“What do you wish to do?” asked a newspaper correspondent, who was interviewing the Plunger on the street.
“Oh, it does not matter what I do; but it is the price I get, about which I am concerned. I mean, of course, it does not matter what I do, so long as I am engaged in an honest business,” replied the Plunger.
“Then you do not care to make another ‘plunge’ on someone’s else money, in order to make a stake?” asked the reporter, with a meaning smile.
“Well, hardly; the taste I had of that in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, as the makers of the chronicle said then, has not left me yet. No son, no more plunging for me. Remorse of conscience is the greatest punishment one can have. Take the advice of a man who remembers, son, and never engage in dishonest transactions. There will come a day, as sure as fate, when you will have to repair the wrongs you have committed, if you do,” was the fatherly advice of the Plunger.
The reporter stood quietly by for a few moments, no doubt revolving in his mind the many exaggerated stories he had written about different people, and wondering if he would, in a life to come, be compelled to retract all he had said.
The Plunger noticed his thoughtful attitude, and said: “When you take ‘Memory Fluid,’ you will ponder more seriously than you do now. Come, help a fellow if you can. I want to get this burden of debt off my shoulders.”
“It was on that subject I was studying, my friend. I know a man who wants a head gardener; wages, one hundred dollars a month and board,” replied the reporter.
“I hope I can get the job,” said the Plunger, as the two walked on arm in arm.
“We will see about it at once, then go to the auditorium to hear the discourses upon the great scientific subjects. Ah, and I must have you in the description of this great celebration. What a lucky fellow I am to have fallen in with you this morning. I will be promoted to city editor on account of getting the first interview with you,” said the reporter, delighted over the prospects.
“If I get the job you mention,” replied the Plunger, “no one else can have an interview with me.”