When John Kenyon returned from the North and entered the office of his
friend Wentworth, he found that gentleman and young Longworth talking in
the outer room.
'There's a letter for you on my desk,' said Wentworth, after shaking
hands with him. 'I'll be there in a minute.'
Kenyon entered the room and found the letter. Then he did a very
unbusinesslike thing. He pressed the writing to his lips and placed the
letter in his pocket-book. This act deserves mention because it is an
unusual thing in the City. As a general rule, City men do not press
business communications to their lips, and the letter John had received
was entirely a business communication, relating only to the mine, and to
William Longworth's proposed connection with it. He wondered whether he
should write an answer to it or not.
He sat down at Wentworth's desk, and came upon an obstacle at the very
beginning. He did not know how to address the young woman. Whether to say
'My dear Miss Longworth,' or 'My dear madam,' or whether to use the
adjective 'dear' at all, was a puzzle to him; and over this he was
meditating when Wentworth came bustling in.
'Well,' said the latter, as John tore into small pieces a sheet of
notepaper and threw the bits into the waste-basket, 'how have you got on?
Your letters were very short indeed, but rather to the point. You seem to
have succeeded.'
'Yes, I have succeeded very well. I have got all the figures and prices
and everything else that it is necessary to have. I succeeded with
everybody except Brand, who wrote that letter to you. I cannot make him
out at all. He would give me no information, and he managed to prevent
everyone else in his works from giving me any. He pooh-poohed the
scheme--in fact, wouldn't listen to it. He said it was not usual for men
to give away information regarding their business, and in that, of
course, he was perfectly justified; but when I tried to argue with him as
to whether this mineral was used in his manufactory or not, he would not
listen. I asked him what he used in place of it, but he would not tell.
All in all, he is a most extraordinary man, and I confess I do not
understand him.'
'Oh, it doesn't matter about him in the least. I was speaking with
Longworth just now about that curious letter of his, and he agrees with
me that it makes no difference. He says, what is quite true, that in
every business you find some man with whom it is difficult to deal.'
'Yes, that is so; but, still, he either uses this substance or he does
not. I can understand a man who says, "We have no need for that,
because we use another material." But that is one of the things Brand
does not say.'
'Well, it is not worth while talking about him. By the way, you have all
your figures and notes with you, I suppose?'
'Yes, I have everything.'
'Very well. Leave them with me, and I will get them into some sort of
shape. Longworth says we shall have to have everything printed relating
to this--your statements and all.'
'That will cost a great deal of money, will it not?'
'Oh, not very much. It is necessary, it seems. We must have printed
matter to give to those who make application for information. It would be
impossible to explain personally to everybody who inquires, and to show
them these documents.'
'Yes, I suppose so.'
'Longworth was just now speaking to me about offices he has seen, and he
is anxious to secure them at once. He is attending to that matter.'
'Do you think we need an office? Why could not the business be transacted
here; or perhaps a room might be had on this floor that would do
perfectly well; then we should be close together, and able to communicate
when necessary.'
'Longworth seems to think differently. He says you must impress the
public, and so he is going in for fine offices.'
'Yes, but who is to pay for them?'
'Why, we must, of course--you and Longworth and myself.'
'Have you the money?'
'I have a certain amount. I think we shall have enough to see it through,
and if not, we can easily get it, and settle up when we finish the
business.'
'Well, you know I have no money to spare.'
'Oh, I know that well enough. Perhaps Longworth will see us through,
for, as he says, this sort of thing can be spoilt by niggardliness. He
has known, and so have I, many a business go to pieces because of
false economy.'
'But it seems to me all this is needless expense. We only want to get a
few moneyed men interested in our project, and if they are sensible men,
they will look to the probability of getting a good dividend, not at
fine offices.'
'Very well, John; you get the men, and I shall be satisfied. I am sure I
am as anxious to do this cheaply as you are. If you think you can go out
and interest a dozen or twenty-four men in the City, and persuade them
to go in for our mine, I will cry "Halt!" on our part until you do it.
Will you try that?'
Kenyon pondered for a few minutes, and then said: 'I suppose that would
be rather a difficult thing to do.'
'Yes, that is the way it strikes me. I do not know to whom I could go.
Longworth is a good man, and we have gone to him. Now it seems to me,
having got his assistance, the least we can do, unless we are prepared to
produce the men ourselves forthwith, is to act as he wishes.'
'Yes, I quite appreciate that, and I also grasp the fact that too close
economy is not the best thing; but, on the other hand, George, how are we
to perform our part with Longworth? His ideas of economy and yours may be
vastly different. What is a mere trifle to him would bankrupt us!'
'I know that. Well, he is coming here this afternoon at three. Suppose
you manage to be in then, and talk with him. Meanwhile, I will go over
the papers and get them into tabulated form.'
'Very well; I shall be here at three o'clock.'
It will hardly be credited that a business man like John Kenyon spent
most of the time between that hour and three o'clock trying to compose a
business letter in answer to the business communication he had received
that morning. Yet such was the astonishing fact, and it showed, perhaps
more than anything else, how utterly unfit Mr. John Kenyon was to join in
a commercial undertaking in a city of hard-headed people. At last,
however, the letter was posted, and Kenyon hurried away to be in time for
his three-o'clock appointment. He found Wentworth and young Mr. Longworth
together, the latter looking more like a young man from the West End
than a typical City business man. His monocle was in his eye, and it
shone on Kenyon as he entered. It was evident something was troubling
Wentworth, and it was equally evident that the something, whatever it
was, was not troubling young Longworth.
'You are late, John,' was Wentworth's greeting.
'A little,' he answered. 'I was detained.'
There was silence for a few moments, and Wentworth appeared to be waiting
for Longworth to speak. At last Longworth said:
'I have succeeded in getting very nice offices indeed, and I was telling
Mr. Wentworth about them. You see, it is not very easy to engage offices
in a good part of the City by the week. They do not care to let them in
that way, because, while a weekly tenant is occupying them, somebody
else, who wants them for a longer time, might have to be sent away.'
'Yes,' said Kenyon in a non-committal manner.
'Well, I have got just the offices we need, and have now set the men at
putting gilt lettering on the windows. I have taken the offices in the
name of "The Canadian Mica Mining Company, Limited," which I shall have
on the plate-glass windows in a very short time. Now, Mr. Wentworth here
seems to think the offices rather expensive. I have told him before what
my ideas are in the matter of expense. Perhaps, before anything more is
said on the subject, we ought to go and look at the rooms.'
'How much are they a week?' asked Kenyon.
Young Mr. Longworth did not answer, because at that moment his monocle
fell out of its place and had to be adjusted again; but Wentworth jerked
out the two words, 'Thirty pounds.'
'A _week_?' cried John.
'Yes,' said Longworth, after having succeeded in replacing the round bit
of glass--'yes; Mr. Wentworth seems to think that is rather high, but I
defy him to get as fine offices in the City for anything less in price.
It is merely ten pounds a week for each of us. However, before you can
judge of their dearness or cheapness, you must see them. If you ask me, I
think they are a bargain.'
'Very well,' said Kenyon. 'Have you the time, George?'
Wentworth, without answering, shoved the papers into his desk and closed
it. The three young men went out together, and after a short walk came to
large plate-glass windows, where a man on a ladder was chalking the words
'The Canadian Mica Mining Company, Limited,' in a semicircle.
'You see,' said Longworth, 'this is one of the very best situations in
the City. As I said before, I doubt if you could get anything like it for
the price.'
They could not deny the excellence of the position, or that the
plate-glass looked very imposing and the gilt letters exceedingly fine;
but the cost of this running on perhaps for two or three months seemed to
appal them.
'Come inside,' said young Longworth suavely; 'I am sure you will be
pleased with the rooms we have. You see,' he said, entering and nodding
to the carpenters who were at work there, 'this will be the front
office, where the public is received. Here you have room for an
accountant or two and your secretary. The back-room, which you see is
also well lighted, is just the spot for our people to meet. We will get
in a large long table here, and a number of chairs, and there we
are--capital directors' room.'
'Does the thirty pounds a week include the furnishing of the place?'
asked Kenyon.
'Oh, bless you, no! You surely couldn't expect that? We shall have to put
in the furniture, of course.'
'And do you intend to put in desks and counter and everything of that
sort here?'
'Of course. Beside that, we will get in a large safe. There is nothing
like a ponderous safe, with the name of the company in gilt letters on
it, for impressing the general public.'
'And how much is the furnishing of this place to cost?'
'Really, I don't know that. The men I have engaged will do it very
reasonably. They have done work for me before. You don't get it done any
cheaper by haggling about the price beforehand--I've found that out.'
'I do not see how we are to pay our share of all this,' said Kenyon.
'Nothing easier, my boy; I've arranged all that. I will pay them my third
in cash when it is finished, and, they have agreed to wait three months
for the remainder. By that time you will have sixty thousand pounds each,
and a little bill like this will be nothing to you.'
Kenyon looked grave.
'It's a little like counting your chickens,' he said.
'Ah, they'll hatch all right,' laughed Longworth. And then his eyeglass
dropped out.