Dr. Surtaine snapped a rubber band from a packet of papers lying on his desk. "Considering that you seem to have bought it outright," he said, twinkling, "I thought you might tell me what you intend doing with it.
There are the bills."
"Have I gone too heavy, sir?" asked Hal. "You"ve never limited me, and I supposed that the business--"
"The business," interrupted his father arrogantly, "could pay those bills three times over in any month. That isn"t the point. The point is that you"ve spent something more than forty-eight thousand dollars this last year."
Hal whistled ruefully. "Call it an even fifty," he said. "I"ve made a little, myself."
"No! Have you? How"s that?"
"While I was in London I did a bit of writing; sketches of queer places and people and that sort of thing, and had pretty good luck selling "em.
One fellow I know there even offered me a job paragraphing. That"s like our editorial writing, you know."
"Fine! That makes me feel easier. I was afraid you might be going soft, with so much money to spend."
"How I ever spent that much--"
"Never mind that. It"s gone. However, we"ll try another basis. I"d thought of an allowance, but I don"t quite like the notion. Hal, I"m going to give you your own money."
"My own money? I didn"t know that I had any."
"Well, you have."
"Where did I get it?"
"From our partnership. From the old days on the road."
"Rather an intangible fortune, isn"t it?"
"That old itinerant business was the nucleus of the Certina of to-day.
You had a profit-sharing right in that. You"ve still got it--in this.
Hal, I"m turning over to you to-day half a million dollars."
"That"s a lot of money, Dad," said the younger man soberly.
"The interest doesn"t come to fifty thousand dollars a year, though."
"More than half; and that"s more than plenty."
"Well, I don"t know. We"ll try it. At any rate, it"s your own. Plenty more where it comes from, if you need extra."
"I shan"t. It"s more than generous of you--"
"Not a bit of it. No more than just, Boyee. So let the thanks go."
"All right, sir. But--you know how I feel about it."
"I guess I know just about how you and I feel toward each other on anything that comes up between us, Boyee." There was a grave gentleness in Dr. Surtaine"s tone. "Well, there are the papers," he added, more briskly. "I haven"t put all your eggs in one basket, you see."
Going over the certificates Hal found himself possessed of fifty thousand dollars in the stock of the Mid-State and Great Muddy Railroad: an equal sum in the Security Power Products Company; twenty-five thousand each in the stock of the Worthington Trust Company and the Remsen Savings Bank; one hundred thousand in the Certina Company, and fifty thousand in three of its subsidiary enterprises. Besides this, he found five check-books in the large envelope which contained his riches.
"What are these, Dad?" he asked.
"Cash on deposit in local and New York banks. You might want to do some investing of your own. Or possibly you might see some business proposition you wanted to buy into."
"I see some Security Power Products Company certificates. What is that?"
"The local light, heat, and power corporation. It pays ten per cent.
Certina never pays less than twenty. The rest is all good for six, at least and the Mid-and-Mud averages eight. You"ve got upwards of thirty-seven thousand income there, not counting your deposits. While you"re looking about, deciding what you"re going to do, it"ll be your own money and n.o.body else"s that you"re spending."
"Do you think many fathers would do this sort of thing, Dad?" said Hal warmly.
"Any sensible one would. I don"t want to own you, Boyee. I want you to own yourself. And to make yourself," he added slowly.
"If I can make myself like you, Dad--"
"Oh, I"m a good-enough piece of work, for my day and time," laughed the father. "But I want a fine finish on you. While you"re looking around for your life-work, how about doing a little unpaid job for me?"
"Anything," cried Hal. "Just try me."
"Do you know what an Old Home Week is?"
"Only what I read in to-day"s paper announcing the preliminary committee."
"That gave you enough idea. We make a big thing of Old Home Week in Worthington. This year it will be particularly big because it"s the hundredth anniversary of the city. The President of the United States will be here. I"m to be chairman of the general committee, and I want you for my secretary."
"Nothing I"d like better, sir."
"Good! All the moneyed men in town will be on the committee. The work will put you in touch with the people who count. Well, that settles our business. Good luck to you in your independence, Boyee." He touched a bell. "Any one waiting to see me, Jim?" he asked the attendant.
"Yes, sir. The Reverend Norman Hale."
"Send him in."
"Shall I go, Dad?" asked Hal.
"Oh, you might take a little ramble around the shop. Go anywhere. Ask any questions of anybody. They all know you."
At the door, Hal pa.s.sed a tall, sinewy young man with heavy brows and rebellious hair. A slight, humorous uptilt to his mouth relieved the face of impa.s.sivity and saved it from a too formal clericalism. The visitor was too deeply concerned with some consideration of his inner self to more than glance at Hal, who heard Dr. Surtaine"s hearty greeting through the closing door.
"Glad to see you, Mr. Hale. Take a chair."
The visitor bowed gravely and sat down.
"You"ve come to see me about--?"
"Your subscription to the East End Church Club Fund."