"I think I would," says he.
"Huh!" says I. "Some folks don"t care what they do with money. We"ll split the diff"rence though, and call it twelve and a half. But it don"t cost you a cent. It"s yours because you wanted it, that"s all; and maybe the one that sent it is glad you"ve got it. That"s as far as I can go."
"But see here, McCabe!" he insists. "Delighted as I am, I must know who it is that----"
Just here the front office door opens, and in walks J. Bayard. For a second he don"t notice Twombley-Crane, who"s standin" between me and the window.
"Oh, I say!" says Steele, sort of breathless and hasty. "Have you sent that away yet?"
A freak hunch hit me and I couldn"t shake it: I guess I wanted to see what would happen. So I nudges Twombley-Crane.
"Here"s the party now, if you must know," says I. "This is Mr. J. Bayard Steele."
"Eh?" says he, steppin" forward. "Steele, did you say? Why, my dear Sir, although I must admit that I am stupid enough not to remember you, I must express my most----"
Say, he did it handsome too. He grabs J. Bayard brotherly by the mitt, and pa.s.ses him an enthusiastic vote of thanks that don"t leave out a single detail. Yes, he sure did unload the grat.i.tude; with J. Bayard standin" there, turnin" first one color and then another, and not bein"
able to get out a word.
"And surely, my dear Sir," he winds up, "you will allow me to recompense you in some way?"
Steele shakes his head. "It"s not precisely," he begins, "as if I--er----"
"Ah-h-h!" says Twombley-Crane, beamin" friendly. "I think I see. You had heard of my collection."
J. Bayard nods.
"And you conceived the idea," goes on Twombley-Crane, "of completing it in this anonymous and kindly manner? Believe me, Sir, I am touched, deeply touched. It is indeed good to know that such generous impulses are felt, that they are sometimes acted upon. I must try to be worthy of such a splendid spirit. I will have this hung at once, and to-morrow night, Friend Steele, you must come to see it; at my country place, you know. We dine at seven. I shall expect you, Sir." And with a final brotherly grip he goes out.
"Well," says I to J. Bayard, "that"s over, ain"t it? You"ve put across the genuine article. How does it feel?"
He brushes his hand over his eyes sort of dazed. "Really," says he, "I--I don"t know. I was coming, as a matter of fact, to take the sketch back. The more I thought it over, the worse I---- But he was pleased, wasn"t he? And Twombley-Crane too! I would not have believed that he could act so decently."
"Well, he believed it of you," says I. "You don"t stand to lose so much either, by the way. Here! Wait until I write a voucher for twenty per cent. of twelve thousand five hundred. His figures, you know. There! Now you can collect from Judson and call for name Number Two."
CHAPTER III
PEEKING IN ON PEDDERS
Who started that dope about Heaven givin" us our relations but thanks be we can pick friends to suit ourselves? Anyway, it"s phony. Strikes me we often have friends wished on us; sort of acc.u.mulate "em by chance, as we do appendicitis, or shingles, or lawsuits. And at best it"s a matter of who you meet most, and how.
Take J. Bayard Steele. Think I"d ever hunted him out and extended the fraternal grip, or him me? Not if everyone else in the world was deaf and dumb and had the itch! We"re about as much alike in our tastes and gen"ral run of ideas as Bill Taft and Bill Haywood; about as congenial as our bull terrier and the chow dog next door. Yet here we are, him hailin" me as Shorty, and me callin" him anything from J. B. to Old Top, and confabbin" reg"lar most every day, as chummy as you please.
All on account of our bein" mixed up in carryin" out this batty will of Pyramid Gordon"s. First off I didn"t think I"d have to see him more"n once a month, and then only for a short session; but since he put through that first deal and collected his twenty-four hundred commission, he"s been showin" up at the studio frequent, with next to no excuse for comin".
You remember how he drew Twombley-Crane as the first one that he had to unload a kind and gen"rous act on, and how I made him give up the picture that he"d gloated over so long? Well, J. Bayard can"t seem to get over the way that turned out. Here he"d been forced into doin"
something nice for a party he had a grudge against, has discovered that Twombley-Crane ain"t such a bad lot after all, and has been well paid for it besides, out of money left by his old enemy.
"Rather a remarkable set of circ.u.mstances, eh, Shorty?" says he, tiltin"
back comf"table in one of my front office chairs and lightin" up a fresh twenty-five-cent cigar. "An instance of virtue being rewarded on a cash basis. Not only that, but I was royally entertained down at Twombley-Crane"s the other night, you know. I think too I interested him in a little development scheme of mine."
"Jump off!" says I. "You"re standin" on your foot. If you dream you can slip any of your fake stock onto him, you"re due to wake up. Better stick to widows and orphans."
At which jab Mr. Steele only chuckles easy. "What an engagingly frank person you are!" says he. "As though rich widows weren"t fair game! But with the practice of philanthropy so liberally compensated I"m not troubling them. Your friend, the late Mr. Gordon, has banished the wolf from my door; for the immediate present, at least. I wonder if he antic.i.p.ated just how much I should enjoy his post-mortem munificence?"
And here J. Bayard gives a caressin" pat to his Grand Duke whiskers and glances approvin" down at the patent leathers which finish off a costume that"s the last word in afternoon elegance. You"ve seen a pet cat stretch himself luxurious after a full meal? Well, that"s J. Bayard.
He"d hypothecated the canary. If he hadn"t been such a dear friend of mine too, I could have kicked him hearty.
"Say, you"re a wonder, you are!" says I. "But I expect if your kind was common, all the decent people would be demandin" to be jailed, out of self-respect."
Another chuckle from J. Bayard. "Is that envy," says he, "or merely epigram? But at least we will agree that our ethical standards vary. You scorn mine; I find yours curiously entertaining. The best thing about you is that you seem to bring me good luck."
"Don"t trust that too far," says I. "I"m neither hump-backed, nor a live Billiken. How soon are you going to start on proposition Number Two?"
"Ah!" says he, straightenin". "That is the real business of the moment, isn"t it? As a matter of fact, I was just about to seek your valuable advice on the subject."
"Shoot it, then," says I. "Who"s the party?"
He explores his inside pockets, fishes out an envelop, and inspects it deliberate. It"s sealed; but he makes no move to open it. "My next a.s.signment in altruism," says he, holdin" it to the light. "Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief--I wonder?"
"Ah, come!" says I, handin" him a paper knife.
"But there"s no need for haste," says J. Bayard. "Just consider, Shorty: In this envelop is the name of some individual who was the victim of injustice, large or small, at the hands of Pyramid Gordon, someone who got in his way, perhaps years ago. Now I am to do something that will offset that old injury. While the name remains unread, we have a bit of mystery, an unknown adventure ahead of us, perhaps. And that, my dear McCabe, is the salt of life."
"Say, you ought to take that lecture out on the Chautauqua," says I.
"Get busy--slit or quit!"
"Very well," says he, jabbin" the knife under the flap. "To discover the ident.i.ty of the next in line!"
"Well?" says I, as he stares at the slip of paper. "Who do you pluck this time?"
"An enigma, so far as I am concerned," says he. "Listen: "John Wesley Pedders, in 1894 cashier of the Merchants" Exchange Bank, at Tullington, Connecticut." Ever hear of such a person, Shorty!"
"Not me," says I, "nor the place either."
"Then it remains to be discovered first," says Steele, "whether for twenty years Pedders has stayed put or not. Haven"t a Pathfinder handy, have you? Never mind, there are plenty at the hotel. And if to-morrow is such another fine spring day as this, I"ll run up there. I"ll let you know the results later; and then, my trusty colleague, we will plot joyously for the well-being of John Wesley Pedders."
"Huh!" says I. "Don"t try to pull any steam yachts or French limousines on me this time. The kind stuff goes, remember."
"To your acute sense of fitness in such matters, McCabe," says he, "I bow profoundly," and with a jaunty wave of his hand he drifts out.
Honest, compared to the shifty-eyed, suspicious-actin" party that blew into my studio a few weeks back, he seems like a kid on a Coney Island holiday. I expect it"s the prospects of easy money that"s chirked him up so; but he sure is a misfit to be subbin" on a deeds-of-kindness job.
That ain"t my lookout, though. All I got to do is pa.s.s on his plans and see that he carries "em out accordin" to specifications. So I don"t even look up this tank station on the map.
A couple of days go by, three, and no bulletin from J. Bayard. Then here the other mornin" I gets a long distance call. It"s from Steele.