The Argosy, October 1906 — page 103: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

eet Se “manager = ite so Slocum = = - Manufacturing Company. F ; ee But Borrow had disappeared. Clay nevertheless waited in the shadow of a neighboring doorway until ‘he saw Miss Kendrickson and the old man come out of the studio building, hail a cab, and drive away. Z _ Then he went home, and as he hurried ‘northward along Seventh Avenue he be- gan to realize that at last he was really decently fixed in the city. A week be- fore he had been wandering along Broad- way, with a single dollar in his pocket, afraid to break it, and pie where he should sleep. : Now he had obtained what are tides to be a financially good situation, even if the work and associations were unpleas- ant, and had made several good friends, as” ‘well. He hurried on to Mrs. Lem- 7 mon’s, in haste to meet, the chief_of those = good friends, John Vivian Brent. —, Clay was not the man to take any out- BS side party into the unpleasant matter -. which had opened his eyes this evening. — subject for discussion between Bre and himself. He only told Brent that he had SUC- ceeded in securing the hoped-for posi- tion, and the composer congratulated him The Borrows’ private affairs were not a # extravagantly. Clay had some doubt as -_ to whether such congratulation was due, however. He went in the morning to the Am- boyne Apartment Hotel, where his new employer lived. Miss Kendrickson had left Clay to find out for himself the real state of Mr. Borrow’s mind. Her hints ‘had only prepared him for the realities of the case. The old gentleman believed that he was quite able to take care of himself, both physically and mentally. But Clay soon saw that, although it would be ab- solute cruelty to shut him up, Daniel Borrow was as crazy as half the inmates of the insane asylums of the State. - One thing Clay discovered at once: the _.° inferior~ ‘employees of the hotel, where the old man occupied the finest suite, of 3 were taking advantage of his weaknesses. - What with unnecessary tips, and te “hard-luck ” stories told the old man by “everybody from the scrub-woman to the Se -head-waiter | in the ee, Clay was ee the Bee Faas byt the ennecsary s expenditure of small sums. Daniel Borrow was naturally Eade : hearted and easily accessible—to every body but those who really might have some claim upon his generosity. He suspected and feared all his relatives, and ~began by looking on Clay himself with plain doubt. The young fellow, however, who oer as Mr. Borrow’s ‘private secretary, soon decided what attitude take. He might have doubled his salary the first week by what many would have called “legitimate graft.” Instead, ‘he went to the manager of the hotel and, usurping an authority that he did not possess, made that gentleman be-_ lieve that he was really engaged by Mr. Borrow s friends to look out for him. ‘“Your employees here are robbing Mr. Borrow,” he said severely.- “‘ They are jogging his elbow for tips, or working on his sympathies for presents, all day ~ long. Unless it is SOPPES: we shall go to some other hotel.” “Now, at this time, Clay hed abst as much influence with his employer as a fly; but. Brent would have: said he ‘bluffed- well.” Besides, the mana ger was an honest man. “Tt shall be stopped if I have to dis- charge every person in any eniploy- We want Mr. Borrow here.” “Unnecessary to discharge Se “Merely warn them that. I am watching, and the first one who tries to ‘make a touch,’ as they call it, VU Teport to you « and he or she will be sent away.’ ~“ But I can’t stop his tipping them,”. the manager said. “You must. Tell them they must re- fuse any tip that Mr. Borrow offers. He'll tip his waiter, and the chamber- maid, and elevator-boy at the end of each week—As your other patrons do.” And this was done. The old gentle- man was saved from two to ten dollars © a day, for his memory was so short that. sometimes the same story of a “touch-_ ing ’ nature would be worked twice on nim in the Same twenty-four hours, be- fore Clay took the matter in hand. | This is getting a little ahead of the To go back to the first = day Clay spent as Mr. Borrow’s” facto- 2 tum. story, however. oe he should | ‘S7cOom = a S aS — 2s 5 i an Mysore ig : \, * Mipuday f Abe rt Way? ety 4 eer ew) it Bt Se MOR as ORT A aN ld na 4 Wi aN YS ile “i i . e Re aioe Ps ah eT PE SHOP pies 4 th