“May I use your telephone?” Richard asked politely, as if he merely intended to talk to “Red Jacket.”
“That’s what it is for,” said Mr. Lear. He was engaged seriously in checking off the accounts, but he raised his head in astonishment when he heard Richard ask for the name of one of the best known banking houses in New York city.
“I want Mr. Davis Clarkson,” Richard told the operator. “No; no one else will do.... What? Oh! You can’t get them right away? When? In about ten minutes.... Oh!... I am to do what? Hang what? Oh, yes; I see. I am to hang up the receiver until you get Mr. Clarkson for me.... Yes.... I understand. Thank you very much—very much indeed.”
“I hope you don’t intend to hold a very long conversation with Mr. Clarkson,” Mr. Lear remarked grimly. “I forget whether it is one dollar or two dollars a minute to talk to New York. But I’m relieved to find you didn’t open up Chicago or Denver!”
“Clarkson will pay,” Richard assured him. “Clarkson has heaps of money.”
“You are not very used to the long-distance telephone,” the lawyer remarked shrewdly.
“No,” Richard admitted. “I have rarely talked on any telephone. No; I don’t believe I ever tried before to talk over any great distance. How did you know that?”
Mr. Lear laughed.
“Never mind,” he said. “You do it very daintily, and you talk to the operator as if she were about to do you a personal favour. There goes the bell. That means you, I judge. Politeness pays; you’ve opened up New York city in record time.”
“Is that you, Dave?” Richard applied himself eagerly.... “Sure it is! The very same! I’ve been at Penn Yan, New York. Put it down. Yes. Red Jacket, Penn Yan. Can you take a vacation and come up?... Well, listen and you’ll change your mind, for I’ve changed mine.... Yes.... That’s it. I’ve come over, just as you said I would; and now I want money.... About a hundred and fifty thousand.... Can’t you bring it along with you?... Very well; any way you choose. I’m buying vineyards and apple orchards up here.... Yes; great spec.... Millions in it.... And wait!” He glanced at his notes. “Look up Noble, French and Company, and buy the mortgage to ‘Red Jacket.’... Mrs. Emma Wells.... Yates county.... Well, that will do, only I’d much rather have you by me to see that everything is O.K.... Wait.... Make that cheque out to Mitchell Lear.... Certified? Oh, all right, if that’s the proper way to do it.... No; I’d prefer to have it made out to Mitchell Lear.” He spelled the name carefully. “He’ll give me what I want. Yes, Mitchell Lear, Penn Yan, New York.... Yes, a hundred and fifty thousand will be quite enough, thank you, Dave.... Good-bye, old Dave!”