The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-01-03

| wire, saying he would be here tonight
and would stay over tomorrow to visit
Lucy and see her settlement work. He s
making a fly trip somewhere to lay cor
ner stone or something"
"Panicky doesn't begin to describe me.
Does he know anything about-me?'
Il suspect he does, dear boy He looked
so uncommonly wise when I mentioned
your name that I think he must know
pretty well where you stand"
II wish 1 did,
That's why 1 had the inspired idea of
getting you here this evening. I want
him to see you first Then he will have
something concrete against which to
measure settlement work as 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. 1 think it pos
sible. She is devoted 20 him. In fact,
I'm not sure she hasn't been waiting"
"Oh, not so bad as that!'
AT any rate, she has been waiting?"
Yes"
And he has Gomez"
Yes"
He's her godfather you know. And
since she's an orphan, he takes it seri-
ously."
And she takes his advice seriously?"
| Yes"
| An, II L were out d worn upon HIS ups!
I'd consent even to being a word of adj
| vice on these conditions"
| Don't be frivolous"
1T is the frivolity of desperation
But the professor is nothing If not
serious. Come, steady, now. I'm going
to introduce YOU
| zone moment he gasped. "Give a
| drowning man straw. What are his
hobbies?'
| .IIaradi+,, aud environment she whis-
pered hastily as Professor Wayland APP
| preached.
The keen look in the old mans eyes
| left Charlie little room for hoping he
| might escape under cover of anonymity.
"A son of Ellery Ransom, I believer"
the professor said, with the look of in
terest he might turn upon a valuable
! speciment on pin.
| Yes" said Charlie, Frightening. do
you know him, SIR"
1T knew him in San Francisco. some
! 20 years ago"
"Oh, yes!" Charlie laughed reminiscent
! ~ 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
| them
"Oh. he never stayed down very long
| said Charlie, with an unconscious imita-
! ton of his fathers airy manner. He
has made and lost half a dozen fortunes
in his time
80 I understand" said the professor;
and COOL impersonal something in his
, voice made Charlie SILVER little, as
though wounded unaware To win and
lose half a dozen fortunes suddenly
looked less debonair and gallant. 1t
dropped into a problem weighted with
ethics He looked down at the little old
professor with startled wistfulness.
you have position in a bank. l be-
lieve." the professor said, his tone sug-
costing a sequence of thought that did
not appear on the surface.
yes Assistant cashier" Charlie ad-
mitted. 1t was a recent promotion, and
, until this moment he had innocently been
rather proud of 1t.
How long have you been with the
bank?"
About year.
mo longer? Then your advancement is
due less to your experience in banking
than your special qualifications"
I'm afraid that, more than either, it
was due to my fathers influence Char
lie said sweetly.
IT should have supposed that some
thing more individualistc. less of rou-'
tine, would have appealed to you more"
the professor said, meditatively. You
were at one time attached to a circus, 1
believe"
Good heavensi" gasped Charlie. COM
pletely thrown off his balance.
"Or am l mistaken
oh no. No such luck. I was attached
to a circus for six weeks. l carried water
for the animals and helped to make the
bed for the lion-the tame one"
ut is very interesting to have the spon-
taneous trend of your nature disclosed
ssYOur father
away from home and went to California
in the days when California was the land
of adventure. The same impulse leads
you to run away and join a circus. A
clear case of paternal 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 compromised by accepting his point
| of view"
I 81 understand that the immediate &C.
] casion of your break with the circus
Law in your arrest at the charge of
countryman who had lost heavily at the
| game known as three-card monte"
! "Oh, you happened to hear Of that?"
| Charlie laughed a little wildly. Absurd,
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 suddenly
1 realize how absurd his feeble attempts
at airy lightness must seem to the ear of
science He turned stiff with self-con-
seriousness and his tongue Glove to the
roof of his mouth
st understand the case against you
never came to trial." the professor said,
after waiting moment for any further
voluntary contortions on the part of his
specimen and finding that it remained
temporarily quiescent. You went to COL
lege next?'
Yes"
How did you get the name of Chalky
| Charlie?'
oh that was just fuke' Charlie
| Hammered The old mans knowledge
of his past was 80 bewildering that he
! had no time to reflect on the advisabfl1ty
of adding to that fund of information Il
made a killing when Amalgamated Chalk
jumped ten points.
''That is, you were specializing in stocks
when you were in your freshman year.
at takes a freshman for a nervy thing
like that
"Do YOU mean you have never done it
since?'
mo, don't mean that exactly
! "J suppose you have what they call in
side information?
ENTIRELY inside" said Charlie delirious-
lv $50 much inside that they may be
called subjective Authorizations, usually"
DO you-er-make a killing every
time?"