Argosy All-Story Weekly, January 13, 1923 — page 120: what you’re looking at

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

upon him he was in the act of lifting a graham cracker to his lips with his left hand while his right closed about a glass of milk. He dropped the cracker and re- leased his hold on the glass at sight of Denny. “T can’t do what you asked me to do this morning,” said Denny swiftly and de- fiantly, Nothing angered Judson quite so much as defiance. “Why can’t you?” he growled. “ Didn’t I tell you there would be something good for you here when you came back? I sup- pose you want it more definite, eh? All right. Do it right—find out all you can about the General Supply’s methods—and you'll have seventy-five per on the Judson pay roll.” In spite of himself, Denny gasped. Seventy-five dollars a week! In terms of Dorothy and the baby it would mean every- thing that they had denied themselves. From thirty-five to seventy-five dollars a week would be a jump from penury to af- fluence. The very thought of it made him dizzy. “ That’s not it at all, sir,” he said, less defiantly. “I wasn’t thinking about the money. It’s the—er—the principle of the thing. It don’t seem honest to me. I’m not a spy, and I can’t do a thing like that.” ‘“¢ Oh, that’s it?” Amos Judson chuckled. *T see. Why, lookahere, it’s perfectly le- gitimate! You don’t think I’d ask you to do a dishonest thing, do you? You know me better than that, Denny, the years you’ve been here. This is just a matter of busi- ness. I haven’t a doubt in the world but that the General Supply learned a lot from us, and it’s only tit for tat that we should learn from them. It’s competition. It’s a trick of the trade, that’s all. Everybody dees it. Why, afterward, when I meet Hodgkins—he’s president of General Sup- ply, you know—TI’ll tell him all about it. And [ll bet he’ll laugh and tell me how he had one of his men working for me.” Little old Denny groped for the sophistry that he was sure. lurked behind his em- ployer’s words. He knew Amos Judson was an honest man; he ought to know he wouldn’t ask him to do anything dishonest. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. And, as Amos said, everybody did it. It was a trick of the trade. And yet he knew that there was a hidden falsity behind the apparent truth. If he hadn’t observed the man in the lunch room doing something that was also a trick of the trade, something that he knew from office gossip a lot of men did, he might have been convinced. But he wasn’t. ‘“ Just because everybody does it is no excuse,” he said platitudinously. ‘I don’t think it’s honest. It’s like stealing, sir, and I can’t do it,” “I know what you want!” old Judson laughed. ‘ You want to hold me up for a better offer. Well, that’s business, too. I'll go as high as eighty a week, but not a cent higher!” Again Denny staggered before the men- tion of so large a sum. Eighty dollars a week! He was sorely tempted to grin and admit that he was holding out for money. ‘““ No, sir—it isn’t money at all. It’s the principle, sir. It’s dishonest, and I won’t do it.” He did not intend to be rebellious, but he was. The smile left Judson’s face. “You won’t, eh? Then listen to me!” He rose and towered over Denny. “I’ve never been accused of dishonesty before, and I don’t intend to be now! You're too lily white to be in the soap business, or any other business where competition rules. { advise you to resign in about ten minutes and draw your last check. If you don’t, you're fired. Get out!” Amos snatched up his desk phone and called Chisholm. “Send young Sedgwick in. I guess he’s the man I want for this job. I’m letting Denny go—see that he’s paid in full and give him an extra week’s wages. He'll need it all right.” He turned to glare at the object of his wrath, but little old Denny had already fled. I. Denny had been for so long a fixture in the office of Judson & Co. that he had never considered what he should do if re- moved from his position. Now he felt like COMMICLOOOKS (C@)