CHAPTER IV
IN WHICH GRESHAM FINDS JOHNNY'S OLD PARTNER ACCOMMODATING
Beneath the grandstand, Gresham caught up with a thin-faced andsandy-haired man whose colorless eyebrows and almost colorless eyesgave his waxlike countenance a peculiarly blank expression--much as ifone had drawn a face and had forgotten to mark in the features. The manstarted nervously as Gresham touched him on the shoulder, and his thinlips parted in a frightened snarl.
"You have such a ghastly way of slipping up behind one," he complained,brushing the shoulder upon which Gresham had laid his hand.
"You're nervous, Collaton. I'm not Johnny Gamble," laughed Gresham.
"Suppose you were!" indignantly retorted Collaton. "I'm not avoidingJohnny." And he studied Gresham furtively.
"The Gamble-Collaton books are. Do you imagine there are any moreoutstanding accounts against your firm?"
"How should I know?" Collaton glanced about him uneasily.
"True enough--how should you?" agreed Gresham soothingly. "I'd feelrather sorry for Gamble if an old and forgotten note against your firm,upon which a judgment had been quietly secured 'by default', shouldturn up just now."
"I don't think one will," returned Collaton, searching Gresham's eyes."Why?"
"Because he is almost certain to make a deposit in the Fourth NationalBank in a short time."
"That's a very good reason," laughed Collaton, now certain of the eyes.
"If that deposit were to be attached," went on Gresham suavely, "itmight embarrass him very much." There was a slight pause. "If you'llcall me up to-night I'll let you know how much it will be and when heis likely to bank it."
"Why do you tell me this?" puzzled Collaton.
"Because I want him broke!" explained Gresham, his face suddenlytwitching viciously in spite of himself.
Collaton thought it over carefully.
"What's your telephone number?" he accommodatingly inquired.
Colonel Bouncer, meanwhile, was flattered to have Polly Parsons pauseat his seat as she came down the aisle, after an extended passage atarms with Val Russel, and tell him how young he looked.
"Gad, you'd make any man feel young and brisk!" he gallantly declared.
"Wasn't that Paul Gresham in Mrs. Boyden's box?"
"Yes; the very Paul," she assured him, glad that the colonel was makingit so easy for her. "He's going to give you a new neighbor, Colonel.He's just been discussing a deal with Mr. Gamble for the vacantproperty next to your factory."
"Bless my soul!" ejaculated the colonel, rising hastily. "He hasn'tactually sold it, has he?"
"He has given Mr. Gamble an option on it," Polly was happy to state.
"You don't say!" exploded the colonel. "Why, what does Johnny Gamblewant with it?"
"He didn't tell; but I think he's organizing a shoe-manufacturingcompany," lied Polly glibly.
"Goodness me!" muttered the colonel, and, breathing heavily, he cursedhis procrastination heartily to himself, threw discretion to the windsand hurried down to the Boyden box just as Gresham returned. Hisgreeting to the other occupants was but perfunctory, and then he turnedto Gresham with: "You haven't sold your property adjoining my factory,have you, Gresham?"
"Well, I've given Mr. Gamble an option on it," admitted Greshamreluctantly.
"For how much?"
"That would be telling," interposed Gamble.
"For how long is your option?" the colonel demanded.
"Thirty days."
"What are you buying it for--investment or improvement?"
"That would be telling again."
"Will you sell it?"
"Depends on the price."
"What'll you take for it?"
"Fifty-five thousand."
"Bless my soul!" exclaimed the colonel. "Why, man, that's robbery! I'llnever pay it. I'll take a chance on waiting until your option expires,then I'll do business with Gresham. Gresham, what will you want for theproperty if Gamble, or WHEN Gamble doesn't take it up?"
"Fifty thousand," said Gresham, and glanced darkly at Gamble.
Miss Joy interrupted with a laugh. Gresham looked at her inquiringly,but he did not ask her the joke. She volunteered an explanation,however.
"I'm just framing a definition of business ethics," she stated; "butreally I don't see the difference between yours and Mr. Gamble's."
"Business ethics consists in finding a man who has some money, andhitting him behind the ear with a sand-bag," explained the colonel."Even your price is a holdup, Gresham; but I think I can buy it forless when the time comes--if I want it."
"You'll have four months to make up your mind," said Gamble with atriumphant look at Constance.
"I thought your option was for only thirty days."
"It's renewable three times."
"Bless my soul!" shouted the colonel. "That puts an entirely differentface upon the matter. If you don't want too much money for it, Gamble,I don't mind confessing that I'd like to build an extension to myfactory on that property. Now that my defenses are down, soak me."
"I couldn't refuse a little thing like that. I'll soak you all I can. Isaid fifty-five thou-sand, you know."
"You didn't mean it, though!" expostulated the colonel.
"What did I mean then?"
"You meant forty thousand."
"As a mind-reader you're a flivver," chided Gamble. "I'll let you downone notch, Colonel. I'll make it fifty thousand--and not one cent less."
The colonel looked at him sorrowfully.
"Do you really mean that, Johnny?" he inquired.
"I really mean it."
"Well, if you say you really mean it you really mean it. I know youwell enough for that," admitted the colonel with a sigh. "It's a rankrobbery though. I'll take you, Johnny."
Gamble turned to Gresham.
"If you don't mind, I'll just transfer my option to the colonel," hesuggested.
"The game is in your hands--for the present," Gresham acknowledged.
"We'll just fix it up that way, then, Colonel. Polly, lend me yourfountain-pen again. Colonel, you may hand me your check for seventeenthousand five hundred. You may pay the balance of the money toGresham--upon delivery, I suppose, of the deed."
"Surely," said the colonel nonchalantly; and, producing his ownfountain-pen and check-book, he wrote Johnny Gamble's check, whileGamble wrote a transfer of his option. Constance watched thatunquestioning operation between the two gentlemen with puzzled brows.
"You're not taking this matter to your lawyer, Colonel," she observed.
"Certainly not!" he replied in surprise. "I've known Johnny Gamble foryears, and I'd take his word for my entire bank-account."
"I must confess that business ethics has me more confused than ever,"laughed Constance. "You just now accused Mr. Gamble of robbing you."
It was the colonel's turn to laugh.
"I'd have paid him sixty thousand," he advised her, placing the optionaffectionately in his pocket-book. "It's worth that to me. I've beenafraid to broach the matter to Gresham for a month, for fear he'd wantseventy-five when he found out I had to have it. I'm getting it cheaperthrough Gamble."
A fleeting trace of guilt upon Gresham's countenance told that thissurmise was the truth, and Constance shook her head.
"I don't suppose I shall ever understand it," she confessed.
"I don't, myself," observed Gamble, passing the colonel's check betweenhis fingers quite happily. "I can loaf three hours now on thattwo-hundred-hour stunt, thanks to you, Gresham."
"You had your start by luck," Gresham reminded him.
"Not at all," insisted Gamble cheerfully. "I would have borrowed themoney from the colonel to buy that option. How's that for ethics, MissJoy?"
"It's quite in keeping with your methods of the day," rejoined Gresham."I still insist that you took an unfair advantage of me."
The colonel, who regretted to be compelled to dislike anybody, turnedupon Gresham a dissatisfied eye.
"Oh, play the game or stay out of it!"
he advised. "I'll see you at mylawyer's to-morrow at eleven. Come with me a minute, Johnny. I want youto meet a friend of mine who has a big real estate deal on tap, and hemay not go back on our train to-night."
Johnny Gamble made his adieus from the Boyden box with reluctance. Thehorses were lining up at the barrier for the last race, and he mightnot return in time. While he was bidding a thoroughly inadequategood-by to Constance, Loring came up hastily and called Polly from thebox.
"Sammy Chirp called my attention to Gresham and Collaton talkingtogether rather furtively down under the grandstand a few minutes ago,"he said. "I have a curious impression that they mean harm to Gamble."
"It was Gresham got the harm. Johnny just beat him to afifteen-thousand-dollar profit."
"So that was it," said Loring with a frown. "Tell him to watch out.They were about to attach his bank-account the last time he paid anunexpected note," and he lounged into the box.
Polly followed Johnny Gamble when he started to rejoin the colonel.
"Do me a favor, please, Johnny," she begged.
"Certainly," he returned. "Do you know what it is?"
"Here's my fountain-pen. Indorse that check over to me, won't you?"
"What's the joke?" he asked.
"I don't want you to have the money. I'm in a hurry now."
"Well, I'm broke again," laughed Johnny in perfect confidence; and heindorsed the check.
"The most thoroughgoing plebe I ever saw," Gresham commented, lookingafter Gamble. "It's so fortunate that one is only compelled to meet himin public places."
Constance glanced at him curiously and hurried to the rear rail of thebox. She barely mentioned Mr. Gamble's name, and it was surprising howeasily he heard her and how quickly he came back.
"I forgot to ask you to call," she said. "If you can spare any timefrom your pursuit of that million dollars we should be glad to see youat the house--Aunt Pattie and I."
"Will you be busy to-morrow evening?" he briskly inquired.
"There's no one expected but Mr. Gresham," she informed him with asmile at his precipitancy.
"I'll be there," he stated with businesslike decisiveness. "I'll bringalong from five to twenty thousand dollars' worth of time and use up asmuch of it as you'll let me."
"I'll have a meter," she laughed.
Five Thousand an Hour: How Johnny Gamble Won the Heiress Page 4