GUY RECEIVES A PROPOSITION.
THE shipping clerk and commercial traveler walked out of the store
arm-in-arm, and bent their steps toward a billiard saloon. Mr. Jones
talked incessantly. The sober face Guy wore, and the words he had let
fall a while ago, were small things in themselves, but much too
important to be disregarded, for they were signs of the awakening which
was sure to come, but which Mr. Jones, for reasons of his own, wished to
postpone for a day or two longer. So he tried to keep up Guy’s spirits,
and believing that a little assistance might not come amiss, led him
into Dutch Jake’s saloon, where they had a glass of beer and a cigar
apiece, Jones paying for one and Guy treating to the other.
“Chalk it, Jake,” said Guy, as he walked around the end of the counter
for a match to light his cigar.
“Vell,” said the Dutchman with some hesitation, “I shalks dis, but I
don’t likes dis shalking pisness pooty vell, nohow. You peen shpending
monish like plazes, Meester Harris—you know it? Your pill peen running
dwo months.”
Guy reddened to the roots of his hair. This was a gentle hint that Jake
wanted him to pay up, and he had never been dunned before.
“How much do I owe you?” he asked.
“Eight tollars und vorty zents; you know it now.”
“Eight dollars and—Great Scott! how can that be?” exclaimed Guy, almost
overwhelmed with astonishment. “I haven’t been stuck for a game of cards
for the last two weeks.”
“Vell, it’s all fair, every zent!” almost shouted the Dutchman, bringing
his fist down on the counter with a sounding whack. “You dinks I sheats
you, py dunder?”
“Oh, now, Jake, you needn’t get on the rampage,” said Jones, interposing
to calm the rising storm. “Guy is not disputing your bill—he is a
gentleman. He will pay every cent of it in a few days.”
“Vell, dot’s all right, put it’s petter he bays it pooty gwick. Ven a
man gomes here mit vine glose und a vine vatch und shain, und runs me a
pill here in mine house von eight tollars und vorty zents, I don’t likes
dis pisness.”
While the Dutchman was talking himself hoarse Guy and his companion beat
a hasty retreat. Jones seemed to look upon the matter in the light of an
excellent joke, and laughed heartily over it, but Guy said nothing. He
was in a very serious frame of mind. He did not in the least enjoy the
game of billiards that followed, for his thoughts were full of the
unpleasant incident that had just happened. He was learning now what all
people who go in debt must learn sooner or later—that a bill, like the
snow-ball a boy rolls up to build his mimic fort, accumulates rapidly.
He was glad when the game was finished. He and Jones took a cigar at the
counter, and were about to move away when the bar-tender beckoned to
Guy.
“I don’t want you to think hard of me, Harris,” said he, leading Guy out
of earshot of his companion, “but I just thought that I would suggest to
you that perhaps your bill here is rather larger than you think. It has
been running five weeks, and we like to have our customers settle up at
least once a month.”
“How much is it?” asked Guy with as much indifference as he could throw
into his tones.
“Only twenty-four dollars. Don’t misunderstand me now. I am not dunning
you, for I know that you are a thoroughbred, and that you are able to
pay it at any moment. I merely wish to call your attention to it.”
“I am glad you did,” said Guy. “I’ll see to it. Good-evening.”
Had Guy suddenly been knocked over by some invisible hand he could not
have been more amazed. Thirty-two dollars in debt, and several creditors
yet to hear from! Had he been asked an hour before to name the sum he
owed these two men, he would have said not more than five dollars. He
had kept no account of the bills he had run at other places, and if they
exceeded his estimate of them in the same proportion that these two did,
what would become of him? Where could he raise the money to pay them? He
could not bear to think about it. He overtook his companion at the door,
and the latter saw very plainly that the awakening had come.
“Well, perhaps it is as well that it should come now as at a later day,”
soliloquized the commercial traveler. “I’ve got him just where I want
him, and I’ll make him a proposition to-night. I have another whole day
to operate in before I start out on my travels, and a great deal can be
accomplished in that time. How much is it, Guy? Twenty-four dollars!
That is less than I thought it would be. Billiards at twenty-five cents
a game, and fancy drinks at fifteen cents each count up, you know. When
are you going to pay it?”
“I don’t know. I can’t pay Jake’s bill, much less this one.”
“Well, now, I say! Look here, my dear fellow, this won’t do, you know!”
exclaimed Mr. Jones, suddenly stopping in the street and turning a most
astonished face toward Guy. “Remember, if you please, that these people
to whom I have introduced you are my personal friends, and that I
brought you to their notice supposing you to be a gentleman. You _must_
pay these bills. My honor is at stake as well as your own, because I
introduced you. If you don’t do it, your creditors will call upon Mr.
Walker.”
“Great Scott!” ejaculated Guy, who had never thought of this before.
“Certainly they will,” continued Mr. Jones. “And just consider how I
should feel under such circumstances! I should never dare to look a
white man in the face again. I didn’t think you were dishonest.”
“And I am not, either,” returned Guy with spirit. “I should be glad to
settle these bills, but how can I do it without money?”
“Oh, that’s the trouble, is it? It isn’t want of inclination, but a lack
of means. Is that it?”
“That’s just the way the matter stands,” answered Guy.
“Then I ask your pardon,” said Mr. Jones, grasping Guy’s hand and
shaking it cordially. “I misunderstood you. But are you really out of
money?” he added, with a look of surprise, although he knew very well
that Guy was penniless, and had been for weeks.
“I haven’t a red,” was the despairing reply.
“Don’t let it trouble you. I can remedy that.”
“You can!” exclaimed Guy, astonished and delighted.
“Of course. I earn three or four thousand every year, outside of my
commission, and in an hour I can explain the mode of operating, so that
you can do the same.”
“And will you?” asked Guy.
“I will, I assure you. Harris, when I am a friend to a man I am a friend
all over. And what is the use of my professing to think so much of you
if I am not willing to prove it?”
“You are a friend, indeed,” returned Guy with enthusiasm, “and if you
will help me out of this scrape I will never go in debt again as long as
I live.”
“Oh, as to that,” said Mr. Jones indifferently, “it doesn’t signify. The
best of us get short sometimes, and then it is very convenient to have a
friend or two who is willing to credit us. All one has to do is to get
up a reputation for honesty, and then he can run his face as long as he
chooses.”
“What is this plan you were speaking of?” asked Guy.
“I will tell you this evening. After supper we will go up to our room,
and while we are smoking a cigar we’ll have a long, friendly talk.”
Guy did not want any supper. He could think of nothing but his debts and
his companion’s friendly offer to help him out of them, and he was
impatient to learn how his relief was to be accomplished, he urged Jones
to reveal the secret at once, but the latter could not be prevailed upon
to say more on the subject just then, and Guy was obliged to await his
pleasure.
Supper over, the cigars lighted, and the door of their room closed to
keep the smoke from going out into the hall where the landlady would be
sure to detect it, Guy and the commercial traveler seated themselves,
one in the easy chair and the other on the bed, and proceeded to discuss
matters.
“In the first place,” said Mr. Jones, “in order that I may know just
what to do, you must tell me how much you owe, and give me the names of
those to whom you are indebted—that is, if you are perfectly willing to
do so.”
“Of course I am,” returned Guy readily. “I will meet your friendly
advances half-way. To begin with, there are my bills at Dutch Jake’s and
the billiard saloon, amounting to thirty-two dollars and forty cents.
Then I am indebted thirty dollars to Mrs. Willis, and if I may judge by
the way she looks at me now and then, she would be wonderfully pleased
if I would pay up.”
“Oh, she doesn’t need the money,” said Jones. “She has a little fortune
of her own, and only keeps boarders for company. If she says anything to
you, there are plenty of ways to put her off. Tell her that you will
settle up as soon as you draw your next quarter’s salary.”
“That would be a good joke on her, wouldn’t it?” said Guy with a forced
laugh. “To tell the truth,” he added, with some hesitation, “I—that
is—you know Mr. Walker allows me to be my own paymaster, and I have
already drawn and spent my last quarter’s salary. I shall not get a cent
of money from the firm for five weeks.”
“I am overjoyed to hear it,” said Mr. Jones to himself. “Things are
working better than I thought. I’ve got you in a tight corner, my lad,
and all that is required is a little careful handling to get you in the
way of embezzling.” Then aloud he said: “That is a very bad state of
affairs, Guy. These people must be paid at once.”
“I know they ought to be paid, and you said you would put me in the way
of doing it.”
“So I will. I’ll come to that directly. But who else do you owe?”
Guy went on with the list of those to whom he was indebted, checking
each one off on the fingers of his left hand as he pronounced his name.
Jones listened in genuine amazement, for Guy had been carrying things
with a much higher hand than he had supposed. His debts, according to
his own showing, footed up one hundred and twenty-five dollars, and if
the amounts charged against him on the books of his creditors exceeded
his expectations as greatly as Jones hoped they would, he owed at least
two hundred dollars. The commercial traveler took down the names and
amounts as Guy called them off—a proceeding that Guy could not see the
necessity of.
“You mustn’t show that to anybody,” said he.
“Certainly not,” replied Jones with an injured air. “I wish to ascertain
just how much you owe, so that I may know how large a sum of money it
will take to put you on your feet again. One hundred and twenty-five
dollars,” he continued, after he had added up the column of figures.
“That is a bad showing, Guy—a very bad showing indeed. It is a large sum
to one whose salary amounts to only four hundred dollars a year, but it
must be paid. Are you ready to listen to my plans now?”
“I am,” said Guy. “I am all ears.”
“I do not suppose that you will like them at first,” said Mr. Jones,
“but if you will take my advice you will consider well before you reject
them. I can only say that I am about to describe to you a business to
which, as I happen to know, a great many people resort to enable them to
eke out a respectable livelihood.”
With this, Mr. Jones took a long pull at his cigar by way of
inspiration, settled back on his elbow on the bed, and proceeded with a
minute and careful explanation of the business to which he had referred.
He had not said many words before Guy’s eyes begun to open with
surprise, and the longer he listened the more amazed he became. When Mr.
Jones drew from his pocket the implements of his trade and exhibited
them to Guy, the latter jumped from his chair in high indignation.
“I’ll never do it!” said he with emphasis. “I haven’t amounted to much
during the time I have knocked about the world, but I have never yet
been mean enough to play confidence man.”
“This is the way you repay the interest I take in you, is it?” demanded
Mr. Jones angrily. “I offer you a friend’s advice and services, and you
abuse me for it.”
“You are no friend when you try to get me into danger,” said Guy.
“There’s no need of getting excited over it,” said Mr. Jones, as the
shipping clerk begun pacing nervously up and down the room. “I am not
trying to get you into danger. I have followed this business for years,
and know that there is no trouble in carrying it out successfully; but
mark you—there will be trouble if you don’t pay your debts, and serious
trouble, too. What will Mr. Walker say? He thinks everything of you
now—says you’re one of the finest young fellows in St. Louis.”
“Does he say that?” asked Guy, who could not remember that any one had
ever spoken a word in his praise before.
“Yes, he does; and if I were you I would work hard to retain his good
opinion.”
“I don’t see that I can retain it by becoming a swindler,” said Guy.
“He will never know it; but he will know there’s something wrong when
your creditors carry their bills to him, as they certainly will, if you
don’t settle up soon.”
“Great Cæsar!” gasped Guy, who trembled at the bare mention of the
merchant’s name in connection with his debts. “Is there no other way
out? Can’t you lend me some money?”
“Not a red, my dear fellow. I manage to spend all I make as soon as it
gets into my hands. There is no other way out that I can think of now.
As I told you before, I did not expect that you would like the business
at first—I know I objected when it was proposed to me—but you will find
that it will grow less distasteful the longer you think about it. It is
a sure road to ease and fortune, and you had better take time to
consider before you refuse to try it. But you are getting down-hearted,
Guy. Let’s go out for a breath of fresh air. It will liven you up a
bit.”
“No, I don’t care to go out,” said Guy. “I am in no mood to enjoy
anything.”
“Then you will excuse me, won’t you? I have an engagement at this hour.
I will be back at eleven, and in the meantime you had better smoke
another cigar, and think the matter over.”
“There’s no need that I should think it over. I’ll never consent to
it—never. My creditors will not drive me to such extremities.”
“Oh, they won’t, eh?” said Mr. Jones to himself as he closed the door
and paused a moment on the landing outside. “We’ll see about that, my
fine lad. I’ll have them following you like so many sleuth-hounds before
twenty-four hours have passed over your head. You’ll find that they
won’t care what becomes of you so long as they get their money. There
_is_ another way out of the difficulty, but I don’t think it quite safe
to propose it to Guy to-night. I will tell him of it to-morrow. By that
time he will be cornered so tightly that he will be glad to do anything
to get out.”
So saying the commercial traveler laughed softly to himself, and slowly
descended the stairs.
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