The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-07-27


suraed the rubbing Of his hands.
scant strands of black hair. was of
the type known as "retreating and
pointed" The forehead ran upward
and back from the brows almost to a
point and down from the pinnacle
hung the veil of hair, just as If he had
draped it there with the same care he
might have used in placing his best
hat upon a peg. His back was stopped,
and the high, narrow shoulders were
hunched forward eagerly. Long arms
and ridiculously thin legs. with big
hands and feet, tell the story of his
extremities. When he was on his feet
broom was more than six feet tall; as
he sat In the low backed Office chair he
looked to be less than five feet over ALL
The men had been classmates in an
obscure law school down In Pepnsyl-
vania. Bansemer was good looking.
forceful and young, while broom was
distinctly his opposite. Where he came
from no one knew and no one cared
He was past thirty-five when he en-
tered the school, at least twelve years
the senior Of Bansemer.
him to be from the country, but his
sophistry, his knowledge of the world
and his wonderful insight into human
nature contradicted his looks immeas-
urably. A conflict or two convinced
his fellow students that he was more
than a match for them In stealth and
cunning IL not in dress and deport-
ment.
Elias broom had not succeeded as a
lawyer. He repealed people, growing
more and more bitter against the world
as his struggles became harder. What
little money he had accumulated-heav-
dwindled to nothing, and he was In &C
tual squalor when later Bansemer
found him In an attic in Baltimore.
Even as he engaged the half starved
wretch to become his confidential clerk
the lawyer shuddered and almost re-
pented of his action.
But Elias broom was worth his
weight in gold to James Bansemer
from that day forth. His employers
sole aim in life was to get rich and
thereby to achieve power. His ambl-
ton was laudable II one accepts the
creed of morals, but his methods were
not SO praiseworthy. After a year or
two of starvation struggles to get on
with the legitimate he packed up his
scruples and laid them away-tempo-
rarily, he said. He resorted to sharp
practice. knavery and all the forms OF
legal blackmail. 1t was not long be-
fore his bank account began to swell.
His business thrived. HIS was so -clev-
er that not one of his shady proceed
ings reacted IL 4 safe to venture that
% per cent Of the people who We're
bilked through his manipuhtions prom
ised In the heat OF virtuous wrath to
expose him, but be had learned TO
smile In security He knew that ex-
posture for him meant humiliation for
the instigator, and he continued to rest
easy while he worked hard.
You're getting rich at this sort of
thing" observed broom one day after
the lawyer had closed a particularly
nauSeous deal to his own satisfaction.
but what are you going to do when
the tide turnsT'
Bansemer, irritated on perceiving that
the other was engaged In his exasper-
ating habit Of rubbing his hands to-
gether, did not answer, but merely
Numbered out viii you stop thaty'
There was faint suggestion of the
possibility of a transition of the hands
TO claws as broom abruptly desisted,
but smflingiy went on:
Some day the other shark will get
the better of you, and you'll have moth
ing to fall back on. You've been build
ing On mighty slim foundations. There
isn't sign OF support IL the worst
comes to the worst" be chuckled.
IT'S a large world, broom" said his
employer easily
And small also, according to another
saying" supplemented broom. When
a mans down, everybody kicks him.
I'm afraid you could not survive the
kicking"
broom grinned so diabolically as
again he resumed the rubbing Of his
hands that the other turned away, with
an oath, and closed the door to the in
side Office. Bansemer was alone and
where Droom's eyes could not see him