United States or Jersey ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
The officer touched his hat respectfully and Fred felt himself gently impelled toward Helen Starratt. He did not have time to protest nor shape any plan of action. Instead, he answered Hilmer's imperious pantomime by grasping a suitcase in one hand and a valise in the other and staggering after them toward the waiting vessel.
If they discussed housekeeping at all, it was with reference to some new labor-saving device flashing across the culinary horizon. But Mrs. Hilmer's conversation thrilled with the pride of her gastronomic achievements without any reference to the labor involved. She invested her estate as housekeeper for her husband with a commendable dignity.
Of course big business firms recognized a broker's expertness or lack of it, though, quite frequently, as in Hilmer's case, they were more snared by a share in the profits than by the claims of efficiency. But Starratt wanted to succeed merely on his merit. He wanted to teach people to say of him: "I go to Fred Starratt because he's the keenest, the most reliable man in the field.
Perhaps therein lay the secret of Hilmer's puzzling prodigality because, boiled down to hard facts, it was apparent that Hilmer was making Starratt & Co. a present of several hundred dollars a year. Sometimes, in a wild flight of conjecture, he used to wonder how far his argument with Hilmer regarding the ethics of being a negative party to another man's dishonesty had been borne home?
Hilmer, raising the question, answered it tentatively by a statement that held a curious mixture of hope and fear. "Hilmer's going south himself next week... On business, he says." She laughed harshly. "I wonder if they both think me quite a fool! ... If he succeeds this time she's done for!" Fred Starratt stirred in his seat.
"I've got something for you to-day," Hilmer went on, as he unbound the bundle of papers and sat down beside Fred. Starratt saw the edge of a blue print in Hilmer's hand. This spelled all manner of possibilities, but he checked a surge of illogical hope. "That's fine," he answered, heartily. "But why didn't you send for me? I could have come over.
"You'd better put on your hat and take those things to Hilmer yourself." She did not answer... He returned at three o'clock. Helen was very busy pounding away at the typewriter. "Well, what's all the rush?" he asked. "I'm getting out the forms on Hilmer's shipping plant," she returned, nonchalantly. "What do you mean?... Didn't you..." "No ... he's decided to let us handle the business."
Still, there was a possibility that he had signed the check late last night. He called up Hilmer's office. No, the check had not been signed. Fred reminded the cashier that this was the last day to get the money into the companies. But the watchdog of the Hilmer treasury had been through too many financial pressures to be disturbed.
She was curious, she told herself, to see whether a man like Hilmer would be impressed by feminine artifice... Did a black silk gown, with spotless lace at wrist and throat, spell the acme of Hilmer's ideal of womanhood? Was woman to him something durable and utilitarian or did his fancy sometimes carry him to more decorative ideals?
Your kind take a lot of punishment before they see the light. But you're a good prospect a damned good prospect. You're a good deal like a young fellow I met last fall when I was working over in the shipyards in Oakland. He " "Shipyards?" interrupted Fred. "Not Hilmer's shipyards, by any chance?" Storch leaned forward, drawing his shaggy eyebrows together. "Why?" "I know Hilmer, that's all."
Word Of The Day