Bobby Burnit

“ To these latter he took great satisfaction in displaying the gem of his collection of post-mortem letters from old John Burnit:
“You don’t need to go away from home to be skinned; moreover, it isn’t patriotic.”
That usually stopped them. He was growing quite sophisticated, was Bobby, quite able to discern the claws beneath the velvet paw, quite suspicious of all the ingenious gentlemen who wanted to make a fortune for him; and their frantic attempts to “get his goat,” as Biff Bates expressed it, had become as good as a play to this wise young person, as also to the wise young person’s trustee. ”

“ That is how cheerful Bobby Burnit, with no thought heretofore above healthy amusements and Agnes Elliston, suddenly became a business man, after having been raised to become the idle heir to about three million. ”

“ Listen to him and the business will die in horrible agony, quickly. But keep both of them. Let them fight things out until they come almost to an understanding, then take the middle course.”
That was all. Bobby turned squarely to survey the frowning Johnson and the still beaming Applerod, and with a flash of clarity he saw his father’s wisdom. He had always admired John Burnit, aside from the fact that the sturdy pioneer had been his father, had admired him much as one admires the work of a master magician—without any hope of emulation. ”

“ Burnit, very grave, indeed. It is suicidal to defy Mr. Sharpe, and through him Mr. Stone!”
“Will you shut up!” snarled Johnson to his ancient work-mate. “Mr. Burnit, I have no right to take the liberty, but I am going to congratulate you, sir. Whatever follies inexperience may have led you to commit, you are, at any rate, sir, a man, like your father was before you!” and by way of emphasis Johnson smacked his fist on his desk as he glared in Mr. Applerod’s direction.
“It’s all very well to show fight, Johnson,” said Bobby, a little wanly, “but just the same I have to acknowledge defeat. ”

“ Burnit, I—I never had so much fun in my life. Never, never! By the way, sir,” and even upon that triumphant moment his duty obtruded, “I have a letter for you that I brought away from the office,” and through the window he handed one of the inevitable gray envelopes. It was inscribed:
To My Son, Upon the Failure of Applerod’s Swamp Scheme
“In the midst of pleasure we are in pain,” murmured Bobby, and tore open the letter. In it he read:
“My Dear Boy:
“A man must not only examine a business proposition from all sides, but must also turn it over and look well at the bottom. ”

“ Burnit and his polo skill.”
“It’s the best trick I do,” confessed Bobby, laughing.
“That’s because Mr. Burnit hasn’t found his proper forte as yet,” interposed Sharpe. “He was really cut out for the illuminating business.” And he led the way to the table, upon which Bobby had already noted that five places were laid.
“A couple of our friends might drop in,” said the host in explanation; “they usually do.”
“If it’s Sam and Billy we’re not going to wait for them,” said Mrs. Sharpe with a languishing glance at Bobby. “They’re always ages and ages late, if they come at all. ”

“ Still in the joy of knowing that his one dreaded rival was removed in so pleasant a fashion, he handed her into the automobile and they started out to see Mr. Chalmers. Their way led down Grand Street, past the John Burnit Store, and with all that had happened still rankling sorely in his mind, Bobby looked up and gave a gasp. Workmen were taking down the plain, dignified old sign of the John Burnit Store from the top of the building, and in its place they were raising up a glittering new one, ordered by Silas Trimmer on the very day Bobby had agreed to go into the consolidation ”

“ I want to tell you, Mr. Burnit, he can get along a great deal better without you than you can without him, as you are probably willing to admit by now. But he still wants you. Go and see Stone.”
“On—what—terms—will the Consolidated now absorb the Brightlight?” demanded Bobby sternly.
“Well,” drawled Sharpe, with a complete change of manner, “the property has deteriorated considerably within a remarkably short space of time, but I should say that we would buy the Brightlight for three hundred thousand dollars in stock of the Consolidated, half preferred and half common.” ”

“ They were only defects of training, for which the elder Burnit, as he had himself confessed, was responsible.
“That isn’t what he wanted at all, Bobby,” she protested. “The very fact of your two past failures shows just how right he was in making you find out things for yourself. The chief trouble, I am afraid, is that you have been too ready to furnish the money and let others spend it for you.” ”

“ Bobby smilingly inquired.
“But always perfectly ladylike in what it said about him.”
“And what are the politics of the employees?”
At this Mr. Jolter snorted.
“They are good newspaper men, Mr. Burnit,” he stated in quick defense; “and a good newspaper man has no politics.”
Bobby eyed Mr. Jolter with contemplative favor. He was a stout, stockily-built man, with a square head and sparse gray hair that would persist in tangling and curling at the ends; and he perpetually kept his sleeves rolled up over his big arms. ”

“ Biff, you don’t mind if I put off seeing you until to-morrow? I have a dinner engagement this evening and very little time to dress.”
“His own man,” said Applerod sorrowfully when Bobby had left them. “John Burnit would be half crazy if he could know what a botch his son is making of things. I don’t see how a man could let himself be cheated four times in business.” ”

“ Applerod, who had been the first to upbraid him, was now the first to recover his spirits.
“Never mind, Mr. Burnit,” said he; “businesses and even fortunes have been lost before and have been regained. There are still ways to make money.”
Bobby did not answer him. He was opening the letter, preparing to stand its contents in much the same spirit that he had often gone to his father to accept a reprimand which he knew he could not in dignity evade. But there was no reprimand. He read:
“There’s no use in telling a young man what to do when he has been gouged. ”

“ Bobby, jubilant, went to see Chalmers next day. The lawyer listened gravely, but shook his head.
“I’m bound to tell you, Mr. Burnit, that you have no case. You must have more proof than this to bring a charge of conspiracy. Ripley had a perfect right to talk with Sharpe or to telephone to some one, and mere hot-headedness could explain his shutting off the lights. Your over-enthusiastic friend Bates has ruined whatever prospect you might have had. Your suspicions once aroused, you should have let your man do as he liked, but should have watched him and caught him in a trap of some sort. ”

“ Applerod, but they are very valuable men and should have no difficulty in placing themselves advantageously. In fact, I shall be glad to aid them in securing new positions.”
“The thing is an outrage!” exclaimed Bobby with passion.
“My dear Mr. Burnit, it is business,” said Mr. Trimmer coldly, and, turning, went deliberately into his own room, leaving Bobby standing in the middle of the floor. ”

“ Burnit,” said he; “but to show you that I am more willing to trust you than you are to trust me, if you care to go into this thing I’ll agree to sell you from one to ten shares of my individual stock—at its present market value, of course.”
“That’s very good of you,” agreed Bobby, suddenly ashamed of his ungenerous stand in the face of this sportsmanlike attitude. “But really I’ve had cause for timidity.”
“Caution is not cowardice,” said Mr. Sharpe in a tone which conveyed a world of friendly approbation. ”

“ Bobby was about to insist upon further information, when Mr. Jolter came in to introduce Brown, who had not yet met Mr. Burnit.
“Dill,” drawled Brown, with a twinkle in his eye, “how much money have you?”
“Money to burn; money in every pocket,” asserted Mr. Dillingham; “money to last for ever,” and he jammed both hands in his trousers’ pockets. ”

“ Burnit,” Sharpe said to him with a return of the charming smile which had been conspicuously absent on this occasion, “we needn’t consider the talk entirely closed as yet. It might be possible that we would be able, between now and the first of the next month, when the consolidation is to be completed, to make you a much more liberal offer to come in with us; to be one of us, in fact.”
Bobby sat down again. ”

“ Burnit,” said the Reverend Doctor Larynx in a loud, hearty voice, advancing with three strides and clasping Bobby’s hand in a vise-like grip; for he was a red-blooded minister, was the Reverend Doctor Larynx, and he believed in getting down among the “pee-pul.” “The Bulletin has proved itself a mighty fine engine of reform, and the reputable citizens of this municipality now see a ray of hope before them.”
“I’m afraid that the reputable citizens,” ventured Bobby, “have no one but themselves to blame for their past hopeless condition. They’re too selfish to vote.” ”

“ Stone ignored that supposition completely.
“Mr. Burnit, how much political influence do you think you could swing?”
“Frankly, I never thought of it,” said Bobby surprised.
“You belong to the Idlers’ Club, you belong to the Traders’ Club, to the Fish and Game, the Brassie, the Gourmet, and the Thespian Clubs. You are a member of the board of governors in three of these clubs, and are very popular in all of them. A man like you, if he would get wise, could swing a strong following.” ”

“ An hour later, Bobby, Mr. Applerod and the secretly jubilant Jimmy Platt had sped out Westmarsh way, and were inspecting the hundred and twelve acres of swamp which the new firm of Burnit and Applerod held between them.
“It’s a fine job,” said the young engineer, coveting anew the tremendous task as he bent upon it an admiring professional eye. “This time next year you won’t recognize the place. It’s a noble thing, Mr. Burnit, to turn an utterly useless stretch of swamp like this into habitable land. ”

“ Bobby had at last become suspicious, and as old John Burnit had shrewdly observed in one of his letters: “It hurts to acquire suspiciousness, but it is quite necessary; only don’t overdo it.”
Bobby, however, was in a field where suspiciousness could scarcely be overdone. When any man came to protest or to use influence on Bobby in his fight, Bobby took the bull by the horns, called for Jolter, who was a mine of information upon local affairs, and promptly found out the reason for that man’s interest ”

“ A dollar you’ve made is as different from a dollar that’s given to you as your children are from other people’s.”
“If only the governor had pointed out some good business for me to go into,” complained Bobby as he read this letter over with Agnes.
She shook her head soberly. She realized, more than he possibly could, as yet, just where Bobby’s weaknesses lay. She had worried over them not a little, of late, and she was just as anxious as old John Burnit had been to have him correct those defects ”

“ To-night Clarence was in possession of what was known at the Idlers’ as “one of Smythe’s soggy buns,” and despite countless snubs in the past he seized upon Bobby as a receptacle for his woes.
“I’m going to leave this town for good, Burnit!” he declared without any preliminaries, having waited so long to convey this startling and important information that salutations were entirely forgotten.
“For good! For whose good?” inquired Bobby.
“Mine,” responded Clarence. “This town’s gone to the bow-wows. It’s in the hands of a lot of pikers. There’s no chance to make big money any more.” ”

“ Use plenty of space; and, say, tell Billy to get ready for a three o’clock rehearsal. Now, Burnit, let’s go up to the Larken and make arrangements.”
“We might just as well wait an hour,” counseled Bobby. “The only one I found in the crowd who could speak English was Signorina Caravaggio.”
“I know her,” said Spratt. “Her other name’s Nora McGinnis. Smart woman, too, and straight as a string; and sing! Why, that big ox can sing a bird off a tree.”
“She’s just gone over to lunch with Biff Bates at the Spender,” observed Bobby, “and we’d better wait for her. She seems to be the leading spirit.” ”

“ Agnes gave a little cry of delight, and even Aunt Constance clapped her hands lightly, for Chalmers, a young lawyer of excellent social connections, was a prime favorite with the Ellistons, and in the business he had transacted for the Burnit estate Bobby had found in him sterling qualities.
“Chalmers is a good man,” agreed Uncle Dan, “though he is young, and practically without political influence; but, if you can make him mayor, I predict a brilliant political future for him.” ”

“ The Idlers’ Club was the one institution that stood in no awe of the notorious “boss” of the city and of the state; a man who had never held an office, but who, until the past two years, had controlled all offices; whose methods were openly dishonest; who held underground control of every public utility and a score of private enterprises. The idea of Stone as an applicant for membership in the Idlers’ Club was a good joke, but the actual application of Sharpe was too serious for jesting. Nevertheless, all this turmoil over the mere name of the man worked a strange reaction in Bobby Burnit. ”

“ He was settled for life if he wished to remain in the business, the salary added to the dividends on two hundred and sixty thousand dollars worth of stock bringing his own individual income up to a quite respectable figure. If there were no further revenue to be derived from the estate of John Burnit, he felt that he had a very fair prospect in life, indeed, and could, no doubt, make his way very nicely. ”