E. R. Punshon

“ For when one has an ailing mother who requires many small comforts, and when prices, apparently subject to the same law as balloons, perpetually rise, it is difficult to cut down expenses; and when one is in the employ of a Miss Mottram, it is even more difficult to secure any increase in salary.
“She would simply sack me on the spot if I asked for a penny more,” mused Miss Selwyn sadly. “All the same, something has got to be done—it’s a case of either spend less or earn more or bust.” ”

“ To submit a scheme is one thing. To be prepared to carry it out in actual practise is another. Sir John, we have the selling organization and—no one else has. Don’t forget it.”
SIR JOHN hesitated. He knew there was much truth in what Miss Mottram said. There existed, so far as he knew, no other firm with the organization ready to carry on the business. And if the scheme that had so much impressed his manager and himself turned out not to be backed with adequate experience or resources, he might find himself in a very awkward position if he had broken with Mottram’s and with Halstan’s. ”

“ Did you say, ‘Miss Mottram’?” Reggie asked.
“Yes,” answered Thewn. “Mr. Mottram has practically retired, and Miss Mottram controls the business now—and controls it very well. There isn’t a smarter man of business in the City, or one who knows more.”
Reggie permitted himself a moment of envious admiration for this unknown woman who was so smart and capable and who knew as much as any business man in the City.
“And it is she who is offering to buy us up?” he remarked.
“She says she will give ten thousand spot cash for the business as a going concern,” answered Mr. Thewn. ”

“ Halstan, you’ll never make a business man,” she told him severely. “Half a crown would be more like it.”
“Now you’re rotting me,” he protested. “Well, look here; you shall name your own terms. That’s all right, isn’t it? Very well; now we’ll start. Take this balance-sheet? Is it square?”
“Square?”
“Yes; because I’ve rather thought once or twice that Miss Mottram and old Thewn were trying to squeeze me out.”
“Oh, surely Miss Mottram would never try to do that!” exclaimed Anne, rather horrified at the idea. ”

“ And I only wish we had half the grip on our business Mottram’s have on all theirs—on the Malay States Producers’ in especial. Why, even your father never dreamed of trying for them.”
“It was just an idea,” said Reggie humbly. “You see, in the army, when we could hardly hang on to our own lines by the skin of our teeth, then was the time when we used to raid the Germans for all we were worth.”
“Army methods are hardly applicable to business,” said Mr. Thewn. “You must forget the army now you’re in the City, Mr. Halstan. You won’t forget about Sir John Jackson’s visit?” ”

“ Nor was there any mistaking the tone of bitter resentment in which the manager spoke and which made Reggie feel distinctly uncomfortable. For he knew well that Mr. Thewn considered he ought to have been taken into partnership, but almost the last letter Reggie had received from his father had contained a warning that was almost a command to do nothing of the sort.
“Thewn is competent and energetic and an excellent man of business,” old Mr. Halstan had written in the last letter he ever wrote to his son, “and he will do well under your strict supervision. But never take him into partnership.” ”

“ In spite of himself, Reggie jumped in his chair, and he wondered what his father would have thought if he could have foreseen that within five years of his death that word “bankruptcy” would come to be pronounced in connection with the business he had been so proud of.
“I must think it over,” Reggie said aloud. “It was the Mottram people, wasn’t it, who got the Scottish Supply contract we had so long?”
“Yes,” agreed Mr. Thewn; “they have always been our chief rivals. And they have got a share now of the Jackson connection. ”

“ I am hoping to sign with Sir John——”
“Sir John,” interrupted Miss Mottram, her voice shrill and excited, “I’ll reduce all our charges to you fifty per cent.!”
“Ah!” said Reggie, sighing. “That’s an offer I can’t rival. Only, it will mean Mottram’s will be working at a dead loss—and business handled at a dead loss is not, as a rule, handled satisfactorily. It don’t develop. But of course Sir John must decide if he thinks it good enough.”
“I don’t,” said Sir John promptly. “Mr. Halstan, you seem to have shown much energy and ability. ”

“ I know,” said Reggie, slightly discouraged.
“Then please listen carefully. There are two kinds of bookkeeping—single entry and double entry. Double entry depends on the obvious fact that every transaction has two sides—every sale means a purchase; every creditor means— It’s only necessary to listen, Mr. Halstan; you needn’t stare as well.” ”

“ One can’t be too careful.”
“Perhaps I am a bit too jumpy,” confessed Miss Mottram. “I sha’n’t feel all right till this deal has gone through. When Halstan’s is in my pocket, I shall feel different. Till then I shall be raggy. I wish we hadn’t tried to cut the figure. I believe young Halstan would have taken the ten thousand, and the Lord knows it’s worth that ten times over.”
“You can get it for half the five soon,” declared Thewn, “though I dare say he will take more if you wish to offer it. This Jackson affair will go near finishing us. If he tries to hold out, let him go into bankruptcy. ”

“ Miss Mottram went on. “A firm like this, showing such results, is not likely to be very keen on taking over a concern in the position of yours. You lose ground every day. Take the Scottish contract—we have it. Take the Jackson connection—we are getting it.” She selected another paper from one of the orderly piles before her. “That came from them to-day,” she said. “A big order. Frankly, I don’t think you will get much more from them in the future. We believe we are handling their business to better advantage than any one else can do or than Halstan’s ever did. ”

“ Frankly, I don’t see how we can possibly give more now than half our previous offer.”
“Half?” repeated Reggie in tones of utter dismay, “Oh, I say!”
“Frankly,” add Miss Mottram, “we are not very keen on your accepting. I am not sure the business is worth anything. If we buy, it is only the name we shall pay for.”
“Oh, the name!” said Reggie, and remembered that Mr. Thewn had remarked that morning that the firm’s name was about the best asset left to them.
“Of course, I haven’t seen your balance-sheet,” Miss Mottram went on. “But I doubt if it will show very satisfactory results this year. ”

“ When connection was made, she lost no time in beating about the bush.
“You are Malay Producers’?” she asked. “This is Mottram’s talking. About your letter. We have considered it. We have no other scheme to suggest. We don’t think one necessary. If you don’t like the way we handle your business, we are quite willing to withdraw. If you wish it, we cancel all contracts and arrangements here and now if you think you can find any other firm to act on lower terms and show as good results.”
“That’s the stuff to give them!” chuckled Mr. Thewn delightedly. ”

“ I’ll give him five thousand anyhow, if only out of charity.”
“All right,” answered Thewn, and as he hung up the receiver he muttered: “Charity indeed! Charity begins at home. Anyhow, if Mottram’s buy the concern at such a bargain-price, I shall have earned the directorship they promise me.” ”

“ Is that Mr. Thewn? Are you alone? Young Halstan has not been in yet.”
“No; I know,” Thewn answered, his voice very ruffled and angry. “The youngster is a bigger fool even than I thought—he has just got back, and he told me in the calmest way in the world that he met a pal at lunch and they had a game of billiards together till it got so late he thought he would put off seeing you till to-morrow. Billiards! That’s his idea of business—billiards!”
“Perhaps it’s as well,” said Miss Mottram calmly. “We have just landed another big order from Jackson’s. ”

“ I had to start at the beginning. Miss Selwyn taught me a lot, starting at the elements of bookkeeping. Once I got the hang of the figures, the rest was pretty simple. As Thewn says, I was up till four or five every morning, working out new plans and studying the details of the business.”
“I thought,” groaned Mr. Thewn, “it was cards, dancing, suppers.”
“No; it was hard work—jolly hard work,” answered Reggie. “So, when I felt I had the hang of the thing, I thought I saw how the show could be reorganized. I sent in schemes accordingly to Sir John, to Malay Producers’, to Singapore Planters’. ”

“ Thewn, who remarked crushingly,
“Yes, Mr. Halstan; I would if I were you.”
“You know, all this is a bit of a facer,” Reggie went on, half to himself.. “But out at the front we always thought every one at home was making pots of money.”
“The business has suffered,” answered Mr. Thewn coldly, “and suffered severely, from having no responsible head. I have done my best, but a manager is not a proprietor or a partner and has not the same influence or authority.” ”

“ It’s a bluff. They’ve put their heads together—old Syd Mears, very likely; he’s on the board of both concerns. It’s a bluff to try to squeeze us. That’s the game!”
“If I thought that,” said Miss Mottram slowly, “I’d call the bluff. If they are trying to squeeze us, I won’t stand that. I’ll call their hand. Why, as soon as I get control of Halstan’s, I mean to increase all charges fifty per cent.”
“So we will!” cried Thewn. “Or more! They’re trying to run a bluff. Very well. Bluff back; we hold all the cards.”
“I will,” said Miss Mottram and walked over to the ’phone. ”

“ That was Anne Selwyn.”
“Oh, we shall have a little gold mine,” declared Mr. Thewn.
“A bit rough on young Halstan—eh?” suggested Miss Mottram.
“It’s the young rotter’s own fault,” declared Mr. Thewn vehemently, “Serves him right. If he had chosen to take me into partnership, I could have kept the firm afloat well enough. But he wouldn’t, so he must take the consequences. Besides, he will be all right. With your five thousand, it you chose to pay as much, he will do well in the colonies somewhere. ”

“ Mr. Thewn laughed again. He knew life, he would have told you; he knew young men, too.
“Ah, well, Mr. Halstan,” he said tolerantly, “I’m glad you have a little pleasure at night, for I fear I have not too good news for you. I had a message over the ’phone yesterday afternoon after you had gone out to lunch—I was hoping you would look in again. It was from Sir John Jackson himself. He is coming in to-day, he says. He says that, in view of the long connection between his firm and Haltan’s, he does not want to make any change too abruptly, and so he wants a chat with us this morning. ”

“ Mr. Thewn this; Mr. Thewn that—evidently young Halstan had no mind of his own.
“Frankly,” she began—and she was one of those people who always begin “Frankly” when they contemplate some specially gross deception—“things have changed since we wrote that letter. Of course we should have been bound by it if you had accepted at once. Luckily for us you didn’t The sum we mentioned was ten thousand, wasn’t it?”
“Yes,” answered Reggie gloomily. “I know six or seven years ago my father refused even to consider a much large offer.”
“I dare say,” snapped Miss Mottram in her abrupt, harsh voice. ”

“ Thewn sank back in his chair, covering his face with his hands, and Reggie turned to Sir John.
‘There may be some little details,” he suggested, “you might care to discuss——”
WHEN, an hour or so later, after a long and detailed discussion of many matters, Sir John rose at last to go, he was in a very good temper.
“I shall look for great results,” he purred, with visions of an increased dividend to declare to appreciative shareholders at the next general meeting. “I congratulate you Mr. Halstan. For so young a man you show a remarkable grip of essentials. ”

“ We of the staff”—his tone was acid as he said this—“are hardly concerned. Miss Mottram would carry on the business much as before, and I have no doubt she would be willing to keep us all on.”
Now, indeed, he hardly troubled to conceal the hostility and resentment that sounded in his voice, and Reggie, who had, at least during five long years of war, learned to judge men, began to realize that his manager was also his enemy. ”

“ Why, I’m only a poor girl, and you’re rich, you know.”
“Now I’ve got you,” he answered contentedly, drawing her nearer to him, “I certainly am.”
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.
The longest-living author of this work died in 1956, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 67 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. ”