"I've no good news for you, Jim," said I.
"You've come--that's the good news that I want," he
replied. "O how I have longed for you, Loudon!"
"I couldn't do what you wrote me," I said, lowering my
voice. "The creditors have it all. I couldn't do it."
"S-s-h!" returned Jim. "I was crazy when wrote. I
could never have looked Mamie in the face if we had
done it. O, Loudon, what a gift that woman is! You
think you know something of life; you just don't know
anything. It's the GOODNESS of the woman, it's a
revelation!"
"That's all right," said I. "That's how I hoped to
hear you, Jim."
"And so the FLYING SCUD was a fraud," he resumed.
"I didn't quite understand your letter, but I made out
that."
"Fraud is a mild term for it," said I. "The creditors
will never believe what fools we were.--And that
reminds me," I continued, rejoicing in the transition,
"how about the bankruptcy?"
"You were lucky to be out of that," answered Jim,
shaking his head; "you were lucky not to see the
papers. The OCCIDENTAL called me a fifth-rate
kerb-stone broker with water on the brain; another said
I was a tree-frog that had got into the same meadow
with Longhurst, and had blown myself out till I went
pop.
Pages:
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449