Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-10

Great Financier, with his spotless record.
He had laid out a pretty good campaign
Office his head was full of it. And then he
saw the new stenographer. And then, quite
unreasonably, foreign interest had come
into his mind.
When he went home that night he thought
every now and then of the girl, while he
planned the picturesque destruction of the
western interloper.
1t was ridiculous. 1t was s,ckening He
cursed himself for thinking of such an un-
important triviality as typewriter girl
with brown hair and eyes of a stiH darker
brown. with an enchanting sheen of amber
In them under certain lights.
The next day, when the girl came in re-
Spouse to his call for stenographer, he
shook his head and gruffiy told her to send
In one Of the others At noon, when he
glanced swiftly to where she sat. he no.
ticed tears In her eyes.
It didn't exactly cut him to the heart, for
that was q tough member. but 1t pleased
him, somehow He was quite right, too,
in his unthought thought that she was cry
ing because he had rebuffed her. She was.
II he had known that the tears were shed
because she was afraid OF losing her new
be hanged. AS it was, he called for her
after luncheon and dictated letters to her
again.
rapher, and at last she was promoted to a
seat just outside Of his Office door.
Finally, he even went SO far as to say
GOOD morning to ner naDltuaiiy, Wnicn
was the most startling innovation that had
ever been introduced in the place.
The Blow That Miscarried.
She was an extremely poor stenographer,
too. Before the end of a week he dictated
q letter to her that was to deliver the final
blow at the cheeky man from the west. 1t
was triumph of diplomacy-full of sem
fences so ambiguous that it might have
hoo in of Ia xxith
involving him in the least. And the Girl
left out the most important sentence OF the
lot, the very keystone Of the whole grace
full arch.
Had the error been made by any other
Stenographer he would have discovered 1T
at once. This time he didn't. The result
was that he was delivered over, bound
hand and foot, to his western friend the
next day.
er's price of peace was participation in a
vast number of profitable projects and he
got it. Wall street, forgetful of its wise
prophecies regarding battle of the giants,
gasped with relief, speculated blandly on
the results of the sudden friendship, and
got plucked down to its tail feathers by
both.
sagas which told humorous and overdrawn
things about the defeat of the Great Finan-
cier.
When he read some of them, heightened
by brilliant local color, In the newspapers,
the Great Fiuancier noticed something pc
culiar about himself Instead OF being able
to g1unt at them and forget them, the
stories affected him unpleasantly. After
time he discovered, with something of
shock that he was wondering whether the
girl at the Office would be amused by the
poisonous ridicule that was poured, some
what gingerly and apprehensively, over his
head that morning.
sId like to know why didn't discharge
her for making that fool mistake" he
growled to himself. But he knew very we'll,
though, he wouldn't admit it even to HIM
self.
Poetry and Business.
It became quite an idyl-very one-sided
to be sure, for he was too clever to let
anybody else see it, and too cunning to let
the girl guess it.
He didn't yield tamely like a shepherd
boy to the idyl He saw the Righteousness
of his position. He WINGED. He snarled at
himself. He poured his own savage con-
tempt over himself more unsparingly than
he ever had poured 1t over his underlings.
Even while he was raging at the shame
fully ludicrous object that he was in his
own eyes, he was engaging in very graft
flying little affair.
He had discovered that a great corpora
ton was practically bankrupt. and he had
gone to 1t and in all innocence had offered
price for their stock. The officers, imagin-
ing that they were swindling him neatly,
but fearing that the old fox might dis
cover it, sold to him glesfully at his fig
ures. Then the innocent Financier sold
the whole business at a beautiful. fancy
sum to another greater corporation In
which he held a lot of stock.
AS soon as the sale had been concluded
and duly announced as another wonderful
stroke of American Industrial genius, the
stock of the big corporation naturally went
up madly, and the Great Ffnancier quietly
sold his share in it at an amazing profit.
No rrnf n6xy 70 -ft ~
chuckle. He had fixed the bankrupt COR
poration so that its true state would not
dawn on anybody for a year or more. and
by that time it would be easy enough to
charge the big corporation with having
ruined it by bad management
Just Few Remarks.
But, alas! On the night after all this
pretty plan had been carried out success
fully, the ex-treasurer of the old bankrupt
corporation, at dinner where there was
small Atlantic of champagne. was misled
into making some remarks that he intended
to be kindly humorous, about the Great
Financier and the Western Ffnancier.
The papers pounced on the speech with
wild, uncanny joy, and printed 1t on first
pages and with funny headlines and black
letters and italics and cartoons and even
verses the next day.
He tore the papers into bits and ground
his heels on the tatters in his hanson that
morning. All the time he kept wondering
quite unconsciously what the girl would
think of the ribald stuff.
His rage was increased by the knowledge
that he could not revenge himself-at least.
NOT Immediately. He was too well aware
that conflict now with the ex-treasurer
was altogether likely to~cause disclosures
that might drag him from his cherished po-
sition as the great defender OF vested in
terests and the guardian OF the national
prosperity Yet his wrath was of the white
hot kind that demanded instant action-the
action of plain human men with fists or
weapons.
AS soon as he reached his Office he called
the girl In and loosed his anger in a letter
to the ex-treasurer. It was beauty OF
letter. 1t was not one of the politely ambig-
Gus velvet gloves of letters that the Great
Financier wrote habituaily. 1t was the
Mailed Fist, pounding with smash like
butchers cleever. 1t was libel. 1t was un-
forgiyable insult. It was fearful menace.
It was maddening scorn.
When he had finished he drew long
breath The effort had dissipated some OF
the rage that choked him. and he looked
at the girl to see how she took It. Her
eyes were turned down modestly. and he
had to rest content. with the assurances OF
his OWN mind that she couldn't help but be
impressed,