Show ir 94 Z 1 E L 0 3 M D rhe PARTY du M ZA 13 p aw aa 0 D Appl ton oloti canh conjury y co in ino service CHAPTER VI continued 17 1 I suppose hale went on slowly that ethically we have a duty to the community we ought to show you up that would mean publicity tor for us as well as for you craig ill make you a proposition ill give you a week to close up your american interests and go abroad I 1 dont care where you go or what you do ill have a full statement of this kneeland affair written out and signed by those whose names ive given you it if you ever try to practice in america again and I 1 hear bear of your doing it ill hand out this statement to the grievance committee im not justified in forcing you on europe but ill take a chance and europe must take one t too possibly you have learned learne a something by this experience michel knows all about you and will keep an eye on you over there so far as he can hell keep his wise old mouth shut unless you start something thin you wont have an easy time financially have to slave at odd jobs to keep yourself going and odd jobs are not numerous in vienna be cold and hungry many a time when you are look on that experience as part of the price youre paying tor for this episode and thank god that youre being let off so lightly now craig which is it to be new york and exposure or vienna and another chance 1 I have intended to sail for vienna the fourteenth of july craig said stiffly 1 I see no reason to change my plans all right I 1 accept the amendment just to make sure ill come and see you off your ship the triest damn you all right hale said auf wie deroehn der selin ill see you on the triest on the fourteenth you say goodby good by to bert lie he has lost interest in your amenities by the way theres one more point to be covered before you go you say you put that dead cat in my room just as a matter of curiosity id like to know you been tossing anonymous notes and sketches in here and poisoning the water in my thermos bottle craig gave him a black look 1 I he said im delighted to infer that someone else has done that I 1 hope whoever it is will end by wringing your neck the door closed behind him the news of doctor craigs unexplained departure from halcyon camp depressed no one nor did it seem to surprise his companions there they were as hale remarked a self centered lot however they immediately observed the amazing change in young kneeland following halos hales advice bert passed wednesday in bed supposedly nursing a cold but in reality enjoying nine hours of sleep he was dressed and downstairs in the evening he did not shake hales prestige as the camps social leader but he was certainly more normal and companionable than he be ha had been heretofore also his eyes had a new look which even the least observant of them noted hale went to new york again thursday he had to report the craig affair to kneeland he also wished to get his additional fingerprint reports and to learn the results of the analysis of the dregs in his water glass concerning these if they were important im he wanted a chat with doctor dewar all these little matters he attended to in the afternoon aft ernson ile he received some surprises in the process he preceded his evening report to kneeland with an invitation to dine with him at the engineers club where he gave him a carefully selected meal the attention and the food pleased his employer it was not until they were back in the study of the town house that the new secretary got down to what kneeland called brass tacks he made his report very seriously and in full even repeating all the conversations that had taken place as accurately as he could Kne elands reaction was about what ho he had expected it to be the older man had been first incredulous and explosive then amazed and explosive next convinced and appalled and at the end deeply affected and genuinely grateful to hale and now uncle cass rex said when kneeland had finished thanking him well take up your case in my present mood ot of achievement I 1 feel equal to anything it quite fair that I 1 should have to dig tor for my employers trouble as well as lor for the remedy you understand the situation tell me what ainsworth has on you I 1 think I 1 can handle him you say it blackmail but to me it 11 looks like its twin brother Kne chind nodded again its about that he said 1 suppose I 1 might as well spill it to you its one of those things a man exactly ashamed of 0 nor yet I 1 proud of its s well its just hu man ill tell you the whole yarn since you found the other skeleton in the closet ive got a good business reputation I 1 made it and ive got it and ive always been proud of it perhaps ive bragged and swaggered a little I 1 realize that now as I 1 look back I 1 realized it before I 1 give you my word it never occurred to me that well that I 1 had a vulnerable spot like achilles or whatever his name was id have stood up anywhere and asked anyone to look into my record yet I 1 know now that that pup ainsworth could go into a court ot of law and make me look like an ingrate and perhaps ue a thief sooner or later hell do it and I 1 may have to spend a small fortune to defend myself in the meantime I 1 was fool enough to ask him to by the letter to keep it with some others he had written her all ali right so far absolutely guess ill have you argue the case when it comes up kneeland grinned his deep flush had faded and hale was relieved to see that he was becoming relaxed and normal again he went on A few months after the patent was taken out in your own name of course morse died suddenly of pneumonia he was sick only tour four days and doomed from the first you allowed to see him while he was sick but you went to his funeral during his sickness you had made sure that he lacked nothing he had just enough money left to pay his doctor but you paid the funeral bill morse had left no f then it all boils down to this the camp late last summer and agam again this year he behaved himself pretty well last year I 1 hoped we could get on good terms you see and come to a friendly agreement it worked out john phelps my lawyer tells me my cue is to ignore him till he gets tired baiting me and settles down to money talk well im trying to do it but that young skunk is taking his time suppose you tell me what hes got on you hale suggested patiently tient ly well kneeland had no liking tor for the recital his red face grew almost purple as he proceeded with the details hale leaned back clasped his hands behind his red head and listened to the monologue that followed it was long and halting it wandered off into side paths of explanation and reminiscence and self defense at the end rex nodded T then hen it all boils down to this he summed up soon after you started in chicago to manufacture one ol of your early inventions you met a man named george morse lie he was by way of being an inventor too but his ideas were not practical he had patented dozens of gadgets none of them worth a cent he was likable though and you and he became friends he talked his head off about his patents one of them and only one seemed to you to have possibilities possibility biliti es you worked over it with him it yet practical but you made it so between you and the patent was taken out in your name and his you make much on it only a few hundred it anything in itself but it really held the germ that finally led to the development of your big success the kneeland safety clutch you worked that out alone but you told morse about it and showed him the drawings he was interested and enthusiastic and made a helpful suggestion or two he was financially down and out at the time you paid him cash for his suggestions not because they were worth much but because he was broke and you liked him you told him that it the clutch was a big success you would WO uld give him a stake in it you mention any amount or make any written promises but he sat down that night and wrote an exuberant letter quoting your verbal promise to his only relative a widowed sister with a small son who lived back east he also said he had helped to work up the clutch h in his excitement cit and optimism he was vas the micawber Mic awber type he claimed to have done more tor for it than he had done when he quoted your promise he added that as he was a bachelor and had no notion of marrying he would be able to do a lot tor for his sister when his ship came in she must have been used to his big talk for he was the sort that was always seeing a fortune just around the corner but she needed money badly shi she was sufficiently impressed addresses of friends or family he had mentioned his sister to you once or twice but you know her married name or where she lived except that it was somewhere in new york state you officiated as his friend you saw that his grave was marked that same year your safety clutch began to catch on things moved fast and you had to move with them you moved to new york you made a fortune with your clutch you never heard of morse again and you thought of him for years till frederick ainsworth walked into your office one day last summer he told you he was morses nephew he said his mother who had died when he was still a boy had been morses only relative he ha said that in looking over some papers in his bis old family home on the hudson just before his call on you he had found morses letter to his mother in a forgotten drawer in her desk he announced himself as his uncles heir and claimed halt half the accumulated earnings of the kneeland safety clutch the whole story it just about well uncle cass hale ended im no lawyer but surely you see that the fellow a legal leg to stand on his claim would be thrown out of any court kneeland blinked legally he said he may not have a case but he could easily make an impression on a sentimental jury with his yarn and theres many a business rival of mine who would be glad to believe that I 1 did the morses out of 0 their just dues and the newspapers love to play the thing up Ain got quite a social position you know even if he a cent to bless himself with that gives him some influence what I 1 dread most and what hes threatening all the time is the loss of my business reputation boy its driving me crazym crazy 1 what would you pay him to close up the case and clear out for good right now he wont do it 1 I think he will will you authorize me to act for you as you did in the case of craig that worked out pretty well as fa tar r as I 1 can see now hale grinned kneeland celand was already on the way to the comfortable theory he had predicted that was all right hale himself and wallace craig and so far at least young herbert kneeland knew what the boy had escaped will you leave the ainsworth affair in my hands he insisted im getting to like this nosey busybody stuff how much have you offered him we never got down to figures how much are you ready to give him and may I 1 act for you oh all right but im not betting on you this time were dealing with a dirty customer not as dirty as the customer we dealt with last night how much can I 1 offer him hale repeated kneeland hesitated twenty five thousand he suggested without hope twenty five thousand a year heavens not no kneeland fairly yelped the words do you want to ruin me then discovering that his young friend was grinning again he subsided looking annoyed mrs nash had been right casper kneeland was close but no man would have felt generous in his situation fifty thousand maybe kneeland muttered at last 1 I dont think hed consider it you admit that he can put a crimp in your business reputation by starting a suit slut and working up a lot of undesirable publicity im going to ask you a leading question how much is the safety clutch bringing you every year ja in clear profits bout a hundred thousand kneeland muttered all ali right why not give him a years income and be rid of him bim I 1 fancy he might take it 1 I should think he would what does mr phelps advise rex asked oh h he says wed better pay up and forget it he thinks ill break under the damned thing if it goes on kneeland was still trying to digest the unpalatable suggestion of a hundred thousand would he take it in stock he asked at last ill put that up to him it would bring him six thousand shousan d a year ill guarantee that our stocks on the curb and its way above par it be so bad it you could put that through I 1 1 I think I 1 can anyway ill try TO BE CONTINUED |