“Aah! you’ll git like the fat lady in Barnum and Bailey’s!”
“All right!”
“It wouldn’t suit me,” said Joe. “I want to be mixed up in things. I’m gonna be a big man. One of the biggest. I been about a bit now. I’m as smart as anybody I see. I’m gonna make them feel me. I like to see the buggers crawl on their bellies. Like Dobereiner. I’ll have a secretary like Dobereiner. Makes you feel great. . . . And a hell of a big house on Fift’ Avenoo, and a yacht and a private car . . . there isn’t anything I won’t have!”
“You’re welcome to it,” said Jewel. “Seems childish to me.”
“And a swell-lookin’ wife to take around, wearing diamonds all over her. . . .”
“Just the same, you’ll come to see me,” said Jewel smiling to herself; “fat though I be.”
“Have you braced the old man?” asked Jewel.
Joe armed himself with caution. He had been waiting for this. “No,” he said. “All bills paid, and a hundred a week clear! Ain’t yeh satisfied?”
“No,” said Jewel. “This may blow up any time. I want to be protected. A lump sum down. A man as rich as that; it’s customary. It don’t have to be in cash. A string of pearls, if it suits him better. Or anything I can realize on.”