IN WHICH JOHNNY MIXES BUSINESS AND PLEASURE
A general desire to bet on the last race had sent all the occupants of
the Boyden box, except Constance, Polly and Gresham, down to the
betting shed when Gamble returned; and he was very glad there was room
enough for him to sit down and enjoy himself. He had evil designs upon
Gresham.
"This is my lucky day," he observed, smiling upon Miss Joy. "I began
this afternoon to pile up an exact million. A near horse gave me a
five-thousand-dollar start."
"If you keep on at the rate of five thousand dollars an hour you'll
have your million in two hundred hours," Constance figured for him.
"I won't work Sundays, evenings, holidays or birthdays," he objected.
"How fussy!" commented Polly. "Which was the kind horse?"
"A goat by the name of Angora," he replied.
"That race should call for an inquiry," sternly stated Gresham.
"You must have bet on the favorite," returned Gamble, and laughed when
Gresham winced. Not a shade of Gresham's expression was escaping him
now.
"We all did," acknowledged Constance smilingly. "This is the first time
I ever bet on the races; and I sent down to bet on every horse in this
last one, so I'll be sure to win just once. I suppose you attend the
races frequently, Mr. Gamble?"
"I'll give you one more guess," he returned. "I don't like to walk
home."
"You won't have to walk this time," she reminded him.
"Not while I ride!" asserted Polly stoutly.
"I'm so glad you won, Johnny. I guess you'll stay in Baltimore now."
"And give this back? I'll get an injunction against myself first.
Polly, I owe you twenty-five hundred dollars. Here's the money."
"This is so sudden," she coyly observed. "My memory's poor, though,
Johnny."
"It's a promise I made myself: If I won this bet half of the winnings
belonged to the babies' hotel."
"Wait, Johnny," objected Polly, pushing the money away from her. "I'd
rather have you on the new subscription list, by and by, for the
furnishing and remodeling fund."
"I'll go on both of them," he offered, putting the money in her lap.
"You ought to know that I stick."
"Yes, you do," she sighed, and passed him the list, covertly pointing
out Gresham's name as she did so and showing the amount opposite it to
be one hundred dollars.
"Mr. Gamble wants to make sure that you'll get it," sneered Gresham,
and laughed. He was anxious to belittle Gamble in the eyes of Constance.
"If Johnny Gamble puts his name down it's as good as paid!" flared
Polly. "By the way, Mr. Gresham, I have that Corn Exchange check blank
for you now."
She handed him the blank and her fountain-pen; and, with some slight
reluctance, Mr. Gresham paid his subscription.
"Thanks," said Polly briskly. "Johnny, did you say I should put you on
the other list for the same amount?"
Constance leaned hastily forward, with the impulse to interfere against
so foolhardy a thing, but caught herself; and, leaning back, she looked
at Johnny Gamble in profile and smiled. There was something fascinating
about the fellow's clear-eyed assurance as he cheerfully answered: "If
you please, Polly."
"It will take you four hundred hours now to make your million," Gresham
advised him, with scarcely concealed contempt.
"I'm no loafer," Gamble declared.
They all laughed at that.
"I beg your pardon," apologized Gresham. "Let's see. How long will it
take you to make your million at the rate of five thousand an hour? How
many hours a day?"
"About seven on regular days; three on Saturdays."
Both the girls were still laughing at the absurdity of it all.
"Counting off for Sundays, you should have your million in about forty
days," persisted Gresham, figuring it with pencil and paper.
Johnny studied the problem carefully.
"All right; I'll do it," he announced, and looked at his watch.
"Bravo!" applauded Constance. "If you could succeed in that you would
display a force which nothing could resist."
Gresham looked at her with a quick frown.
"And if he failed he would display a presumption which nothing could
forgive," he paraphrased. "If it's not asking too much, Mr. Gamble, I'm
curious to know how you propose to accumulate your million." And he
smiled across at Miss Joy, who turned to Gamble, waiting interestedly
for his reply.
"Work a lot of neglected stunts. I never wanted to make a million till
now. I know how, though. I think I'll start with real estate." And he
watched Gresham narrowly.
"That's a dismal enough opening," announced Gresham with a pained
expression. "It is impossible to secure a decent price for property,
especially when you want to sell it."
"If you want to get rid of some I'll buy it," offered Gamble promptly.
"I want cash." And again Gresham smiled over at Constance. The slight
trace of a frown flitted across her brow. She had always thought of
Gresham as a man of perfect breeding.
"Name the right figure. I'll make a deal with you on the spot."
"This is scarcely the place for business," Gresham reproved him.
"I beg pardon," Gamble quickly said, and looked at Constance, a trifle
abashed.
"Please go ahead," that young lady urged. "This is more fun than the
races."
"Thanks." He smiled gratefully, "Now, Gresham, let's get down to
statistics. These are working hours. Here's twenty-five hundred."
"What for?" asked Gresham, looking at the money avariciously.
"To show confidence in the dealer. You have a vacant lot up-town.
What's it worth?"
"Forty thousand dollars," recited Graham.
"If you want forty it's worth thirty," Gamble sagely concluded. "I'll
split it with you. Give you thirty-five."
Gresham shook his head; but Gamble, watching him closely, saw that he
was figuring.
"I can't let the property go for less than its value."
"I don't want you to. I offered you thirty-five."
"On what terms?" inquired Gresham cautiously.
"Thirty days cash. This twenty-five hundred is a first payment. I want
a renewable option. If I don't cross over with the balance in thirty
days, spend the money."
"What do you mean by a renewable option?" asked Gresham, hesitating.
"When this option runs out I get another at the same price--and twice
more after that."
"Nonsense!" exclaimed Gresham, turning away. "Why, I'd be letting you
tie up my property for four months."
"I'm offering you over eighty per cent, a year. You'd rather stay tied."
Gresham pondered that problem for a moment.
"By Jove, you're right!" he said. "I'm selfish enough to hope that you
can't pay for it in thirty days." He reflected that in all probability
this reckless person was playing another long shot. "I'll take you."
Gamble piled the money into his hands, and with Polly's fountain-pen,
wrote a clear and concise statement of the option upon the back of an
unimportant letter. Gresham, as soon as he had finished counting the
money with caressing fingers, read and reread the option
cautiously--and signed it.
Polly reached out for it.
"Let me witness this," she requested with a glance of meaning at her
friend Johnny; and, writing the word "Witnesses" in its proper place,
she signed her name and passed the paper to Miss Joy. "Come in,
Constance; the water's fine," she invited. "Be a witness with me and
let's all be in vulgar trade."
Constance signed the paper gravely, puckering her lips adorably as she
made a careful business of it. She gave the paper to Mr. Gamble, and he
felt foolish enough to kiss the signature. She found another paper upon
her lap and opened it mechanically. It was the subscription list.
Suddenly she burst into laughter.
"This last donation is from Angora!" she exclaimed. "That's a generous
subscription, Mr. Gamble; but I don't know whether to thank you or the
horse."
"Thank the goat, whoever that is," he suggested, smiling into her eyes.
Great Scott, what eyes they were! "Polly, Colonel Bouncer is over there
by the band stand. I'll give you a nickel's worth of peanuts if you'll
tell him what I'm doing."
Mr. Gresham turned olive green.
"Wait a minute, Miss Parsons," he protested. "Mr. Gamble, you manage
very nicely without Mr. Collaton. If you knew of a probable purchaser
for my property you have just taken a most unethical advantage of me."
"You didn't have your fingers crossed," Gamble serenely reminded him.
"Not once," corroborated Polly. "I watched him all the time. Just leave
the colonel to me, Johnny. I'll scare him to death on the way here,"
and she hurried away upon her errand.
"I suppose I must take my medicine," said Gresham glumly. "I should
have sent you to my lawyer. I might have known that your business
ethics and my own would be entirely different."
"What are business ethics, Mr. Gresham?" asked Constance with
suspicious innocence.
"There do not seem to be any," he responded.
"I never heard of any," agreed Gamble cheerfully. "My principle is, See
it first and grab it."
"That's the rule of every highwayman, I believe," charged Gresham. "You
will excuse me for a few moments, please?" And he hurried away in
pursuit of a man whom he had seen passing.
"That's the rule of life," said Gamble. "I had to learn it quick. It
took me four months to save up my first eighteen dollars. I thought I'd
never get it."
"You must have wanted something very much," suggested Constance,
smiling sympathetically at her vision of this man as a boy, hoarding
his pennies and nickels like a miser for so long a time.
"I did," he admitted simply. "I wanted a cook stove with silver knobs.
The day I had it brought home was the proudest of my life. My mother
knelt down and hugged it. It had four lids and not one of them was
cracked."
Constance looked at him with a musing smile. He must have been a
handsome boy.