The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-02-14
Cont5uuaal


 s"The worst of it is you have to grow old to realize ft,'' Marley gently insin- uated. EeI was a smart man until my wife died. Won't you have a drink ?''
 stNo, thanks refused Bert, walking disconsolately to the library. "I prom ised Molly the minister shouldn't smell it on my breath"
 s.Afterward, then,'' laughed Marley, and, returning to his den, closed the door just as the bell of his extension telephone rang
 Hello, Marley" hailed the voice of Willie Walters. Had your franchises cancelled and regranted?"
 Don't need it, replied Marley, re- necting instantly that he was out of ths franchise worry, but curious never the less. 'sWhat do you mean?'
 stThe AIerton bill was, put through its final passage last night, !" explained Walters.
 tsOh, yes, the Al1erton biIl,'' smiled Marley. q knew all about that
 t'You don't seem to have got in early on the advantages remarked Walters, scenting a story. 'sIt's law now, op- eratfve from it's passage
 tsIt won't hurt anybody" chuckled Marley. 'sThere wasn't much of inn portance in It."
 'sNo?" queried Walters. "Just enough to make a political corpse of AIlerton. They'll embroider that fifty year fran chise clause on his shroud."
 Franchise clause? I don't under stand"
 aI thought you didn't know the pro visions of the biH, went on Walters, delighted to have unearthed a new an- gle to the story 1sThe thing is so beautifully juggled that it automatical- ly extends all franchises granted with in the last ten years to an extra fifty years of lifetime on the same terms as their original charter"
 'sGoodl" returned Marley. stAH my franchises have been renewed within the last ten years"
 Now know you've been asleep,' re- joiced Walters, not that he had any enmity for Marley, but merely that he liked good story. tsThe bill specifcal- ly does not apply to renewals, but to original franchises. Why, yours abso- lutely expires in three years, if that's the case; moreover, the franchises at the end of that time belong to ,Sledge's company"
 "Impossible!" gasped Marley.
 Get your alarm clock fixed" advis- ed Walters. Monday night the coun- ell in secret session granted franchises to Sledge's company covering every street in the city, including now, listen Including those streets now covered by franchises when those franchises expire"
 For just moment Marley felt the strength leaving him, a spasmodic inn pulse due to an entirely automatic men tai impression that he stin owned the old company.
 .1ss a bald faced stealr' he hotly charged, indignant at Sledge's whole sale appropriation.
 4It's a pippinY agreed Walters. "Fact of the matter is, Marley, that tion with SIedgc at the expiration of three years he can make you tear up your rolling stock and other trash. Did you consolidate2"
 t'No," laughed Marley, and for mo- ment Walters professionally hoped that he had been mentally unbalanced by the news. '1No, Walters" Marley chuckled when he had succeeded in controlling his voice; q didn't consoli- date. sold out"
 '-on the IeveI?'' uueried Walters tn- cEeduleusly. ''To whom? How much? :? Did you get the cash7 P
 "I got the cash, but that's all I'll answer" laughed Marley. f1 might reveal somebody elses secrets if I told you more,'' and despite the plead ing of Walters he refused to make an- other statement.
 He turned from the telephone, still chuckling, but suddenly noticed that his hand was trembling as if it had been palsied. His body seemed to have realized before his mind the over whelmtng disaster which he had es- caped.
 Why, if he had not sold out at the exact minute he did his stock today would be worse than worthless. The entire company would not bring more than the junk heap value of it's worn out equipment. He could not have met the mortgage on his house, he could not have paid a dollar of his debts, he would have been left without penny, and he would have dragged down into bankruptcy hundreds of poor families like Henry Peters, who had their all invested in his enterprise. True, they were ruined anyhow or would be, but he had a curiously immoral sense that, by stepping out from under before the crash came and by being no longer at szse head of the doomed company, he was passing along the moral Eesponsi- bilfty of their downfall to the up state syndicate and to Sledge. Thank God, he was safe.
 Again his bell rang
 "Marley7' queried tense person.
 "Yes," he acknowledged, trying to place the voice as that of some news paper man of his acquaintance and feeling again that comfortable sense of escape
 '@rhis is/ Goldman rasped the voice Say, Marley, we're in a pickle
 What's the matter?7 inquired Mar ley, watching his right hand curiously. It wabbled spasmodfeally where it lay