The Connecticut labor press., 1920-01-03

By V1CTOR ROUSSEAU
 Illustrations hp
 IrwiT Myers


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 company, the fact that it is adjacen
 makes it easy for me to devote little
 time to 1t, so far as I can spare f
 from my duty here. The two com
 panies are not in conflict, Mir. Askew
 Quite the contrary. What helps one
 helps the other.'
 l Quite so." said Hilary. "I don't dis
 pute that you have had a right to en
 gage in other interests. But how abou1 1 their use of our mill?"
 At sum, MT. Askew. which makes
 quite little showing on the credit side
 of our ledgers. We can't afford te 1 throw money away, and our cuttings
 ire not large enough for the one tc interfere with the other" You mean t--e timber Is bad" "Damn bad," said Morris. "Gummy 1 fir, Mir. Askew. What little spruce | there is I've been holding to make 6 show in case we decide to sell" That sounds plausible" said Hill. l ary; and then he shot his bolt. "Why l does the Ste Marie company wish to 1 purchase this gummy fir of ours?' he | asked.
 Morris rose up, trembling with anger that was only half feigned. "I see you have suspicious of my good faith, MT. Askew," he said indig. nantly. That is the only possible in- depreciation can put upon your ques- tion."
 If you will answer it, we can inter- pret it together later"
 Il am not prepared to answer 1t off hand. Many companies would like to get our property. The Ste. Marie company may or may not have that in- tention. I should no more think of disclosing the Ste. Marie's plans to you than I should think of disclosing your plans to the Ste. Marie"
 May l have the books and map of the seigniory limits and leased tracts, MT. Morris?" asked Hilary.
 'If you think my services are worth less have no desire to retain my po- sition here"
 Hilary rose, crossed to Norris desk, and tapped the roll top. q suppose you do not refuse to produce them ?" he asked.
 Morris took a key from his waist coat pocket with fingers that could hardly find it. He inserted it after two failures, snapped back the Jock. and threw the top up, revealing the books heaped together, as if they had just been under examination. "Go through them by all means, if you think you've been swindled," he cried. He flung another key on the desk. "This is the key to the office," he said. "The other desk contains my private papers,"
 'The map, MT. Morris ?"
 ''The seigniOry is bounded on the west by the Rocky river It is straight concession of eighty-fve thou sand, five hundred odd arpents, with three sides approximately equal. If you want a map you'll have to go to the government. MT. Lamartine has the legal documents"
 "There must be a map" said Hilary quietly.
 Ut isn't drawn to scale. You'll find rough plan of the leases among those papers" He moved toward the door, laid his hand on the handle, cleared his throat and looked back.
 'I have only to say that my yearly contract expires on October frst," he said. eff you wish to renew 1t I shall expect adequate notice"
 Hilary looked up from the books. You may regard it as terminating on October first, then" he answered. If I wish to renew 1t I shall let you know when I have looked into these"
 This time Morris anger was quite You can accept my resig- nation now" he shouted. "Do you think am the man to accept dismissal at the hands of a young American greenhorn like you? Why, I've thrown away thousands trying to develop this rotten proposition of your uncle's, out of friendship for him! And what do you think you're going to make out of the concession? You can't speak the ] language, you can't get along with the | people, you know nothing of the Cana l