“We shall pursue a progressively startling course of advertising, to the end that the interest shall just miss acute mania. I’ll have the best auctioneer in the world. On the day of the auction we’ll have a series of doings which will leave the people absolutely no way out of buying. We’ll have a scale of upset prices which will prevent loss. Why, I’ll make such a killing as never was known outside of the Fifteen Decisive Battles. I sha’n’t seem to do all this personally. I shall turn the work over to Tolliver; but I’ll be the power behind the movement. The gestures and stage business will be those of Esau, but the word-painting will be that of Jacob.”
“Well,” said I, “I see nothing wrong about your plan; and it may be practicable.”
“There being nothing wrong about it is no objection from my standpoint,” said he. “In fact, I think I prefer to have it morally right rather than otherwise, other things being equal, you know. As for its practicability, you watch the Captain, and you’ll see!”
This talk with Giddings convinced me that he was entirely himself again; and also that the boom was going on apace. It had now long reached the stage where the efforts of our syndicate were reinforced by those of hundreds of men, who, following the lines of their own interests, were powerfully and effectively striving to accomplish the same ends. I pointed this out in a letter to Mr. Elkins in New York.
“I am glad to note,” said he in reply, “that affairs are going on so cheerfully at home. Don’t imagine, however, that because a horde of volunteers (most of them nine-spots) have taken hold, our old guard is of any less importance. Do you remember what a Prince Rupert’s drop is? I absolutely know you don’t, and to save you the trouble of looking it up, I’ll explain that it is a glass pollywog which holds together all right until you snap off the tip of its tail. Then a job lot of molecular stresses are thrown out of balance, and the thing develops the surprising faculty of flying into innumerable fragments, with a very pleasing explosion. Whether the name is a tribute of Prince Rupert’s propensity to fly off the handle, or whether he discovered the drop, or first noted its peculiarities, I leave for the historian of the Cromwellian epoch to decide. The point I make is this. Our syndicate is the tail of the Lattimore Rupert’s drop; and the Grain Belt Trust Co. is the very slenderest and thinnest tip of the pollywog’s propeller. Hence the writer’s tendency to count the strokes of the clock these nights.”
Dating from the night of Trescott’s death, and therefore covering the period of Jim’s absence, I could not fail to notice the renewed ardor with which Cornish devoted himself to the Trescott family. Alice and I, on our frequent visits, found him at their home so much that I was forced to the conclusion that he must have had some encouragement. During this period of their mourning his treatment of both mother and daughter was at once so solicitously friendly, and so delicate, that no one in their place could have failed to feel a sense of obligation. He sent flowers to Mrs. Trescott, and found interesting things in books and magazines for Josie. Having known him as a somewhat cold and formal man, Mrs. Trescott was greatly pleased with this new view of his character. He diverted her mind, and relieved the monotony of her grief. Cornish was a diplomat (otherwise Jim would have had no use for him in the first place), and he skilfully chose this sad and tender moment to bring about a closer intimacy than had existed between him and the afflicted family. It was clearly no affair of mine. Nevertheless, after several experiences in finding Cornish talking with Josie by the Trescott grate, I considered Jim’s interests menaced.
“Well,” said Alice, when I mentioned this feeling, “Mr. Cornish is certainly a desirable match, and it can scarcely be expected that Josie will remain permanently unattached.”
There was a little resentment in her voice, for which I could see no reason, and therefore protested that, under all circumstances, it was scarcely fair to blame me for the lady’s unappropriated state.
“Under other conditions,” said I, “I assure you that I should not permit such an anomaly to exist—if I could help it.”
The incident was then declared closed.