Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 4, 1922 — page 34: what you’re looking at

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

344 Tiptoeing, Mrs. Tally turned out all of the lights except the dim, silk-shadowed one on the writing table. “You sleep tight, sonny,” she said sooth- ingly. To her husband she remarked: “ It’s a funny thing—it was you I got to worry- ing about. That’s why I came so unexpect- edly. And it wasn’t you at all that needed me—it was this dear boy here.” For an instant Chester’s befogged mind thought he was back home. ‘ Good night, mother,” he said faintly. Sleep, sodden and dreamless, obliterated the night. The ringing of his telephone awoke him in the morning. It was Tally. ‘I’m coming in to see you,” the voice said. ‘Mrs. Tally’s down in the dining- room.”’ Chester’s brain roused itself; he drenched his body and dressed while Tally—again debonair and suave—burbled his gratitude. “And I’m going to pay you well for what you did for me, son,” he proclaimed. From an inside pocket he extracted a grained wallet, slid out a smooth new bill and put it on the dresser. ‘‘ There’s a hundred bucks, my lad.” A scowl gathered between Chester’s eyes. Vaguely, he was disappointed in Tally—in the evident tawdriness of the man’s stand- ards of conduct; the assumption that mere money was involved in any part of the past night’s transaction. “You keep your money, Mr. Tally,” he said. ‘I don’t need it. Besides, I was tickled to death to do it on account of your fine little wife.” Tally’s lips tightened; his eyes glinted from between fleshy lids. “I always pay for service. All I ask is that you keep your mouth shut. You know who I am.” “Yes, I know your name.” “ Well—my identity’s no secret. Even the bell-hops know all about me. I might as well tell you myself. I’m State Senator Tally and president of the Queensberg In- terurban Traction Company. I offered you a hundred dollars—I’'ll make it two.” Chester wheeled—every nerve tingling, suddenly tense and vibrant. With a glitter- ing eye he fixed Francis X. Tally. “You can’t give me a cent, but you’ve got to give me fifteen minutes of your time! ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. That’s all I want! I been waiting years to meet a man in your position! Listen.” The words sprang from his lips as he plunged recklessly into a rushing description of his great idea; the gum machine over every trolley seat. Never before, he was sure, had he talked soslogically and convinc- ingly. Tally listened patiently. ‘‘So you want to sell me that scheme? Got the idea patented?” ‘““ No, sir. Not yet. But—” “* Don’t you know that’s a general idea— that you couldn’t get a patent on it? Or a copyright? Anybody you tell it to can take it and use if he wants to. How much money do you want for it?”’ Against the self-possessed business solid- ity that had suddenly come to the surface in Tally, Chester’s forces crumbled into disorganized futility. He had dreamed in gigantic sums. “T’ll take a—a thousand dollars,” he said in a withered voice. Tally eyed him shrewdly; picked up the forgotten hundred-dollar bill from the dress- er, restored it to his wallet. For one poig- nant moment Chester Gibbs suffered the sensation of falling from a great height. His heart pounded in an expansive vacuum; a stifling constriction had him at the throat. Then Tally smiled; produced a fountain pen and a check-book. Something, imme- diately released, hammered at the base of the boy’s brain, flooding him with surge after surge of joy. His hearing, suddenly grown miraculously acute, caught every scratch of the pen. ‘There you are!” said his visitor geni- ally. “I don’t hum and haw. You’ve got too much on me for me to set up a grudge in your mind. We simply put things be- tween us on a business basis, eh? If I ever want to use your idea it’s mine.”’ Chester was scarcely conscious that the other was speaking. The check was crump- led in his hand, as though he were fearful of losing it. ‘“* Where—where can I cash this?” he gasped. | Tally half smiled. ‘“ Down at the desk— but I thought you said a while ago that you didn’t need money.” A delirious face glowed back at him. COmiclboolks.Gom