He paused to take from his pocket-book a tattered clipping and showed it to the newspaper man with a mixture of pride and tenderness and solicitude lest it be harmed, as a father shows the only extant photograph of the most wonderful baby in captivity.
"I thought my name would fit in very nicely between the Janeways and the Jesups. It was a good investment, that one thousand dollars, for I felt I had to get a gait on, and that very same day I went on that prospecting trip to the Endicott Mountains which changed my luck for me. Everything came my way then--I mean, in mining. I am getting six hundred thousand dollars a year out of my claims; and that is because I believe fifty thousand dollars a month enough for a bachelor. More would be--er--sort of ostentatious. Don't you think so?"
"Yes, indeed," agreed J. Willoughby Parkhurst, with a shudder.
"When I marry I'll make it one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars a month."
"I agree with you," said Parkhurst--"because, really, two cannot live as cheaply as one." He thrilled when he thought how he would play up that promised income in his story.
"That's what I say," Jerningham said, gratefully. "Of course there's the seven millions and a half of gold-dust I have brought with me. It's downstairs." His grim mouth became more determinedly grim than ever. This man was the kind that gets what he wants, with or without money. He will not climb, thought Parkhurst; he will vault into society. He asked Jerningham:
"Have you really got that much down-stairs? I mean," he hastily corrected himself, "have you no fear of the danger of going about with that much loose change?"
"No. It's guarded by men who are getting big pay for being honest. You can buy honesty--if you treat it as a luxury and pay for it as such. Each box weighs one hundred and fifty pounds, for convenience in handling. Would you like to see the stuff?" He could not hide a boyish eagerness--not at all offensive--to impress his new friend. J. Willoughby Parkhurst forgave him in advance, and to prove it said, heartily:
"Very well. Please come with me." And he led the way to the engine-room. They went down two flights. At the door of the engine-room they met the engineer, who bowed with an obsequiousness that indicated sincere gratitude and renewed hope--as of a man who has received a handsome gratuity and is expecting another.