When the news reached the local agency of the company there was no indecision as to what should be done. Unnecessary publicity in a matter of that kind was the very last thing sought. The solicitor was called in, put on the rack, and promptly confessed. Then he was discharged without further questioning. Perhaps the local agent was afraid he might learn of other similar instances if he pressed the matter too far, and he was quite content to remain in ignorance of anything else of that nature, so long as the public also remained in ignorance. The company promptly acknowledged its fault, showed that it had cleared itself morally by discharging the offending agent, and proceeded to clear itself legally by paying the necessary fine.
When the news came to Adolph, however, there was wailing prolonged, for his policy was annulled.
“I bet you,” said Adolph, “that feller Murray put up the job. He iss a great hog; he iss like those monopolists that puts smaller people out of business and gobbles it all.”
Then Adolph got a pencil and a sheet of paper and began to figure his losses.
“Zwei t’ousand dollar insurance,” he groaned, “and maybe she wouldn’t lif long. And I gif her a dress, too—a new dress. Ach, Himmel! it’s hard when a man’s vife beats him. A new dress for nothing at all but to looss money. That law iss a shame. It iss a—what you call it?—restriction of business.”
Thereafter, for some time, the sight of the new gown would make Adolph morose and gloomy, and his friends found him unusually modest and unobtrusive.
AN INCIDENTAL SCHEME
There came to Dave Murray one day a young man who was looking for a job. He was a bright young fellow and seemed to be very earnest.
“I have been a clerk,” he explained, “but there is little prospect for the future where I am now, and I want to get something that has some promise in it. In fact, I must do so. I am making barely enough to support my mother and myself, and I may want to marry, you know.”
Murray readily admitted that young men frequently were attacked by the matrimonial bacillus and that, there being no sure antidote, the disease had to run its course. “Which is a good thing for the world,” he added, “so you are quite right to prepare yourself for the attack. But are you sure that insurance is your field?”