The Coolidge examiner., 1932-04-15

of the naturalization of Mariners
dream took place within those four
walls. 1t was tangible and personal,
self-contained right here.
He didn't wonder that Mariner
loved it. He was falling in love
with it himself. 1t was a new idea
to him, almost new emotion. He
wondered if Bert Willard felt that
way about his plant. Probably not;
it was too big. He would probably
scott at this place. Edward was
sorry he'd thought of Bert.
Mariner was in high spirits. IF
I'd got this letter yesterday morn
ing," he said, handing it over to Ed
ward to read, instead of today, I'd
probably have been fool enough to
60 on trying to hold out by myself
little longer. No doubt it's just
as well l didn't"
1t was from a supply dealer in
Savannah, Ga. He'd placed a trial
order for two dozen of the Mariner
automatic choke a couple of months
ago. They'd made twenty-four en-
thusiastic friends, including himself.
Now he was ordering two gross.
you're bringing luck with you,
Mr.. Patterson" Mariner said. 'It's
a good omen. Oh, don't pretend
I'm not superstitious. The tides
turning, l tell you. 1 can see the
little ripples coming in" Edward
stiffened at that, and then smiled
at his narrow-mindedness An in
surance man couldn't talk of luck
bringers and Omens, to be sure. But
why shouldn't an inventor be super
stitious?
Il want more than your money
in here" Mariner said after they'd
talked while. II want you. /
know my limitations. I'm no good
at a desk. l can't keep things
straight. l can pull, but l can't stay
behind and push. The business is
going to need that more, every day
it grows. We'd make a team think.
l have hunch that / went to the
best man in the whole city of Chi
cago for exactly the thing we need
out here. Come out in the plant
and see what we've got"
Edward moved gravely about the
two floors with him. He didn't say
much. The workers probably re-
garded him as cool, somewhat
skeptical observer. But behind the
mask Of sophisticated middle age,
! the bankers manner and eyeglasses,
was, If the truth were known (and
1t was only dimly suspected by Ed
ward himself) an ecstatic small boy
to whom the mere champing sound
of the machinery was delectable. He
moved on reluctantly from one sta.
tion in the process of manufacture
to the next. Over any one of them
he could have fingered indefinitely.
This was real; something you could
hold in your hands and feel the
weight of.
With his hand on the Office door,
Mariner paused. His grip on the
knob suddenly tightened-you might
have thought he was holding him
self up by it.
"Well," he asked, "how about iti
Have you come to any decision"
Il suppose" Edward said out of
tight throat, 81 suppose 1 really
had decided from the beginning.
Yes, I'll come in with you"
Except in his day-dreams, he
didn't seriously contemplate keeping
Julia in the dark about his great ad-
venture until its final and complete
success. Already, though he hugged
his secret and exulted in it, he felt
boyish impulses to let the cat out
of the bag, partly out of the bag
anyway; to give Julia a mystifiying
| glimpse that should be gone again
before she realized what it was.
Ten days or so after the signing
CA liC SlSlC lCCluClI IC ulu give DCl
such a glimpse Mariner had been
urging him to put one Of the chOkes
on his own car, to the end that he
might really know for himself the
wonders it performed. Edward
wanted. it, too. but he didn't know
how to get it done.
He thought of an audaciOus plan
for effecting his purpose, and one
night sprung it, with his best ap-
pearance of Indifference, on Julia
I've been hearing about a new
thing for automobiles lately" he told
her, 'and l think I'd like to try il
| on our car. The factory is out on
the north side-in RavenswOod. If
you are free for an hour tomorrow
morning, you might drive with me
as far as that and get it put on.
Then / can go on into town and you
can drive the car back" He won.
dered uneasily if he hadn't been a
little too explanatory; but if Julia
saw anything unnatural about his
manner, she forbore to comment
on it.
They put the plan into effect the