Bobbys face had turned red, but he stuck manfully to his guns.
All of them, he blurted. You know that none of those is the real reason, he as suddenly protested. It is only that when I come to tell you the actual reason I rather choke up and cant.
Youre a mighty nice boy, Bobby, she confessed. Now sit down and behave, and tell me just what you have decided to do.
Well, said he, accepting his defeat with great philosophy, since he had no reason to regard it as final, of course, my decision is made for me. Im to take hold of the business. I dont know anything about it, but I dont see why it shouldnt go straight on as it always has.
Possibly, she admitted thoughtfully; but I imagine your father expected you to have rather a difficult time of it. Perhaps he wants you to, so that a defeat or two will sting you into having a little more serious purpose in life than you have at present. Id like, myself, to see you handle, with credit to him and to you, the splendid establishment he built up.
If I do, Bobby wanted to know, will you marry me?
That makes eleven times. Im not saying, Bobby, but you never can tell.
That settles it. Im going to be a business man. Let me use your phone a minute. It was one of the many advantages of the delightfully informal Turkish alcove that it contained a telephone, and in two minutes Bobby had his tailors. Make me two or three business suits, he ordered. Regular business suits, I mean, for real business wear you know the sort of thing and get them done as quickly as you can, please. There! said he as he hung up the receiver. I shall begin to-morrow morning. Ill go down early and take hold of the John Burnit Store in earnest.
Youve made a splendid start, commented Agnes, smiling. Now tell me about the polo tournament, and she sat back to enjoy his enthusiasm over something about which he was entirely posted.
He was good to look at, was Bobby, with his clean-cut figure and his clean-cut face and his clean, blue eyes and clean complexion, and she delighted in nothing more than just to sit and watch him when he was at ease; he was so restful, so certain to be always telling the truth, to be always taking a charitably good-humored view of life, to turn on wholesome topics and wholesome points of view; but after he had gone she smiled and sighed and shook her head.
Poor Bobby, she mused. There wont be a shred left of his tender little fleece by the time he gets through.
One more monitor Bobby went to see that afternoon, and this was Biff Bates. It required no sending in of cards to enter the presence of this celebrity. One simply stepped out of the elevator and used ones latch-key. It was so much more convenient. Entering a big, barnlike room he found Mr. Bates, clad only in trunks and canvas shoes, wreaking dire punishment upon a punching-bag merely by way of amusement; and Mr. Bates, with every symptom of joy illuminating his rather horizontal features wide brows, wide cheek-bone, wide nose, wide mouth,
wide chin, wide jaw stopped to shake hands most enthusiastically with his caller without removing his padded glove.
Whats the good news, old pal? he asked huskily.
He was half a head shorter than Bobby and four inches broader across the shoulders, and his neck spread out over all the top of his torso; but there was something in the clear gaze of the eyes which made the two gentlemen look quite alike as they shook hands, vastly different as they were.
Bad news for you, Im afraid, announced Bobby. That little partnership idea of the big gymnasium will have to be called off for a while.
Mr. Bates took a contemplative punch or two at the still quivering bag.
It was a fake, anyway, he commented, putting his arm around the top of the punching-bag and leaning against it comfortably; just like this place. You went into partnership with me on this joint that is, you put up the coin and run in a lot of your friends on me to be trained up squarest lot of sports I ever saw, too. You fill the place with business and allow me a weekly envelope that makes me tilt my chin till I have to wear my lid down over my eyes to keep it from falling off the back of my head, and when theres profits to split up you shoves mine into my mitt and puts yours into improvements. You put in the new shower baths and new bars and traps, and the last thing, that swimming-tank back there. Im glad the big games off. Im so contented now Im getting over-weight, and youd bilk me again. But whats the matter? Did the bookies get you?
No; Ill tell you all about it, and Bobby carefully explained the terms of his fathers will and what they meant.
Mr. Bates listened carefully, and when the explanation was finished he thought for a long time.
Well, Bobby, said he, heres where you get it. Theyll shred you clean. Youre too square for that game. Your old man was a fine old sport and he played it on the level, but, say, he could see a marked card clear across a room. Theyll double-cross you, though, to a fare-ye-well.
The opinion seemed to be unanimous.