Show X A qa NM e A novel by kitchell webster service C copyright by the merrill co SYNOPSIS acting in good faith in an effort to ld id a neighbor ruth in a b ia ness way edward patterson Patt erBon cash cah gr ler ot of the chicago agency of a life 1 company la Is wrongly suspected Us C ed by his li w wife fo J julia u 1 1 f 0 ot t infidelity 11 i her r ac accusation cusati 0 n ain in a le letter t t e r fr from om a summer resort annia unfits him for business and f be takes a short vacation on his ro re turn lie ha in deeply wounded by hla his daughter udith telling 1 him his peril onal bonal belongings were in the spare i room having been removed from rom tile the room which had been ills hla and hla his cifes bedroom room patterson accepts the altoft atlon tion na an proof ot of his cifes bellet belief in hla his guilt edith seventeen years old Is worried over the estrangement 01 0 her parents Parent ti her mother only partly succeeds in n her efforts to comfort tier her the son edward junior to Is at college col leso A business ni matter titter brings an inventor james mariner into patterson ratte raona s llie mariner needs with which itma to push sh his I 1 invention ven tion an automobile c h hoke e and patterson eterson 7 terson la is interested CHAPTER ill continued edward so BO very late into getting tome lhome that night even ideth I 1 alth yet yoet gone to led bed though julia had been trying frying r y apparently to send tier her jle ho said hello to both of them and really hod after hed spoken that they found 0 mottling novel in tits hla greeting in jn aeSt e d to hit his own ear car his voice lind bounded su a little different diff crent As a matter of fact hod hed como come walking in without of b having baving stopped to braco brace himself for th the ordeal ardent to prepare an attitude ile he was pleasurably aware avaro that julia was wondering about him blin even after shed ehod pretended to ko go back to her book boob it would be a queer turn of ev events L nafi if after till nil julia should find herself the wife of a rich man sho she might be willing to forget her grievance on those terms if mariner proved to bo be right in ills his conservative con IVO calculations CRI CUlat tons success was it fl sober probability but suppose the other thing what if after T rdward had put in his six thousand dollars the calculations turned out to be wong 7 what if the device work that six bit thousand was the fruit of uncounted small email sacrifices flees f legitimate pleasures foregone im r it if swept away for nothing but U tin in idiotic on oil tho the word of a well there them was a certain V Y andry satisfaction in that too it sirve serve julia right shed driven efin bf 0 to o it anyhow ho ha slept soundly 4 oa ahat night untroubled by dreams ile e walked d into the office the next do wit with it an agreeable sense of 4 ebarb t which took tile the sting from 1 I of their nickname for him at elevon eleven ho told alsa whiting at tho the counter that ho wix was going out ile ho be back lie he thought A till after lunch it ale pleased aped him to p note that he be puzzled tier her just JIM as las ins L nig night lit lie ho had puzzled julia it had been Ms bis meek habit to explain ills his goings out ut this lie he offered no explanation I 1 I 1 want whatever ever A sense of adventure went with him tto tic jett felt like a pioneer er tile tho address marlier la riper hail had given had been meaning fl lesston les less sto to him lie ile had had no idea in n what part of town the streets were on whose choso corner comer tho the little factory stood e jit J it was a stran strange e city lie he found him self pelf riding through what a deeply rutted life hed lived to bo surel sure I 1 but isitt he be was wap put outlet of tile tho ruts now beating a rew new path ills follow fellow passengers in tho the street car seemed different to him from tho the sort of people hed moved among more interesting more hu rann man somehow lie wondered won derod where they were vere going what sort of alieff cre bound upon tho the street tie et where mariner had t told old him bint to get off was one predominantly of little houses llo uses rather dingy of them fallen somewhat even from their former modest estate the factory was at tho the west end of the street where it was cut off by a railroad em ban kment it was it modest little two story etory red brick building old and if lie bo renumbered rightly roost most of tho the time vacant evidently lt jt had been built out hero here ahead of its I 1 time lip found III himself myself it as it if aou would id look when it should be freshly painted the windows washed new lights of glass in the occasional broken avanes kV joanes anes down at tho the side there was P platform wagon high and through gli the big door that gave upon it lie he could see the well of the freight elevator raw itaw material went in that out the tha whole process procesa of the ente of marinero mariners Ma dream took place within those four faur walls it was tangible and personal self contained right here no ile wonder that mariner loyed it he wits was falling in love with WhIM self it was a new idea to him elmost a new emotion ile he wondered if 1 felt that way about his plant probably not it wa was s too big ile he would probably scoff at this tha 1 place lace edward was sorry hed thought of bert I 1 ne gouged rouged eusea film himself self crossed the street a again 9 abil and went in through the door that had office Offic ti painted on it i telling elling himself as ho be did so that he was nj romance and coming down 0 n lato the world or of paid cold facts fact sf nd figures gercs mariner was jn ln high spirits it if id got go this lett letter e r yest yesterday erda y morning Y he be eadd handing it over for r edward dward 4 read instead of today id ably have bye been tool enough to goon go on try lacto to hold bold out by myself a little longer no doubt its just as well I 1 it wits was from a supply dealer in savannah ga hed placed a trial order for two dozen of tile the mariner blattner automatic choke choka a couple of months ngo ago made twenty four enthusiastic thusia friends including himself now lit ho was ordering two gross youre bringing luck with you mr lr patterson lin mariner riner said qt its a good omen oil ohi I 1 don t pretend im not superstitious tho the tides turning curnin g I 1 tell you I 1 can see sea the little ripples coming tn in edward stiffened nt at that and then smiled nt at ills hla narrow minded ness an insurance man talk of luck bringers and omens to bo be sure hut but why nn nil inventor be superstitious 1 41 I want more than your money mon ey in 11 here ere mariner said bald after talked a while 1 I want you I 1 know my limitations im no good at a desk I 1 cant keep things straight I 1 can pull but bui I 1 cant stay behind and push tho the business Is going to need that more every day it grows wed make a team to am I 1 think I 1 havo have a hunch that I 1 went to tho the best man in tile the whole city of chicago for exactly tho the thing we need out here como come out in tile the plant and see what weve got edward moved gravely about the two floors with him lie he t say much the workers probably regarded him as a ik cool somewhat skeptical observer but bell behind ind the mask tn as k of sophisticated middle age the bankers manner and eyeglasses eye glasses was it the truth were known and it was only dimly suspected by edward himself hina self an ecstatic small boy to whom the i mere champine champing cham ping sound of the machinery was delectable ile iio moved on reluctantly from one station tn in the process of manufacture to tho the next over any one of them lie ho could have lingered indefinitely this was real something you could hold in your hands and feel the weight of with his hand on the office door mariner paused ills grip on the knob suddenly tightened you might have lie he was holding himself up by it well ho he asked illow how about it leavo you cometo come to atly arty decision q 1 I suppose edward said out of a tight throat 1 I mip suppose pose I 1 really had decided from the beginning yes ill come with you julla julia as tho the lays went genf on continued to wonder about him sometimes sho she asked him casual seeming questions as fis to how things were iare going at tho the onice or commented on tho the late hours ho he so often kept sometimes ho he was aware merely of a thoughtful rind and even puzzled look in her face while lie ho talked of such things as aa ho he could talk about t young H eda ds letters from college editha activities in school tile tho affairs of their neighbors municipal politics probably it did strike lier her as a little queer that lio lie could talk again the long evenings of frozen silence were a thing of the past tito the homo atmosphere was getting better julias questions however patently they groped beneath the surface rouse the old d defensive resentment tn in him they evon even nt at random come anywhere near ills his secret she was waa on another line altage alier except lill in his day dreams he contemplate keeping julia in the dark about his great adventure until its final and complete success already t though bough lie hugged his secret serf ct and exulted in it he fett felt boyish impulses to td let the cat oue of the bag partly butof the bag anyhow to give julia a mystifying glimpse that should bo be gone again before she realized what it was ten days or so BO after the signing of the agreement he did give her such it a glimpse mariner had been urging him to put one of the chokes on hla his own car to tile the end that ho he might really feally know for himself the wonders it performed E edward dward wanted it too but he know how to get iadone it done lie ile never drove the car into info town him self and it if he were to say bay som sometime entime that lie he wanted it for the day julla julia would think strange things lie ire thought of an auda audacious clous plan for effecting hla his purpose and one it with hla his best appear ance of indifference on julia ial ive ve been hearing about a new thing for automobiles lately he told old her and I 1 think id like to try it on our car tho the factory Is out on the north side la in Ravens ravenswood wood it if you are free for an hour tomorrow morning you might drive in with me as far as that and get it put on then I 1 can go on into town and you can drive the car back lie ile wondered uneasily it if ho been a little too explanatory bt blit it if julia saw anything annat ural about his mandor kanuer ehe forbore to comment on it they put the plan ir into ao effect the next morning Cli charlie arlle frankl franklin in the foreman come came out when they drove up to the shipping door yeve e got it ill all ready for yop mr patterson patter son he be said well have it on in five minutes there was wan nothing about that to attract julias attention but it i he were to Intro introduce duco charlie to her as aa he bo wanted to do it would give elve every thing thine away lie iio told tier when tho the installation was waa finished that alto atho take tat a jilin any farther hed RO go on into town on tile tho elevated after shed driven awl awny ayt ho he stole half an hour from froin tile insurance business for a dint clint with charlie mariner riot not having come town down yet about abou how things wore were going lie ho was finding it almost im possible to lot let it a day go by without squeezing in ill it a visit Ilen It eally lly julia was right lie ho lini had fallen lit in love romantically W with fill tile tho little factory ns as a youth falls falla lo in love with a girl it was it co mple tely revolutionary experience hed been conscious of 0 nix nil emptiness somewhere long before lie he recognized what wha t it was lie ho was hungry for in III tile tho uneventful course of things lie ho might never have lave found out but when desperation forced tin an adventure upon him it intoxicated him film tho the technique of habit made it possible for him just possible to carry on ills his duties at tile the just as it makes it possible for many a love stricken young youn man mall to go on in A daze holding down hla his job but ills his whole being centered itself it in that humble little red brick factory out in Havens wood lie ho long in coming to feel strongly passionately that it needed his help mariner had spoken tile the truth lit in saying that ho he was not a desk man tn an lie ila dian didn t like ills his desk and lie ho made excuses to stay away from it letters went unanswered details but importing Import alit int details went long anat but if tho the thing right if theres a joker in it somewhere phe P he finish the sentence tended to the suggestion planted planed by mariner on the day of edwards Kd wards first visit that lie he ought to put himself ns as well as his money into the business from being a remote and almost fantastic possibility came nearer with the irresistible rush of an ex press train early in november well within a month of the time hed made his first investment tn in the company lie he sent hla his resignation as cashier of the chicago agency to the home office the san stab b of terror that accompanied anted hla his writing the letter was in itself halt half pleasure able ile he informed the second vice president that lie he had gone into a business of ills his own which would require all his time ire he left the compa ny with regret and without criticism let alone complaint of their treatment of him he spent there was no denying it a nightmarish three or four days waiting ingbor for the answer to his letter but when it came he felt a profound relief reher that same day albert wallard drop dropped ped into hla his office hed happened to be passing by he said said with transparent insincerity insina rity and had run ruin up on the spur of a f the moment to suggest that they lunch together it was a de devil vil of a while since seen been anything of each other really ed ward was waa quite qui to aware that this was true find and that it was his own doing hed been avoiding bert lately though bert was his oldest eldest friend yes well go to lunch together he raid cald but sit down a minute first theres I 1 want to you about now that ho be waa vas irrevocably committed to the great adventure lie he want to wait even while they were walking around the corner to th tho 0 club except for a profane exclamation of astonishment now and then and a noncommittal non committal queE question tion or two bert listener listened in silence to the whole story loulye been keeping it almighty ity dark it seems to nae ice lie he commented thoughtfully wh when en edward had aln finished want to be argued out of it I 1 suppose like a kid who wants to marry some ghr his family dont approve of I 1 know edward laughed a little uneasily at tho the comparison all right go ahead its your turn youre entitled to a chance to tell me ive been a d d tool theres hot much point bert observed mildly 1 in telling a man hed hea been a d d tool fool and anyhow im not a bit sure it Is true A thing like that may maj be just asgood as good as as it if looks sometimes the girl tile tho kid picks out la Is really just tile wife for hlin him but this Is the question they always sit tho the kid what tire you going to live alv on while youre waiting for UK the profits fronts to como come lit ini coming coining in now told though they begun to show very much tn in tho the batik bank bal anne an wo vo dont pay ourselves tiny any real salaries of course until tho the business has found folin d its feet ive got a little loft oyer over anyhow I 1 may havo have to As 1 C tile tho boy to use ills his own owl money to 1111 1811 out this year it at college mid and pay it back to him next nest fall borta berts only chint comment ilent on oil that was a nod it might havo have meant |