“What?”
“Whether you had any sand in you. You have, and considerable muscle, or knack, as well. I’m not saying you could do it again—”
“Well, what is this all about?”
“Simply this. If I am to manage the business of Grant & Son I shall need legal advice of the highest order, and I want it from a man with red blood in him—I should be afraid of any other advice. What is your price? You understand, you leave this firm and think of nothing, professionally, but what I pay you for.”
Mr. Jones had seated himself, and the pugnacious moustache was settling back into a less hostile attitude.
“You are quite serious?”
“Quite. You see, I know nothing about business. It is true I spent some time in my father’s office, but I never had much heart for it. I went west to get away from it. Fate has forced it back upon my hands. Well—I’m not a piker, and I mean to show Fate that I can handle the job. To do so I must have the advice of a man who knows the game. I want a man who can look over a bond issue, or whatever it is, and tell me at a glance whether it’s spavined or wind-broken. I want a man who can sense out the legal badger-holes, and who won’t let me gallop over a cutbank. I want a man who has not only brains to back up his muscle, but who also has muscle to back up his brains. To be quite frank, I didn’t think you were the man. I had no doubt you had the legal ability, or you wouldn’t be guiding the affairs of this five-cylinder firm, but I was afraid you didn’t have the fight in you. I picked a quarrel with you to find out, and you showed me, for which I am much obliged. By the way, how do you do it?”
Before answering Mr. Jones got up, walked around behind his desk, unlocked a drawer and produced a box of cigars.
“That’s a mistake you Westerners make,” he remarked, when they had lighted up. “You think the muscle is all out there, just as some Easterners will admit that the brains are all down here. Both are wrong. Life at a desk calls for an antidote, and two nights a week keep me in form. I wrestled a bit when I was a boy, but I haven’t had a chance to try out my skill in a long while. I rather welcomed the opportunity.”
“I noticed that. Well—what’s she worth?”