“I’m going to lend it to you, and I’ll tell you why,” says the captain. “In the first place, it is good business for me and the bank. A bank makes its money by lending to folks at interest. The more it lends where it knows it will be paid back the more it makes. Then, a bank has to help a community to grow and develop. Nothing like a good bank to make a town. We furnish the capital, and men build houses with it, and start stores and factories. Then they come and deposit the money they make in the bank. Then the bank has more to lend to somebody else, and it makes more money. Kind of an endless chain. Really, our business is helping other folks to build up their businesses. See?”
“Yes,” says Catty.
“I’ve had my eye on you and your father. I know about this young Phillips that’s gone in with you. It was a good move. I know what the women of this town are trying to do to you, and how you’ve acted. I think you are honest. You are going at things right. Somehow, tramps or no tramps, I’ve got confidence in you folks. Is it true,” he says, “that you are teaching your father manners so he’ll be equipped to meet folks when he’s a successful business man?”
“Yes,” says Catty.
“Learning them yourself, too?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good!” says the captain. “It’s the kind of thing banks take into consideration. Didn’t know that, did you?... Um!... It shows you mean to succeed. The will to succeed is a fine asset, my boy, and I’m proving it to you. Because it is one of the reasons I’m loaning you this money. Get your father and Phillips to come and sign a note and the money will be here for them.... Good luck to you.”
“Thank you, sir,” says Catty.
“Thank you,” says the captain, just like he was talking to another business man.
We hustled back, you can bet.