Earl Derr Biggers

“ He breezed out, leaving Jim Alden with the paper in his hand. For a long time the designer of the famous Alden engine sat deep in thought. “Why not?” he asked himself. Why not a little garage somewhere, a place where he could go and meet people, gossip with them, discuss engines with men like those he had known and been fond of in the Pontiac shops? A splendid idea!
But what would Mary say—and her stern ally, Doctor Tillson? No more business—he had sworn it! No more big business, that meant. And Mary wanted him to be contented—to stop fussing. Besides, she needn't know! ”

“ Bed, sleep, leading to another day, exactly the same.
“Better dead!” he muttered.
In the bath his despair turned to bitter anger at the doctors who had condemned him to this. Why had he allowed himself to be frightened by their silly twaddle about high blood pressure, neuralgic heart, hardening arteries? Why had he listened to his wife and daughters when they urged him to sell his automobile interests in the East, to desert the famous Alden engine, the engine he had designed, the engine that was his baby? What would have happened if he had been firm, stuck to business? ”

“ He saw Angie and Bill Merrick going down the drive. The perfume of a night beautiful beyond words swept in on him. A moon made for lovers rode high amid the stars. Could Bill Merrick keep that promise to himself? Jim Alden rather hoped he couldn't.
He got his wish. His partner appeared at the garage next morning apparently a stricken man.
“Well, I'm done for, dad,” he announced. “It was just the way I was afraid it would be—spring and the moon and the perfume of her hair. I knew as well as I know anything that we still owe her father eight thousand dollars. ”

“ Twelve years a mechanic in the Pontiac shops, with soiled hands and vast ambitions. Then the birth of the Alden engine, the modest beginnings of the Alden car. The gradual increase in business—life working up to a big climax like a well-written play. ”

“ He's the finest partner a man ever had.”
“You like him?”
“I'll tell the world he's a prince! Do you like me—for liking him?”
“Naturally. He's an old and dear friend.”
Mr. Bill Merrick leaned closer. “I'd better warn you—I'm going to do more than like him. He's so gentle and kindly and capable—before I'm through I fancy I'm going to—to love him.”
“Oh!” said Angie.
A brief speech for her, but all she could think of, with Bill Merrick's gray eyes so close, and all.
Fortunately Jim Alden reappeared at that moment, after a somewhat unsuccessful washing up. He got into the roadster. ”

“ The big car shot into the road, carrying Mary Alden's stricken face from her husband's sight.
“Well,” said Bill Merrick at five o'clock, “all good things must end, including the condemned man's last day. Shot at sunset! I think I would have preferred the morning.”
“Cheer up,” smiled Alden. “If it helps any, I'm going to be at old Jim's house to-night myself. I've been invited.”
“Good!” replied Bill, smiling wanly. “You can take charge of the remains.”
In spite of his bravado at the garage Jim Alden crossed his veranda that evening feeling rather sheepish. ”

“ Alden, I'd like to ask you for ten cents car fare back to town.'”
Jim Alden laughed.
“It seems to me you're a bit previous,” he said. “As far as I could see, Miss Angie is still heart-whole and fancy-free. And I tell you right now, Son, we're up against it here.
“We've got a problem on our hands. Are you going to face it with me or must I get a new partner?”
Bill Merrick got to his feet.
“You're right, dad,” he answered. “It sort of upset me, seeing her again. But the moment of weakness has passed. Let Alden take his daughter and his millions and go his way. I'm poor but proud. ”

“ Jim Alden said, disappointed. “Do you need any oil?”
“Always need oil,” answered Angie. “Never can think of it.”
Bill Merrick recalled that he was a partner in the enterprise. He went for the oil, while Alden lifted the hood of the car. Angie watched them. She reflected that Bill Merrick was a very agreeable young man. Just the pal for her father. How nice!
“Need any tires, chains—anything like that?” asked Alden. “No? Well, you owe us two dollars and twelve cents.” ”

“ His partner stared at him. He wished he could lie awake half the night and look so fresh and fit in the morning. “There are a million garages here in Southern California. We've got to do something distinctive, something that will make us stand out from the crowd. The human touch—I'm strong for it.”
“Me too,” said the millionaire heartily.
“Let's just talk to folks—in the San Marco paper—on signs along the highway. 'A service station with the accent on the service.' How's that for a catch line?”
“I like it.”
“You know what motorists usually get when they're in trouble and stop at a garage. ”

“ Jim Alden, his wife and Angie sat together in the drawing-room. When he heard the bell ring Alden stood up.
“It's poor Bill,” he said. “I'll go into the library. Hustle him right in, Angie. Don't prolong his agony.”
He had scarcely seated himself behind his massive desk when the door opened and Angie smilingly entered, followed by Bill Merrick. The younger partner in the San Marco garage wore evening clothes, and his face was as white as his hard-boiled front.
“Dad,” said Angie, “here's Bill Merrick. He wants to marry me.” ”

“ Some grouchy incompetent picks their pocket and gives 'em a swift kick on their way. No sympathy, no friendliness. Let's you and me get clubby with our customers. Let's chat things over and make friends, so they'll come back. Let's live in a house by the side of the road”—Bill Merrick lapsed into poetry—“and be a friend to man. Let that be the motto of the Mission Garage.”
“The Mission Garage?”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you! Most of these garages are just ugly shacks. They all look alike. So why not a distinctive building? With Jim Alden back of us we can swing it. ”

“ Many men, he said, were out of work. He could promise them a temporary home in a week and their main building in a month.
“Let's go!” was his war cry.
“I think,” said Jim Alden, when the partners returned to the street, “I'd better jump on a trolley and run in town. I'll get that money from Alden and deposit it to our joint account. Then we can release the check we just gave on the lease. And I'd better see the gasoline people and arrange about the pump.”
“Go to it!” replied Bill Merrick. “We're on our way, partner! Looks like happy days.”
“Happy days for me,” smiled the millionaire. ”

“ Angie and Bill Merrick were left alone. The girl studied her father's partner—without his knowing it—keenly, appraisingly. A conquest is a conquest, even in overalls, especially when it is young and handsome. ”

“ Where do I hide?”
“Well, there's the garage,” laughed Angie. “Or, on rainy nights, under the bed.”
That evening Jim Alden sat with his wife in the drawing-room in front of an open fire. The young people had gone to a dance at one of the hotels.
“Jim,” she said suddenly, “what's happened to your hands?”
“My—er—my hands?”
“They're not clean. I noticed them at dinner.”
“Well—er—I got to monkeying with one of our engines at—at the garage. That fool Haku doesn't know the first thing about an engine. And it isn't so easy to get your hands clean after you've been fooling round a car. ”

“ Angie sighed unhappily.
“What you got there?” He pointed to a slip of paper in her hand.
“It's a cable from Carter Andrews. He's living up to his promise—a cable a day.”
“Huh! He must be crazy about you.”
“He claims to be,” she smiled.
“Funny thing to me he'd leave you to go round the world.”
“Oh, but he went on business! Business connected with his estate.”
“Every one knows why he went,” Alden said. “His private stock gave out and he went abroad for a drink. He's drinking his way around the globe.”
“Now, Dad, that's not kind.”
“It's the truth. I suppose he wants to marry you.” ”

“ For him the hands of the clock were whirling back. He stood again at the beginning of his career, facing a dozen obstacles daily, overcoming them one by one. All his energies were bent on making good. ”

“ You won't see much traffic here except the folks that live up the line.” He stopped. There ensued a poignant silence. “I thought Petersen let you in on it,” the boy went on. “He claimed he had. Told me he was sellin' out at a sacrifice.”
“He didn't tell us, Al,” said Alden slowly. “Go back to your—er—work.” The boy went out.
“Well, that's cheery news,” cried Bill Merrick bitterly. “Swindled! Every cent that Aunt Elvira and I had in the world!” He paused and looked at his partner. On Jim Alden's face was an expression of deep chagrin, which Bill Merrick conveniently took to be distress. ”

“ Just one question! Ask him how much he was getting at your age. If he's honest with you he'll tell you—twenty-six dollars a week, and darned glad to get it!”
He stopped, perspiring. He was vastly indignant with this arrogant millionaire.
“Dad, you're a peach,” Bill Merrick said. “To-night's the night! I'll beard him in his den. But, gosh, I hope this is a long day!”
At three that afternoon Jim Alden was standing in front of his garage enjoying a moment of leisure. Al was busy inside. Bill Merrick had motored into town to obtain a new part for a car they were repairing. ”

“ You always do. And afterward, when I saw how much better you were—how happy——”
“You want me to be happy, Mary?”
“Yes, Jim,” she answered gently. “That's all that matters now—keeping happy the rest of the way.”
“There's one thing more,” he said. “My partner at the garage—Bill Merrick—a fine boy, Mary. I know him inside out. He's coming up to-night to ask for Angie. He doesn't know I'm Jim Alden. It will be a shock to him. All I'm going to say is—that it's all right with me.”
“A mechanic!”
“Just as I was—when you married me. He's got a future too. This business of ours is going to grow. ”

“ Inside of a week he and Bill Merrick had moved most of their equipment to a temporary shed on the lot next to the one they had leased. Their gasoline pump was already installed and their new building well under way. Their first day in the new location was brightened by the appearance of the man from Iowa, who stopped for gasoline and to renew his promise of trade from friends. This promise he kept. Business increased daily.
Jim Alden found himself in far deeper than he had intended. ”

“ Your gas tank and pump can go in at once.”
They succumbed, returned to his office and signed a five-year lease. That being settled, the real-estate man led them into the office of a young architect in the same building. That gentleman took his feet off his desk, laid down a volume of zippy stories and entered whole-heartedly into the spirit of the occasion.
“Gentlemen,” he said, “I'll be frank. You fall on me like manna from heaven. Building is at a standstill and I'm bored stiff. Even a garage sets my heart leaping.”
“Where do you get that even-a-garage stuff?” Bill Merrick said. ”

“ But dear old dad, the family friend, will always be on hand as a chaperon.”
“I will—and I want you to drop in often. A girl like you can buck a young man up—keep him on the job. Our friend needs cheering. Every cent he had went into that garage—and it looks as though we'd been stung.” He told her of Petersen's duplicity. “I acted too hastily,” he admitted. “It's one on me. But of course it doesn't matter in my case. It's the boy I'm worried about.”
“What are you going to do?” Angie asked.
“Well, we've got to raise some money and move. As I explained to Bill, I know Jim Alden pretty well. ”

“ When he returned his limousine, with a stolid Jap at the wheel, was waiting. He helped Angie into it. “Let's go, Haku,” he said.
They rolled along through the bright morning in the direction of Los Angeles. Angie put her hand on one of his, which lay idly in his lap.
“Dad, Mother was right—you're not happy.”
“Oh, now, Angie, I'm all right. Only something has happened—something I don't like. I mean—I'm an old man.”
“Nonsense! Sixty isn't old.” ”

“ We'll have to rent ground over there, put up a new building and vamoose.”
“But the lease here has two years to go.”
“Yes. Too bad. That's eight hundred a year we must set down on the wrong side of the ledger—no help for it. We can thank Petersen for that. But he hasn't put me down and out. I was stunned for a minute, but now I've just begun to fight. We'll be mighty careful picking our new location.”
“But see here, dad, that's all a rosy dream. How about funds? I'm nearly broke.”
“Don't worry about funds. I told you Jim Alden was an old friend of mine. I'm sure he'll stake us to the limit. ”

“ He lifted the hood of the car. The Iowa man climbed out and joined him.
“Never would have gone back on me of its own free will,” he said. “There was a little carbon in it and I left it at a garage. You know—one of those places where there's one thing wrong with your car when it goes in and twenty when it comes out. I'd give a hundred dollars for the name and address of a competent mechanic in this neighborhood.”
“U'm!” Jim Alden studied his beloved but rather soiled child. “Look here! Look at this!”
With expert eye and hand he ran over the mechanism. ”

“ You see, I run into a lot of men in your position. There are hundreds of them in Los Angeles. They keep little offices like this, and sit in 'em day after day doing nothing. When I show up they greet me with open arms. ”

“ Look! 'Butcher—Go in Business for Yourself ... Partnership, Auto Top Trimming Shop, $650 ... Half Interest in Busy Beauty Parlor.' No, keep away from the busy beauties. 'Wanted—Party with $1000 and Self, Half Interest Factory Manufacturing Pure California Fruit Juices ... Investigate This! Half Interest Old Established Insurance Business.' Keep out of that, it's done to death. 'Transfer and Express ... Man and Wife Can Purchase Good Restaurant ... Partner Wanted, Auto Garage and Service Station.'”
“Ah, a garage,” said Jim Alden thoughtfully. ”