by Holman Day
XVI ~ MILLIONS AND A MITE
To Tiffany's I took her, I did not mind expense; I bought her two gold ear-rings, They cost me fifty cents. And a-a-away, you santee! My dear Annie! O you New York girls! Can't you dance the polka! --Shanty, "The Lime Juicer."
Mr. Ralph Bradish, using one of the booth telephones in the Wall Streetoffices of Marston & Waller, earnestly asked the cashier of an up-townrestaurant, as a special favor, to hold for twenty-four hours thepersonal check, amount twenty-five dollars, given by Mr. Bradish theevening before.
Ten minutes later, with the utmost nonchalance and quite certain thatthe document was as good as wheat, Mr. Bradish signed a check for onemillion two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
That amount in no measure astonished him. He was quite used to signingsmashing-big checks when he was called into the presence of JuliusMarston. Once, the amount named was two millions. And there hadbeen numbers and numbers of what Mr. Bradish mentally termed "pikerchecks"--a hundred thousand, two and three hundred thousand. And he hadnever been obliged to request any hold up on those checks for want offunds. Because, in each instance, there had been a magic, printed linealong which Mr. Bradish had splashed his signature.
Before he blotted the ink on this check Bradish glanced, with onlyidle curiosity, to note in what capacity he was serving this time. Theprinted line announced to him that he was "Treasurer, the ParamountCoast Transportation Company, Inc." He remembered that in the pasthe had signed as treasurer of the "Union Securities Company," the"Amalgamated Holding Company," and for other corporations sponsoringrailroads and big industries with whose destinies Julius Marston,financier, appeared to have much to do. It was evident that FinancierMarston preferred to have a forty-dollar-a-week clerk do the menialwork of check-signing, or at least to have that clerk's name in evidenceinstead of Marston's own.
That modesty about having his name appear in public on a check seemed toattach to the business habits of Mr. Marston.
Mighty few person were ever admitted to this inner sanctuary whereBradish sat facing his employer across the flat-topped desk. And men whosaw that employer outside his office did not turn their heads to stareafter him or point respectful finger at him or remark to somebody else,"There's the big Julius Marston." In the first place, Mr. Marston wasnot big in a physical sense, and there was nothing about him which wouldattract attention or cause him to be remarked in a crowd. And only a fewpersons really knew him, anyway.
He sat in his massive chair; one hand propped on the arm, his elbowakimbo, and with the other hand plucked slowly at the narrow strip ofbeard which extended from his lower lip to the peaked end of his chin.
"Very well, Mr. Bradish," he remarked, after the latter had lifted theblotter from the check.
Bradish rose and bowed, and started to leave. He was a tall and shapelyyoung man, with a waist, with a carriage. His garb was up-to-the-minutefashion--repressed. He was a study in brown, as to fabric of attire andits accessories. One of those white-faced chaps who always look a bitbored, with a touch of up-to-date cynicism! One of those fellows wholisten much and who say little!
"Just a moment, Bradish," invited Marston, and the young man stopped."I like your way in these matters. You don't ask questions. You show nosilly interest in any check you sign."
Bradish reflected an instant on the check in the restaurant cashier'sdrawer, and pinched his thin lips a little more tightly.
"I'm quite sure you don't do any broadcast talking about the nature ofthese special duties." The financier pointed to the check. "I'll sayquite frankly that I didn't select you for this service until I hadascertained that you did no talking about your own affairs in the officewith my other clerks."
Bradish inclined his head respectfully.
"In financial matters it is necessary to pick men carefully. I trustyou understand my attitude. These transactions are quite legitimate.But modern methods of high finance make it necessary to manipulate thedetails a little. Your attitude in accepting these duties, as a matterof course is very gratifying from a business standpoint. As a littlemark of our confidence in you, you will receive seventy-five dollars perweek hereafter."
"Thank you."
Mr. Martson allowed himself a quick, dry smile. "This isn't a bribe,you understand. There is nothing attached to this nominal service whichrequires bribing. We merely want to make it worth while for a prudentand close-mouthed young man to remain with us."
A buzzer, as unobtrusive as were all the characteristics of FinancierMarston, sounded its meek purr.
"Yes," he murmured into the receiver of the telephone which communicatedwith the watchful picket of the Marston & Waller offices. "Who? Oh, shemay come in at once."
"Wait here a moment, if you please, Mr. Bradish. It is my daughter whohas dropped in for a moment's word with me. I have something more foryou to attend to."
Bradish walked to one of the windows. He stared sharply at the girl whohurried in. Her hat and face were shrouded in an automobile veil, andthe cloistered light of the big room helped to conceal her features.But Bradish seemed to recognize something about her in spite of thevagueness of outline. When she spoke to her father the young man's eyessnapped in true astonishment.
"I couldn't explain it very well over the telephone, papa, so I cameright down. Do forgive me if I bother you for just a minute." Sheglanced quickly at the young man beside the window, but found him merelyan outline against the light.
"Only one of our clerks," said her father. "What is it, my girl?"
"It's Nan Burgess's house-party at Kingston! There's to be an automobileparade--all decorated--at the fete, and I want to go in our big car,and have it two days. I was afraid you'd say no if I asked you over thetelephone, but now that I'm right here, looking you in the eyes with allthe coaxing power of my soul, you just can't refuse, can you, papa?"
"I think perhaps I would have consented over the telephone, Alma."
"Then I may take the car?" Her playful tones rose in ecstatic crescendo.The impulsiveness of her nature was displayed by her manner in acceptingthis favor. She danced to her father and threw her arms about him.She exhibited as much delight as if he had bestowed upon her a gift ofpriceless pearls. The exuberance of her joy appeared to annoy him a bit.
"Gently, gently, Alma! If you waste your thanks in this manner for alittle favor, what will you do some day for superlatives when you arereally eager to thank some-body for a big gift?"
"Oh, I'll always have thanks enough to go around--that's my disposition.The folks who love me, I can love them twice as much. You're a dear olddad, and I know you want me to run along so that you can go to making alot more money. So I'll just take myself out from underfoot."
When she turned she glanced again at the person near the window, andthis time she got a good look at his face. Even the veil could nothide from Bradish the color which spread into her cheeks. She was soconscious of her embarrassment and of her appearance that she did notturn her face to her father when he spoke to her.
"One moment, Alma! Seeing that my big car is going to have a two days'vacation in the country, I may as well make it do one last businesserrand for me."
He called Bradish to the desk by a side jerk of the head.
"I want that check put into the hands of the brokerage firm of MowerBrothers as quickly as possible. My car is at the door, and it may aswell take you along. Alma, allow this young man of ours to ride with youto the place where I'm sending him."
He did not present Bradish to Miss Marston. Bradish did not expect thefinancier to do so. But this dismissal of him as a mere errand-boy--withthe young lady staring him out of countenance in a half-frightenedway--did cut the pride a bit, even in the case of a mere clerk. Andthis clerk was pondering on the memory that only the night before hehad clasped this young lady--then a party unknown who was evidently bentupon an escapade _incog_.--had encircled this selfsame maiden with hisarms during many blissful dances in one of the gorgeous Broadway public
ball-rooms. And he had regaled her and a girl friend on viands for whichhis twenty-five-dollar check had scarcely sufficed to pay.
Bradish was pretty familiar with the phases and the oddities of thedancing craze, but this _contretemps_ rather staggered him.
They had asked no questions of each other during those dances. They hadbeen perfectly satisfied with the joy of the moment. She had looked athim in a way and with a softness in her eyes which told him that shefound him pleasing in her sight. She had been enthusiastic, with thatsame exuberance he had just witnessed, over his grace in the dance. Theyhad promised to meet again at the ball-room where social conventions didnot prevent healthy young folks from enjoying themselves.
"Good heavens!" she whispered to him, as she preceded him through thedoor. "You work in my father's office?"
"You are surprised--a little shocked--and I don't blame you," hereturned, humbly. "As for me, I am simply astounded. But I am not agossip."
She stole a look at his pale, impassive face, and some of her father'sinstinct in judging men seemed to reassure her.
"One must play a bit," she sighed. "And it's so stupid most of the time,among folks whom one knows very well. There are no more surprises."
As he shut the door softly behind them Bradish heard Marston, once moreimmersed in his affairs of business, directing over the telephone thatone Fletcher Fogg be located and sent to him.
"I apologize," said Bradish, in the corridor. They were waiting for theelevator.
"For what?" She lifted her eyebrows, and there was no hint of annoyancein her dark eyes.
"For--well--seeing how the matter stands, it almost seems as if I hadpresumed--was masquerading. I am only a clerk, and--"
"But you are a clerk in Julius Marston's offices," she said, with pride,"and that means that you are to be trusted. I require no apology fromyou, Mr.--er--"
"My name is Ralph Bradish."
"I dodged away from dullness last evening; I was hoping to have a bitof a frolic. And I found a young gentleman who asked no impertinentquestions, who was very gracious, and who was a delight in the dance. Itwas all very innocent--rather imprudent--but altogether lovely. There!"
"I thank you."
"And--well, after Nan Burgess's house-party, I--"
She glanced up at him, provocation in her eyes.
"But I don't dare to hope, do I, that you will condescend to come againand dance with me?"
"Julius Marston has taught his daughter to keep her promise, sir. If Iremember, I promised."
He did not reply, for the elevator's grille door clashed open for themto enter.
And in the elevator, and later in the car, he was silent, as became theclerk of Marston's offices in the company of Marston's daughter whenthere were listeners near.
Her eyes gave him distinct approval and her lips gave him a charmingsmile when he alighted at his destination.
Bradish stood for a moment and gazed after the car when it threaded itsway into the Broadway traffic.
"She's a flighty young dame, with a new notion for every minute," hetold himself. "You can see that plain enough. It's probably all jolly onher part. However, in these days, if a fellow keeps his head steady andhis feet busy, there's no telling what the tango may lead to. This maybe exactly, what I've been paying tailors' bills for."
Indicating that in these calculating times the spirit of youth in theardor of love at first sight is not as the poet of romance has paintedit.