1936-12-09 — Page 26

14

CHINA MAIL CHRISTMAS SUPPLEMENT

THE COMMERCIAL INSTINCT

By Constance Curlewis

BY profession he was a solici-

a

tor. but by "trade" machinery dealer. In the early days, when his services were unsolicited, he spent most of his time loitering around.bankrupt mines and unused quarries: in fact. it was this inattention to duty that was the cause of his professional failure.

When he should have been at office he was after "bargains." He rushed the morning papers. and read the machinery columns: attended all the auction sales within a hundred-mile radius: wrote letters to sawmill pro- prietors and mine-managers; and talked of vertical engines and Lancashire boilers and high pressures and horizontal com- pounds till his mother and sisters were sick of the subject. Jess even went so far as to say that she now turned away from her sewing machine with a feeling of nausea, while Joan facetious- ly added, "I flung the

sausage machine down the cellar." And Isobel declared that she always rode in the very last seat of the very last car of a railway train to put the greatest possible dis- tance between herself and the engine.

The father, only, listened and smiled and understood. He it was who had inspired his son- who talked machinery by the hour with him,

2

"

Years ago. he told

Jack, he had bought some iron rails for £300 and said them few months later for £1000. And Jack had never rested till he had bought an eight horse-power boiler, an old winch, and a ton or so of cast-iron (from a widow) for £10 and sold them for 30. Then the spirit of the thing gripped and held him. His business took a downward leap. and Jack Langham. solicitor, was soon unknown.

But, though he had discarded the legal profession, it had by no means discarded him. Involun- tarily it crept into his corres- pondence, and sometimes into his speech.

Now they

as a

He made money in the new venture, however, and in three years was able to marry.

TOW

sat On the verandah, she looking out to where sails. brown and white, dotted the blue waters of the bay. The leaves of a camphor-

bor

Laurel beat softly on the roof. and the scent of hyacinths mingled fragrantly with the salt

sea air.

"Wednesday is our wedding anniversary, Jack". she said half-dreamily; "our first. What are you going to give me*** Then, rousing herself, she add- ed, "It must be something novel, and pretty, and, above all, some- thing that you really admire." And, coming across to where he sat, she laid her hand on his arm. I've already chosen yours. but you mustn't know yet."

"I shall go into town on Tues- day," he replied, "and spend the whole day in choosing the pret- tiest thing the city holds.”

But Tuesday came,

and with

it a telegram. It was from one of his country agents.

"On no account miss," it said, "chance

of

a lifetime. Great Sussex mine bankrupt. Whole plant for sale. Comparatively new."

He went to his wife's room. But she was sleeping so deeply and peacefully that he had not the heart to waken her. He sup- posed she had had a wakeful night.

Crossing

to his OWN room again, he scribbled on a piece of paper, "Many kisses, dearest --- and tenderest love. Sorry I can't be with you on the anniversary or spend to-day in choosing your present. Eut 1 know you will understand. (See telegram an- nexed)." He was on the point of adding, "marked "A." with black writing thereon." or some Such phrase. when he suddenly remembered. Just then the clock. chimed the half-hour, and, see- ing he had only a few minutes to spare, he scribbled furiously

on.

*

You said that your prescut must be norel and pretty, and above all something that T- particularly admire. Well,dvar, I have just the thing. Of its. novelty, under the circum- stances, I have no doubt; bui handsome would describe it rather than pretty, and, as for: my admiring it weet, it'x splendid. Take the key that lies beside this note and oper my office; walk right through into the next room, and there is your present.

Good-bye, dearest - I have just time to catch my train. Shall be away two or three days.

Jock.

And, closing the door silently after him, he walked swiftly down the street to the railway stati station

CYBIL LANGHAM Stood" be

fore her husband's dressing table, disappointment in her eyes. There was no resentment -as Jack had said. she under- stood. But, though she reasoned with herself, the sense of dis- content would not leave her.

"Of course, he can't help it." she repeated; it would have been madness for him not to go. How foolish of me to feel it so." "But it's our first anniver- sity," put in her other self, who cast futures aside and lived in the present, and I was hoping for such a happy day. It is a

shame.”

She sat down, on the verge of tears

"Perhaps he feels disappoint- ed, too," she thought. And strangely this comforted her. Picking up the key, she went to. her room, put on her hat, and set out for the office. She would like to see her present to-day. "What could it be?" she wonder- ed.

The office was not far away, and in a short space she was there, standing at the door of

אפיון

20

No. 2 machinery store facing her present. There doubt of it. for the room con- tained only one thing a part- able engine and boiler combined; and it was rusty!

She glanced through a door- way into another room and saw new-looking, painted boilers and bright brasses and steel. None were so big or ugly as this, and none had those hideous wheels.

HE

TER overstrung nerves col- lapsed. She no longer strove to keep back the tears, but burst into a flood of them. Sob after sob convulsed her. The thing was a cold, cruel joke.

For ten minutes she sat thus, and then a knock at the door the outer one.

What could she do? Where could she hide? Somewhere, oh, anywhere! Her eyes were red and swollen and her face all stained with tears. Like a hunted thing she looked round for a means of escape, but there

none. Should she conceal herself behind the, en- gine? No great heaven! he was coming in he would see her crouched away like a guilty thing. She would face Hastily drying her eyes, she drew down her eye veil and went forward to meet him.

was

"Good morning."

it.

"Good morning, madam: Can I see Mr. Langham! I heard he had a portable engine and boiler for sale."

#

"I am, afraid you cannot see Mr. Langham; he went up coun- try this morning." Then 2 gloomy sense of humour urged. her to add. "But you have been misinformed about the engine

and boiler it is. I, and not my husband, who has it for sale."

He cast a quick glance at her.. then asked if he might see it.

"Certainly will you

this way?"

come

And, indicating the offending thing, she watched his face for signs of the inevitable shock. But he merely looked at it-in an ordinary way took off his coat. got inside the boiler, tap- ped here and there, got out his pocket-knife, tried to dig it into sundry places, got out again, spent the best part of an hour overhauling the engine, put on his coat, and offered her "two- fifty" for it.

Sybil gave an inaudible gasp, but quickly recovered.

"I couldn't possibly take less than five hundred," she said in her most businesslike manner. "It's

in thorough working order." This a hazard.

A moment since and she had not the faintest conception of its worth, for Jack, seeing he had made 3 mistake in talking "shop" on every possible occa- sion, meal and other times in his old home, with much self- sacrifice became a "total abstain- er" in his new. But Sybil knew buyers always kept religiously below full value, in fact, made utterly ridiculous offers, hence her demand for the five hundred. The man looked at her again with steady scrutiny,

"Hm." he thought. "pretty sharp. No wonder it's you and not your husband who has it for sale. However, there's no time to be wasted every hour means a heavy loss. I must have one to-day, and this is the finest I've seen. Thirty horse-power, near- ly new. It's worth five hundred." "Madam." he said aloud, after sufficient hesitation. "I'll give you three hundred for it."

"I said five hundred., Good morning," said Sybil, drawing herself up."

same

"These aromen know as much about transacting business as a two-days-old kitten." he growled under his breath, at the time casting an admiring glance at his fair opponent. "Of course it's only bluff, though. By" jove! she's shutting the door: Well. I'm blow'd-"

"Madam." he said aloud-the contested difference dwindled into nothingness beside the com- pany's losses in case of delay- "I'll give you five hundred is "it settled?"

THE necessary articles were

THE

...provided, and ten minutes later Sybil Langham sat.alone in the office with a cheque for five hundred pounds, containing the signature of one of the biggest city firms."

There was a swift movement in the room. and her busband spoke: "Sale's put off till Friday. dear-met a messenger a couple of stations down some mess up. So we'll spend our anniver- sary together after all."

I see you didn't waste much time in coming to see your pre- sent." he added; "isn't it splen- did***

"It's more than splendid, Jack there's an air of grandeur about it."

"I thought you'd like it." His voice was ecstatic. "I suppose you

thought it was 2 ден- fangled hammock or something of that sort."

"I must have it cleaned up and sell it for you," he went on; "it only arrived yesterday. Best deal I've ever made got it for £100. Why, it's worth

three times that amount,"

"I've just sold it for five hun- dred." she said.

Jack stared,

Then she related in detail her morning's transactions-less the disappointment.

"Well, I'm jiggered!"

But now he came to think, he had made another mistake; for here was a woman of his own composition a woman who, at first sight of his beloved hobby. actually applied the word that described

it best. How

many happy evenings had he lost -- when he might have talked by the hour with Sybil on the one topic? How many long journeys had he taken alone when he might have had a genial and enthusiastic companion? And he then and there determined to remedy his mistake,

And Sybil-

(THE END).