The Somerset reporter., 1901-03-21

dent of the company said to Mari as
the latter stepped on the train.
Gregory Gppman met him at the
Union station and introduced himself
as one of the men interested in the pur-
chase of the road The two went di-
rectly to the lawyers office There the
deal was discussed at length As
final proposition the new syndicate
made an offer of $4,000 to which
Mari refused to listen.
Finally Uppman came to the point.
III tell you what, MARI" he said
You use your influence with the com.
pany to get them to accept 500, 900. and
we'll be glad to pay you a personal
commission of $1,000 when the deeds
are signed"
At first Mari was Mortified at the
thought. 1t seemed to him that TO take
| such commission would be selling his
professional honor. He shook his head.
Uppman went on explaining smoothly
that a commission on large sales of
this kind was quite the usual thing. 1t
was not intended in any way as brlbe.
The property was not worth more than
$4,000. Its owners were getting a
good price for their line. There was
! nothing out of the way about it,
The more Mari thought of the mat
ter the more it seemed to him that per.
| haps he would be justified in taking
the $4,000. He had secured the price
fixed by the owners of the line. Sure
" there was no harm in his making a
little out of it on his own account BE
sides, he needed the money badly. If
after thinking it over he concluded that
it would be best not to keep the money,
/ he could turn it over when the price
agreed on was paid.
Uppman took him out TO dinner that
evening They dned at a club and
Mari drank more wine than he was
used to. BY 10 O'clock he had decided
TO take the money and settle it with hi.
conscience later Next day the deal
was completed. Mari got his $1,000 in
cash, and the papers were signed for
the transfer of the HartA street ear
line
On the next train Uppman followed
Mari home to the far west Mari went
straight through to Hartil where the
street car people congratulated him on
the successful completion of his work.
Uppman stopped off at Carton and re-
ported to Swerin and Senator GitkinZ.
Ten days later he and Swerin went up
to the state capital to open the sena-
tors campaign headquarters. One of
the first men Uppman met in the lobby
of the hotel was Senator Mari. just
come down to attend the session. The
legislator recognized him with evident
signs of embarrassment. But the poll
tician wasted little time.
How do you do. Senator Marr?" he
began. I'm glad to see you again.
Come down to look the ground over a
little in adyanceY
yes, Mr.. Uppman but what brings
you here just nowY
"Oh, I'm Senator Gitkinzs private
secretary, you know! I've come down
to open his headquarters for the cam
paign. BY the way. senator, we'd like
to have you call on us as soon as you
can conveniently. Parlor G, second
floor"
Senator MARI blushed. hcSitated AMI
looked around as if he had been de-
tected in some dishonorable act.
You're Senator GitkinZ's private sec
retary?" he Stammered Il thought
you were street railway man"
"Oh | have a little interest in one or
two lines. but what I'm chiefly inter-
ested in is to get Senator Gitknz sent
back to the senate. | trust you'll call
on us today. You and | know each
other pretty well already, you know
As friends we ought to stick together
don't you think? | hate these bitter
political quarrels, and I'm sure we
shall get along together without any
trouble. You'll come and see me, won't
your
For a moment the two men fought a
duel with their eyes. Then Marr's
glance dropped. lie felt that he was
defeated.
"Yes,' he answered hesitatingly,
'I'll come"
When Uppman reported the result of
his interview to aWerin, who was sit
ting quietly mp stairs in an inner room,
the latter gentleman smiled grimly.
"Checkmate" he said Il thought
we had the old man where he couldn't
get away."-Chicago Tribune.