Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-09-26

knew more about business than most
women do. and said:
1T is little out of the way. but / am
willing to take your word for it that 1t is
perfectly honest ] know that it is nothing
more than papa would do to you. l have
heard him say a thousand times that a man
who sells something he hasn't got deserves
to get squeezed. That is what he said about
you when you got the worst of the wheat
deal"
Il must confess said Heath that it
comes little nearer to sharp practice than
l would care to go under ordinary cl.cu?-
stances, but you say you would like to have
his consent before We are married, and
this is the only way | know of getting It.
Then l am doing no more to him than he
ala to me on the wheat deal. and we W Ii
have to proceed on the supposition that the
end will justify the means. And the money
will be all in the family, anyhow"
Emily was sworn to preserve the most
inViOlate secrecy in regard to what she
knew of the deal, and Marchmont went
away happy in the thought that he was
going to treat his farther-in-law o-be to a
very bad quarter of an hour or
MarchmOnt was not alarmed. He went to
work in his usual quiet and businesslike
way to accumulate the four hundred shares
of San Reno. The stock was not listed on
the exchange. but the "curbstone' agents
of his brokers managed to pick up a few
shares at around thirty, and he found no
difficulty in buying Dodson's for the same
price. As stakeholder. he demanded and
was readily granted permission to examine
the records in the companys Office and OBJ
tanned list of the stockholders.
Having bought Dodsons two hundred
and having picked up about a hundred
through the curb market Marchmont
found that he must either get the one hun
dred shares which stood in the name of
John Folk as attorney. or pick up all the
rest of the outstandngs and secure ten
shares Of this one hundred lot. He wrote
to Folk. whom he knew slightly, offe. ing
held In n arf1ea
and sent out a circular letter to the ten or
twelve smaller stockholders whose stock
he had not yet secured. Offering them the
same price and enclosing newspaper clip
pings which showed that the San Reno
property was suffering from an overflow Of
wa ter.
From the smaller holders he secured
enough stock to run his holdings up to
$50 shares, one man answering that he
would hold his ten shares for par.
This was encouraging progress. but a
letter from Folk informed him that his
client did not care to name a price on the
stock. preferrfng to keep it an invest
ment
Marchmont promptly wrote to the holder
OF the ten-Share lot and bought his shares
a the price asked par. He had now bought
$50 shares at an average price of thirty,
and ten shares at 100 his purchases having
cost him $1,000. At fifty Heath would
have to pay him 500 for 400 shares so
he could pay an eXorbitant price for the
ten shares of stock which he needed to
make his contract good and still profit
He wrote to Folk again and told him that
he was willing to pay any reasonable price
for ten shares, and received the reply that
his client WAS well satisfied with the pros
poets of the San Reno mine, but might
consider offer to take the whole of the
l0o-share lot
This was putting another face on af-
fairs. The sixty days within which he had
agreed to make delivery lacked only one
week of being up. and it began to dawn on
Marchmont that in some way Heath was
behind this refusal of Folks client to sell
Some old fogy who knows nothing of
business and believes everything Heath
says about the future of the company. no
doubt" said Marchmont to himself. Il
must make effort to see him or to get
Folk to explain the situation. 1t is very pc
culiar that he does not want his name men
toned. That is Heath's work, l am sure.
Don't want this unknown TO hear the truth
about the state of affairs
1t was not now a uestion of getting out
with a profit that concerned Marchmont If
he could and talk with this person who
held the TOO shares, he could possibly per
suade him to sell the shares at n price not
far above par but that he could come
out of the deal without a loss but there
other hand he could either go to Heath
and settle at any price Heath chose to ex-
act or let Heath bring suit for non-fulfll-
ment. 1t was not in accord with his
nature to own defeat to any one,
much less to Heath. and a suit brought
against him for non-fuifllment of con
tract might do the firm of March
mont ~ Company incalculabe amount
of damage. He had often said, and