Biff, said Bobby severely, youll do nothing of the kind. Youll leave one Silas Trimmer to me. Merely bruising his body wont get back my fathers business. Let him alone.
But look here, Bobby
No; I say let him alone, insisted Bobby.
All right, said Biff sullenly; but if you think theres a trick you can turn to double cross this Trimmer youve got another think coming. Hes sunk his fangs in the business hes been after all his life, and now you couldnt pry it away from him with a jimmy. You know what I told you about him.
I know, said Bobby wearily. But honestly, Biff, did you ever see me go into a game where I was a loser in the end?
Not till this one, confessed Biff.
And this isnt the end, retorted Bobby.
He knew that when he made such a confident assertion that he had nothing upon which to base it; that he was talking vaguely and at random; but he also knew the intense desire that had arisen in him to reverse conditions upon the man who had waited until the father died to wrest that fathers pride from the son; and in some way he felt coming strength. In Biffs present frame of conviction Bobby was pleased enough to drop him in front of Kid Mills obscure abode, and turn with a sudden hungry impulse in the direction of Agnes. At the Ellistons, when the chauffeur was about to slow up, Bobby in a panic told him to drive straight on. In the course of half an hour he came back again, and this time pride alone fear of what his chauffeur might think determined him to stop. With much trepidation he went up to the door. Agnes was just preparing to go out, and she came down to him in the front parlor.
This is only a business call, he confessed with as much appearance of gaiety as he could summon under the circumstance. Ive come around to see my trustee.
So soon? she said, with quick sympathy in her voice. Im so sorry, Bobby! But I suppose, after all, the sooner it happened the better. Tell me all about it. What was the cause of it?
You wouldnt marry me, charged Bobby. If you had this never would have happened.
She shook her head and smiled, but she laid her hand upon his arm and drew closer to him.
Im afraid it would, Bobby. You might have asked my advice, but I expect you wouldnt have taken it.
I guess youre right about that, admitted Bobby; but if youd only married me Honest, Agnes, when are you going to?
I shall not commit myself, she replied, smiling up at him rather wistfully.
Theres somebody else, declared Bobby, instantly assured by this evasiveness that the unknown had something to do with the matter.
If there were, it would be my affair entirely, wouldnt it? she wanted to know, still smiling.
No! he declared emphatically. It would be my affair. But really I want to know. Will you, if I get my fathers business back?
Ill not promise, she said. Why, Bobby, the way you put it, you would be binding me not to marry you in case you didnt get it back! and she laughed at him. But lets talk business now. I was just starting out upon your affairs, the securing of some bonds for which the lawyer I have employed has been negotiating, so you may take me up there and he will arrange to get you the two hundred and fifty thousand dollars you are to have.
Its for a new start, without restrictions except that you are to engage in business with it. Thats all the instructions I have.
Thanks, said Bobby, with a gulp. Honestly, Agnes, its a shame. Its a low-down trick the governor played to put me in this helplessly belittled position with you.
Why, how strange, she replied quietly. I look upon it as a most graceful and agreeable position for myself.
Oh! he exclaimed blankly, as it occurred to him just how uncomfortable the situation must be to her, and he reproached himself with selfishness in not having thought of this phase of the matter before. Thats a fact, he admitted. I say, Agnes, Ill say no more about that end of it if you dont; and, after all, Im glad,
too. It gives me a legitimate excuse to see you much oftener.
Gracious, no! she protested. You fill up every spare moment that I have now; but so long as you are here on business this time, lets attend to business. You may take me up to see Mr. Chalmers. By the way, I want you to meet him, anyhow. You have seen him, I believe, once or twice. He was here one day when you called, and he was walking with me in the lobby of the theater when you came in to join us one evening.
Y-e-s, drawled Bobby, as if he were placing the man with difficulty.
The Chalmers are charming people, she went on. His wife is perfectly fascinating. We used to go to school together. They have only been married three months, and when they came here to go into business I was very glad to throw such of your fathers estate as I am to handle into his hands. Whenever they are ready I want to engineer them into our set, but they live very quietly now. I know youll like them.
Oh, Im sure I will, agreed Bobby heartily, and his face was positively radiant, as, for some unaccountable reason, he clutched her hand. She lifted it up beneath his arm, around which, for one ecstatic moment, she clasped her other hand, and together they went out into the hall, Bobby, simply driveling in his supreme happiness, allowing her to lead him wheresoever she listed. Still in the joy of knowing that his one dreaded rival was removed in so pleasant a fashion, he handed her into the automobile and they started out to see Mr. Chalmers. Their way led down Grand Street, past the John Burnit Store, and with all that had happened still rankling sorely in his mind, Bobby looked up and gave a gasp. Workmen were taking down the plain, dignified old sign of the John Burnit Store from the top of the building, and in its place they were raising up a glittering new one, ordered by Silas Trimmer on the very day Bobby had agreed to go into the consolidation; and it read: