Читать книгу Below the Salt - Thomas B. Costain - Страница 7

On the fourth morning after the meeting in the office of the veteran lawyer of Crosswich, John was sitting at the proofreading table as usual. The hopes roused in him seemed likely now to come to nothing. Bill Sands, facing him, was inclined to be facetious, and perhaps a little triumphant about the matter. He grinned across the table at his silent co-worker.

“John, old stuff,” he said, “I’m going to do some sounding off. You’ve got yourself in quite a bit of a fix by being so damned stubborn. Heck, you’re wrong about everything! You go home every night and plug away at your secret ambition, which is no secret to me, instead of seeing life. You’ve never been drunk. You’ve never been out with a girl. You don’t know what living is, brother. I’ll bet when you talked to this fellow from the West you let him see what an old-fashioned square you are. So he goes back and you don’t hear anything more from him. Naturally. Say, I’ll give you a little bet, three bucks to one, that you never hear from him.”

“Perhaps I won’t,” said John. “Perhaps I don’t want to hear from him again.”

“There you go, you chowderhead! Willing to let a big chance get away from you.”

The telephone rang. Bill answered, said “Uh-huh,” and pushed the receiver over to his companion. “I might have lost that bet, if we’d made it,” he commented.

It was Mr. Ross on the telephone. “John,” he said, “I’ve heard from our friends in the West. The senator wants you to go out and see him.”

“But I can’t do that, Mr. Ross. I can’t spare the time and I haven’t the money. And, you know, I’m not very keen about the idea to begin with.”

“My boy, everything will be taken care of. Senator O’Rawn seems to be a very thorough man. He’s thought of everything. Now, about finding the time for the trip. He wants you to cut loose from that position you have. I suggest you go right down and resign as of this very minute.”

“But, sir, I can’t do that. I’m expected to give two weeks’ notice so I can be replaced.”

The voice of the lawyer at the other end of the wire took on a more emphatic tone. “John, I am authorized to arrange things with your employers if necessary. If they make demands, we’ll settle with them. Enough to cover any inconvenience they may suffer. Does that satisfy you?”

“Of course, sir. But I’ll be out of a job when I come back from the visit, won’t I?”

“No, my boy, get it into your head that Senator O’Rawn is planning to take care of things. His instructions to me, which he sent by wire—the longest telegram I’ve ever seen—are most thorough. They cover all possibilities.”

“But, sir, I haven’t the clothes for such a trip and I haven’t any money.”

“You are to go out with me, as soon as you’ve talked to your employer, to buy what you need. This morning, understand? I’m to go along to see that you don’t spare the horses—the senator’s own way of expressing it. And I have five hundred dollars waiting for you. To serve as spending money, I assume.”

“Five hundred dollars!” John was beginning to realize that this was something which transcended any ideas he had been entertaining with reference to the senator’s intentions. This was doing things in the grand manner. “That’s a lot of money. Mr. Ross, I don’t see——Well, it really is a full-grown gift horse, isn’t it? Now I can leave enough cash with Mrs. Groupy so she won’t have money troubles while I’m away.”

“I am authorized,” said the lawyer, “to arrange for Mrs. Groupy’s keep. In fact, her comfort. The senator remembers her in a dim kind of way.”

“Say, he is thorough, isn’t he?” The young man’s ideas had changed around completely. This began to sound like an adventure, something he could go into with a clear conscience. “When do you think I should start, sir?”

“You are leaving, John, on the five thirty-two plane today. I have your tickets here.”