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Show i- t,,iM,saswffliiaafii,irMel .tflir ' I raphcr. I skimmed tnVough until I j rante to thin: . I I "I will rchuiM In ninety days, and I j yon can renew your leam- Tor twenty i yearn, subject to all the terms nf the j II original leaae, provided you pay fiOvO 1 towards relnjildlna; ' j Ak I rend, flit i f fire tw-ty announced j Mr. Bnwer. and ha entered on the f word. I Thoiinh I'd only met this man once, j tnstrnrttvety I disliked .his eay famll- i lanty. Waa tl because Betty la In his j ' tmp1o? Whatever the cause. It w a j , re;it - yet I couldn't leave without of- fending a prosprtHe policy holder. ; "atl." said the lawyer after read- ' ins; th letter, "I think Twombly's overlooked over-looked a bet for once In his lif. He j laiiuhed heartily. "I'll tell you what to do. You need that building pretty bail, don't you?" "Vou let!" said Vail. "War order. Clad we ve sjot em, though, or we couldn't grt the thins; rebuilt at all.' "t.et your stenographer." said Bower. And when the girl entered he said: "Take this. please: 'Mr. Richard Twombly. 12 State street, city Iear Sir: Replying to yours of yesterday's date, we would say that, while we feel ymi mitcht not to ak us to participate in the cost of reconstruction, will not let f."0''0 to aland In the way. and re-Uticst re-Uticst you to pn-ceed Immediately. We ask. however, that if trie cost nf r- CHAPTER 17. , .Why Jack Wasn't Elated Ovsr Hit Success. One- reason for my lack of success ' during Ihose two HkR rams to me as the result of my sixth call upon I frea;aon, the, fat little shoe nianiif.tc- ' turer. Wht I've convinced htm that Inaur-ancc Inaur-ancc la an excellent thliiK. lie always, ends by saying: ; I'll think it over." and thla time he ' added. "There's reallv no hurry a turn t : it.- "Hut." I said earnestly, determined . not to be put off HK"tn, "you'va been thinking; It over for weeks. Ami j there's every reason to decide now. for i by th time you make up your mind ' to Ink out a policy It may be too late" "I'M take a chance on that." was his j smiting; rejoinder. "It Isn't you who's taking the chance. Mr. iregson " I came back, with a rising ris-ing note of conviction In my voice, , "hut your family ' This world is full of widows who are living example of1 hustiands who took a chance. Widow . who have lo struggle and slave Just ; because some heedless husband took a chance for them You've no right to j take a chance for otln-rs." I This made him think for a "minute, f I till hi naturally eay it dug dtspnsl- I I "My doctor says that I'm alt right." ; he anawered utmost belligerently, t "Hut our wn examiner must pas Inn your condition before you can nb-I nb-I tain a policy. The company insists i mi a far more rigid Inspection than ' ' most persons iniatntivv HcttT let me j j have htm up to kcc ou. It wilt be I worth something to find out Just howl you stand. Arid." 1 added with a sintie. j "if the premium on the term polti-v j 1- -aw liK,n vmen-'e, un w can ! lake your note till th'ne bonds are' paid for." j j lie laughed with me. , "tJuess I could dig up that much j extra You're alt riht. ouni; fellow' Any time you want a (oh come and see me. ,et your doctor mil and ou won't have to worry any more about rnv family. I laughed heartily with him at this sallv at rnv expense, for I bad won. "Thanks," 1 said made the appoint-nient appoint-nient for the doctor and left I h.id accomplished what I'd set out to do. His Indecision had been overcome over-come bv a simple appeal lo hi natural nat-ural affections and an indorsement of I hN business agarltv.. J Rut as I walked down the street my I elation save wav to a fueling ..f per- ' sonal responsibility shirked. ;regson I and every other man I knew had bought their Liberty hojids . But ll hadn't even one. . f The first draft passed me bv. I bad i : tion asserted Itself with "Oh. I don't know. There- " "Rut I do know'" I shot back. "I can pile a rtoen Instmce right here In town where, if some man hadn't taken a chance' the woman he loved would be happy instead of miserable today. No. Mr. Cregaon. t ike all the chances you want to in business, or tn stocks, or In anything else you want to- hut for the .sake of your family, don't -don't take chances on your life" Well." he temporised, "w hat ymi ssv is all right enoueh. but I'm tuning $;.0ftn worth of Liberty bonds In weeklv Instalments and that keens me nrettv building is less than your present estimate, es-timate, you will in all fairness pro-port pro-port mnatelv reduce the sum requested.' "i'opy that at once, please, and mark the envelope special delivery." Turning Turn-ing to Vail, he said: "Twombly's letter and your answer show the bringing together to-gether of two minds in other woras. a complete ratification of his .offer which constitutes a contract." "Fine'" aaid Vail. "I'll buy lunches on that." "That suits me,1 said Bower Jovially. We chatted until the gtrl returned with the letter, when Rower glanced through it and said: "Sign tt. and we'll mail it on the way to lunch." Then, with a wink at me, "Sargent's In on this, of course aa an Important witness." wit-ness." There was no graceful way out of it Against my wt. I had to bear Rower s company at lunch. I Rui I didn't enjoy the meal Rower did mont of th) talking, and the mora ! he talked the more I kept thinking; ! that I didn't like the idea of Retty be-! be-! ing thrown in daily contact with this man. After lunch Rower left us. and Vail and I strolled back to his office together. to-gether. Who should be pacing- up and down in the ante room aa we entered but Twombly himself. I Say!" the old chap fairly shouted at Vail. "F 've changed my mind. Been I offered $3oo) more rent for that build- i ing. You meet that figure or " "Sorry," Vail interrupted suavely, "but I'm afraid we must hold you to your original agreement. Our acceptance ac-ceptance is in the mall." M ikes no difference," he started to expostulate. "J ' "Oh. doesn't It" said Vaif coolly, j "You'd bvttr consult a lawyer this time We consider the matter closed " And Vail ushered me Into his orftce. lea t1 he nigjtardly old man to cool off outside. We heard him pace up and sown, and then the door slam as he departed. "He d better ret posted on the-Ihw of contract,' Vail grinned. "And," he j addsW with emjthaaia,, "wbe it mommi I hoped to wm enouirh In the stock mar- ket fool that 1 was' -to leave Rettv i comfortable in our little home Put j even though my money ts gone, mv responsibility to my count rv remains I must set meif rlvht with mvself to win sneers in anvthinip What sh'i'l I do? what can I do to help my country? CHAPTER 18. Why Doss Jack Instinetivsly Dislike Bawsr ? "How s TM !y?" asked Vail. a a fw days after the battte with myself following fol-lowing my t-Ik with ;regson. I entered en-tered the office of the tire company of which Vail is manager. "Much letter, thanks. She'll be out In a day or so Hut I didn't call to deliver that bulletin, happv as tt is " I grinned; for I d determined to clone my friend Vit and so get some monev to pMv the first instalment on at leant one Liberty bond "I've come to talk Hf Insurance." j "It's fire insurance I'm more inter- I eM-d in jum now. Sorry you don't well ' it. .lirk. Know old Tw-omhl) ?'" "Who rtwn t I laughed ! Then we both grinned at the mental ! picture of the Mo fisted septuagenarian, septuagena-rian, who had the reputation of being the meanest man in town. "Weli. you'll appreciate- thfs." said Vail, picking up a letter from his' desk. " think I've got one on the old boy. The building that burned is the only one m,r company diesn't own. Twombly never would sell. So we took a long lease. The rent Is exceptionally exception-ally cheap, as prices go today. Our lee T.ec fica Uy states that in cas of the total destruction or tne building build-ing the lease automatically terminates. That building must be replaced, and I've been wondering; ever since the fire how much extra rent Twombly 'd hold us up for." He handed me the letter. let-ter. "Read that". It was written by Twombly hi long-hand. long-hand. who. 'tis eajd, im mo eaTtnr that he never employs iavwrer er a ateou. short at present " "Kven so" I satd. "You've shown that vou nr both patriotic and wise ! by taking l.lherfv bonds. They're the j best Investment on earth Put add ' caution to vour good lodgment m ! Welt " j "f'.ue the fnsurnnre'tl have to wsit fill I get those bonds (.aid fr." be in- I six ted I "And If something happens In Ihe ' meantime." asked, "who s polng to I pa- the rest of the Instalments' j This was evident lv n netv thnurhf o itm. as I saw by the wav he paused j before answering, so I didn't give him the opportunity to reply, hut followed tip ntv advantage- "Ton csrrv insurance on your factor- don't youT -Pure V "and on your home, snd on your car" "Of course" he admitted easttv. I "Then. whs not on your bond subscription sub-scription You've been considering an endowment form of policy. Welt, vou efl n tal-e ctlt S d".v'' tern pol'V for t'AAA for less tian Kft an.t at the end of the venr. If von're atfv yon need no further elimination to get the eet-Mlar form "That's not such a had Ide-v" he answered, evtdentlv impressed. "But " Before he ecM formulate another ehteotir I r-itch.t to pen' anale "Besides, vou know, there's no guarantee guar-antee that von're in good enough hearth to get inau ranee." , to Important business, there's nothing like acting quickly while you re about It."' That applies equally to your life la- ! sura nee." I shot back, j Vail Joined me tn a leugn that Included In-cluded both Twombly and himself. And I seised the opportulnty to try to rloae him. but I couldn't get hts signature. ' What was the re;t0n? What had I aa , a salesman overlooked T I (To to coaUaued.) j |