Mr. Merriwether proceeded to look as though it were worth even less than a Santo Domingo mining concession. Then he said, with finality:
"Then," he spoke indifferently, "come back when it is. I'll ask you to excuse me. I, also, am a busy man. Good day, sir."
Mr. Merriwether rose and bowed. He looked straight into the man's very shrewd eyes, smiled very slightly--and sat down again.
"Do you mean," he asked, very pleasantly, for his bluff had been called, "Miss Calderon?"
"No? Then?" Mr. Merriwether was so surprised that he forgot not to show it.
"I am sorry you are a busy man, because what I have to say can not be hurried. First, you must chase from your mind all thoughts of Wall Street, high finance, railroad systems--and fill it with love!"
Mr. Merriwether looked alarmed. Would it all end with a Biblical text and an exhortation to endow some sort of a Home?
"You can do this," pursued the man, imperturbably, "by thinking of your son Tom. He is your only son. You should love him. Once your mind is attuned to thoughts of love, you will be able to understand me more easily. Concentrate on love!" The man leaned back in his chair as though he were certain the attuning process would consume an hour, this being, alas! a Wall Street man; but Merriwether said, very promptly:
"I doubt it. Love! The love of father for son, of son for mother, of son for wife, of son for father!"
"I understand. My mind works quickly. Go on!"
"Do you by any chance happen to know that your son is in love?"
"There is no girl who is the girl. There never was. There doesn't have to be any!"
Quite obviously this man was a lunatic--with the eyes of a particularly sane person. If there was no girl Tom was in no danger of marriage. A million for not marrying an undesirable person, yes, but a million for a daughter-in-law, when Tom was not in love!
"Only," thought Mr. Merriwether, "in case I have the selecting of her! And if I pick her I don't have to pay."
"And yet," said the man, musingly, "Tom loves her!"
Mr. Merriwether's perplexity was fast rising to the dignity of anger.
"If there had been a girl of Tom's own class," the man went on, as if talking to himself, "why shouldn't he have been seen in public with her?" Mr. Merriwether was listening now with his soul. "And if this girl were of the other class--that financial geniuses, alas! sometimes have to accept for daughters-in-law--a nice, vivacious chorus-lady, or a refined Reno graduate, or worse--she would have insisted on being seen in public with Tom, to show her power and to raise the paternal bid-price for a trip to Europe--alone!"