Robert Barr

“ She told me that she had had a new set of Hawkings's accumulators put in the vehicle which the American believed would take the machine to Brighton and back on one charge, so I gathered that I was likely to catch a glimpse of the sea before I saw London again, unless the Surrey police arrested us and refused to accept bail. Miss Briggs did not like the Surrey police, and delighted in eluding them. At no time did the joy of battle light up her fine eyes so thoroughly as when she headed her vehicle south. In every sense of the phrase she gave them a run for their money. ”

“ I have not the money to pay a premium that will get you into anything grand, Billy, so you must depend largely on your own ability. I did a favour once or twice to a shopman named Briggs, and perhaps he has not forgotten it. He was a decent sort, as I remember him. He had a little shop in one of the back streets Victoria Station way. That you will have to find; I forget the address. I have written a letter of introduction, gently intimating that one good turn deserves another, and perhaps he can put you in the way of a place. With your education you ought to forge ahead—forge ahead, Billy. ”

“ It is a blessing the Surrey police did not see the speed we gathered in the next minute. When she slowed down again, and I had caught my breath, I said seriously, "There is no comparison between the two men. Barclay is simply a surly brute. I never liked him, so you can take the usual trade discount off my estimate. But Hawkings is a man, and a very clever man." ”

“ Barclay. I quite understand your position, and sympathise with your difficulty. You regret that you took me in to see Miss Briggs that first morning, and from your standpoint I don't know that I blame you. You resolved you would not commit a like mistake the second time, and so you have foolishly stood between Jared Hawkings and Miss Briggs. If she ever finds that out, she will be displeased. I don't ask you to be decent, for that's too much to expect from you, but be as decent as you can, and I'll protect you as long as I am able. I'll ask the American not to tell on you. ”

“ My son, my only son's a fool—that's what it has to do with it. You should have married her."
"Neither of us ever thought of such a thing, sir."
"You put me out of patience, Billy. The woman is in love with you, and has been this long time. You had only to say the word, and a fortune was in your grasp. But you are so confoundedly selfish that you never think of your poor old father, as long as you have enough money of your own to spend." ”

“ They had a habit of blazing alight suddenly, as if the electricity she dealt in had flamed up within them, and I saw that even the manager might quail at meeting their glance in anger. She wore a man's collar and necktie, and her skirts were rather short. My first impression was that she resembled a boy masquerading as a girl.
"Give me the letter," she said shortly. I handed it to her without a word, and she read it without a word. Turning to me, she said, "You are Mr. Kilorme?" ”

“ I hoped this word was an omen, and that I should prove an accumulator myself, which very few of my family had ever been. Entering the shop, I was met by a man to whom I took an instant and intuitive dislike. If I may say so, he was greasily polite. He seemed too young a man to be the Mr. Briggs I was in search of, but I resolved to open conversation diplomatically, although I imagined him to be simply a shopman. I found afterwards I had underestimated his position. He was manager. ”

“ The storage battery of my pocket-book is about exhausted and needs re-charging. I don't make no bluff about it. If I had the cash, I'd rent the store next door, and with me in opposition to you, you folks wouldn't sell another storage battery from now till the day Gabriel toots his horn. That's right."
"You're not very logical, Mr. Hawkings. If the English are as stupid as you say they are, they'll go on buying our poor batteries, and leave your good ones alone."
"Oh! the English are not half so bad as they try to be. ”

“ I began with a rapid sketch of the rise and progress of the accumulator, touched on its increasing usefulness, and the future that awaited it, spoke of its numerous disadvantages, and related the cause of them, hinted that America would probably yet produce the ideal storehouse of the electric fluid, indicated the tremendous advantage any firm would possess who had a monopoly of the perfected battery, suggested that it might be well to investigate the merits of Jared Hawkings's invention. ”

“ You've got some sense, an ingredient entirely overlooked when this manager's storage battery was put together. I got no further use for you." And metaphorically he waved the irate Barclay out of existence. "Now, see here, my son. I'm Jared Hawkings, from Bangor, Main, U.S.A. Do you catch on? Well, you tell Miss Briggs I'm offering her the chance of her life. I've invented a storage battery that will run twice as long and weigh half as much as any now in the market. And the cost is so small that you'll be wondering all the time why you're not giving 'em away. ”

“ You're a better man than ever your father was. You wouldn't lie, Billy, even if your fortune depended on it. I did Miss Briggs a great injustice, but I was muddled with drink, and thought what I said would bring about what I wanted. It has had the opposite effect, and it serves me right. They say, 'In vino veritas,' Billy, but it isn't so. There was no truth in that story I told you of her. She did not come to me. I wrote to her saying I should like to talk to her over the prospects of my only son, and she replied, giving me an appointment at her house in Kensington. ”

“ I conducted most of the negotiations, which resulted in her taking the vacant shop next door and setting up Hawkings in a business of which she owned the majority of stock. Hawkings had at first objected to giving her the controlling share, but as she furnished all the money, she insisted on holding the reins of power, and ultimately the shrewd Hawkings profited largely by the arrangement, as was right and proper.
Manager Barclay was told nothing of all this, and thought Hawkings had started opposition as he had long threatened to do. ”

“ I was an only son, and so the younger and elder in one, but precious little good it did me. I thought if my father drank more water and indulged in less betting, he might have been able to keep me at college; but I said nothing of this, for I liked him.
The Pater was well on with the third bottle that evening when I met him, and was inclined to be somewhat doleful regarding the prospects of our family, and pessimistic concerning the world in general.
"Billy, my boy, we're all going to the dogs, unless you can save the situation. Times are bad, Billy—cursedly bad, except commercially. ”

“ After making her man's collar and necktie a little more prominent, and adjusting her coat, she stepped into her place again, and when we spread the lap-robe over our knees, you would have sworn we were two young fellows out in a very Turneresque motor-car. The police of Brighton were looking for a reckless woman driving a dark automobile, so they allowed two youths in a sunset vehicle to pass slowly by unmolested. ”

“ I hope that before a week he will know some of the differences between a dynamo and an accumulator."
This latter remark rather offended me. I was ignorant, it is true, but not so ignorant as that, so I wired in on the books that were lent me, and asked questions of everybody. I had previously no idea electricity was so interesting, and wondered I had not learnt more of it at college. I also came to the knowledge that Miss Briggs was called Sally by her intimate friends. ”

“ It looks feasible from a business point of view. How was I to know that you differed from all your forebears in your views of marriage? But there is one point I wish to have settled finally, and that is why I have brought on this conversation. ”