away on Christmas--paper ones, you +know!" + +And the faithful and valiant Bill, relieved of one shoe and four big +collections of snow, hobbled forward again until he came to the foot of +a hill that seemed to stretch clear to the moon, and then for the first +time acted as if he had given up entirely and succumbed to misfortune. + +"How far is Mountain City, now, son?" asked Jimmy, not without some +betrayal of anxiety. + +"It's right up on top of that hill," said the boy, "But that hill's just +one mile and a half long." + +"Good!" declared Jimmy, "you sit here and steer the beast, and I'll get +out and help and encourage him by leading him. I always was fond of +wading in snow. Cools off one's temper, walking in the snow does. If +every man who lost his temper had to walk a mile and a half uphill +through the snow, before he could say or do anything else, there would +never be a murder in this world, no divorces, and--by gosh!--maybe no +marriages either. That would be a calamity. Snow certainly does cool one +off." + +An hour later when, after frequent rests and short but strenuous +efforts, they halted at the top of the hill and saw the main street of +Mountain City ahead of them, Jimmy said to the boy as he climbed back, +panting, into the sleigh, "Son, we learn by experience; but it's only +the wise and experienced man who knows that ignorance is bliss. There's +a lot of things in this life that I don't want to know anything at all +about in the future. Alpine climbing; politics, and votes for women are +all off my list. The only things I'd like to investigate are warm +drinks, hot grub, and the insides of a pair of dry socks, shoes and +breeches! And with that knowledge I'd be content. If you can find the +way to the hotel without straying, I'll forgive you for what you didn't +know about the way up here, and we'll begin all over again. Once more +we're on our merry way!" + +Evidently Judge Granger was unknown to the hotel keeper of Mountain +City, for no comment was made on Jimmy's arrival and the place seemed +warm, comfortable, and luxurious after the snow drifts of the mountains. +Jimmy first phoned the railway station where he learned that Number +Sixteen was still belated but was expected through by midnight. Inasmuch +as Bad Fortune had been conquered by optimism, Good Fortune now smiled +upon the optimist. He purchased dry underwear, dry shoes, and dry +trousers for himself, and astonished the boy who had so valiantly +supported him by the presentation of a new suit of clothes, new red +flannel underwear, and new shoes. + +"Lord! It'd never do for me to send you back home sniffling with a +cold," he explained to the lad. "Your maw would never forgive me, and--I +reckon I've got enough enemies amongst the women of this locality +without adding her to my list. Heaven help me if ever I go back there +again! They'd boil me alive in a soap kettle, and feed my fat to the +pigs! Now we shall look after the requirements of Rosinante, my little +Sancho Panza. Then we shall eat." + +By liberal payment he succeeded in inducing the village wagon maker to +put in a new shaft that night, and the village blacksmith immediately +took on the work of replacing the lost shoe. Then he inspected the +stable where Bill was to sleep, bought a full bale of clean straw, a +double quantity of oats, and induced the hostler to give Bill an extra +rub and an extra blanket. + +"Nothing's too good for us to-night, son," he explained to his admiring +supporter. "I feel like going on a bat. Just the same as Daniel probably +did after he got out of the lion's den. I'll bet ten to one that the +first thing he said after they hoisted him out was to ask the king what +he'd have to drink. Hospitality, my boy, is the guarantee of +appreciation. Both those who give and those who accept are satisfied, +which is unlike nearly all other bargains made in this world. This is +applicable to everything except jails. Remember my preachments after I +am gone, and you'll never get into the latter--that is--if you can run +fast enough!" + +They still tell, in that hotel, of the meal he had specially prepared to +celebrate his escape from the Philistines. Long before it was through +the boy was speechless. + +"Gee! Can't eat any more," he declared after a third piece of hot mince +pie. + +"What's the matter? New suit of clothes too tight? Well, son, here's +another piece of advice," said Jimmy, as he helped himself. "Trouser +bands aren't made of rubber because all tailors are rich men who never +get hungry. By leaning toward the table and pretending to fool with your +serviette, it's easy to open the top buttons under your vest without +anybody noticing that you're going to make a fresh start. This is a form +of politeness that is necessary lest you alarm your host. Always do it +that way, and in the meantime, if you can think of one, tell a funny +story. It serves to distract attention from what you're doing, which is +the success of all card tricks, sleight-of-hand performances, and +getting a tummy full. Also that is probably the reason why napkins are +worn in the lap instead of in the neckband of your collar. Incidentally +I see there is a neglected raisin sticking to your chin, which leads me +to further observe that food is worn inside and not outside your face. +That's right! Don't waste it! I knew you wouldn't!" + +He stopped suddenly, looked at his watch and said, "Great Scott! I +forgot one thing! How late does the Emporium keep open? Nine o'clock? +Oh, then I've got time. I must telephone Mister--Umm-m-mh!--Wade, did +you say his name was?" + +The boy looked alarmed, but Jimmy explained. "You see he expected you +back to-night. He didn't know how bad the roads were. I must tell him +you'll not be back before to-morrow morning. What's the 'phone number? +37? Good. I'll go now and tell him. You stay here until I come back. +We're going to have coffee." + +Jimmy hastened out to the 'phone and was thankful that it was +conveniently placed in a cabinet, for he was rather uncertain what might +be said, or, indeed, whether the telephone might not explode from heat +generated at the other end of the line. He got Wade without difficulty, +and again Fortune smiled. + +"Mr. Wade," he said in his customary cheerful voice, "I made an address +at the court house this afternoon, and--er--the exigencies of my +departure led me to commandeer the services of your delivery boy, Tim, I +think his name is. What's that?" + +He stopped, puzzled for the moment by the loud burst of laughter from +the other end of the line, and then a question, cautiously uttered as if +the speaker were afraid of being overheard, "Where are you, Judge?" + +"Mountain City Hotel." + +"Oh, up there, eh? Glad you got away safely. I heard that you were last +seen eloping with Tim and my nag Bill. And--can you hear +me?--Yes?--well, secretly I was tickled to death that you got away! This +thing of votes for women--you understand! Glad you handed it out +straight. Of course I can't say so out loud, but----" + +"Thanks!" said the relieved Jimmy. "I'm sending Tim and Bill back in the +morning. Also I'd like to give Tim an envelope with a ten dollar note in +it to pay for the use of the rig if you'll accept it." + +"S-s-s-h!" came back over the telephone. "Don't say a word! I'll not +have it! You can pay the keep for the boy and horse up there. That's all +I'll accept. That and a promise that you'll not give me away! It +wouldn't do for me to let it be known that--you understand, Judge!" + +And Jimmy left the telephone box in an extraordinary good humor and +sauntered back to his coffee. + +He insisted on inspecting the room that he had engaged for his guest, +and extravagantly ordered a fire for it. He insisted on his guest +retiring, but the guest, reduced to a state of adoration, rebelled and +saw him off when the train pulled out from Mountain City at 11:30 that +night. + +Mr. James Gollop settled himself comfortably into a seat therein and +emitted a great sigh of content. + +"As the copy book used to say at school," he thought, "'Count that day +lost whose low descending sun, views o'er thy work without some worthy +person done.' And if in one place in his bailiwick I haven't fried that +codfish Granger to a crisp, it's not because I haven't been industrious. +I've been as busy as a horse with a wooden leg trying to win the +Derby!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +Recovering his luggage at the junction with the main line, and traveling +an additional forty miles after such a strenuous day, predisposed the +indefatigable Mr. Gollop for a long night's rest. Finding himself again +in a modern little city with a first class hotel, and a luxurious bed +aided the ministrations of nature, so that it was after ten o'clock in +the morning when he whistled his way to his bath and then carefully +selected a clean outfit for the day's work. He hummed like a +particularly lucky hummingbird while he shaved, and felt like +hoppity-skipping down to the grill room, where his healthy appetite +might have full play. He found himself a nicely cushioned alcove through +whose window he could look out on the clear, brilliant morning with its +dazzle of snow, and at the same time luxuriate in the steam heated +atmosphere within. The world seemed turning very well and happily, as +far as Mr. James Gollop could observe and feel, and he gave his order +and was rendered grateful when an excellently trained waiter laid before +him the morning papers. And then Mr. Gollop sat up and grinned with the +culminating joy of the morning! + +The paper he had first glanced at was rabidly Democratic and sported a +huge headline completely across the front page which read: + + "Gubernatorial Candidate Mobbed in Yimville." + +Then followed a series of banks and subheads: + + "Loses temper and offers insults to women voters! Excoriates his + own profession whilst in violent temper and ridicules bench of + which he is member! Admits that all he seeks is office. After + amazing outburst, proving unfitness for any public trust, narrowly + avoids tar and feathers and escapes. Present whereabouts unknown." + +Special passages from the now famous speech were carefully selected, +duly edited to make them sound the worst, and printed in black-faced +pica. Other passages in the speech were in italics. The whole plant of +the newspaper had been utilized to give adequate expression to this +unparalleled forensic outburst. A much garbled report "in full" was +given of the wording, and as lurid yellow as was ever mixed went to make +up the account of the incidents in Yimville. According to the report the +mob numbered thousands and strong men of both parties wept and gnashed +their teeth in their frantic craving to wreak vengeance on the orator +for the insults offered to their mothers, wives, daughters, and +sweethearts. Indignant women, forgetting the softness of sex, had arisen +in just wrath to execute this brazen-faced apostle of mammon. Half a +column was devoted to the mystery of the Judge's disappearance from the +scene and it was stated that he was believed to have terrorized a boy +into driving him away into the mountains, in which case, it was feared, +owing to the blizzard, that unless they found refuge in some isolated +farm house they might have perished. Jimmy noticed that most of the +concern expressed by the newspaper was for the welfare of the boy. He +was chuckling gleefully to himself when interrupted by the return of +the waiter. + +"Pity they didn't get that buzzard and hang him, isn't it, sir?" he +commented indignantly. + +"It certainly is," agreed Jimmy. + +"Not as I believe in votes for women myself," added the waiter, "but I +don't believe in openly insultin' 'em in public. And think of the likes +of him sayin' as all he wanted was to get elected and as if he didn't +care how! Why he ought to be in that Tammany Hall gang back in New York! +That's the only place in all this United States, I reckon, where folks +stand for that sort of stuff. It's understood back there that all they +want is a fat job and the people be damned, but people out here ain't +educated up to looking at things that way. They ain't any people in the +world that'd stand for what them people in New York does! I worked there +one time for about three year and I know. I'll bet that galoot murdered +that boy. Probably took him as far as he wanted to, then threw the poor +little feller out of the sled into the snow to freeze. All that they'll +ever find of that poor little kid'll be an icicle." + +"I'll bet you're right!" agreed Jimmy, again, vociferously. "This paper +says the Judge said some nasty things about Union Labor. I should think +some of you chaps would start something on what Union Labor thinks of +him and his kind." + +"By jingoes! You're right about that!" the waiter declared, and then +added, as if overcome by the brilliant opportunity for advertising +himself, "I'm president of the local Waiters' Union, and I'll lay off +this afternoon and look after that myself. We'll show them that thinks +they can knock us a thing or two before we've done with 'em! Down on +honest labor, is he? And he thinks he can get elected if all of us is +agin' him!" + +Jimmy read a column on the weather in which it was stated that the storm +was the most unprecedented in twenty years and that on nearly all the +branch lines, where wires were down and a snow blockade complete, +conditions would have to remain as they were until traffic was restored +on the main trunks; but that the railway company hoped to clear the +branch lines within twenty-four hours, and that already telephone and +telegraph linemen were out on snow shoes. + +At four o'clock that afternoon Jimmy boarded the train bound for the +last city he would visit in the state, and attracted by the cries of a +newsboy, "All about Judge Granger! Latest news from Yimville," bought a +paper and settled himself down to read. + +The latest advices from the scene of his latest escapade told of the +return of Tim. They were published in a Republican paper which began by +stating that the reports of the Judge's speech were mangled distortions +of what the speaker had, in his well known eloquent manner, expressed, +or deliberate lies manufactured by his enemies; that there had been no +riot at all, and that neither had there been a demonstration save a +small uproar created by a branch of the Militant Suffragettes, headed by +that modern prototype of Carrie Nation and her hatchet, the state leader +of that body, whose previous records of disturbances were sufficient in +themselves to convince all thoughtful-minded women, as well as men, that +probably the speaker was justified in whatever he had said to this +professional heckler. Furthermore, as evidence of the depths to which a +totally unscrupulous and irresponsible press could descend in its +efforts to ridicule a great leader, the whole story of flight was, from +the beginning to end, a malicious controversion of fact. This was proven +by the statement of the driver, Timothy Jones, who had that morning +returned to Yimville. The driver was known as completely trustworthy and +honest, and, furthermore, his statements were fully corroborated by his +employer, Mr. Wade, general manager of the Emporium, one of the most +prominent business men in that part of the state. + +Judge Granger, after making a most eloquent, lucid, and brilliant speech +which had been unduly prolonged by his patience in replying to questions +addressed by the disturbing element, had found his time for boarding the +regular train so curtailed that he had but a few minutes in which to +reach the station. He had very courteously asked young Jones if he could +drive him thither, there having been an unfortunate lack of foresight in +providing an equipage for his return. Jones drove him to the station, +where, to the Judge's distress, he learned that, owing to the storm, +there would be no train through for an indefinite time. Having other +highly important engagements, he found it necessary to drive to Mountain +City, where he could be more certain of catching a train near midnight. + +"All those who are familiar with the great punctiliousness and +responsibility of Judge Woodworth-Granger will therefore not be +surprised to learn that, despite all the fatigues of the day, and the +hardships of such traveling, he courageously braved the blizzard, +fearless in his sense of duty to be performed. That he made such a +difficult night drive merely to keep his pledged word and engagements, +when others might have quailed, or accepted the storm as sufficient +excuse for remaining comfortably in shelter, is in itself a sufficient +tribute to the sterling worth of this distinguished man's character. He +must have inherited from those ancesters of his, who with bleeding feet +trudged through the snows of Valley Forge, some of that patriotism and +high fealty to duty which has ever been the stamp of the true American. +This courageous self-sacrifice to public duty alone is sufficient +evidence that he is the man to guide the destinies of one of the +greatest states in the Union, and those who are to meet in convention +for the choice of a leader will do well to reflect upon what must be +considered as a sterling achievement bespeaking the character of this +honored and distinguished jurist who has somewhat reluctantly yielded to +the demands of his fellow citizens. Those who mendaciously accused him +of office seeking, should hide their heads for shame. Failing to find a +single flaw in the private, public, or professional life of this +distinguished man, his political enemies now seek by ridicule and +innuendo to attack him. To such depths as these has the Democratic party +in this state fallen. Had there ever been the slightest doubt that the +Hon. J. Woodworth-Granger will be the nominee for governor of this +state, it is now dissipated by the scurrilous attack made upon him--an +attack of desperation that must and shall inevitably bring its own +reward. Verily a man is known by the enemies he makes!" + +After reading this editorial Jimmy reverted to the news page where the +faithful Tim's defense was given. It was eulogistic. It was colorful. It +told of the vicissitudes of the trip, although it neglected to mention +the episode of losing their way and what was said by the farmer's wife. +Jimmy thought that either Tim or the reporter who wrote the alleged +interview had shown tact in that suppression. But it was beautifully +written! There was no doubt of that. Stinging sleets, biting winds, +desperately fatigued horses, valiant and persistent battles with snow +drifts, icy cold temperatures and everything pertaining to heroism in +the Arctics were there. + +"Tim and I have got Scott, Peary and Admunsen all looking like a lot of +pikers!" thought Jimmy as he read. "If the fellow who wrote this can +write stuff as warm, comforting and appetizing on chocolates as he can +about coldness, courage and cramps on that trip to Mountain City, he'll +make a world-beater in the advertising line! He's a whirlwind--no--a +cyclone--when it comes to throwing the guff." + +The interview told of the great man's magnanimity and generosity. Not +even his solicitude for old Bill's comfort was overlooked. In fact the +great man wouldn't trust the hostler, but fed Bill bran mash with a +spoon. The suit of clothes he bought "Mister Timothy Jones" was lined +with silk. The underwear might have been of red gold instead of red +flannel. Thus did a brave man reward those who served him in time of +stress. It even intimated that Timothy Jones might retire for life on +his monetary rewards. + +It was the next day at luncheon when the cheerful James was given reason +to think less happily of his exploit, and to wonder what happened to a +worm that turned once too often. The newspapers contained the statements +that the wires were now open to Princetown and that in that flourishing +city dwelt a man whose feelings were outraged, who was indignant, who +asserted he had not been in Yimville on the day of the speech, in fact +had never in his life made a speech in Yimville, and that if he had made +a speech in Yimville he most certainly would not--never, never, +never--have expressed the sentiments so brazenly attributed to him. He +was an office seeker in the interests of public rather than personal +welfare, and for no other reason. He had yielded to the overwhelming +petitions of his friends, indeed, not without considerable pain. And +then Jimmy read something that for the first time caused him to +appreciate the possible grave consequences of his ebullient imposture: + + "'I am not at the moment in a position to make any definite and + specific charges,' his Honor told the representative of the + _Morning Star_: 'but I have certain well-defined grounds for + believing that the citizens of Yimville, for whom I have the most + profound respect and admiration, knowing that they include some of + the most intellectual and patriotic ladies and gentlemen in the + whole of the United States, have been imposed upon by an individual + who (I have been told) faintly resembles me as far as personal + appearance is involved. Yet how this person, who is, I regret to + say, but a common, vulgar ignoramus, could have the barefaced + effrontery to address an intelligent audience either in his own or + an assumed character, I can not comprehend. Needless to say I shall + at once take steps to learn the truth, and the impostor shall be + made to suffer the extreme penalties of the law providing for the + punishment of such flagrant acts against the public and private + welfare of duly constituted citizens. The world must be made safe + for Democracy. Those who are guilty of lack of observance for those + common and well-defined and closely stipulated rules that govern + the intercourse existing between individuals or those collections + of individuals which are in turn by mutual consent formed into + committies, must hereafter be consistently regulated by those able + to dictate either by force of arms or the divine influence of + reason, until they can no longer prove a menace to the rules + governing, by consent of the governed and the voice of the + governed, human relations in general, in particular, and in + private.'" + +Jimmy pondered over the last sentence a long time. + +"I suppose he means 'The guilty shall be punished,'" he said, and then +added, admiringly, "By gosh! If he were a Democrat he'd be president of +the United States yet. He surely would! He can use more words to say +less than any other man living, and, come to think of it, he has the +greatest assets of stupidity, which are pompous silence, and a +patronizing grin. The art of so obfuscating his expression with words +that neither his friends nor his enemies can come to any positive +conclusion as to what he means. But if I'm not mistaken, this same J. +Woodworth-Granger, Judge by election, is after the scalp of one James +Gollop, drummer for a living, and--humph!--wonder when the next train +leaves that will take me out of this state's jurisdiction? It seems to +me, Jim, that you should be on your way. Good Lord! Some men can never +take a joke! The idea of raising such a fuss over a little thing like +that!" + +And, so potent was his increasing apprehension, Mr. James Gollop did not +actually smile again until seven-thirty that evening, when he received a +reply to a question addressed to the conductor of the eastbound train. + +"Are we over the state line yet?" was the question asked. + +"By about thirty miles, I should reckon," was the reply. + +"Thank heaven for that!" said Mr. Gollop, resuming a placid mental +attitude, and the celebrated Gollop grin. "It's a wise man who knows +where he's not welcome. Both celebrity and notoriety are distinctions to +be shunned. A mud-cat is the most secure of all fish because nobody +wishes to either catch and eat, or play with and caress him. His sole +virtue is his obscurity, the sharpness of his bones his only protection. +I'd rather be a catfish than a salmon after all!" + +And the conductor, passing on his way with his nickel-plated lantern +deftly anchored by his arm and his nickel-plated punch industriously +working in his hand, mumbled, "Happy man! He's got just what he wants. +Wish I was general passenger agent of this line. I'm not a catfish +because I want to be one. He seems to be--just that!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +Jimmy retired to the smoking compartment in the Pullman and sat down to +think it all over. It had but one other occupant, a huge man with heavy +shoulders who lowered the paper he had been reading and looked at Jimmy +through a pair of clear, gray, appraising eyes that conveyed such a +sense of directness as to slightly disconcert one with a guilty +conscience. + +"Great Scott!" thought Jimmy. "Hope he's not a sheriff or a United +States marshal looking for me," and then indulged in an inward smile at +the absurdity of his being of sufficient importance to have a federal +officer on his trail. He seated himself and took a furtive glance at the +man's face. It was a distinctly attractive face, due to its marked +indications of character. It expressed not only firmness and +intelligence but a sense of humor. Jimmy decided that this individual +should appreciate a joke and wondered who he was. + +"Funny old chap," he thought. "Might be a banker, but I think he's a +drummer. Wonder who he's out for? Somehow he's mighty familiar; but +surely I'd never forget an old Trojan like that. Maybe I've met him +sometime, and he's got all that gray around his temples since then. Gray +hairs do make a difference." + +He was still puzzling over this lost identity when the man laid the +newspaper to one side, lighted a fresh cigar and, turning toward Jimmy, +said, "Funny about that affair over in Yimville, isn't it? Have you read +about it?" + +Jimmy had to look away lest the twinkle in his eyes betray him, and then +decided his best policy would be to take it with a laugh. A laugh he +decided was the most disarming of human manifestations. He emitted one. + +"Yes, I read about it in the papers yesterday and to-day. That fellow at +Yimville does seem to have kicked up an amusing controversy. One set of +papers says he was mobbed, and the other that he made a hit. +But--pshaw!--of course it has no effect whatever on Judge Granger's +chances for the nomination! Tempest in a child's teapot that will last +about as long." + +"Perhaps! I'm not to sure about that. Moreover, I'm not so certain that +Granger, unmolested, could have got the nomination. He would have been +up against a good stiff fight. I understand that he's a trifle too +self-satisfied to be a very popular candidate. Nothing hurts a man with +a swelled head like ridicule. Ridicule will trim men that can't be +touched with any other weapon under the sun. And--" he chuckled as if +amused--"the whole state has something to laugh over now, whether he +made that speech, or whether he didn't!" + +The man looked out of the window for a moment and then, as if no longer +interested in the Yimville episode, inquired, "Didn't I see you getting +some sample cases aboard the train? What's your line?" + +"Chocolates. Columbus Chocolate Co. of New York. Are you on the road?" + +"Well, not exactly. I'm in water power plants at present." + +"Something I don't know much about," said Jimmy. "But I wish I did. +Mighty interesting. In fact I never took the trouble to look one over +until a little while ago." + +"Where was that?" inquired the man. + +"Up at a place called Princetown. Good water power there. Big plant, I +suppose you would call it." + +"Yes, I suppose they have good power up there. I have heard so," said +the man, inspecting the ash of his cigar as if interested in how long it +would last without breaking. "Let's see--automobile factory there, isn't +there?" + +"Yes. Sayers Automobile Company. Fine cars, too, but unknown except out +here. At least I should say so. That's the trouble with half the +enterprises in the country. They can make first class articles but they +can't sell them. Sometimes I think we Americans aren't such good +hustlers after all. We've got the reputation in Europe, I am told, of +blowing about our stuff; but I'm not certain that we do. If I were a +manufacturer, I'd not make anything that wasn't the best I could make. +I'd put everything I knew and everything I could learn into whatever I +made. I'd not have a man work for me fifteen minutes if he didn't +believe that it was the best thing of its kind on earth. And then I'd +know that when that man went out and talked about my line of goods, +whether he was a salesman or not, he'd swear that it was the best on +earth." + +The man smiled, "In other words, even your workmen blowing, eh?" + +"I don't think it's blowing to say what you honestly believe about your +line. When a man is absolutely convinced that he is offering the very +best thing on the market and gets hot under the collar if anybody +questions it, he becomes a good salesman. He never can be that unless he +is honestly positive that he is talking truth. Telling the truth isn't +boasting. It's the way to sell goods. Blowing means ignorance or lying. +A man can not lie about anything he has to sell--if it's nothing bigger +than hairpins--and get away with it very long. I never lie about my +line--never! I really believe that some of our stuff is the best of its +kind made. I say so. I honestly admit it when some other house brings +out a certain line that beats ours, and then I hustle back home and put +on my spurs, and get out my hammer, and try to get my firm to see it, +and to meet the new stuff and if possible to go it one better." + +Jimmy had forgotten all about Yimville, now that he was expatiating on a +pet hobby of his. Evidently, too, Yimville had passed from the mind of +his companion, who seemed pondering over salesmanship. + +"But--but how would it be applicable to power plants?" he demanded. + +"I don't know," admitted Jim, "but the principle is the same for +chocolates, or power plants or--automobiles. That's what started me +off--those Sayers automobiles. I never heard about that car until I saw +one in the street. I don't know anything about them. But the one I saw +looked so pretty that I talked with the man who owned it, and he was in +love with the thing. So, because I never heard of it, and no one else +seemed to have done so, it proves that there's something wrong with the +Sayers selling organization. They haven't handled their capital right, +because every dollar invested in advertising is a dollar in the value of +the plant--in that intangible asset called 'goodwill,' without which +neither a house nor a man can succeed." + +"Young man," said his companion, "you are in the wrong line. You ought +to be selling advertising space. I told you I was in power plants +but--I'm in some other things as well. Did you ever solicit advertising +contracts for any first class advertising firm?" + +"I never did," admitted Jimmy, "But I have given some advice about +advertising that has paid the purchasers. And I've pondered over sales +organization for years. I tell you--it's a science! If ever I get a +chance to test these theories of mine--I'll----" He paused as if ashamed +of his serious enthusiasm, and as usual, derided them--"I'll probably +fail!" + +"Why deride yourself?" queried the man, regarding Jim with grave and +interested eyes. "If sales organization is a hobby of yours, why not +ride it? Evidently you've thought about it somewhat. What is wrong with +the average sales organization? Where does it fail? What improvements +can you suggest in prevalent methods? Have you thought of anything new +and original to improve them? If so, I'd like to hear about it, because +I'm one of those who are never too old to learn." + +Jimmy accepted and launched into his argument with all the vim of an +enthusiast discussing a subject to which he had given thought. + +"Have you got one of your personal cards with you? Hope you don't think +I'm impertinent," said the man, after Jimmy had run down. + +Jimmy laughed and gave him the card and while he wondered what was +coming next, his companion carefully slipped it into his pocketbook. + +"If ever you decide to get out of chocolates," he said, thoughtfully, +"you might call on me--or--let's see! Here!" He took another card from +his pocket just as the train came to a stop and the porter came hurrying +in and shouted, "Sorry, sah! Done forgot to call you sooner. Corinth!" + +Both Jim and his fellow traveler jumped to their feet and hastened out. +Jimmy saw that the card was that of "Mr. Charles W. Martin, Suites +105-7-9-11 Z, Flat Iron Bldg., New York. Specialist in everything +pertaining to power plants." + +Out on the platform Martin asked, "Where do you stop here in Corinth, +Mr. Gollop?" + +"At the City Hotel," said Jimmy. "Good sample rooms there. Good grub. +Good beds." + +"I think I'll go there, too," said Martin, and together they entered the +hotel bus and were driven away. + +As usual Jimmy was welcomed by his first name, and informed that there +was some mail there for him. When he looked around from its perusal +Martin had disappeared and he did not meet him again until he was seated +in a corner of the restaurant alone, when a voice behind him said, "Hope +you don't mind if I join you, Mr. Gollop," and looked up to see his +traveling companion. + +"Not at all, Mr. Martin," he replied. "Always glad to have good company. +I'm a sociable sort of cuss myself. I detest traveling alone, eating +alone, or loafing alone. I suppose I'm gregarious." + +A troubled, thoughtful shadow chased itself over the elder man's face, +as he said, with a half-sigh, "I understand. It's not good for a man to +be alone. And the older he becomes, the more he feels lonesomeness, and +the more he wants--home!" + +The word was the magic one for Jimmy. Somehow that word always moved him +and brought out his great undercurrent. + +"Why, do you know," he said, leaning across the table with shining eyes, +"if I didn't have a home to go to, always, after I've made my round, +I'd be like a horse that had been robbed of his stall? I live for it! I +work for it! I look forward to it all the time! But you see, I'm +different than most men. Luckier, I think, because my mother's there! +And if I didn't have a thing in the world but her, I'd be rich. And if I +had everything else but her, I'd be poor! I'm mighty proud of my home +and my mother. I shall be leaving here for home to-morrow afternoon," +continued Jimmy. "After I've hustled around and seen about a dozen +customers. Being a drummer and having a craze for home, are two pretty +tough propositions to combine. But--what would home be without +chocolates? Why, do you know, I don't think I'd have been able to have a +home at all without 'em! By chocolates Maw and I live or die. Funny, +isn't it, that if there was an earthquake that wiped a spot off the maps +and hurt me when I read about it, I'd keep going on just about the same; +but if everybody stopped eating chocolates, I'd be wiped off the map, +and I reckon the world would be going on just the same? Sometimes I +think every man's world is the smallest thing there is because it's +bounded only by his own happiness or tragedy. He's just one of +billions, but if his pet dog dies, he's astonished because the universe +isn't covered with gloom and probably he's the only one that's sorry +about the dog, or that even knows the dog has croaked. Maybe somebody +else hears about it and is glad--the chap that the dog bit the week +before he went to dog-heaven. But--anyhow--I'm bound for home to-morrow. +Back to Baltimore, as the song goes." + +"Baltimore?" said Martin. "That's a coincidence! I go to Baltimore +myself to-morrow. Struthers people. Know them? Make tools of precision." + +"Everybody in Baltimore knows of them," declared Jim with full civic +pride. + +"I shall take the two-thirty train," said Martin. "Maybe we shall travel +together." + +"That's the one I take," said Jim. "Match you to see who engages berths +for both of us." + +"I'll gladly engage one for you without matching," declared Martin, a +proffer which Jim immediately accepted. + +They lounged together that evening, and the more Jimmy knew of Martin, +the better he liked him. There was something homely and sane about the +man that appealed to him. For a time he kept subconsciously questioning +why he maintained a peculiar feeling that this was not the first time +they had met; yet this sense of unrest was dissipated by the respect he +had formed for him, quite unaccountably. He was, indeed, surprised with +himself for his liking when he realized how satisfactory it was to have +Martin sharing his journey on the following day. In his perpetual +journeyings he had met many men who were congenial, men of the +goodfellow type, but here was a man who had but little of the customary +"goodfellow" attributes and habits, and who yet won his regard. There +was the disparity of ages, the contrast of taciturnity with free +expression, and a large lack of mutual experience; but somehow all these +barriers were not supervened to the detriment of their fellowship. Jim +felt as if he were with an acquaintance--most friendly too--of years +standing, long before they arrived at Baltimore. + +"Perhaps you can recommend me to a good hotel," said Martin, as they +neared their destination. "I've never stopped in Baltimore. In fact, I'm +a total stranger there." + +"Why stop at a hotel at all?" suggested Jimmy, generously. "Why not come +out and put up with me? My mother's the finest there is! We're pretty +plain people, but it ought to beat being in a hotel. I'll have three +days home this time, and I'll show you down to Struthers' place, and--by +jingoes!--you shall be introduced to big Bill, my pet tree, in his +winter clothes, and if I can't make you believe in Maryland hospitality, +it won't be my fault." + +Martin accepted as directly as he appeared to decide everything. And the +beauty of it was that Mrs. Gollop, who shared her son's hospitable +nature, accepted and made welcome the guest that Jimmy brought home as +if she were thoroughly accustomed to her son's unconventional methods. + +"Does he always bring strangers home like this?" asked Martin, with a +faint smile, on the second day of his visit after Jim's mother had been +eloquently expatiating on Jim's idiosyncrasies and virtues during the +latter's temporary absence. + +"You never can tell what Jimmy will do," she replied with a laugh, and +then thoughtfully stared through her window into the street. "But I am +always certain that he will do the honest, decent, and generous action. +He laughs his way through the world, but in the laugh is never malice +nor cruelty. His sole failing is that he cannot resist a joke. He has +always been so. His sense of the ridiculous is absurdly out of +proportion to his serious side. I used to feel hopeless for his future +because he laughed so much; but now I know the difference. One may still +laugh and be loyal in all things. He has no false ideas or unattainable +ambitions. He has no false pride. He believes in doing his best in all +things. He is sorry for those who are unfortunate, and unenvious of +those who have succeeded. He is sincere, and he is unassuming, a good +friend, and a tolerant enemy. His tastes are simple, his pleasures +homely." + +She stopped, flushed and, added, "But I boast too much! Yet I can't help +it because--well--because there has never been such a son as mine, and +I'm not ashamed to feel proud of him!" + +But Mr. Martin was now looking out of the window, and, Mr. Martin did +not smile. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +At the end of three days, Mr. Martin, professing much gratitude and +pleasure for the hospitality shown him, departed for the South. At the +end of four days, Mr. Gollop, making the excuse of urgent business, +entrained for New York. Not that Mr. Gollop, having regard for the +_expressio falsi_ as compared with the _suppressio veri_, was strictly a +prevaricator or that he told the exact truth, because he had slipped +four whole days up his sleeve for his own entertainment; four whole days +in which he had not the slightest intention of visiting his firm; four +whole days that he intended to devote to art research, and +exploration--exploration of a wilderness known as MacDougall Alley. So +accurately did he time his movements that he invaded MacDougall Alley at +just eleven a.m., which he considered a proper hour to find an aspiring +artist at work while the light was most perfect and amenable. He was not +disappointed, which he regarded as proof of acumen; but he was +surprised by his surroundings. No bare-walled studio, this, but a rather +luxurious place. With a real rug on the floor, and real chairs to sit +upon, and a cosy seat, and electric lights instead of bare boards, +benches, charcoal brazier and tallow dips stuck in the necks of bottles +blown for better contents. + +"See here! What troubles you, Bill Jones? Have I done anything you +didn't like?" demanded Mary Allen, as she extricated her thumb from the +hole of a palette on which oil paints proved that she had forsaken for +the moment her love of water colors. + +"Why--why--I don't understand!" exclaimed Jimmy, helplessly. + +"Don't understand? I thought you promised to write?" + +"I did," admitted Jimmy; "but, you see, I was so busy and there were so +many people to talk to in my most seductive manner, and there were so +many things to be done, including people, that I clean overlooked it! I +did! I confess. But--I'm going to be here now at least a week," he added +hopefully, and not without insinuation. + +"Hope you enjoy your visit," she said, and added rather maliciously, "I +am entirely engrossed in my work--this week." + +He stared at her with a face as frankly dejected as that of a hurt boy; +then, his ever-present bouyancy reasserting itself, queried, "That's +good. By the way, do you ever use models?" + +"Of course," she replied. + +"Well, I've got nothing to do this week," he replied enthusiastically. +"I'll sit for you as a study in Disappointment, Flat-busted, or Return +from the Races. The title doesn't matter, because I'll be such an +excellent study for any sort of man whose hopes have all been knocked +flatter than a pancake." + +"I know you can be gloomy enough when you wish to be," she said, +relenting a trifle; "but you're the first man I ever had promise to +write me a letter that I admitted I should welcome, and then had the +impudence to forget me. The one thing a woman can't forget is to be +forgotten." + +Jimmy felt decidedly perturbed by this statement. He wondered what she +would say if he boldly admitted that he had in reality forgotten her +very name and where she came from, and then followed it with a +confession that since the first day he had met her in New York some +months ago, he had made amends by thinking of her continuously +throughout his spare time. But he did not dare. He feared banishment, +and that, he concluded, desperately, would be worse than death. +Something of his mental distress must have been observable, for the girl +suddenly relented, smiled a trifle and then said, "Well, perhaps I can +indulge myself--not you, understand?--by going somewhere." + +She regained her palette, and turned toward her easel with a +businesslike air, quite as if she were a painter for a livelihood, and +said, "Now suppose you run along and let me work. You can come back here +for me at--say--one o'clock, and take me to luncheon; that is--if you're +not too busy!" + +And Jimmy, transported with delight, made a vast pretense of business +and hastened away, lest she change her mind. He had the wisdom to let +well enough alone, and knew that time is the best medicine for +annoyance. But he was there in MacDougall Alley,--just the same--with +marvelous punctuality. + +And there can be no question that he was a master host when it came to +luncheons, dinners, suppers, or midnight lunch counters. With him it was +an art, cultivated to the highest point of efficiency. Moreover, +timorous and fearful lest he blunderingly lose his advantages, he did +not press his suit too far and, as a result, Mary Allen forgot his +seeming neglect. There was but one embarrassing moment when, after a +moment's silence she said, "Do tell me, is there anything at all new +down home? Dad is so uncommunicative that he never has much to say about +the town itself, and everyone else is too busy to write me." + +"Nothing new that I noticed when I was there last," said Jimmy. "Of +course, being on the road all the time I'm--well--I'm so busy +that--ummmh! Isn't that our waiter? Some of those pears over there on +that other table look good enough to eat and--wish we could get some +strawberries! Do you like hot-house grapes?" + +He might have gone through an entire horticultural catalogue, had not +his roving eyes at that moment suddenly been arrested by something that +caused them to open widely and fix themselves. The something was a +keen-looking man seated at another table who was glaring at time with a +steady and highly interrogative look. For once Mr. James Gollop's cheery +self-confidence deserted him and he was highly distressed; for the +keen-faced man happened to be his employer and his employer up to that +moment believed one James Gollop was out on the road some hundred or so +miles from New York looking after the interests of the Columbus +Chocolate Company. Jimmy recovered sufficiently to bow and the bow was +somewhat frigidly acknowledged. Jimmy's wits worked fast--very fast. + +"Pardon me, won't you please," he addressed Mary Allen; "but there is a +man sitting over there to whom I wish to speak for just an instant. Got +to make an appointment with him, and this is opportune." + +"Certainly," replied the lady, and Jimmy got up, crossed to his +employer, and without giving the latter a chance to say anything, thrust +out his hand and said, "Howdydo, Mr. Falkner. Howdydo! Got in off the +run early this trip and was coming down to see you as soon as I had +lunch." + +"Oh, you were, were you?" dryly remarked his "boss," and the unhappy +Jimmy distinguished a tone of sarcasm. "Very kind of you, I'm sure. +We've been wanting to hear from you for several days. I'll expect you at +just three o'clock this afternoon." + +Stunned by this unusual lack of cordiality, Jim said, "Very well, sir, +I'll be there," and with as much dignity as he could command, turned and +walked back to his table, but wondered heavily, what on earth he had +done; what was wrong; whether some prominent customer had gone bankrupt +or if Falkner merely had a grouch. + +"I thought you went to see a friend, but you look as if you had been +talking with an undertaker," commented his guest. + +"And that's just the way I feel about it," admitted Jimmy. "Because I've +got to meet him at three o'clock this afternoon, and I had anticipated +the pleasure of going somewhere with you." + +"The mean old thing!" she exclaimed, impulsively, and Jimmy's heart +bumped at the knowledge that she, too, was disappointed. + +"But," he suggested, hopefully, "if I called for you at the studio at +about six o'clock couldn't we dine together?" + +And when she accepted his invitation with unconcealed enthusiasm, his +spirits again soared and he forgot even the baleful presence of Falkner +for a time, and when he did remember him, discovered that his "kill joy" +had gone. + +Promptly at three o'clock he breezed into his firm's offices with all +habitual cheeriness, exchanged a swift run of badinage with those he +met, and was ushered into the manager's office. Falkner did not meet him +with the customary smile of welcome. + +"Well," he said, "you seem to have raised a devil of a row out West, and +if you can offer any explanation at all for such conduct I'm prepared to +listen to it before we go any further. If you think that's the kind of +advertising a reputable firm wants you're about as poor a guesser as +ever traveled on a mileage book." + +"Why--why--what's up?" blurted Jimmy. + +"What's up? You've got a nerve to ask that!" roared the manager, banging +his fist on the top of his desk. "Here, look at these!" + +He handed Jim a small sheaf of sheets consisting of letters and +telegrams. The first was from a jobbing firm: + + "Cancel order given your man Gollop. Sorry, but entire board of + directors are Republican and resent Yimville affair." + +A second was from another firm which had been one of Jim's best +customers and read: + + "Advise Gollop not to make this territory again until Yimville + affair blows over. Granger's supporters buzzing like live hornets." + +A more portentous looking document bearing the heading of the "State +Republican Committee Headquarters" bore the concise statement that +unless an immediate, full, and public apology was forthcoming from one +James Gollop for impersonating the Hon. J. Woodworth-Granger at an +important political meeting in the city of Yimville were not immediately +forthcoming, legal action would be taken for damages, on the ground of +misrepresentation, false pretense and willful intent to damage the +reputation and political career of one of the most distinguished men in +the state. Another letter was a round robin, signed by several firms, +demanding the immediate discharge of "that contemptible practical joker, +James Gollop," and still another was from no less person that the Judge +of the Fourth District Court, in which what was said of the same James +Gollop was enough to wither that unfortunate individual. Someone had +sent a stack of newspaper clippings three inches in thickness, from +which Jimmy gathered that it had taken but a day or two to pick up his +trail and expose him beyond all possible dispute. + +"Good Lord!" exclaimed Jimmy, aghast, and wiping beads of perspiration +from his forehead. "I didn't have any idea of kicking up such a fuss as +that. I just blundered into a chance to have some fun with that pompous +old rooster that hated me because we looked so much alike and----" In +the midst of all his woes he could not suppress a laugh of amusement. + +"So you still think it's a joke, do you?" snorted the irate manager, +exasperated by this further evidence of irresponsibility. "Well, you'll +not think so any longer. I'll attend to that. You turn your samples in +and go to the cashier with your expense account. You're fired! Maybe you +can understand that! Fired! F-I-R-E-D!" + +"You needn't have troubled to spell it out," remonstrated Jimmy. "I get +you. But--hang it all, man!--you might at least put me into some new +territory. I didn't mean anything by it. I'll admit I was a chump; but I +can sell stuff, and you know it." + +He stopped and stared at the floor with a face so frankly troubled and +perplexed that the manager for the moment forgot his wrath. The boy in +Jimmy Gollop was never more manifest than at that moment. There was +something very appealing about him that Falkner could not fail to +discern. + +"Jimmy," he said, gravely, "I'm sorry, but it has to be done. What on +earth made you such a fool? You must have been crazy!" + +"I sort of reckon I must have been," admitted Jimmy, dolefully. +"But--honestly!--I didn't mean to do any real damage to that old stiff +Granger, and certainly not to the firm. The firm? Why Mr. Falkner, I've +stuck up for it for nearly ten years because it has treated me white, +and because it's an honest firm that makes honest goods. But--well--all +I can do is to square matters up as best I can. You people have been +very good to me. Very good and very kind. I've drawn your money +and,--prospered, and so I'll write the public apology or confession, or +whatever you call it, that those chaps out there demand, and take all +the blame. And I'll write to every customer that has communicated with +you and tell 'em that, although I'm out and gone, the orders were +solicited in good faith and that it's not fair to make you suffer for +that fool joke of mine. I'm done with jokes of all sorts from now on. +I'll do anything except this--I'll not write one word of apology to that +man Granger!" + +Falkner looked out of the window as if troubled, and then said, with a +sigh of regret, "Well, Jim, I'm sorry, but it can't be helped. You're +the best man we ever had out, and--by Jove!--I'll put that into writing +so you can have something to show, and you can use me personally as a +reference when you strike someone else for territory. But, mind you, I +shall have to tell them confidentially the reasons why we had to let you +go." + +"Of course! That's only fair," said Jimmy, his sober common sense +impelling him to this admission. + +"And--when this tempest blows by, you can have any other territory that +comes open, Jim," volunteered Falkner; "that is--provided that you cut +the jokes out. Surely you've had fun enough by now to last you a +lifetime!" + +"I have! I have!" assented Jimmy lugubriously. "I've played the biggest +joke of all on myself. By heck! I've joked myself out of my own job, and +that's the limit. Joe Miller never did that and Mark Twain, Josh +Billings, Bill Nye and George Ade, none of 'em ever reached that height +of humor. The only difference between us is that they got cash for their +jokes, whereas all the pay I get is the boot and the chance to go +yelping down the street with a washboiler tied to my tail. Well, if a +fellow puts grease on the front door steps he shouldn't squeal if he +forgets and falls down himself." + +It was not until he stood outside the main entrance to the building that +he had a full sense of homelessness. It was not until then that he knew +what it meant to be without anchorage. It seemed to him that all of +those who hurried past in the winter's twilight had something to do and +that he alone was adrift. He alone had dipped into the depths of folly +and he alone had proved irresponsible. And his employment just then +meant much to him. Subconsciously, he had builded with such confidence. +He was now aware that he had based all upon a permanency of income that +he had conceived to be fixed. His home, his mother's contentment, his +dreams of winning life companionship with the only girl he had ever +loved, seemed to have depended upon the employment he had lost. And now +all was gone! Swept away. He was a most forlorn and melancholy optimist +as he stood there in the early twilight of winter, confusedly +considering his position. + +"Well," he thought at last, "they can't keep a good man down," and then +after a moment's further reflection added, "But they can give him an +awful wallop!" + +The staring eye of an illuminated clock reminded him that MacDougall +Alley was some distance away and he suffered a peculiar mixture of +sadness and gladness as he began his journey. It seemed to him that he +was a different person from the James Gollop who had happily invaded +MacDougall's artistic precincts that morning from the James Gollop who +was now disconsolately making his way thither. That Gollop of the +morning had been happy and bright because he had a job; but this Gollop +of the evening, jobless, and with a black mark against him that was too +notorious to escape the amused attention of all possible employers in +his line, was but a sad dog. It required conscious mental effort on his +part to assume a cheerful demeanor when he climbed the studio stairs. He +wished that he dared tell the "Candy Girl" all about it, but decided +that it would be ungenerous to bother anyone else with his woes, and any +indecision in this regard was ended before the evening was over because +she was so frankly and unaffectedly happy that he hadn't the heart to +say anything that might possibly mar it. Yet, even whilst they sat in a +theater listening to a most cheerful musical comedy the sober and +responsible side of his mind was weighing necessities. The first of +these, he knew, must be economies; for he anticipated that it might be a +considerable time before he could again be earning an income, and there +was always the little home down in Baltimore and its occupant to be +considered first, and his own pleasures must be relegated to a secondary +place. He was therefore rather heart-broken, but firm in his final +explanation that night as he parted from her in front of the Martha +Putnam Hotel. + +"That business session I had this afternoon," he said, trying to keep +his voice from betraying his trouble, "has unfortunately upset all my +plans. I can't have that little four days vacation I had been planning." + +"What? How horrid!" exclaimed the girl. "I--I thought we were to----" + +Her disappointment and distress were so manifest that Mr. James Gollop +had a first-class fight with himself to keep from blurting out the truth +there in the hotel rotunda and telling her that on the next morning he +was starting on what promised to be a long hunt for employment. But he +escaped such confession by saying that he had great hopes of returning +to New York within a few days. In fact he actually predicted that it +would be so. And after all, the only lie he told was embodied in that +word "Return." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +Mr. James Gollop discovered in the course of the following three days +that although most business men enjoy a joke, their sense of humor is so +deficient that they don't care to combine jest and business. His +ill-fame had preceded him, and in addition thereto, it was the +off-season, and vacancies few. + +"We'd like to have you, Jim," said one sales manager, "but the trouble +is that we should want you to take up the territory where you are well +known, and that, of course, is impossible." + +Others told him to call later in the season. Others who would have given +him samples were firms of such small caliber that he could not see any +future, and several were willing to take him on commission sales only. +The only thing that helped him was that prodigious store of optimism +which impelled him after each rebuff to hope for a change just around +the corner. + +It was when he felt at rather low ebb that he passed, rather +disconsolately, the Flat Iron Building and remembered Martin. Having no +other place to go, he decided to call upon that shrewd gentleman and +gather from such a source of hard common sense fresh courage. He turned +in through the big swinging door that let a gust of winter into each +compartment as it whirled, trundled it around and belched it into the +great hallway, and somewhat absent-mindedly collided with a man who was +coming out. + +"Hello! She bumps!" said Jimmy good-naturedly and then--"Why--why it's +you, is it, Mr. Martin? I was just coming up to your offices to see if +by chance you happened to be in." + +There was no mistaking the heartiness of the hand grasp that caught his. + +"Well, we can go up now," said Martin, cheerfully. "In fact, I've been +thinking about you quite a lot. Been rather eager to see you again. +But--hold on!--the office is anything but a confidential resort. Suppose +you come with me to the Engineers' Club where we can have a nice quiet +talk." + +Jimmy, feeling as if he had at least one friend left in the world, +readily accepted, and thought it rather lucky that they were the only +men in the club lounge room; felt that the chairs were very +comfortable, and the atmosphere summery. + +"How are things with you?" asked Martin shrewdly eyeing him through the +first blue smoke screen of a cigar. + +"Oh, so-so," replied Jimmy, evasively. + +"Everything all right?" + +"In a way. In a way." + +"Chocolate business flourishing?" + +"It was--up to a week ago." + +"But now? How about now, Gollop?" + +For a moment Jim scarcely knew what to answer, and looking up from an +overly prolonged inspection of his cigar caught the humorous, quizzical +twinkle in the friendly, keen eyes of his host. + +"By jingoes!" he exclaimed, "you know something! You've heard the news. +You know I've been fired." + +"Yes, I do know it," answered Martin, with a grin. "I was--rather +curious to learn how you took it. Suppose you tell me all about it. I'm +your friend, you know. We've shared salt. I've been entertained in your +mother's home. Now cut loose." + +Jimmy laughed, sobered, shook his head and said, "You see, that's where +the worst of the trouble is unknown. I can't--well, I can't worry Maw. +She doesn't know it yet. I've been trying to get another job before I +broke the news to her and--well, I haven't succeeded! Those worth while +are afraid of me, or else have no opening. For the moment I'm the under +dog; but--I'm not whipped!" + +And then he told the whole story to Martin, who listened, asked an +occasional question, smiled as if at some secret thought, and finally +remarked, "Your story agrees with what I've heard. But that man Granger +must have been a vindictive brute to carry it so far. By the way, did +you say your firm gave you the letter he wrote? Let's see it." + +Jimmy took it from his pocketbook and gave it to the wise old man, who +stuck glasses on his nose awry, and at an angle well down toward the +point, and scanned the missive. + +"Humph! Sounds like that sort of man," he commented, as he handed it +back. "What do you think of it?" + +Jim considered the question for a time. + +"At first I was sore because he couldn't take a joke. Then I remembered +what kind of a man he appeared to be when I met him, and decided that +it was just his way. Not a fault, you know, but something he couldn't +help. Men are not all alike. Personally I can't keep a grudge. Life's +too short for that. I never try to play, even, in a malicious way. If a +man really hurts me, I 'most always think of his side of it, and if I +decide I'm in the wrong, go to him and say so. If I think I'm in the +right,--just forget him. If he gets the best of me in business, I +congratulate him. That's part of the game. This chap Granger really +never did me much harm and I think maybe that I, without really +intending it, did him quite a lot. So I did the best I could to square +it." + +"How?" asked Martin with another one of those quizzical glances of his. + +"I wrote to all the newspapers I could get knowledge of out there, and +said that I was the guilty man; that I had played a fool joke under the +impulse of the moment and that the Judge was in no wise responsible for +anything at all that I said any more than he was for my actions." + +"Is that all?" + +"Yes, I suppose that was the most of it." + +Mr. Martin laughed and shook his head, and then said, in a kindly +voice, "No, that wasn't all you wrote. I read some of your +communications as they were printed. You not only apologized for your +practical joke, but you ended by the declaration that you regarded Judge +Granger as a man worthy of confidence, and asserted that if you were a +resident of his constituency you would vote for him. I call that pretty +forgiving." + +"But--you see I had done him an unmerited injury," said Jimmy, soberly. +"And so I did all I could to undo it. It was merely playing a white +man's game." + +"In spite of the fact that he had cost you your livelihood and done all +he could to hurt you?" + +"Oh, that had nothing to do with it! I did him an injury, and--I did the +best I could to undo it." + +Martin sat and looked at him admiringly, for a time, and then asked, +"But what are you going to do now that all your trade is aware of your +predicament, and are afraid to employ you?" + +"I'll be hanged if I know!" Jimmy admitted, with an air of gravity. +"But--I'll keep on trying. You can bet on that! I'll find some way out +of it, even if I have to begin again in some other line. They all of +them have to admit that I'm honest--that's an asset that nobody can +dispute. We can't all be brilliant and honest at the same time. Some men +are brilliant but fail to gain confidence. Other men are honest but +can't be brilliant. I'm honest but haven't proved brilliant, or +unbrilliant, so I've got the best of the situation--up to date. Someone, +therefore, will give me a chance. So I'm not discouraged. Maybe it's +because I've got imagination. When things go dead wrong with me, I just +imagine that they're not so bad, after all. Cowards and pessimists are +the only ones to whom imagination is a curse. Why--even a crippled dog +has dreams of hunting in his sleep, and he wakes up with hope!" + +Jimmy's host seemed to ponder over this crude philosophy for a time as +if bemused by its possibilities, and then suddenly straightened himself +in his chair and leaned forward. + +"Do you remember what you said to me in the train one day as to a man's +having faith in whatever he sold? And you talked about an automobile +called the Sayers car? You do, eh? Well, here's something that may +interest you. The Sayers Automobile Company is going to reorganize its +sales organization. It wants a man with imagination who will take hold +of that department. It seeks a man with ideas--none of the old, worn +out, hackneyed stuff, but--a man with original ideas that will prove +good. The Martin Company handles its advertising. Do you think--really +and honestly think--that you could reorganize its sales department and +bring to it additional success if I recommend you to the Sayers people?" + +"You bet your life I could!" asserted Jimmy. "I've thought about that +car a lot. And in the last few days when nobody seems to want me, I have +wondered if it wouldn't be a good move for me to get into the line of +motor cars." + +Martin seemed to ponder over the situation for a moment and then said, +with a sly grin, "Of course the first step for you to take would be to +go out to the Sayers works, meet Sayers and his superintendent, make a +study of the sales methods they have been employing, and then put before +them a full outline of what you propose. If they like it, they will +probably give you a chance to demonstrate what you can do. And if you do +get the place, and make good, I believe old Sayers is just the sort of +man who would appreciate your work and make it mighty well worth your +while to stay with him permanently. But I tell you this much, that he +believes in efficiency and will have no one around him who can't deliver +the goods. Now do you want to tackle it?" + +"I do! I do!" replied Jimmy with fervency, stopped, and then emitted a +groan and said, "But good Lord! The Sayers plant is out near Princetown, +and Princetown is the home of Judge Granger, and--they'd lynch me if I +showed up there--that is, unless I could get the infuriated populace to +make another mistake of identity and hang the Judge in the belief that +he was me!" + +"Um-mh! Granger lives in Princetown, eh? That's rather awkward, isn't +it? What do you propose?" + +Jimmy thought a moment and slapped his leg with an air of cheerfulness. + +"I've got it. I'll do as I did before--hide all of my face I can. I'll +wear big blue glasses, and grow a mustache and get my hair dyed black. +And if I can arrange it I'll go through Princetown like greased +lightning, and stop at the works while there." + +Martin chuckled with amusement and then said, "I think Sayers would send +a car to meet you at the train if we wrote him when you were coming, and +I have no doubt that you could find some place to stop out near the +works. Did you notice if there were any houses near the plant?" + +"Yes, lots of them. Neat little places, most of them. Sort of a model +city, I should say." + +"You are at least observant," commented Martin, and then promptly arose, +went to a writing desk and wrote for a time, whilst Jimmy's spirits +soared up and up until he was glad that he had been foisted out of the +chocolate trade. + +"Sayers knows I belong to this club," said Martin, returning to his +seat; "so will think nothing of my letter being written on club, rather +than business stationery. Besides I shall confirm these letters along +with other matters, when I return to the office. Now here is a letter to +old Tom Sayers, and another to Mr. Holmes, his general superintendent. +Letters of introduction--both--as you can see. I think they will suffice +to put you in right, and then it's up to you to formulate a general plan +for a selling organization that will suit Sayers. If you can't show him +something to catch his approval, you'll have wasted your time. If you +can, it's almost certain that you'll be given a chance to show what you +can do. But--mind you!--he's been probing around on this matter for some +time, and has probably had all sorts of schemes suggested and proposed, +and you've got to show something that is better than anyone else has put +forward. In that way it's sort of competitive. And--see here!--if I were +you I'd not wait to grow a mustache and get my hair dyed and all that +rot; but waste no time at all in getting out there lest someone beats +you to the place." + +"Good!" said Jimmy, promptly. "You just wire them that I'm coming. I +remember the timetables. You tell them to send a car to meet me at a +train that arrives in Princetown at ten o'clock to-morrow morning! I'm +going to start west on the train that leaves the Pennsylvania station in +just thirty-five minutes from now." + +"Oh, that means an all-night ride and a breakneck connection, doesn't +it? There's no such rush as all that," expostulated Martin. + +"There's no such thing as too quick action when looking for a job," +declared Jimmy with all his accustomed energy. "Good-by, and thank +you--ever so much. I'm off to try to make good! Good-by!" + +Martin looked at him approvingly as if this was the sort of hustling he +liked, and accompanied him out to the street. Jimmy bolted into the +traffic, dodged under horses' noses, disregarded the shouts of drivers +and traffic policemen, mounted a slowly moving taxi, shouted +instructions to the driver from the running board, and the last that +Martin saw of him was a hand waved through an open window. + +"Well," soliloquized Martin after this breathless chase, "if he moves +that fast when at work it would take a cyclone to catch him. It strikes +me that he's going to land that job, all right!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +The train that ran up the branch line to Princetown was comfortably +filled when the man wearing blue glasses and with his coat collar pulled +up around his ears as if they were cold boarded it and found a vacant +seat in the smoker, into which he settled with a sigh of relief. He had +passed through a distressing hour when the main line train was delayed, +fearing every moment that he would miss his connection to Princetown and +thus make an unpropitious start in the estimation of Sayers. And a very +different traveler was this from the jovial Mr. Gollop who customarily +sought information on all points pertaining to the country through which +he passed, for now he was like the Irish section boss who sternly warned +his garrulous men with, "All we want is silence; and damned little of +that!" He was about to arise and discard his overcoat, when suddenly he +subsided with a gasp. Two men had entered the coach and taken the +unoccupied seat immediately in front of him and one of them was Judge J. +Woodworth-Granger. + +Jimmy looked for another place, but none was vacant. The train began to +move and the fact that other men came through in quest of a seat, found +none and stood up, convinced Jim of the futility of searching other +coaches. The car speedily filled with smoke and got hotter. No one +seemed to care for ventilation. Jim's overcoat gave him the pleasant +feeling of sitting in a sweat bath but he dared not doff it. The Judge's +voice, loud and slow, floated back to his ears, and his previous +discomfort was as nothing when he heard the Judge say, as if in response +to some comment of his traveling companion, "No, of course not! Gollop! +I'm so sick of hearing that man's name that I could wish it banned. His +apologies only made matters worse, because there are idiots in this +state who actually took that flagrant outrage as a joke! And you have +observed what capital the Democratic press are making of it? They +declare now that I'm vindictive because I got the scoundrel discharged! +As if a citizen had not the right to protect himself from the villainous +impositions of a coarse, low-browed ignoramus who turns everything into +a practical jest. And, what is more, if ever that man enters the state +jurisdiction I'll bring the law to bear and make an example of him that +will forever deter other miscreants from such enterprises. That man +Gollop has done me an incredible amount of damage!" + +Jimmy wriggled and twisted in his seat. + +"By jingoes!" he said to himself. "I'm like that old fellow at the town +meeting. I've just got to get out of this; because if that geezer ever +spots me, the only steady job I'll ever get in this state will be +breaking stone!" And so, to the relief of his seat companion, he seized +his bag, as if about to approach his destination, slid hurriedly out +into the aisle with an averted glance, and fled from the coach and back +through the train. Standing in an aisle for an hour was preferable to +the risks of having the angry Judge turn in his seat and recognize him. +A place on the blind baggage platform, enshrouded in cinders and fanned +by the frosty winds would have been comfortable compared with that seat. +He went, in a panic, through the entire train and did not stop until he +reached the rear platform and closed the door behind him. He breathed a +sigh of relief and for the first time that day felt cool. A brakeman +jerked the door open behind him and said, "Hey! You can't stand out +there! Against the rules! Can't you read that metal sign on the door +that says it's forbidden?" + +Jimmy turned and faced his tormentor. + +"Please--please let me stand here! I'm sick, man. I'm sick! Forget the +rules. Here, take this and buy a drink of lemonade when you get to +Princetown if you can't get a prescription for something better from the +doctor!" And he extricated a five dollar bill from his diminishing +bankroll and tendered it. + +"For that," said the brakeman with a grin, "I'd let you ride on the tin +roof!" and banged the door shut and stood guard with his back against +it. + +At intervals the local train stopped and emitted passengers, but Mr. +James Gollop clung to his platform as if having no frantic longing for a +seat. And at Princetown he patiently waited until the crowd thinned, and +with one eye glared through blue glasses forward to make certain of the +Judge's departure. He descended from his perch and looked anxiously +around to meet the inquiring stare of a man who was evidently in +waiting, and toward him rushed as to a refuge. + +"Are you looking for anyone?" Jim asked, and added, "because if you're +from the Sayers works----" + +"Mister, I'm just doin' that same thing," the man replied. "I'd 'most +given you up. Thought you didn't ketch the train. Come on out this way. +I got her hitched to the end of the platform." + +Jimmy carried his bag and followed his guide, who stowed him into the +depths of a car, threw the switch of an electric starter, deftly let in +the clutch, and the smart little machine picked up and slid away. For +the first time for hours Jimmy breathed a great sigh of relief; but so +apprehensive of accidents was he that while they passed through the town +he shrank into his coat as a turtle shrinks modestly into its shell. He +was terrified lest the man have some cause to stop in front of a shop. +All he craved was the country, and a whole lot of it, with untenanted +roads. + +Out at the works he produced his letters as a passport. The big office +thrummed with typewriters and activity. From outside came the strident +sounds of industry and somehow they cheered and encouraged him. His +bouyant nature leapt to the call. He was eager to become part of it, and +to be identified with it. He forgot his tribulations and was Jimmy +Gollop again when led through an opened door into the presence of Mr. +Holmes, general superintendent. The man arose to meet him and thrust out +a firm hand. + +"So you are Mr. Gollop, eh? Name's familiar around these parts. Hope +you're not the chap that played the joke on old Granger, because if you +are--well--you'd better stay away from Princetown, is all I've got to +say!" And his laugh was so free and hearty that Jimmy acted on intuition +and whispered most ruefully, "By heck! I am! Help me out, can't you? +They'd----" + +"Tar and feather you!" laughed the superintendent. "But--are you really +the famous Mr. Gollop? Those spectacles----" + +Jimmy dared all and swept them off. The superintendent scrutinized him +closely and then exclaimed, "Well, upon my word, it's remarkable! You do +look like the Judge's twin. What on earth made you look like that old +stiff? You two must have come from the standardized face factory. If I +looked like him, I'd be sad. But I hope to heavens you aren't like him. +I've as much use for him as I have for a three legged elephant with an +affectionate disposition who is looking for someone to lean on for +support. Well, now to business. I got a telegram explaining things. I'm +at your disposal. We need a live man to handle the sales and publicity +end of this concern if ever anyone did. That's the only part that the +old man has ever neglected." + +"I've got a letter to him also," said Jim, producing it. + +"I was told that," said the superintendent, reaching for his hat; "but +unfortunately Mr. Sayers is not here. Won't be back for a week or ten +days. Gone scouting to see what the rival concerns have got in the way +of improvements. They can't steal a march on him. He's absolutely the +keenest man in his line on earth! And--see here!--I'll give you a tip. +If you can make good with old Tom Sayers, you've no need to worry. He +runs this whole plant as if it were a family. Knows every man in it. +Calls most of the men by their first names. Gives bonuses and +encouragement to the right ones, and fires the dead wood. Doesn't care a +hang about anything except making the Sayers car the best on earth +because he's proud of it. And--it is! I say so!" + +Jim liked that spirit. It promised well. And while he was disappointed +not to see Sayers, he was ready to plunge into work with enthusiasm, and +did. + +Two days later he said to the superintendent, in the privacy of the +office, "My conclusion is that your selling organization is a muck. It's +been neglected. It's no good. It runs itself without any real head. In +fact, you've no head to it at all except Wiggins, the old chap with +antiquated ideas, but who is a man I would advise keeping on. He knows +he can't handle it, and says he would like to work under someone with +new ideas." + +And then for a half hour he expanded while the superintendent listened, +asked questions, sometimes argued, and finally approved. + +"Of course," he said, finally, "your ideas are new. But they are +ingenious, and I think very promising. I shall back them up. I like +them. They sound hustling. I will recommend them to the old man for all +I'm worth, and I believe if you can make him see them, adopt them, and +carry them out, we can work together and make things hum. Now here's a +bit of advice. Old Tom Sayers likes plain, practical statements that he +can weigh and consider. Put all your proposed plans into writing. Put +down hard, concrete facts in terse English. Make it as brief as +possible. Don't be afraid to criticise if you can suggest improvements. +Don't mince words. He loves simplicity and frankness. And if you do as I +say in that regard, and make plain to him the ideas you've made plain to +me--you'll get the job, and we'll make a success because I'll work with +you to make it succeed. I believe in the old man, and in what he makes, +and defy anyone to turn out a better car than we can." + +He thumped his fist on the arm of his chair as if challenging Jimmy or +the world at large, and Jimmy was highly encouraged. There was but one +great fear in his mind. + +"Do you think--do you think--that Granger affair is likely to prejudice +me in Mr. Sayers' estimation?" he asked, almost appealingly. + +The superintendent frowned thoughtfully for a moment and then said, "I +don't know. Honestly I don't! Mr. Sayers is a peculiar man. Nobody ever +quite knows what he thinks until he opens his mouth, and then it comes +out straight and plain. No frills. No evasions. If he likes a man, he +likes him. If he doesn't like him--that ends it. I don't have any idea +what he really thinks of Granger. The Judge visits the old man's house +when Mrs. Sayers and the daughter are there, but Mrs. Sayers is not the +old man--by a long shot! She's a social climber. The old man doesn't +give a hang about society, or pink teas. He makes automobiles and +believes in efficiency. Granger's not the old man's sort at all. Too +stuck up. If I were you, I'd wait until the old man finds out that +you're the man who played the joke, and when he asks you about the +inside of it, tell him the truth just the same as you did me. If you can +show him, before then, that you are the man to market the Sayers car, +it's my opinion that the Judge, and his likes, or dislikes, will amount +to about as much as a tallow candle at an arc-light party. Anyhow, I +wish you luck, and I'll boost for you because I think you deserve it!" + +Holmes studied for a moment and said, "By the way, if you could dictate +your plan for the new sales organization, I could lend you a bright +stenographer who is chain lightning at--well, what is it?" + +He stopped and swung around in his swivel chair as a girl from the outer +office entered with a card which she handed him. + +"That's the name he gave, sir. He said he must see you at once, because +he's the deputy sheriff." + +Jimmy's heart lost a beat. The superintendent grinned, pursed his lips +as if to whistle, and then he said, "Tell him I'm busy but will be at +leisure in less than five minutes. Tell him to wait outside. Five +minutes, remember!" + +The girl went out and the door had barely closed behind her when Holmes +muttered to Jimmy, "Here! Come here, quickly. Into this wash room with +you, and lock the door on the inside. Keyhole it if you wish, because +this sounds mighty funny to me." + +And a minute later when the deputy sheriff was invited to enter he found +the superintendent alone, and the listening Jimmy heard, "What can I do +for you?" + +"The office has been told that there's a chap named Gollop around the +works here--chap who looks like Judge Granger. You know what he's +wanted for. Got a warrant for his arrest" + +"All I know is that he ought to be arrested if he looks like the Judge," +growled Holmes, and then, "No, can't say that there's any such a man +here. You might look through the works. But--who told you there was such +a man here?" + +"We got the tip from your man Wiggins." + +"Oh! Wiggins, eh? Wait a minute." + +Jim heard a buzzer and then the voice of a clerk, "Yes, sir." + +"Send Wiggins in to me immediately," ordered the superintendent. There +was an interval of silence and then further conversation. + +"Oh, Wiggins. Have you seen that man Gollop around lately? If so where +is he now?" + +"Why--why--I thought he was--thought he came this way, sir," stammered +Wiggins with an embarassment that was palpable to the listening Jimmy. + +"You thought? Mr. Wiggins, I'm afraid that some day thinking too much +will be the death of you! What time does Mr. Gollop show up in the +morning?" + +"He's usually here when I come, sir," replied the perturbed and +conscience-stricken Wiggins. + +"Well, to-morrow morning when he comes send him in to me, but--Wiggins! +Don't say a word what I want him for. You can go now." + +A door banged, and Jimmy heard the superintendent's voice assume a +highly confidential tone. + +"That makes it easy, if he's the man you're after. I doubt that, +however. This chap is near-sighted and wears blue glasses. But here's +what I'll do. When Mr. Gollop comes to-morrow I'll keep him here in my +office and will telephone you, then you can come out at once and see if +he's the culprit. Will that do?" + +"Certainly the very best way to do it," said the deputy sheriff, and +then Jimmy heard him depart with apologies and thanks for a cigar that +Holmes had evidently given him. + +Immediately afterward the door opened and the superintendent growled, +"Now you see how evil companionship contaminates a man! You've got me +into this infernal mixup of yours; but--hang it all!--I can't see a good +man get the worst of it on account of that egotistical, swell-headed +Granger. And--besides, I've had a letter from the old man himself +telling me confidentially that the Martin people recommend you very +highly and suggesting that in case you get into trouble through the +Judge I'm to look out for you to the limit. The limit with old Tom +Sayers has never yet been found. So I've got to make good. Besides all +that, there's another reason that's entirely my own, which is that I +think this shebang needs your services, and I work first, last and all +the time for the best interests of the Sayers Automobile Company. So I'm +not going to let a tin rooster like Granger interfere with our business +in any way if I can help it. Where's your luggage?" + +"Over in Mrs. Clancey's house--the place where you recommended me to +stop while here." + +The superintendent stepped to the door leading out into the office and +beckoned to a confidential clerk, who promptly came into the office. + +"Smith, go over to Mrs. Clancey's and pack Mr. Gollop's suit case and +bring it here as soon as you can. Tell her Mr. Gollop has gone--called +away hurriedly; just in time to catch a train; no time to pack. And--see +here, Smith--you're to forget it all the very minute after the job is +done! Understand?" + +"Very well, sir," said Smith, with a grin, and disappeared. + +Before the door had closed Holmes was at the plant telephone, and Jimmy +was compelled to admire the way in which he avoided all waste of time. + +"Garage?" questioned the superintendent. "Good! Tell Hawkins to get out +that new roadster we fixed up for Mr. Sayers, see that she's all ready +for a run, and bring her around to the office door for me." + +As he hung up the receiver the whistle blew and outside could be heard +the droning diminuendo of machinery brought to a stop, denoting that +another day's work was done, and this was followed by the thrumming of +feet and the murmur of voices as the workmen departed. The +superintendent got up and pulled down the window shade. + +"Just as well to make certain that no one sees you sitting in here," he +said, as he again reached for the 'phone, called up his home and said +that he would not be home until late that night because he was detained +on business, and then proceeded in a deliberate and methodical way to +clear up his desk. + +It was just twenty minutes later when the two men walked out of the +office and to the waiting roadster. The big plant looked idle and +deserted. The superintendent gave some words of caution to the man +Hawkins, took his seat, told Jim to climb in, and the machine moved +slowly forward, picked up speed as if glad to be off on a journey, and +began singing its steady, rhythmic song of the road. + +"I've got twenty-eight miles to run to get you across the state line," +said the superintendent, settling into his seat and handling the wheel +like a veteran driver. "In summer I could do it in just twenty-eight +minutes with this car, but it'll take a little longer now. Once across +the line you can twiddle your thumb up against your nose at anything +Granger can do, and go back to New York, or any other place you choose, +to make out your written report for the old man. Either give it to the +Martin people, or forward it to the works in my care, because I can't +give you the old man's address. He jumps here and there like a kangaroo +when he goes on one of his scouting trips. We never know where he is. +Some car, this, eh?" + +Jim's teeth rattled as he shouted his agreement; but, notwithstanding +his desire to get out of the state, he would have preferred to take a +little more time for the journey. The frost-laden wind threatened to +tear him to pieces; behind the goggles with which he had been provided +his eyes streamed rivulets of tears, and he wondered how many +somersaults the car would turn if it happened to hit any solid obstacle. +The coolness of Holmes, who appeared to be lolling back in his seat with +an air of calm indifference to wind, weather, and speed, exasperated +him, but he dared not show the white feather and beg for mercy, so shut +his teeth, clenched his hands and tried to keep from holding his breath. + +Their pace did not slacken in the least when they came to two white +posts and he heard the superintendent's shout, "Across, all right! Two +miles more to town and I think we'll get to the railway station in time +for you to catch the eastbound flyer. Looked up the time-table in the +office before we started. Take chances on speed laws----" and then +fragmentary words of comment not always audible. + +They whizzed through the outskirts of a town, skidded a corner, saw a +railway station from behind which a plume of smoke and steam was +ascending, and came to an abrupt halt by a platform. Jim had no time to +purchase a ticket but made a flying leap with his suitcase and caught +the train after it was in motion. He looked back and waved his hand at +the superintendent, who was already turning the roadster for its home +journey, and it seemed to Mr. James Gollop that this was the first time +in several hours when he had been able to take a full, comforting, and +free breath. + +"If that sort of riding is part of the regular automobile business," he +said to himself as he fell into the nearest seat, "you're foredoomed to +be a failure, Jimmy, my boy! You ought to practice on something slow, +like a comet or a cyclone!" + +His equanimity restored he went to the Pullman conductor and applied for +a berth. + +"Got just one left--an upper--number seventeen. Here, boy, go and bring +the gentleman's baggage to seventeen in this car." + +"Everything is coming my way! My luck has turned!" quoth Jimmy, relieved +by the knowledge that he would not be compelled to ride all night in a +day coach. "She's a joyous world, after all!" + +So happy was he in his optimism that when installed in his Pullman seat +he gave the porter a bright, new dollar, and began to think forward to +the delights of the dining car. The man who had the lower berth in the +section seemed one of those individuals who prefer to keep aloof from +others; for, absorbed in a newspaper that he held high above his face to +catch the light from behind, he had never even so much as glanced at his +prospective section companion. As if he had finished reading something +of especial interest he now for the first time lowered it and suddenly +sat erect and exclaimed, "Well, I'll be confounded!" + +And Jimmy, startled, recognized Judge Granger and retorted, "You +confounded well might be! Toss you to see who jumps off this train--you +or I." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +"This," growled the Judge, glaring at Jimmy, "is an outrage!" + +"Agreed!" retorted Jimmy, at first sufficiently annoyed to have wished +that he and the Judge were in some situation where they might punch each +other's heads, and then, reverting to his habitual good humor, smiling +and finally emitting a chuckle. "You do seem to get in my way a lot. +Honestly, you've no idea what an annoyance you are to me." + +"Annoyance to you? That's good!" growled the Judge. "I annoy you!" + +"You do! You do!" retorted Jimmy. "I suppose you've caused me more +trouble one time and another than any other man I ever met. Isn't it +about time we buried the hatchet and forgot all about that joke of mine +up at Yimville? I've apologized in every way I could think of." + +As if the reference to Yimville had proved unfortunate, the Judge's +face flushed with anger and he bent forward and shook a threatening +finger at Jimmy and declared, "I never make terms with a malefactor. If +you had an idea that I am the type of man to use as the butt for a +silly, asinine jest, I'll teach you to think differently. Mark that and +remember it!" + +"Oh, come now!" Jimmy protested. "That's no way to look at things. It's +unbecoming of a man of your importance to cherish animosity for an +insignificant chap like I am. If we can't be friends, you might at least +be big enough to leave me alone." + +The Judge snorted with contempt. + +"How far are you going?" he finally growled, after a prolonged +inspection of the imperturbable Jimmy. + +"Baltimore. Why? Like to get off where I do so you can keep with better +company than yourself? You can get off there if you wish. I don't own +the town." + +This seemed the final straw to the camel's burden; for the Judge +suddenly popped up in his seat, called to the Pullman conductor who +happened to be standing at a little distance down the aisle, and when +the latter approached asked, "Isn't there any possible way of +exchanging my berth for another?" + +"Yes, do help him out, Conductor," implored Jimmy with marked +solicitude. "He doesn't like me a bit." + +The Pullman potentate stared at the two men incredulously, now that he +noted their physical similarity, and, accepting it as a banter, +remarked, "Can't see why twin brothers should disagree." + +"I'll not brook any of your impudence," thundered the Judge in such +unmistakable anger that the conductor speedily became apologetic, and +consulted his book. + +"Beg pardon, sir," he said; "a stateroom reservation ordered for +Harmonsville has been canceled. You are going through to Washington, +aren't you? Well, you can have that on payment of the extra fare." + +"Let him have it. I'll pay the difference if he's at all short," Jimmy +urged, hopefully. "It's very kind of you, Conductor, because he's not +feeling at all well. What he needs is a long rest." + +"What you need is a jail," growled the Judge, and ordered his luggage +removed to the vacant stateroom. + +"See that the windows are closed, Conductor," said Jimmy. "He catches +cold so easily. Frightfully delicate and sensitive. Been that way since +he was but a dear little child. Do take care of him, won't you?" + +But the Judge, purple with anger, stalked majestically away from his +tormentor without arriving at any adequate reply, and Jimmy was left +alone. In the gray, cold dawn of four o'clock the next morning, as Jim +followed the porter out, he paused behind just long enough to rap loudly +on the Judge's stateroom door and to explain, "Baltimore. I'm leaving +you now. Pleasant journey!" + +But presumably from the Judge's remarks, this little parting courtesy +was not appreciated, although it afforded the cheerful Jimmy some +amusement as he made his way out of the station. Indeed, considering +that inhospitable hour of the morning, he was made fairly happy by what +the Judge said. Furthermore, to palliate the dreariness of the winter +morning, was the thought that now he could break the news of his +discharge to his mother because he could couple it with a hopeful +prospect. + +For two whole days, and considerable portions of the nights, Jimmy +plunged headlong into his proposed organization of a sales and publicity +department for the Sayers Company, and his lively imagination stimulated +itself as his enthusiasm grew. Expert salesman that he was, and +untrammeled by traditions of the motor car trade, his originality found +full vent, and, all unaware of it, he proposed plans that would have +been seized upon by any progressive and daring firm in the automobile +industry. In fact "he builded better than he knew"; but, after his +manuscript had been duly typed and mailed, he suffered anxious hours +thinking of how this or that part of his scheme might have been +improved, and went through all that mental agony with which every +composer reviews his completed work when too late for alteration. At the +end of the second day's wait he became fearful, and at the end of the +third day was beginning to lose hope. On the fourth day he said, +somberly, "Well, Maw, I reckon it was a flivver! I've got to get back to +New York to-morrow and look for a job in my own line." + +His optimism was being sorely tried; but his courage was still +unweakened. It was while he was packing his suit case on the following +morning that a telegram came. + + "Meet me at Engineers' Club at noon to-morrow, Martin." + +Even the message offered small consolation or encouragement; but it was +his way to hope for the best, so he whistled bravely as he left his +home. He put in all his spare time, after arrival in New York, in +visiting automobile agencies and studying as far as possible their +selling methods, and he absorbed information as a dry sponge thrown into +a whirlpool absorbs water. He made notes in his memorandum book after +each visit and soliloquized, "If nothing comes of the Sayers thing, I'll +have learned a whole lot more than I ever knew about this car business, +and some day it might prove worth while. I can at least walk up to a +motor car now and look it in the face and shake its hand as if we were +old acquaintances; I used to take off my hat to a taxicab, but now I +regard 'em as errand boys running here and there through the streets. +This car line is a mighty big game, after all." + +And it was with this feeling that he entered the Engineers' Club and was +met in the hallway by Martin, who had just arrived. + +"On time, I see--I like that," was the elder man's greeting. "Now, first +of all, we shall have lunch, because I'm hungry. I never talk business +during meals. I believe in relaxation." + +"But--but--what's the use in eating when there's anything more important +to do?" asked Jimmy, eager to hear Martin's verdict. + +"Nothing is as important as eating when one is hungry," was his host's +remark, and Jimmy had to be content. "Hope you had a nice trip out to +Princetown?" was Martin's next remark, and Jimmy gave him a highly +humorous account of what that nice trip was like, much to Martin's +amusement. + +"This--this Granger person does seem to bear you a grudge," he +commented. "Have you made any attempt to calm him down by rubbing his +ears, or stroking his fur the right way?" + +And then Jimmy became serious and said, "Yes, I did try to get him to +bury the hatchet when I met him on the train," and detailed that +unhappy conversation. "You see," he added, boyishly, "I didn't care much +what he thought of me; but I thought it was my duty to get the whole +affair wiped off the slate if Mr. Sayers decided to give me a chance. It +wouldn't be fair to Mr. Sayers to have a man of the Judge's influence +angry with one of the company's employees. If I get that place, I've got +to fill it well. I've just naturally got to do it!" + +"Um-m-mh! Do you intend to tell Sayers all about it?" + +"Of course I do." + +"But--but suppose, after he heard the story, he declined to employ you?" + +"I can't help that," said Jimmy ruefully. "It wouldn't be fair and +honest to take the place unless he knew all about my reputation out +there." + +"Is it your habit to confide all your mistakes to your employer?" his +host asked, as if surprised. + +"Of course," asserted Jimmy. "When I work for a man, I'm his and whether +he likes it or not he's more or less responsible for what I do. And, +what's more, I feel responsible for him. If anything fails in the goods +I sell, I'm as hurt over it as if I had made 'em. I worked for one man +I didn't like, and he didn't like me; but we got along for the sole +reason that we both believed in his line of stuff because it was honest. +It was the only thing we ever did agree on. And I suppose I'd have been +with him yet if he hadn't sold out to a company that began to make +inferior stuff to add to the profits." + +After luncheon they found a secluded corner and Martin said, "Well, +young man, now we shall get down to brass tacks. I read that report you +made and I can think of a few objections you might have to meet before +you can get the position, and there are some other points that might +come up and require explanation." + +And then, with shrewdness, he began his discussion of Jimmy's plan, and +no expert investigator could have made a more exhaustive examination +than he did. Jimmy's wits were sharpened by this catechism, and his +ideas improved and grew apace. He even admitted that he had studied the +sales methods of other firms and apparently gained the elder man's +approval for his activity and judgment. + +The afternoon daylight had waned before they realized the passage of +time, and Martin consulted his watch and said, "So far we seemed to +have threshed this matter out pretty thoroughly; but there's one very +important detail you've neglected, and that is to state what you expect +in the way of salary." + +"By jingoes!" exclaimed Jimmy, straightening in his seat. "I forgot all +about that. Do you know, I got so interested in working out this project +that I never so much as gave the pay part of it a thought?" + +Martin laughed as if delighted by such an absurdity. + +"Well," he remarked, "if that's the way you handle your private affairs +it doesn't look promising for whoever employs you. No, I'll retract +that, and on second thought reverse that judgment. I'll say that if you +invariably put your employer's interests before your own your sole +chance to succeed is to become a member of any firm you work for. I +suggest that you put that up to--Sayers." + +"Don't quite get you," said Jimmy, as if puzzled. "You aren't having fun +with me, are you?" + +"I am not," asserted the shrewd old business man. "I'm in earnest." + +"But mightn't Mr. Sayers think I had an awful nerve? Perhaps he'd not +give me a chance at all and--I want that job because I'd like to prove +that there's a little more to me than a comic supplement. I need money, +but about the biggest reward a man can get is the absolute conviction +that he made good." + +Martin studied Jim's face with a look of warm approbation, but Jimmy, +entirely unaware of the scrutiny, stared into the fireplace with eyes +that seemed glowing with big dreams. + +"If I thought Mr. Sayers wouldn't think me a fool," he said, almost as +if to himself, "I'd like to have him give me a chance with these schemes +of mine on this basis: That I'd go to work for him for my bare living +expenses--I'd work for just half the salary I got from the Columbus +people--and that he would give me a percentage and all the increase of +sales. And--I'd like to take that payment in stock in the business, so +that if I did make a big success of it, I'd feel thereafter, year by +year, that I was hustling for myself as well as the Sayers Company." + +"You know that it's not an ordinary corporation, don't you?" Martin +asked. "No? Well it's the closest corporation I know. Sayers owns +seventy-five per cent of it. His daughter is the next largest +stockholder, and his superintendent has practically all the remainder +which, by the way, was given him as a bonus for efficient work." + +"Phew!" exclaimed Jimmy. "I didn't know Mr. Holmes was a stockholder, or +I'd have been more circumspect. Good Lord! I criticised the selling +organization and roasted it from top to bottom, and even told him one or +two things I thought might improve his plant. Just my luck! I'll never +get sense enough to keep my mouth shut about things over which I +enthuse." + +"There's where you are wrong. The superintendent has given you the +biggest boost I ever knew one man to give another. He says you are the +livest wire he ever met and that the plant must have you at any price; +says that he never met a man in his life whose head was so filled with +new and original ideas and that half the time you had him dazed with +trying to keep up with you. So, you see, it paid you to be frank and +outspoken with him at least, and--Sayers thinks a lot of what that +superintendent says! I can tell you that." + +He stopped, relighted his half-burned cigar, appeared to consider for a +time while Jimmy, waiting his friendly advice, watched him eagerly, and +then said, "Well, Gollop, I'll tell you something more. I've been +authorized to go fully into this thing with you, and to decide it. The +job is yours, on the terms you propose, save for this. You shall draw +exactly the same salary that the Columbus Company paid you. You shall +have a full year in which to prove that your management of your +department is good, or a failure. If you succeed, you're made for life. +If you fail you can expect nothing at all in the way of leniency from +old Tom Sayers, because he's as hard hearted an old wretch as ever began +at the very bottom and worked himself to wherever he now is by hard +knocks and worshiping efficiency." + +Jimmy suddenly gasped, and then impulsively reached forward and clutched +the elder man's hand in both his own. + +"I'm not going to fail," he said, simply, "because that would be a slam +on your judgment and--you've been mighty kind to me, Mr. Martin and--I +can't throw down a friend. If for no other reason on earth I'll make +good or bust myself trying, just because you got me the chance. I mean +it! I do! And----" He hesitated and then added, almost timidly--"I'm so +desperately eager to make a big success of this that--would you mind, if +I get worried, or doubtful--like a chap does sometimes if--if I came to +you for advice? You're so deucedly sane and wise, and the only thing I +seem to lack is plain horse sense!" + +He was so ingenuous, so frankly in earnest, so open in his gratitude and +admiration, that Martin, square-jawed, taciturn, and repressed, turned +away to hide the sudden flash of liking that warmed his eyes. + +"I'll take it as a favor if you'll ask my advice," he replied. "In fact, +I'll probably give you a darned sight more advice than you'll either +like or follow. Well, what are you going to do now?" + +"Send a wire to my mother," said Jimmy, "You see, Maw's worried, +and--it'll make her so happy that I can't put that off for another +minute. Do you mind if I tell her that I got the job through your +kindness?" + +"If you wish," said Martin, with a smile. "You can step to the desk over +there and find a form, and I'll have it sent from here." + +Jimmy rushed to the desk and returned in a few minutes, with a jubilant +face. Martin took the message outside to have it sent and was compelled +to read it to settle a question of the count of words and read this +eulogium: + + "Martin finest man on earth. Never knew any so good and kind. Got + Sayers job for me on better terms than I could dare ask for. + Glorious chance. Martin will help me make good. Marvelous fund + common sense. Can't fail when he so kind and friendly. Writing long + letter. Love. God bless you. Jimmy." + +"Lack of gratitude certainly isn't one of his failings," thought Martin; +but somehow his face appeared neither harsh nor cynical, from which it +might be surmised that he was not at all displeased. He sauntered back, +rejoined his guest, and then said. "When do you propose to begin work?" + +"I've already begun," said Jimmy, looking up at him. "Been thinking +about it since you left. But--I can't see just how I'm to do it until I +can meet Mr. Sayers and tell him all about Judge Granger. I think I +should go back to Princetown first of all and get full knowledge from +the superintendent of our technical advantages over all other cars. And +if I go back there Granger will have me pinched! Isn't it rotten luck? +What a chump I was! That man hates me because we look alike. It's not my +fault at all. I didn't make his lookings. If I had, I'd have tried to +make a better job of it. It seems to me that either he or I will have to +change his face. He ought to wear whiskers. A Judge without whiskers +isn't any good, anyhow, I reckon. So here I am with the biggest chance +of my life, and it's all mucked up because I can't get that chap to +forget that I helped him out with a single speech I made for him up at +Yimville. Why, if he had sense enough to appreciate it, I gave him more +free advertising than he ever had before in all his life! That apology +of mine should have made more votes for him than he'd ever have grabbed +through his own eloquence. I wouldn't harm him for anything and yet he +hates me. I tried to make it up when I met him. I went the limit. But he +was so sore he wouldn't even think of sleeping in the same section with +me, although I had the upper berth and never snore nor talk in my +sleep! He's a big man and I'm a slob; but all of that doesn't seem to +count with him. He can't forgive me because we look alike. If I were in +his place I'd feel sorry for the other chap. I'd hold conference with +him about our mutual predicament. I'd send him clippings from +interesting folks who make things for noses and tell how to grow +eyebrows and how to flatten ears and make wide grins into sweet, +diminutive smiles. I'd put him next to people who change gray eyes into +brown ones, and purple eyes into greens. What on earth am I to do to get +a passport into his state from J. Woodworth-Granger so I can keep my +job?" + +He spoke almost tearfully, as if contemplating an unsurmountable +obstacle, but Martin appeared unimpressed by his woe. Indeed, he +chuckled as if amused. + +"It might take time," he said, "to persuade the judge; but--suppose you +leave it to me. I have an idea that I can do it within a week or ten +days, or at least gain an armistice. And you needn't worry about Sayers. +I'll tell him how the matter stands. You can put in your time for a week +or two scouting around car agencies here in New York, and in the +meantime, can consider yourself employed. Meet me here to-morrow at +three o'clock." + +Jimmy experienced several paradoxes in his surroundings when he stepped +briskly out of the skyscraper wherein he had been entertained. It was +nearly five o'clock in a dark afternoon, but the universe seemed filled +with sunshine; heavy flakes were falling softly, but they appeared rose +petals; men and women wore overcoats but the air was benignantly soft +and warm; each sputtering arc light had a rainbow or a beautiful halo; +street cars clanged, taxis honk-honked, the wheels of trucks screeched +and ground across paving blocks and metal rails; but the whole blended +into a strange triumphal march as if performed by some immense band of +music. Mr. James Gollop had to fight an impulse to sing, dance, shout +and altogether conduct himself with the improprieties that are +chronicled against one King David, who played on timbrels and recklessly +jazzed himself out of his job. Unlike King David, he came to his senses +in time to commune with himself and to admonish himself. + +"Steady, Jimmy! Steady! Whoa there! Back up! Ca'm yourself! Ca'm +yourself. You've got the job, but there's a lot of work to be done +before you become part owner of the finest car on earth, the peerless +wonder of the transportation world, the winged victory of the roads. +Don't let your head swell, James. Better keep it solid bone than have it +turn into a toy balloon; because the latter can be pricked with a bare +bodkin." + +But nevertheless his happiness was so great, his hopes so high, his +dreams so insurgent, that he longed, most fervently, to share his glad +news with someone. As he said to himself, "If I can't tell someone +pretty soon, I'll just naturally blow up! That's all there is to that!" + +And evidently the "someone" he wished to make his confidant was pretty +well known in the back of his head, for he suddenly hurried out to the +nearest corner and boarded a car that would take him into old New York. + +As the car came under the big electric sign reading "Gonfaroni's" it +shone up there in the heavens like a lighthouse to a homecoming mariner, +and he blithely stepped off and hastened down the side street to the +entrance of MacDougall Alley. It was dark, chill and deserted. Lights +shone through the cracks of one window at the far end, but the studio +which was his Mecca was rayless. + +Jimmy stood for a long time in front of it, staring up at its darkened +windows, and derided himself for his pangs of disappointment. + +"This can't go on any longer," he told himself, savagely. "To-morrow +I've just got to know Mary Allen's real name. I'm a big enough man +now--prospectively at least--to dare to walk into that Martha Putnam +hotel, glare at the ogress who guards the pearly gates, and tell her to +send my card up to Miss So-and-so and to step lively. Here I am, just +bubbling over with glad news like a tin tea kettle on a red hot stove +spouting steam, and I can't go uptown to that hotel and send up my card +because I've never had the courage to ask her real name. I've been a +coward all along, but now it's got to stop." + +Nevertheless he did return to the uptown precincts and for a long time +stood guard in front of the distinguished woman's caravanserai, hoping +against all common sense that Mary Allen might appear. He remembered +reading an article in a Sunday newspaper on telepathy, and stood across +the street frowning at the Martha Putnam and concentrating his mind on +the object of his adoration, and beseeching her to come to the +elevator, and thence down into the cold street in response to his great +desire. But somehow the telepathy stuff didn't work at all according to +propaganda. He shut his eyes and tried more earnestly until aroused by a +voice. "Hey! You can't sleep in that doorway. Move on! Wiggle your +stumps!" + +A fat policeman stood regarding him. Jimmy was discouraged, for he knew +that any policeman, anywhere, is an unfeeling wretch, who, if he met the +great god Cupid on the street, would promptly arrest that light of the +world for indecent exposure and perhaps carry him to the nearest station +by the tips of his golden wings as if he were but a vagrant chicken +destined for the sergeant's pot. + +"Come! Fade away!" the enemy ordered, belligerently. + +And Mr. James Gollop, crestfallen, faded. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +At exactly three-thirty o'clock on the following day in the Engineers' +Club the taciturn Mr. Martin, after some further questioning, took from +his pocket a contract and duplicate that assured Mr. James Gollop +employment. + +"I've been in a peculiar situation in this affair," said Martin. "I've +had to fight against some personal likings and inclinations, and stand +as a mediator; for I must look after the best interests of the Sayers +Automobile Company as well as the interests of Jim Gollop. However, here +you are. Sign these." + +Jimmy signed the contracts with as glad a hand as if he had been +affixing his signature to some document of inheritance that would bring +him a million. He put his own copy in his pocket with as much care as if +it were precious beyond computation. + +"Now," he said, "when do I meet Mr. Sayers?" + +"Sayers," said Martin, as he put the original contract into his pocket, +"is going somewhere West to-day. You'll see him soon enough. His +instructions are that you are to go immediately to San Augustine, +Florida, to see what is being done by rival concerns down there at the +beach races. I suppose he expects you to pick up points and information. +Keep track of your expense account. Learn all you can. Then report at +Princetown." + +"But--about Granger! Am I to----" + +"You'll be away at least two weeks," said Martin. "Many things can +happen in that time. If I were you, I'd forget that the Judge is on +earth. I'll--I'll tell Sayers about this matter," said his benefactor, +with the first sign of hesitancy that Jim had ever seen him display. +"And in the meantime, I'll do all I can to get that Judge to show some +sense. You can be certain of that. Well, may good luck go with you!" + +At exactly seven-thirty that evening Mr. James Gollop reluctantly +departed from the street in front of the Martha Putnam hotel, where he +had taken up sentry go after convincing himself that MacDougall Alley +was dark. + +"Got to catch my train to San Augustine," he warned himself. "Can't put +it off a minute longer because the meeting is on there day after +to-morrow, and it won't wait until I can tell Mary Allen all about it! +But if I don't straighten this matter out so that hereafter I can at +least write her, or send her a wire, I'm no organizer at all and my +chance with the Sayers Company isn't worth a tinker's curse." + +As if he were forever scraping under the wire just before the barrier +fell, Jimmy got the last vacant berth in the sleeper and, recovering +from his Martha Putnam disappointment, whistled blithely as a porter +carried his suitcase to the Pullman steps. He stood outside to enjoy the +last of his cigar and was mildly interested in the final rush of +passengers when a porter came rapidly wheeling an invalid's chair in +which sat a man bodily broken and hideously scarred. The porter halted +the chair and the man asked, anxiously, if it were possible to secure a +berth. + +"Sorry, sir," said the Pullman conductor, "but we're full up. You should +have engaged one earlier for this train. It's always crowded now." + +"I didn't know until half an hour ago that I could come," said the man +in the wheel chair with such evident disappointment that Jimmy's +sympathy was enlisted. "Isn't there some place you can put me? +It's--it's like a day out of my life if I miss this train to San +Augustine!" + +That was more than Jimmy could endure. + +"Give this man my berth," said Jimmy to the conductor. "No. 12 in this +car. I can stick it through the night in the smoker. I've done it heaps +of times!" + +And with that he brushed the porter aside, bent forward, lifted the +wreck from the chair and with his sturdy strength carried him up the +steps and to the relinquished section. + +"There," he said cheerfully, as the porter came bearing the cushions +with which to make the invalid comfortable. "Now you'll be right as a +top." + +The train took on motion and Jimmy was starting to carry his suitcase +forward when the Pullman conductor, proving that kindliness commands +kindliness, came hurrying forward and said, "Here! Let the porter find a +seat for you. It's pretty crowded out there now. Or, if the gentleman +has no objections, you might sit here with him until it's time to make +the berths down. The day coaches and smokers usually get thinned out a +little by ten o'clock at night." + +And thus it was that Jimmy made a new friend. + +"You see," explained the man he had befriended, "this race meeting down +there means a lot to a chap smashed up as I am. It's about the only +thrill I ever get since--since--I had to live in a chair. My name is +Carver. Dan Carver. What's yours?" + +"Jim Gollop," said Jimmy, puzzling his excellent memory to recall why it +was that the name Dan Carver suggested something, and then, after an +interval, blurting, "Carver? Are you the man who used to be a famous +race driver two or three years ago? The man who wrecked himself in the +Vanderbilt Cup races rather than take a chance on throwing his machine +into the crowd at a turn?" + +"The same--what's left of him," Carver admitted. + +"Then," said Jimmy, "I wish I could have given you a whole Pullman +instead of just one berth! By gosh! You deserve it. The firm you drove +for ought to have seen to that." + +"Firms forget, when a man is no longer of use," said Carver with a shake +of his head. + +"Some of 'em do. Mine isn't that sort. But, you see, my firm is head and +shoulders above the others--in some ways. The Sayers Automobile Company +isn't one of these big, swollen concerns. Old Tom Sayers looks after his +people." + +He was in true form again, proud of his firm, boasting its merits, +advertising it and ready to defend it quite as valiantly as if he had +been with it from its beginnings. + +"I've heard of it," admitted Carver, politely. "Suppose it's because I'm +so out of the game that I don't know more about it than I do. My fault! +How long you been with 'em?" + +"Since about five o'clock this afternoon," said Jimmy. + +The crippled record breaker took out his watch, consulted it, and +slipped it back in his pocket. + +"Long time, isn't it?" he commented. "That's nearly three hours. I've +broken a few records in my time, but you beat anything I've come across. +It took thirteen years for me to learn that one concern I worked for +was no good. It took you three hours to learn the one you work for is +the best there is." + +"But I believe it!" declared Jimmy, with his unquenchable enthusiasm. +"Why? Because I believe in Tom Sayers. I believe in his honesty, and his +reputation, and--well--because he gave me a chance." + +"Know him very well?" his seat mate asked. + +"Never met him," Jimmy admitted. + +"Know anything about his cars?" Carver somewhat cynically asked. + +"I know that some of those who have them brag about them," said Jimmy. +"And I know that the men who work for him, from the superintendent down +to the yard boy, believe in them and say so, and would tear to pieces a +man who says they aren't the best. That's good enough for me. Know +anything about cars? Um-m-m-mh! I reckon I don't know a thing on earth +about 'em. If my life depended upon starting a car that somebody had +handed me on a platter, I suppose I'd be a deader. But a man doesn't +have to know it all to succeed. Noah couldn't have started the +_Aquitania_; but he did navigate the ark pretty successfully, and nobody +denies that he was the first admiral that ever sailed the seas. Admiral +Nelson and Commodore Paul Jones got there, somehow, but if they had seen +a motor launch tearing down on them at twenty miles an hour, I can +imagine both of them diving off the poop!" + +Before they parted that night, the expert and the novice had become +friends. Before the race meeting was over, Mr. James Gollop knew more +about the merits of cars, the advantages of one over the other, and the +prevailing failings and universal obstacles than he had ever dreamed +before. Incidentally, he had established a friendship that lasted and +was to be of mutual benefit thereafter. He jubilated when considering +fortune. All things were coming his way. He would have accepted it as a +part of the regular procedure had he found a twenty dollar gold piece on +the pavement. His luck was in. + +And so, like a happy victor, Mr. James Gollop of the Sayers Automobile +Company returned to New York one evening and, knowing that it was too +late to base any hope on either MacDougall Alley or the Martha Putnam +hotel, repaired, in lieu thereof, to the palm-garden precincts of the +place in which he had last dined with Mary Allen. He made plans for the +morrow, thought of what he might say to her, determined that the mystery +should end, and was anything but discontented. He ate leisurely, enjoyed +his food, and perused an evening paper. He liked the black coffee, and +felt civilized when he resorted to the finger bowl. He got to his feet +leisurely, well content, and then stopped, bent to one side, moved a +pace and through a screen of palm fronds stared as if transfixed. What +he saw was Mary Allen seated at a nice little table, inspecting a bunch +of violets in her hand, whilst across from her, stiff, pompous, +self-conscious, but entirely self-satisfied, sat the man who might have +been Mr. James Gollop but who was, indubitably one J. Woodworth-Granger, +Judge of the Fourth District Court. Others might not identify him, but +Mr. James Gollop did and for a moment his mind was in a turmoil of +surprise and anger. Granger! That wind bag had somehow, probably by mere +accident, met the only girl on earth, taken base advantage of his +likeness to one Jim Gollop, and was profiting thereby! How dare he! To +impersonate another man under ordinary circumstances was in itself +sufficiently culpable, but in private affairs, extraordinary and +personal, it became outrageous. + +A great wave of indignation surged Jimmy Gollop as if he had been thrust +into a turbulent sea and was being helplessly bobbed up and down +thereon. He was undecided whether to create a scene by rushing forward, +seizing the impertinent Judge by the short hair at the back of his neck, +which country barbers had encouraged to a bristle, or to stalk +deliberately forward like the long lost hero in the cinema and--after +the screen had announced his words, "This girl is mine!"--scornfully +indicate to the impostor the door through which the latter, crestfallen, +must inevitably depart. For about a half-minute that seemed a +half-century, he didn't know what to do. And then, upsetting all ethics +and standards of the melodrama and the movies, he did just what anyone +else would have done in like circumstances; stalked majestically toward +the hat pirate in the outer hall, fumbled for his hat slip, presented it +with humble fingers, got his head covering and his overcoat, and +shuffled out into the street dejectedly to ponder over the exigencies of +this calamity, this tragedy, that threatened to end the world. How dared +the Judge to look like him! What a dirty trick to take advantage of +their unfortunate resemblance and impose himself into such a situation! +It was incredible, and base. He didn't know what to do about it, because +she was involved. He felt himself in a peculiarly helpless position. He +could but pray that the Judge's intentions were honorable. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +After a rather disturbed night in which he slept by fits and starts, +mostly starts, and occupied the intervening wakeful hours in considering +the Judge's unparalleled effrontery, Jim dawdled over a breakfast for +which he had no appetite, reflecting meanwhile what he could do. +Ordinarily his nerves were equal to any strain; but now he found himself +fidgety, which but added to his general perturbation. For her sake, as +much as his own, he was indignant over the deception practiced upon Mary +Allen, and resolved to punish the impostor if ever opportunity offered. +He decided that his first move must be to warn her. That, too, presented +its difficulty, as his one certain chance of finding her was at her +studio, and he doubted if she would be there before the late forenoon. +He scanned the list of hotel arrivals and learned that the Judge was a +guest at the Van Astor. + +"That," he soliloquized, "is worth knowing; because after I have had a +talk with Mary, I'll call upon that human airship or write him a note +telling him what one James Gollop thinks about him!" + +He was still perplexed and absent-minded when he somewhat listlessly +walked out into the morning sunlight and started rather aimlessly down +town; nor was he aware that he was passing the Van Astor until disturbed +by a sharp "Harrup! Ahem!" snorted out as if by a hippopotamus that had +just emerged from deep water, and looking around saw the object of his +indignation advancing toward him. If Jim's usual frown looked black, the +scowl that was on the Judge's face was cyclonic. + +"You unspeakable scoundrel!" the Judge exclaimed, as he confronted +Jimmy. + +"That, sir, is precisely the term I should have applied to you!" +retorted Jimmy. And then, before the Judge, who was not so quick on the +up-take, had time to recover, Jim poked his face belligerently forward +and added, "The sole condition that prevents me from giving you just +what you deserve--a punch in the jaw!--is that we are here on the +street; but I'll promise you this, you infernal windbag, that if ever I +get you alone, I'll change your facial boundaries until you'll never +more be mistaken for me." + +"You--you--how dare you!" exclaimed the Judge, drawing back as if +aghast, and considerably alarmed by the threat of physical peril. + +"See here," said Jim, advancing a step as the Judge retreated, "we'll +mention no names, but I'll say this: that if ever again you take +advantage of our resemblance to force your attentions on the young lady +with whom I saw you last night, I'll expose you. You should be ashamed +of yourself. There is a limit to everything, and your actions are beyond +the lines of decency--you--you--hypocritical blackguard!" + +"Not another word! Not another word!" roared the Judge, as if he were +admonishing a highly obstreperous witness in his court "It's all I can +do to keep from turning you over to the police, and----" + +"And it's all I can do to keep from putting my fist into your face until +someone calls for an ambulance! By God! I think I'll do it anyhow!" +exclaimed Jim with such evident intention that the Judge got from reach +not an instant too soon, and, deciding that he might as well continue +his progress after such a flying start, did not pause until he had +reached the security of the hotel rotunda. Jim's first impulse had been +to assist his departure with his boot, but after his leg had got +half-way into the air he recovered his senses, and then angrily turned +and walked down the avenue. Once around the corner of an intersecting +street he stopped, got out of the line of traffic, and despite the +coldness of the day, removed his hat and wiped moisture from his +forehead. + +"Good Lord!" he muttered, "what a narrow escape! I came as near to +making an absolute fool of myself then as ever I have in my life. If I +hadn't controlled myself at the right moment I would have probably +booted the Judge; but would have kicked away my new job at the same +time. Will I never, never, never learn sense?" + +The fact that the Judge had opened a meeting with an insult that +scarcely any red-blooded man could have failed to resent, did not, in +Jimmy's sober self-arraignment condone his own conduct. + +"What I should have done," he thought, "was to keep my temper cool, and +let him know beyond any chance of misunderstanding just where we stand, +right now and in the future. I'm not going to run away from that big +bluffer any more. It's come to a show-down between him and me! I'm +done, not only with apologies, but, with side-stepping. If ever he +sticks his nose into my affairs again I'll make him wish he'd taken it +to a shipyard and had it armor plated. But how on earth did he happen to +bump into Mary? And where? That's what gets me!" + +He thought he could picture it all--the chance meeting, her cordial +greeting, the Judge's joy at being hailed by such an extraordinary +beautiful and attractive creature when all the girls he had hitherto met +had been of the small town or tea-party variety, and his tacit +pretension that he was her accepted friend and pal, James Gollop. + +"I reckon he'd smirk, and bow, and try to be clever and witty, and all +the time he'd be either patting himself on the back for his luck, or +envying or hating me," thought Jimmy. "When I let the people out in +Yimville think I was him, it was a joke; but this is a serious matter +and--it's positively indecent! That's what it is! It's an outrage!" + +Imbued with a frantic wish to have Mary Allen share his indignation, he +started toward MacDougall Alley. And then his consideration for her +feelings and wish to shield her from distress caused him to ponder +whether it were not the best to avoid mention of the Judge unless she +broached the subject of the supposed James Gollop's actions on the +preceding night. That brought him to another tormenting question, which +was how long this affair had been going on. How long had the Judge been +in town? How many times had he met and entertained her? And--horrible +condition!--suppose of the two men she had learned to like Judge +Woodworth-Granger better than James Gollop? That would be a tragedy. +Never a doubt entered his mind but that the Judge would speedily fall in +love with such a paragon, and throw himself at her feet. It was +impossible that he should be such an imbecile as to do otherwise! Any +man in the world would do the same. It was to be expected, in the +natural course of things. Being something of an opportunist, he decided +to stop pondering over everything until he was in the presence of Mary, +and then to guide himself by his reception. He hoped that the Judge had, +as nearly as his capabilities permitted, lived up to the high standard +of the Gollop form, or, as Jimmy himself might have expressed it, that +the Judge "hadn't queered his pitch." + +"It'd be just like him to make her hate me after one interview. +Considering how I hated myself after one meeting with him I couldn't +blame her," he admitted, dolefully. + +With an unwonted trepidation he climbed the studio stairs and rapped on +the door. + +"Come in." Her voice, sounding to Jimmy like a long unheard and +beautiful song, responded and he turned the handle and entered. + +She was sitting in front of an easel and the forenoon light from outside +lent finer lights and shadows to her face as with her head half-turned +over her shoulder she regarded him. + +"Oh, hello! It's you, is it?" she greeted, and then got to her feet +quickly, and stepped toward him as if to inspect him at shorter range, +or else as if wondering what mood he might be in at the moment. There +was a palpable uncertainty, curiosity, and perhaps reserve in her +attitude, as if she wondered whether he would begin talking pompous +platitudes or, on the contrary, breezing into some whimsy. He didn't +quite know what to say or do. He felt like a human interrogation point; +aware of the necessity of finding out something and adapting himself to +that knowledge. + +He had kept away from her when discharged from the old employment and +sought her when his outlook was brightened by the new. He had tried to +find her when his dreams were flashing fast. He had anticipated this +interview. His imagination and love had so gilded her and her +surroundings with glamour that now, as he stood there, awkward, +irresolute, with hat in hand, everything seemed unreal. Everything +seemed reduced to hard realities. The fire that warmed the studio was a +real fire. The light that entered through the windows was real light. +The studio was but a real working room, and she but a real +flesh-and-blood girl standing there in a paint-soiled apron with a +palette in one hand and a brush in the other. + +And then her voice brought him back to earth. + +"For goodness sake! Can't you speak?" she asked, and extricated a thumb +from the palette, and turned to lay it and the paint brush on a littered +table near her easel. Inasmuch as her eyes were for the moment diverted +from him he succeeded in recovering some of his customary wits. + +"Speak? Speak! I've got so much to speak that I'm smothered with talk," +he replied. "Aren't you going to shake hands before I begin?" + +"I suppose it's polite," she said, extending a hand which, with all the +delightful inconsequence of a man infatuated with love, he had +frequently craved to hold forever. "Suppose you sit down to tell it!" +she suggested, withdrawing her hand from his. "I'm--I'm rather curious +to hear you talk." + +"Why?" he asked. "Don't I talk enough--usually?" + +"Yes, but----" She stopped, appeared to hesitate, and then almost +irrelevantly said "You've never said what you thought of my work. Do you +think I should continue it, or drop it?" + +Jimmy was so astonished by the unexpected that he forgot his +embarrassment. + +"Drop it? Of course not. How absurd! It was never in me to do anything +very well," he added almost wistfully, "for I have no gifts. But if I +could sing even a little, I would cultivate my voice. And if I but knew +how to paint at all, I would work to paint better, always hoping that +some time I might do at least one picture. But--isn't it unusual for you +to be either discouraged, or questioning?" + +"Perhaps," she said, looking away from him. "But--suppose I had to give +it up?" + +"Why?" he cried solicitously. And then, remembering that all his recent +worries had been of a financial nature, he was fearful that some wolf of +poverty had thrust its head into the studio door. "If--if--it's money +that keeps you from going ahead as you have been, I--look here! Your +work mustn't stop. We're too good friends to be falsely modest. If--if +you're broke, I'd like to let you have some money. I haven't got much, +but--Mary--I'm going to make some. I'll--I'll buy a picture. I'd like +one. I've always wanted one of yours." + +She smiled a trifle sadly and shook her head in negation. He thought she +doubted the affluence of a mere chocolate salesman and it brought his +mind back to his own good news. + +"See here, Mary Allen," he expostulated, "a lot of things have happened +since I saw you last. I'm no longer Jimmy Gollop, candy drummer. I'm Mr. +James Gollop, Sales Manager for one of the best institutions on earth, +and I'm going to make good. I know I shall. I feel it here," and he +tapped his breast with his knuckles. She did not observe his gesture, +for she had turned still further from him, and was looking out of the +window as if half distracted by her own thought. + +"Why," he blurted, "you'd be as unhappy without paint as I'd be without +work. Rather than have you give it up, I'd--I'd send you down to +Maryland to my mother. Why not do that? You'd love her, because everyone +does. And she'd love you because--well--just because she couldn't help +it. Mary--if you'd only go down there you could have a home--no fussy +hotel, and--and--I'd be so happy to----" + +She suddenly turned toward him with a tiny gesture, then laughed. He was +rather hurt, and felt that possibly she was ridiculing his honest and +generous offer. As if she read his thought she came quickly toward him +and held out her hand and caught his and said, using the old jocular +name, "No, Bill Jones, Pirate, it isn't money! But don't think for an +instant that I don't appreciate the offer that comes from your big, fine +heart! I do! And--I wish I could accept it. I think I know what your +home is like--and what your mother is like." + +She dropped his hand and now turned toward the easel, smudged a blotch +of paint with a slender finger tip in awkward pretense at being +interested in her study, and without looking at him said, "It's not +money. It's because the man to whom I am engaged to be married +disapproves of my little hobby and has asserted so in most emphatic +terms." + +It seemed to Jim that the whole room was reeling, and that there was a +great burst of sound, followed by a stillness so profound that the +distressed beating of his heart had become loudly audible. His knees +trembled. His hands clutched and quivered. He felt mentally and +physically stricken, tried to speak, could utter no sound, and then, to +conceal his hurt, turned almost mechanically to the chair she had +proffered, groped blindly for its arm, and slowly subsided into it. He +was pitifully thankful that she had not observed his distress; that she +was still standing there in front of the easel. This betrothal was an +intervention that had never entered into any of his thoughts or dreams +of her. He had always pictured her as free, quite free, following her +whims and ambitions within the limitations of a meager purse. He sat +there, stunned, for a moment, and then remembered, dully, that he did +not even know her name. The absurdities of his position, and the +futilities of all his long aspirations and love dreams seemed magnified +through the shock of sudden and bitter knowledge. In a moment of bitter +disappointment, he wondered how he had ever dared to advance from the +accident of a chance meeting to friendship, and from friendship to love. + +"I--I congratulate you," he said, lamely, for want of something better +to say. + +"On what?" she asked. "Because the man to whom I am engaged doesn't +understand what this daubing of mine means to me?" + +"No, not on that; but on being betrothed," he replied, and then added, +bluntly, "You see,--I--I didn't know it. You never told me. No, you +never told me anything about it in all these months in which--in which +you've been just Mary Allen, and I, Bill Jones!" + +He was not aware of the sorry tragedy in his voice that contrasted so +sharply with the banality of his words. He felt that he was but a +pitiful jester who was like a clown, compelled to play a merry part +when there was anguish in his mind. But--he must play. + +"I don't know why I was such a fool!" he declared. "Why I thought it +could go on in this way--with you as Mary Allen, and I as Bill Jones. +You see--I may as well tell the truth--now that it's come to this--You +see, I didn't know your name, or who you were! I thought on the day that +we met in Fifth Avenue you were someone in the trade, and I was ashamed +to admit that I'd forgotten where you came from. You knew who I was, but +I couldn't remember you. And so, after that first meeting, I was a +coward. I'm a coward now, Mary! Now that it doesn't matter!" + +He sat staring at the rug and striving to his utmost to think of +something to say in his own defense. + +"Well," she said, "since you have been so frank, I suppose that I may as +well add my confession. I never knew, until within the last five +minutes, who you were. Therefore I had nothing the best of you." + +"What? What's that?" he asked as if incredulous, or in fear that he had +not heard her words aright. + +He lifted his eyes and saw that she was now facing him. + +"It's the truth," she bravely admitted. "I never knew that your name was +James Gollop, and that you were a commercial man, until within the last +five minutes! If there were need I could swear it." + +"Then," he demanded, blankly, "who in the deuce did you think I was, +anyhow?" + +"I thought," she said with a slight shrug, "that you were Judge James +Woodworth-Granger, of whom I suppose you have never heard. He is the +Judge of the Fourth District Court, seated in a small city called +Princetown." + +He was so astounded that for the moment he was speechless. It seemed to +him that all his chickens had come home to roost. + +"Granger? Judge Granger--that inflated, stiff-necked, egotistical bag of +conceit! And--and--you thought I was Granger!" + +There was reproach in his voice as well as words. + +"Yes," she admitted, "I thought you were Judge Granger. But--please wait +a moment--I thought that you were different when away from your +judicial position, admired your reticence concerning your profession, +and--and I thought that I knew the real man better than anyone else. And +I liked the change." + +She uttered the last almost defiantly. + +"I can at least thank you for that preference," his said, lowering his +eyes. "I've come to dislike myself since I met him. He's bothered me a +lot. Maybe I've bothered him. I played a joke on him one time and--he +hasn't ever forgiven me, although I've tried to patch it up. I think +he's about the most stupid, unforgiving, inhuman bounder that--" + +"Please!" she objected, and Jimmy saw that she had turned toward the +window, and so paused whilst she walked toward it, and stared out before +again facing him. He wished that the light from without were less +glaring, for it rendered her face and expression indistinct. + +"It's not quite fair for me to listen to anything disparaging Judge +Granger," she said. "That wouldn't be playing the game. Judge Granger is +the man to whom I am betrothed." + +He was incredibly shocked. Mary Allen betrothed to Granger! It was like +the last blow--his ultimate humiliation. Had it been anyone but Granger +it might have been less unendurable. + +"I apologize," he said, mechanically. "I didn't understand the +situation. Judge Granger is--is a very prominent man." + +"Quite so," she assented. "A man who is distinguished, and I think will +be more so." + +"I expect he'll be a governor, and then a senator, and--maybe a +president," said Jimmy, helplessly, and feeling his own insignificance. +"But--but does Judge Granger know that you knew me? I ask this because +I'm afraid that if he does, he might object to our--our +acquaintanceship. He doesn't exactly approve of me." + +Somewhat to Jimmy's surprise she laughed as if amused. + +"No," she said, "I don't think he does know that we are friends. Indeed, +I'm rather certain of it. But--just the same, if you are such +enemies--it's not fair for me to show friendship under existing +circumstances, is it? See here, Mr. Gollop--that's a terrible name!--You +could scarcely respect me if I who am engaged to marry Judge Granger +were to stand here and let you criticise him. There is a limit to most +things, isn't there?" + +"There is," agreed Jimmy, soberly. "You are quite right in your +attitude. I'm helpless." He paused, got to his feet, buttoned his coat, +looked absently for his hat, found it on the window ledge, and seemed +undecided. It was the old, boyish impulsiveness that made him turn to +her in what he believed to be a parting and say, "But--Mary! Mary Allen! +It doesn't matter what I am, or anything about the accidents and the +misunderstandings--nothing matters now--to me--only this, that--that you +believe that I was honest to you and to myself when you were but Mary +Allen, and I but Bill Jones!" + +"No," she said, "nothing else matters. That is something quite yours and +mine--our own. Conditions are about as we all make them for ourselves. +Sometimes they run away from us. But we can't alter things that have +been. This has been a mixup. Neither of us could help it." + +He could find nothing to say, for he seemed involved in a cataclysm that +had crushed him, and so moved toward the door. She walked by his side +and stepped back when he opened it. He held out his hand as if to bid +her good-by, for the last time, but she appeared to disregard it and +stood quietly by his side. + +"It--it seems a travesty--a blunder," she said, at last. "I--I don't +know quite what to do about it all! I feel as if this were a farewell. +I--I don't like to think of it as such. You have been so kind, and so +encouraging, and you are so frank and--Can't we have one day more? Can't +you come back to-morrow afternoon,--here--and be just Bill Jones, the +Pirate, for another day? I think we'd be happier--afterward--if you +could, and if we could forget certain things. Say you will come." + +And as he walked dejectedly up the narrow confines of the blind little +alley after leaving her he loathed himself for his weakness in promising +that he would. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +It's a long way from MacDougall Alley to Fort George at any time. It is +rendered longer when the wind is chill; but Jimmy, no longer the jester, +could never remember how he reached there on that wintry afternoon, and +its hills, bleak with snow, were no more drab and cold than the dead +fires of his dreams. The skies above were leaden, with no ray of +sunlight. Away behind him the smoke of the city seemed leveled like a +shroud. Its distant monotone of sound became a dirge. Unmindful of the +chill, he found a bench, brushed the snow from a corner and sat there +for a long time, seeing nothing, unobservant of his surroundings, and +thinking of all that somehow seemed left irrevocably behind. It was as +if it had been ages ago! It had been ages ago since happiness had fled. +There was not a laugh left in all the sad world that had abruptly grown +old, and savorless. A vagrant, aged, dirty, ragged, accosted him, +begging alms, and without looking up, Jimmy thrust a hand into his +pocket and took therefrom a dollar note. The beggar mumbled thanks, +stamped his feet, turned away, and then came back and said, "Hope you're +not down on your luck. I wish you luck, sir!" + +"Luck? Oh, no. It's all right. I'm not down on my luck. Only--'They're +hanging Danny Deever in the morning!'" + +The vagrant shuffled away, shaking his head. He did not in the least +appreciate the sorry quip. All that he knew was that sometimes +well-dressed men who came and thus sat in the parks, were sometimes +found in the same place by a policeman--and usually such men had holes, +self-inflicted, in their heads. But long before he had passed from sight +Jimmy had reverted to the thought that to-morrow was the end. To see her +just once more, and after that--nothing to look forward to, nothing to +hope for, nothing to dream about. Strangely enough it is the men whose +laugh is readiest, whose mental sufferings and depressions are greatest. +Often the laugh is but a forced cloak for grief. Well, to-morrow he +would laugh! Be Bill Jones for the last time! Make a decent finish of +the dream! Leave with this girl he had so loved a kindly recollection +of a strange adventure as he made his exit from her life! There should +be neither sighs, sentiment, nor repining. + +Despite the fact that he had slept so little on the previous night, he +moved restlessly about his room all that evening, standing before his +window now and then to look out over the lights that flared and +glittered from electric signs, hearing absently the hoarse whistles of +ships out in the harbors, and the clamor of street cars that surged up +and down the arteries of the city and went heedlessly on with its +existence. Jimmy wondered, as the street life of the night waned and the +lights went out, if there were others out there in the darkness as +unhappy as was he. His new employment that had so elated him with its +promise of golden opportunity sometimes came to his mind, but now he +felt that success was empty without Mary Allen to share it with him. It +was not until dawn that he fell asleep, exhausted, and even then trouble +pursued him in his dreams. + +When he awoke, at noon, he tried for a few minutes to imagine that it +was still a very happy, prosperous and promising world; but it was all +in vain. He sat on the edge of his bed, and again thought that if he had +lost to any other than the Judge, it might not have been so distressing. +He got up and looked at his own face in the glass, and hated it for that +peculiar resemblance. It was certain now, after her confession, that all +the time she had believed him to be the Judge and yet, because when with +Mary Allen the Judge's very existence had been forgotten, Jim could not +accuse himself of having fostered her illusion. Honesty would compel her +to admit that. And, on the other hand, thinking it over, he could not +remember that he had ever talked of the road, his business, or +commercial adventure, because it was a rule of his never to "talk shop" +out of hours. He thought she had already experienced too much of that +and she had told him once that she detested chocolates. The only feature +for which he could at all censure himself was for lack of frankness. + +"If I hadn't been such a rotten coward, and had told her plainly after +the first afternoon I ever had with her who I was, that I'd forgotten +her name and all, it would never have come to this!" he soliloquized, +and then, an instant later, reversed himself, considered that if he had +been frank he might never have got to love her at all, and--to have +loved her for so long and to have been with her so many times, was worth +more than all else. Could he but have that measure of delight again, and +then die, Death wouldn't be so grim and hopeless as this present pass. +He flattered himself that she could never imagine all his folly of love. +He was grateful to Fate that he had never uttered such avowal and +suffered its inevitable rejection; for now she could always remember him +as a friend. Rejections, he decided, must inevitably leave unpleasant or +harrowing memories. He throttled all his sad eagerness for the farewell +visit and resolutely delayed it until late in the afternoon. He schooled +himself to the determination that there should be no sentimental speech +or action lest she suspect his wounds and perhaps be thereby saddened. +He had come to her with a laugh, he would leave her with a laugh. That +was the brave way. + +When he entered the studio for the last time, it seemed in twilight, for +the shadows of a midwinter afternoon were already long. He saw that she +had set out a dainty little tea table and his heart gave a throb when he +discerned in its center, in a cut glass bowl, the violets that he had +brought her on the preceding day. They seemed to scent the room with a +definite and yet elusive fragrance, quite like her personality that was +so soon to be but a memory. + +"Well, Bill Jones, Pirate, you are late," she said, as she took his hat +from his hand, while he removed his overcoat and hung it on the tiny +little cloak stand in the corner, thinking as he did so, that there it +brushed, honored, against her hanging garments. + +"The obsequies of a pirate are best held in late afternoon," he replied. +"It's a time-honored form. I'm very formal, as you know." + +"I suppose Mary Allen has to die, too, doesn't she? That's the way +pirate romances should end," she retorted. "I don't see why we never +hear what becomes of the pirate's lady friends. Surely any decent, +self-respecting pirate who is an honor to his profession, should have a +woman somewhere to either mourn his loss or--as I suggested--go to the +gallows and hang with him." + +She turned to shift the tiny brass tea kettle that was beginning to +steam in the little grate, and, fascinated by her grace, he forgot to +speak. He thought he should always remember the firelight on her +profile--there in the shadows of the room. + +"Remember the time we had tea together in that funny little inn out on +Long Island?" she asked, and then, before he could answer, laughed, +gently, and added, as if pleased by the reminiscence--"and the car broke +down on the way home, and we had to walk three miles to get another? And +then we were so hot and thirsty that we stopped in the inn and had +beer--plain, frothy beer--while the chauffeur was trying to start his +old contraption into life. Um-mh! That seems a dreadfully long time +ago." + +"It does! It does!" he assented glumly, and fell to staring into the +fire as if therein he could bring it all back to vision. "We agreed, +then, that some day when summer came again, we'd do it all over. And +now--there will be no more summers!" + +Unconsciously he had betrayed himself in a despair of voice and twitch +of movement. + +"Are--are you sorry?" she asked, softly. "Are you sorry that Bill Jones +and Mary Allen are finished?" + +All his previous resolutions were forgotten, swept away as it by the +hand of grief. All his pre-imagined repression vanished. He was but the +heart-broken jester now, impulsive, outspoken. + +"Oh, if I could live these few times over again, I think I could die +happy! Mary! Mary! I never knew until yesterday how precious they were. +Never knew that when Bill Jones died, the heart of me died with him! +I'm--I'm----" He checked himself, shut his hands tightly over the arms +of his chair, and exclaimed, "I'm sorry I said that. I didn't mean to +tell you anything; because I've no right to say anything of the sort to +you--now that Bill Jones is dead! I can't seem to remember that he was +executed in that moment when you told me of your betrothal." + +She abruptly dropped the steaming kettle back into the fender and he +feared that she thus indicated resentment of his outburst. She got to +her feet and walked across to the window where the rapidly waning light +seemed hastily pulling drop curtains over their brief romance and he, +fearful that he had offended her, sat dejectedly in his chair. + +"One imagines many things! One is curious about them, sometimes," she +said, softly. "And so--and so I wonder what you would have said, if +Bill Jones had not passed out." + +She stood as if considering something of grave importance and then, as +if resolved, turned and came back until she stood near the chair in +which he sat with bent head and shoulders, so unlike the buoyant, erect +man she had known. + +"It is but a week ago when being--being somewhat tired of neglect, I +wrote a letter. Oh, I could kick myself for that! I suppose it must have +been rather--let's say--familiar. It was addressed to Judge Granger. By +return mail came a proposal of marriage and--well--I accepted it. Then +he came on and--oh, it was a dreadful mixup! After just one evening +together I knew that he wasn't, and never could have been, Bill Jones, +the Pirate. And I didn't know what to do, or who, or what Bill Jones +really was, and--and I was furious, disappointed and humiliated, and +then you returned and--and----" + +She paused and he looked up to find that her eyes were not on him, and +that she was twisting her wisp of a handkerchief between her fingers +quite as if considering whether such fury, disappointment and +humiliation could ever be forgiven. He felt that he was on trial and +that his future hung upon her judgment. + +"But--but--it wasn't altogether my fault--Mary," he pleaded in a voice +in which contrition, distress and desire were eloquently blended. "I +didn't mean to be dishonest. Coward I may have been but--but--oh, Mary! +What can I say or do to be forgiven? To be at least kindly remembered?" + +He bent forward again, resting his elbows on his knees and clutching his +temples in his palms as if utterly given over to despair. It seemed to +him that there was a prolonged wait in which she was coming to her +decision, an interval filled with portent and so lifeless and still that +tiny sounds from without became magnified. + +Her voice, hesitant, and low, but, to his relief, gentle, broke the +interminable spell. + +"Suppose--suppose I were to tell you that--that I'm not going to marry +Judge Granger, because after you came here yesterday I knew how +impossible it was and wrote and told him so. And----" + +"Mary! Mary, don't make it supposititious," he appealed, leaping to his +feet. "That would be cruelty! Tell me that it's true, and that I am +free to tell you that I love you--love you! You know that I do, and that +there's no use in my trying to hide it." + +She retreated from him a trifle, as if to escape his impetuosity, then, +when he paused as if fearing to frighten her with his ardor, smiled at +him and said, "Yes, Bill Jones. It's true!" + +He caught her in his arms. For a moment he held her close while she made +her last resistance, and then slowly lifted her hands upward until they +came to rest about his shoulders. + +"That's why I made you promise to come back," she said. "I--I couldn't +let you go! I couldn't! I don't care what anyone thinks of it, I am what +I am, and--I love you!" + +They were suddenly aware of heavy steps climbing the studio stairs and +she pushed him away hurriedly, bashfully. + +"My Father!" she whispered. "I--I forgot that he was coming to get me. +But--you'll love Dad," and then, as if suddenly remembering something, +she laughed softly and added hastily, "I don't believe you even know my +name. Don't forget it, now that Mary Allen is dead. My name is +Sayers--Margaret Sayers, and my father's name is Sayers, Thomas Sayers, +and he's in the motor business and--for heaven's sake!--pretend we've +known each other for years and years!" + +"Good Lord!" exclaimed Jimmy, panic-stricken, as she hastened toward the +door. "Tom Sayers! My job's gone bust! I'm done!" + +The door opened and her hand swept up to a light switch in the lintel, +there was a click, and the room was brilliant. + +"Dad," she said, trying to suppress some trepidation of voice, "I want +you to know Mr. Gollop. And I'd like to have you like him, because you +see, I'm going to marry him, if you do." + +Jimmy had been tempted to run; but now stood bending his head forward, +blinking, and holding his breath in astonishment + +"Martin--Martin--Mr. Martin--and you are not Martin, but are Mr. Sayers, +and----" + +But the man he had known as Martin smiled, for the moment ignored him, +permitted his daughter to cling to him, and as he caressed her hair with +tender fingers, said soothingly, "There! There! Don't be afraid of me, +my girl. I've known this boy Jim for some time. I knew that he knew you, +and I satisfied myself what sort he was, too, before things went too +far. I never did like Granger. When you first told me that you had met +Granger here in New York, I knew it couldn't be so, because I had seen +him going through Media City on the previous day to keep some political +appointment. And then I met Jim, and--I fooled him a little bit because +I wanted to know just what sort of a man it was who had dared to look at +you, and to take you to a horse show. Let go now! Let go, while Jim and +I shake hands. But--inasmuch as your mother has always belonged to the +Granger party, I suppose--I suppose she'll just raise hell! That's a +part of the affair that I reckon you two had best leave to me. There's +time enough, because, mark you both, there'll be no wedding bells in +this firm until Jim satisfies me that he can make good." + +And then he turned discreetly to hang up his overcoat and hat as if +unaware that Mary Allen, struggling artist, and Bill Jones, Pirate, +jubilant and unabashed, were again in each others' arms. + + +THE END + + + * * * * * + + +FLORENCE L. BARCLAY'S NOVELS + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list. + + +THE WHITE LADIES OF WORCESTER + +A novel of the 12th Century. The heroine, believing she had lost her +lover, enters a convent. He returns, and interesting developments +follow. + + +THE UPAS TREE + +A love story of rare charm. It deals with a successful author and his +wife. + + +THROUGH THE POSTERN GATE + +The story of a seven day courtship, in which the discrepancy in ages +vanished into insignificance before the convincing demonstration of +abiding love. + + +THE ROSARY + +The story of a young artist who is reputed to love beauty above all else +in the world, but who, when blinded through an accident, gains life's +greatest happiness. A rare story of the great passion of two real people +superbly capable of love, its sacrifices and its exceeding reward. + + +THE MISTRESS OF SHENSTONE + +The lovely young Lady Ingleby, recently widowed by the death of a +husband who never understood her, meets a fine, clean young chap who is +ignorant of her title and they fall deeply in love with each other. When +he learns her real identity a situation of singular power is developed. + + +THE BROKEN HALO + +The story of a young man whose religious belief was shattered in +childhood and restored to him by the little white lady, many years older +than himself, to whom he is passionately devoted. + + +THE FOLLOWING OF THE STAR + +The story of a young missionary, who, about to start for Africa, marries +wealthy Diana Rivers, in order to help her fulfill the conditions of her +uncle's will, and how they finally come to love each other and are +reunited after experiences that soften and purify. + + * * * * * + +ETHEL M. DELL'S NOVELS + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list. + + +THE LAMP IN THE DESERT + +The scene of this splendid story is laid in India and tells of the lamp +of love that continues to shine through all sorts of tribulations to +final happiness. + + +GREATHEART + +The story of a cripple whose deformed body conceals a noble soul. + + +THE HUNDREDTH CHANCE + +A hero who worked to win even when there was only "a hundredth chance." + + +THE SWINDLER + +The story of a "bad man's" soul revealed by a woman's faith. + + +THE TIDAL WAVE + +Tales of love and of women who learned to know the true from the false. + + +THE SAFETY CURTAIN + +A very vivid love story of India. The volume also contains four other +long stories of equal interest. + + * * * * * + +EDGAR RICE BURROUGH'S NOVELS + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list. + + +TARZAN THE UNTAMED + +Tells of Tarzan's return to the life of the ape-man in his search for +vengeance on those who took from him his wife and home. + + +JUNGLE TALES OF TARZAN + +Records the many wonderful exploits by which Tarzan proves his right to +ape kingship. + + +A PRINCESS OF MARS + +Forty-three million miles from the earth--a succession of the weirdest +and most astounding adventures in fiction. John Carter, American, finds +himself on the planet Mars, battling for a beautiful woman, with the +Green Men of Mars, terrible creatures fifteen feet high, mounted on +horses like dragons. + + +THE GODS OF MARS + +Continuing John Carter's adventures on the Planet Mars, in which he does +battle against the ferocious "plant men," creatures whose mighty tails +swished their victims to instant death, and defies Issus, the terrible +Goddess of Death, whom all Mars worships and reveres. + + +THE WARLORD OF MARS + +Old acquaintances, made in the two other stories, reappear, Tars Tarkas, +Tardos Mors and others. There is a happy ending to the story in the +union of the Warlord, the tide conferred upon John Carter, with Dejah +Thoris. + + +THUVIA, MAID OF MARS + +The fourth volume of the series. The story centers around the adventures +of Carthoris, the son of John Carter and Thuvia, daughter of a Martian +Emperor. + + * * * * * + +JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD'S STORIES OF ADVENTURE + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list. + + +THE RIVER'S END + +A story of the Royal Mounted Police. + + +THE GOLDEN SNARE + +Thrilling adventures in the Far Northland. + + +NOMADS OF THE NORTH + +The story of a bear-cub and a dog. + + +KAZAN + +The tale of a "quarter-strain wolf and three-quarters husky" torn +between the call of the human and his wild mate. + + +BAREE, SON OF KAZAN + +The story of the son of the blind Grey Wolf and the gallant part he +played in the lives of a man and a woman. + + +THE COURAGE OF CAPTAIN PLUM + +The story of the King of Beaver Island, a Mormon colony, and his battle +with Captain Plum. + + +THE DANGER TRAIL + +A tale of love, Indian vengeance, and a mystery of the North. + + +THE HUNTED WOMAN + +A tale of a great fight in the "valley of gold" for a woman. + + +THE FLOWER OF THE NORTH + +The story of Fort o' God, where the wild flavor of the wilderness is +blended with the courtly atmosphere of France. + + +THE GRIZZLY KING + +The story of Thor, the big grizzly. + + +ISOBEL + +A love story of the Far North. + + +THE WOLF HUNTERS + +A thrilling tale of adventure in the Canadian wilderness. + + +THE GOLD HUNTERS + +The story of adventure in the Hudson Bay wilds. + + +THE COURAGE OF MARGE O'DOONE + +Filled with exciting incidents in the land of strong men and women. + + +BACK TO GOD'S COUNTRY + +A thrilling story of the Far North. The great Photoplay was made from +this book. + + * * * * * + +ZANE GREY'S NOVELS + +May be had wherever books an sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list. + + THE MAN OF THE FOREST + THE DESERT OF WHEAT + THE U.P. TRAIL + WILDFIRE + THE BORDER LEGION + THE RAINBOW TRAIL + THE HERITAGE OF THE DESERT + RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE + THE LIGHT OF WESTERN STARS + THE LAST OF THE PLAINSMEN + THE LONE STAR RANGER + DESERT GOLD + BETTY ZANE + + +LAST OF THE GREAT SCOUTS + +The life story of "Buffalo Bill" by his sister Helen Cody Wetmore, with +Foreword and conclusion by Zane Grey. + + +ZANE GREY'S BOOKS FOR BOYS + + KEN WARD IN THE JUNGLE + THE YOUNG LION HUNTER + THE YOUNG FORESTER + THE YOUNG PITCHER + THE SHORT STOP + THE RED-HEADED OUTFIELD AND OTHER BASEBALL STORIES + + * * * * * + +KATHLEEN NORRIS' STORIES + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list + + +SISTERS. Frontispiece by Frank Street + +The California Redwoods furnish the background for this beautiful story +of sisterly devotion and sacrifice. + + +POOR, DEAR, MARGARET KIRBY. Frontispiece by George Gibbs. + +A collection of delightful stories, including "Bridging the Years" and +"The Tide-Marsh." This story is now shown in moving pictures. + + +JOSSELYN'S WIFE. Frontispiece by C. Allan Gilbert. + +The story of a beautiful woman who fought a bitter fight for happiness +and love. + + +MARTIE, THE UNCONQUERED. Illustrated by Charles E. Chambers. + +The triumph of a dauntless spirit over adverse conditions. + + +THE HEART OF RACHAEL. Frontispiece by Charles E. Chambers. + +An interesting story of divorce and the problems that come with a second +marriage. + + +THE STORY OF JULIA PAGE. Frontispiece by C. Allan Gilbert. + +A sympathetic portrayal of the guest of a normal girl, obscure and +lonely, for the happiness of life. + + +SATURDAY'S CHILD. Frontispiece by F. Graham Cootes. + +Can a girl, born in rather sordid conditions, lift herself through sheer +determination to the better things for which her soul hungered? + + +MOTHER. Illustrated by F. C. Yohn. + +A story of the big mother heart that beats in the background of every +girl's life, and some dreams which came true. + + +_Ask for Complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction_ + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mixed Faces, by Roy Norton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MIXED FACES *** + +***** This file should be named 29657.txt or 29657.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/6/5/29657/ + +Produced by David Garcia and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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