“But we’re getting more than the money, sir,” said Willard. “We’re getting Jimmy. He knows all about automobiles, can run them and repair them, and is just about the best fellow we could get to go in with us. Don’t you think so, Tom?”
“Yes, I do. What father means is that if we’re satisfied to go on the way we are, why, that’s one thing; if we want to—to expand, that’s another. In that case we’ve got to have money and help. So, then, could we get hold of seven hundred dollars without taking Jimmy in with us and giving up a third interest in the company?”
“We might save that much in the course of time,” said Willard doubtfully. “But what I’m afraid of is that by the time we’d scraped up that much money someone else might have stepped in and be doing what we want to do.”
“That’s so,” Mr. Benton agreed. “In fact——” he hesitated. “What is to keep Jimmy from doing it, boys?”
“Doing——”
“Going into the business by himself, I mean.”
“Why—why, he wouldn’t do that!” exclaimed Willard. “He wouldn’t be mean enough!”
Mr. Benton smiled. “He’d have a perfect right to, I guess. It’s only what you did, isn’t it? You didn’t hesitate to run in opposition to Mr. Connors, did you?”
“That’s so,” said Tom thoughtfully. “I don’t see why Jimmy shouldn’t start in business for himself if he wants to.”
Willard frowned and moved uneasily in his chair. “Then—then let’s get him before he thinks of it!”