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Page 35
And he was conscious, even as he wrote, that the Countess Casanova and
Professor Balthasar were labouring under an excitement equal to his own.
It _was_ a big feat to attempt.
As before, they waited until he had closed the lower door.
"Oh, Ed!" breathed the Countess emotionally.
"Anything loose in the house?" asked the professor.
"They's a couple bottles beer in the icebox, but _Oh, Ed_!"
VI
Again we chant pregnant phrases from the Bard of Dress: "It is cut to
give the wearer the appearance of perfect physical development. And the
effect produced so improves his form that he unconsciously strives to
attain the appearance which the garment gives him; he expands his chest,
draws in his waist, and stands erect."
A psychologist, that Bard! acutely divining a basic law of this absurd
human nature. In a beggar's rags few men could be more than beggars. In
kingly robes, most men could be kings; could achieve the finished and
fearless behaviour that is said to distinguish royalty.
Bunker Bean, the divinely credulous, now daily arrayed himself in royal
vestures, set a well-fashioned crown upon the brow of him and strode
forth, sceptre in hand. Invisible were these trappings, to be sure; he
was still no marked man in a city street. But at least they were there
to his own truth-lit eyes, and he most truly did "expand his chest, draw
in his waist, and stand erect." Yea, in the full gaze of inhumanly large
policemen would he do these things.
This, indeed, was one of the first prerogatives his royalty claimed. He
discovered that it was not necessary for any but criminals to fear
policemen. It might still be true that an honest man of moderate
physique and tender sensibilities could not pass one without slight
tremors of self-consciousness; but by such they were--a most prodigious
thought--to be regarded as one's paid employees; within the law one
might even greet them pleasantly in passing, and be answered civilly.
Bean was now equal to approaching one and saying, "Good evening,
Officer!" He would sometimes cross a street merely to perform this
apparently barren rite. It stiffened his spine. It helped him to realize
that he had indeed been a king and the sire of kings; that kingly stuff
was in him.
So marked an advance in his spirit was not made in a day, however. It
came only after long dwelling in thought upon his splendid past. And,
too, after he had envisioned the circumstance that he was now a man of
means. The latter was not less difficult of realization than his
kingship. He had thought little about money, save at destitute moments;
had dreamed of riches as a vague, rather pleasant and not important
possibility. But kings were rich; no sooner had his kingship been
proclaimed than money was in his hand. And, of course, more money would
come to him, as it had once come on the banks of the Nile. He did not
question how nor whence. He only knew.
It was three days before he bethought himself to finish the reading of
Aunt Clara's letter, suspended at sight of the astounding enclosure. He
had begun that letter a harried and trivial unit of the toiling masses.
He came to finish it a complacent and lordly figure!
"--I enclose the check which wipes out all but $7,000 of that
money from your dear mother with which dearest Edward so rashly
speculated years ago, in the hope of making you a wealthy man.
I am happy to say that $5,000 of this I can pay at once out of
the money I have saved. I have been investing for years, as I
could spare it, in the stock of the Federal Express Company,
and now have fifty shares, which I will transfer to you at par,
though they are quoted a little above that, if you are willing
to accept them. The balance I will pay when I have sold the
house and furnishings, as with my dearest husband gone I no
longer have any incentive to keep on working. I am tired. It is
a good safe stock paying 4-1/2 per cent. and I would advise you
to keep it and also put the Ins. money into the same stock. A
very nice man in the Life Ins. office said it ought to pay more
if the business was better managed. If you turned your talents
to the express business you might learn to manage it yourself
because you always had a fine head for such things, and by
owning a lot of their stock you could get the other
stockholders to elect you to be one of their directors, which
would be a fine occupation for you, not too hard work and
plenty of time to read good books which I hope you find same
now of evenings in place of frittering away your time with
associations of a questionable character, and ruining your
health by late hours and other dissipation though I know you
were always of good habits.
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