Stick looked unimpressed during the short silence that followed. At last: “Well, I’ve made up my mind,” he said a trifle defiantly. “I can’t afford to lose that money, Rus. Now, I tell you what I’ll do. I’ll give you until next Wednesday. Maybe you’ll change your mind. Maybe you can get the money somewhere?” Stick’s voice ended in a rising inflection.
Russell shook his head. “I can’t, Stick. But I don’t understand, I guess. Suppose I don’t change my mind by Wednesday. What do you intend to do?”
Stick hesitated. Then, “Sell out,” he answered challengingly.
Russell stared. “Sell out! But I tell you I can’t-- Oh, I see! You mean to some one else.” Stick nodded. “I’m afraid you won’t find that very easy, Stick. Folks wouldn’t consider it a very enticing investment just now.” Russell smiled a little at his friend’s surprising ignorance, and Stick caught the smile and bristled.
“That’s all right,” he answered. “Don’t you worry. I’ve found some one who’ll buy me out to-day if I’ll sell. I just thought I ought to give you first chance.” Something in Russell’s expression caused him to add hastily: “I’ve got a right to sell, haven’t I?”
“Yes, I suppose you have,” replied Russell quietly. “At least, I guess the law would say so, but it seems to me that, in a partnership like this, selling out to a third person isn’t just fair, Stick.”
“Why isn’t it? I’ve offered to sell to you--”
“That’s not my fault! This thing isn’t going to make money: it’s going on the rocks just as soon as Crocker starts in to really fight you! I want to get out while there’s time, and I mean to. If you can’t buy my interest I’ve got a perfect right to sell it to some one else, and I’m going to.”
“Sure.” Stick nodded vigorously. “He came to see me yesterday, and again to-day. He’s going to give me a hundred and fifty for my share in the business. I’ll sell to you for a hundred and twenty-five, just what I put in. That’s fair enough, isn’t it?”
Russell had to acknowledge that it was. “But why does Throgmorton want to buy you out?” he asked perplexedly.
Stick shrugged. Evidently that didn’t interest him. “He says the thing’s all right. I let him think so.”
“But how did he learn that you wanted to sell?”
“I guess he heard it somewhere,” answered the other evasively. “Maybe he didn’t know it. He didn’t say so. He just came to me and asked.”