Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-07-14

Suaed 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
hung the veil of hair, just as if he had
draped ii there with the same care he
might have used in placing his best
| hat upon 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
b, 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 Pennsyl-
| 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-fve when he en-
| tered the school, at least twelve years
the senior of Bansemer.
| His appearance and attire proclaimed
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 q 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 He repealed people, growing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 accumu1ated-heav
en- alone knew how he came by it
ldwindled TO nothing, and he was In ac-
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
from that day forth. His employers
sole aim in life was to get rich and
thereby to achieve power. His ambi-
ton was laudable if 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. He was so clev-
err that not one of his shady proceed
ings reacted. 1t is safe to venture that
80 per cent of the people who were
bilked through his manipulations prom
ised in the heat of virtuous wrath to
expose him, but he had learned to
lsmile in security. He knew that ex-
lposure 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 afte,
the lawyer had closed particularly
nauseous deal to his own satisfaction
"but what are you going to do wher
the tide turns?'
Bansemer, irritated on perceiving tina
the other was engaged in his exasper
ating habit of rubbing his hands to
gether, did not answer, but merel,
Numbered out, "Will you stop that?"
There was faint suggestion of tn,
possibility of transition of the hand
to claws as broom abruptly desisted
but smilingly went on:
Some day the other shark will &c
the better of you, and you'll have moth
ing. to fall back on. You've been build
Ing On mighty slim foundations. Their
isn't sign of support il the wors
comes to the worst" he chuckled.