Having said this Mr. Jones paused in the hope that Whitney would take courage and go down into his pocket-book after more money. And in fact this little piece of strategy came very near being successful, for Whitney put his hand into his pocket, but after thinking a moment he pulled it out empty.
“I know I have made a mistake,” said Mr. Jones.
Here another long pause was made, but as Whitney showed no disposition to increase his wager, Mr. Jones continued:
“But it is too late to remedy the matter now, and the invention must stand or fall according to its merits.”
Mr. Jones counted out seventy dollars with which he covered Guy’s bet and Whitney’s, after which the money was raked into a pile and placed under a hat, to hide it from the view of the other people in the garden. Mr. Jones then put his hand into his pocket and produced his patent lock—not the one he had exhibited before, but another that was not to be opened. In shape and size it was so exactly like the first that had they been seen together no difference could have been detected between them.
“Now,” he said, “if I have made a failure, I am willing to give seventy dollars to be convinced of the fact.” And as he pushed the lock across the table toward Whitney, his hand trembled so naturally that the dupe really believed that this accomplished sharper had made the first bet of his life, and that it had excited him.
Whitney took the lock with a confident smile and inserted the key into it, expecting of course to open it as he had opened the other; but his smile suddenly gave way to a look of astonishment and alarm, and his face lengthened out wonderfully when he found that the key would not turn. He tried it over and over again, shook the lock, and even pounded it on the table, but it was all in vain. Then he handed it to Guy, and he met with no better success.
“What do you suppose can be the matter with it?” asked the latter, after he had made several attempts to open the lock.
“I’m sure I don’t know,” replied Whitney. “Let me try again.”
“We opened it without the least trouble before,” continued Guy.