The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-12-27

nave something concrete against which
to measure settlement work as a life
job"
Charlie looked distinctly startled
He will have. Why, you don't mean
that his opinion will have anything to
do with
with Lucy's decision. I think il
possible. She is devoted to him. In
fact, I'm not sure she hasn't been wait
ing
ooh, not so bad as thatr'
"At any rate, she has been waiting"
yes"
And he has Gomez
yes"
Hes her godfather, you know. And
since she's an orphan, he takes it seri-
ously.'
And she takes his advice seriously? %
Yes"
"Ah, if / were but a word upon his
| lips! I'd consent even to being word
of advice on those conditions
Don't be frivolous
1T is the frivolity of desperation"
But the professor is nothing if not
| serious Come, steady, now. I'm go
ing to introduce YOU
"One moment.' he gasped. Give a
drowning man a straw. What are his
| hobbies?'
'Heredity and environment" she
| whispered hastily as Professor Wav-
| land approached
The keen look in the old mans ewes
| left Charlie little room for hoping he
might escape under cover of anonymity.
"A son of Ellery Ransom, / believe ?''
the professor said, with the look of in
| terest he might turn upon a valuable
specimen on a pin.
Yes" said Charlie, Frightening. do
you know him. Sir?''
81 knew him in San Francisco, some
twenty years ago."
''Oh, yesp' Charlie laughed reninis-
Gently. That was one of our intervals
of being bankrupt
Il met him three years later in New
York. He was on the top of the wave
then
oh, he never stayed down very
long, said Charlie, with an unconscious
imitation of his fathers airy manner.
He has made and lost half a dozen
fortunes in his time"
so 1 understand said the professor:
and cool, impersonal something in his
voice made Charlie shiver a little. as
though wounded unaware. To win and
lose half dozen fortunes suddenly
looked less debonair and gallant. 1t
dropped into problem weighted with
ethics. He looked down at the little old
You have position in a bank. / be-
heve," the professor said, his tone sug-
costing a sequence of thought that did
not appear on the surface
Yes, assistant cashier" Charlie adj
mltted. 1t was a recent promotion, and
until this moment he had innocently
been rather proud of it
How long have you been with the
bank?"
About a year"
No longer? Then your advancement
is due less to your experience in bank
ing than your special qualifications"
I'm afraid that. more than either. il
was due to my fathers influence"
Charlie said sweetly.
should have supposed that some
thing more individualistic, less of a
routine, would have appealed to Won
more, the professor said, meditativelv.
You were at one time attached to a
circus. 1 believe"
Good heavens" gasped Charlie
completely thrown off his balance.
''Or am 1 mistaken? ?"
oh, no. No such luck. I was at
tached to circus for six weeks. I car
rfed water for the animals and helped
to make the bed for the lion-the tame
one"
1t Is very interesting TO have the
spontaneous trend of your nature dis
closed" the professor unused. 'Your
father ran away from home and went
TO California in the days when Califor-
mia was the land of adventure. The
same impulse leads you to run away
and join circus A clear case of pa
ternal influence"
Yes said Charlie vaguely. He used
his Influence to make me go TO college.
/ felt that the wild, free life of a circus
suited me better. But after six weeks of
it 1 compromised by accepting his point
of view"
Il understand that the immediate oc-
casion of your break with the circus lay
in your arrest at the charge of a coun-
tryman who had lost heavily at the
game known as three-cart monte"
"Oh. you happened TO hear of that?D
Charlie laughed a little wildly. Abb
surd. wasn't it? A case OF mistaken
identity, you know. The three-card
monte man was the handsomest man
about the place, so naturally"
The professor was listening with a
close attention that made Charlie sud-
denly realize how absurd his feeble at
tempts at airy lightness must seem to
the ear of science. He turned stiff with
self-consciOusness and his tongue Glove
to the roof of his mouth.
Il understand that the case against
you never same to trial." the professor
said. after waiting a moment for any
further voluntary contortions on the
part of his specimen and finding that it
remained temporarily quiescent. You
went to college next?'
Yes
How did you get the name of Chalky
Charlie?"
"Oh, that was just a fuke," Charlie
stammered. The old mans intimate
knowledge of his past was so bewilder-
ing that he had no time to reflect on
the ACCESSIBILITY of adding to that fund
of information II made killing when
Amalgamated Chalk TURNED ten
points"
THAT is. you were specializing in
stocks when you we're in your fresh
man year?
TT takes a freshman for a nervy
thing like that"
do you mean you have never done It
since?''
mo, 1 don't mean that exactly
Il suppose you have what they call
inside information?"
Entirely inside" said Charlie deliri-
ously. so much inside that they might
be called subjective Authorizations.
usually"
DO you-er-make q killing every
time?"
mo" said Charlie shortly. He was