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Show I'Nf FOON CORNER II I 'BOOMERANG' I Vf By ROY CONSTINER Holloway wonted to disown Jimmy until a beautiful woman proved that father and son were cut from the same pattern. "And remember this, Mr. Hollo way," the saleswoman continued amiably, as she laid a slendei hand upon J. P.'s desk, "you'lj again be setting the pace. The first to recognize a good proposition. Never let it be said, 'J. P. Holloway overlooked a good bargain.' " Whereupon they laughed heartily. After a moment's pause, J. P. turned to Mrs. Holloway and said hesitantly, "You know Martha, we've had our old car some time ..." he made a slight gesture with his free hand "it's in good condition condi-tion now that I've had it overhauled yet, one cannot tell about those old models. Why, just the other day, John Fetters was telling about his old car's stalling in the noon-hour noon-hour traffic on Fifth and Vine. We wouldn't want that to happen to us would we dear?" Mrs. Holloway considered him solemnly. sol-emnly. "But James," she began, "you said you were not interested in a new car " "Oh, I know, I know," he protested protest-ed in alarm. "I wasn't that is, until I heard this offer Miss Jenkins Jen-kins has made. And you should know that I never let a good proposition propo-sition slip through my fingers. No, sir, not J. P. Holloway." He then turned and smiled at the saleswoman, saleswom-an, a warm, intimate smile. Then you to understand the grand Idea which our management has decided upon. It's really splendid!" She smiled, showing white pearlish teeth. J. P. studied the sheets a moment, mo-ment, and then looked up somewhat questioningly. "I notice something about a thirty day free " She smiled. "No, this is not exactly ex-actly free. Yet, it is free in the sense that you'll not be paying for the new car at the present time. What you'll be paying the mere $250 for is absolutely prompt delivery of your new car within seven days after your deposit." J. P. gave this a careful thought, then asked, "Supposing the car is not satisfactory, and the depositor decides he does not care for this type car?" "That," she said quickly, "is a very good question. In fact, I'm ? - - K ' t I i s ! ! TRAILING smoke from an expensive ex-pensive cigar, stoutish J. P. Holloway Hol-loway led his wife from the elevator ele-vator and into his private office. "Knew the moment you called," he flared, "Jimmy had wired for more money. But I'll not send him one cent. Not one red cent! You understand?" under-stand?" Mrs. Holloway settled herself in the nearest chair. The gentle expression ex-pression on her small, motherly face did not change. "As a matter of fact," she said softly, "I did hear from Jimmy, but " "Knew it," J. P. Interrupted, "knew it all along. You were sitting sit-ting right here when I told him I would absolutely not tolerate any foolishness from him while he was attending college." He hesitated momentarily as he pulled furiously at his cigar, then added, "And now that he has gone and Invested over ihis head In this this blind enterprise enter-prise with, this woman whom he thought was his friend, and she has run out on him with the capital and i left him without as much as fare " I It was then the intercom buzzed. ! J. P. flipped the button Irritably. "Yes?" j "A Miss Jenkins to see you, sir," came a voice through the intercom I set. "Has she an appointment?" he asked. "Oh, goodness!" Mrs. Holloway j broke in hurriedly. "James, I forgot for-got to mention her. I asked her to 'stop in today." J. P. frowned. "Well, who is he?" he asked caustically. "We met yesterday at Mrs. Wellington's Wel-lington's dinner party," she replied, ls she patted an imaginary gray ;hair in place; then added, "She is, !l think, associated with the Delbarn Motor corporation in Detroit; there-'fore, there-'fore, I'm sure, in a position to help us buy a new car sooner than we i could have hoped to otherwise. . . ." "But I don't want a new car," he : countered, "I have just had our old car overhauled." "But surely, James," she returned re-turned somewhat pleadingly, "you can spare her a moment." J. P. paused momentarily as he relit his cigar, and then flipped on the intercom set. "Send Miss Jenkins Jen-kins in," he said briskly. What J. P. saw entering his office a moment later was a dark, slender woman, and in the mid-afternoon light she was almost beautiful. The coil of her black hair pinned into a chignon at the nape of her neck, the tailored gray suit with the white pleated blouse was very becoming to her straight shoulders, and narrow nar-row slender hips, he thought. "It's so nice of you to permit me a few minutes of your valuable time, Mr. Holloway," she began. Then, with a slight nod toward Mrs. Holloway, Hol-loway, she added, "I've heard so much about you and your rapid advance ad-vance in the business world, that it's really quite a pleasure. . . ." J. P. grinned. "Thank you," he said, as he adjusted his tie. "I " "Your wife," the saleswoman interrupted, in-terrupted, "has told me that you're Interested in a new car." i "W-well, I really " ' "That's fine," she leaned closer . "It's certainly a privilege to have this opportunity of explaining our new car and system to intelligent intelli-gent people." She paused to turn on additional charm. "The fact is, we are merely trying this new car out, and want only to try it through people peo-ple of your high reputation." "This," she laid some sheets carefully before J. P. "will help "I've heard so much about you and your rapid advance in the business busi-ness world, that it's really quite a pleasure. . . ." glad you brought that up." She hesitated to ash her cigarette and, in doing so, seemed to be concentrating concen-trating on the proper clauses to use, as she continued, "Now in the event you are not completely satisfied, the management will gladly refund your money and return the car to the factory. Isn't that fair enough, Mr. Holloway?" "Oh, yes, quite fair," he said, through the haze of cigar smoke, as he resumed reading of the typed sheets. They seemed all in order, he thought. Though the thought of a new car was somewhat new to him, yet, this seemed to be such a good investment, in fact too good to pass up. Why, he'd be getting the jump on the boys at the club, who were thinking and talking about getting their new cars next month. Next month! Why he'd have his within seven days. . . . THERE was a brief hesitation, and then he said, "Sounds all right. But " Miss Jenkins broke in, "I can readily understand, Mr. Holloway, a man of your intelligence will be suspicious of an investment of this nature. And well you might be. Yet, I can assure you you'll be patting pat-ting yourself on the back within the next ten days." J. P.'s eyes wandered across to Mrs. Holloway for her approval No comment. j - continued, "To whom should I make this check out, Miss Jenkins?" he asked, as he fingered rapidly through his checkbook. "James," Mrs. Holloway broke In, "perhaps we better not be too hasty. Supposing we talk this over this evening, and Miss Jenkins" she nooded in the saleswoman's direction "can drop in tomorrow and get your final decision." Turning Turn-ing quickly to Miss Jenkins, she added, "I'm sure that's perfectly all right with you!" A shadow darkened the saleswoman's sales-woman's eyes. She glanced at J. P. and then back to Mrs. Holloway. "W-well, I " and stopped. Mrs. Holloway smiled gently. "I knew you'd understand," she said, and then quickly rose to open the door for the somewhat bewildered saleswoman. J. P. chewed at his freshly lit cigar furiously. "But Martha," he burst out, "you you don't seem to understand. I want to buy that car now not tomorrow or next week or next Christmas " "Have you made the check out, James?" she asked calmly. "And just what has that got to do with you running this this woman out of here. I certainly intend to make it out. And furthermore-' ' Ycs.'ouc "cuuiii.eKd. yuu're going go-ing to make it out, James. But not to her! Instead, to your son." J. P. choked for a moment. "I I told you," he flared, "I was not going to send him one cent, and I meant just that!" He tapped nervously nerv-ously on the desk with his forefinger. "Any man with the intelligence he's supposed to have, letting some silly woman come along and make a complete fool of him . . . Well," he groaned "it's sometimes difficult diffi-cult for me to believe he's my son." Mrs. Holloway smiled. "But James, you've just proved beyond any doubt that he is your son." J. P. gave her a blank look. "Just what do you mean by that?" She paused. "It took me four days to inquire around and locate the right woman. It wasn't easy. In fact, I wasn't sure until yesterday." yester-day." J. P. grunted, a deep frown puck: ering his forehead. "I certainly don't follow you. First, you stop me from buying a new car; now you're talking in riddles." He brushed the ashes from his vest unconsciously, un-consciously, then added, "Would you mind explaining just what this is all about?" She nodded. "No, I wouldn't mind. In fact, I've looked forward to it." "All right, all right. I'm waiting," wait-ing," he urged. "Just this: Your son fell for a charming woman with a smooth sales talk; so did you. Those sheets of paper in her briefcase aren't worth the paper they're written on. She's a phoney; so was Jimmy's friend. When I was introduced to her, she apparently didn't recognize recog-nize my name, but I knew hers. She's the woman who swindled your son.' |