The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1932-02-19

making himself miserable at the same
time"
Bert wasn't In the mood for gen.
eralities. "A1l right" he said, "only
go ahead. Tell me the rest of It."
"There isn't a great deal to tell. /
went back and saw Vane the next
morning. Told him 1 wanted desk
and chance at few big fish that
had proved hard to land. I've been
having the time of my life the last
two weeks. I've got two or three of
them already. Can you understand
how could see that game going on
under my nose for twenty years and
never want to play it,"
II always thought you knew too
much about it." Bert said.
Perhaps 1 thought I did, Edward
conceded obviously. Then he laughed.
1T was selling thing I didn't know
anything about that walked me up,
anyhow" he went on.
He told Bert about Steinfeldt and
the sale Of the first carton Of two
dozen chokes.
"Good lord, old mani" Bert said. II
didn't know If you'd told me
that story the morning came home
from Asheville :"
"Well then, it's lucky didn't" Ed
ward remarked. eff you hadn't jolted
me out Of 1t, I might have been down
there yet, digging myself deeper and
deeper in the mud"
"You haven't told me yet how you
got out Of it," Bert reminded him. II
thought you were coming back to me,
IL you decided to do that"
II would have" Edward said, and
added, with grin, eff I'd had to,
but I found certain satisfaction In
getting by without doing it. I've
feeling that I'm bit Of crook, but
well. there's sort Of satisfaction
in that, too. This is what happened:
I got letter-oh, couple Of weeks,
perhaps, before the smash-it was
while you were down at Asheville-
from firm Of patent lawyers in town.
A client Of theirs was interested in the
Mariner patent, they said, and would
consider buying 1t.
"After the smash, when l was fgur-
ing up my debts and what could pay
them with, it struck me that I might
as we'll get what could on the patent.
So told the people that If they want
ed to make serious proposition, I'd
consider it.
"Just about then I got a letter from
Mariner. The choke wasn't any good,
he pointed out, and If got a chance
to sell 1t, he thought I'd better take
1t. Well. put two and two together.
I could just see him out there in Los
Angeles, talking to another boob ex-
actly as he'd talked to me-somebody
who hadn't liked his vaporizer very
we'll and was taken with his choke. /
knew how he'd tell his story; the
thing was going in small way, but
had fallen into the hands of a piker
who had neither put any real money
into It nor allowed him to make the
improvements in design that he VIZ Ated
to make. But If he could persuade
me to sell it out cheap, there was a
fortune In 1t.
II never had any doubt from the
moment I thought Of 1t that that was
the explanation. I figured up it would
need little over three thousand to let
me out didn't include my own in
vestment in that, Of course-and
named that as my figure for the patent
lawyers.
"They tried to bluff me out Of It, but
1 stuck. Incidentally, confirmed my
guess as to who their client really was,
and that made me hold ON all the
tighter. We closed the deal today.
I'VE got the certified check for thirty
Eve hundred in my pocket.
"Oh. I've come home In barrel all
right, as far as anything goes that you
can show In the ledger. I've sunk
about twelve thousand dollars in 1t
and was lucky to get out at that. The
thing was a predestined failure just
as you saw the day told you I'd gone
into 1t.
"And yet, Bert, was right. was
right all the way through. I was q
fool, but it was time for me to be
fool, and down inside, knew it."
When dad first suggested that she
go back to school Edith thought she
didn't want to do 1t. She felt long
way out of it all. 1t struck her as
rather beneath her dignity to be a
schoolgirl again.
I'D feel awfully funny learning les
sons and minding rules, having to get
permission before I could go and
speak to anybody. Don't l seem more
grown up to you than that, dadr"
II don't want you to seem So" he
told her. "After all, you are only
seventeen. You ought to feel like a
schoolgirl for a long while yet"
He pretended to go back to his
paper, but she could see he wasn't
reading, really. 1t was Sunday morn
ing, and mother had gone to church.
Edith meant to go, but she had been
lazy about getting up and was still
luxuriating In a negligee.
She studied his face intently for a