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Page 120
"Don't stand there saying, 'What!' Pack."
Ashe put his hand in his pocket.
"Where shall I put this?" he asked.
For a moment Mr. Peters looked without comprehension at what Ashe
was holding out; then his whole demeanor altered. His eyes lit
up. He uttered a howl of pure rapture:
"You got it!"
"I got it."
"Where was it? Who took it? How did you choke it out of them?
How did you find it? Who had it?"
"I don't know whether I ought to say. I don't want to start
anything. You won't tell anyone?"
"Tell anyone! What do you take me for? Do you think I am going
about advertising this? If I can sneak out without that fellow
Baxter jumping on my back I shall be satisfied. You can take it
from me that there won't be any sensational exposures if I can
help it. Who had it?"
"Young Threepwood."
"Threepwood? Why did he want it?"
"He needed money and he was going to raise it on--"
Mr. Peters exploded.
"And I have been kicking because Aline can't marry him and has
gone off with a regular fellow like young Emerson! He's a good
boy--young Emerson. I knew his folks. He'll make a name for
himself one of these days. He's got get-up in him. And I have
been waiting to shoot him because he has taken Aline away from
that goggle-eyed chump up in bed there!
"Why, if she had married Threepwood I should have had
grandchildren who would have sneaked my watch while I was dancing
them on my knee! There is a taint of some sort in the whole
family. Father sneaks my Cheops and sonny sneaks it from father.
What a gang! And the best blood in England! If that's England's
idea of good blood give me Hoboken! This settles it. I was a
chump ever to come to a country like this. Property isn't safe
here. I'm going back to America on the next boat.
"Where's my check book? I'm going to write you that check right
away. You've earned it. Listen, young man; I don't know what your
ideas are, but if you aren't chained to this country I'll make it
worth your while to stay on with me. They say no one's
indispensable, but you come mighty near it. If I had you at my
elbow for a few years I'd get right back into shape. I'm feeling
better now than I have felt in years--and you've only just
started in on me.
"How about it? You can call yourself what you like--secretary or
trainer, or whatever suits you best. What you will be is the
fellow who makes me take exercise and stop smoking cigars, and
generally looks after me. How do you feel about it?"
It was a proposition that appealed both to Ashe's commercial and
to his missionary instincts. His only regret had been that, the
scarab recovered, he and Mr. Peters would now, he supposed, part
company. He had not liked the idea of sending the millionaire
back to the world a half-cured man. Already he had begun to look
on him in the light of a piece of creative work to which he had
just set his hand.
But the thought of Joan gave him pause. If this meant separation
from Joan it was not to be considered.
"Let me think it over," he said.
"Well, think quick!" said Mr. Peters.
* * *
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