"Flag it!" says I. "Twombley-Crane ain"t a yachty person, at all. He"s a punk sailor, to begin with. Besides, he"s tried ownin" a yacht, and she almost rusted apart waitin" for him to use her. Nothing like that for him."

J. Bayard looks mighty disappointed. He"d planned on spendin" a couple of hundred thousand or so of Pyramid"s money at one lick, you see, which would have been some haul for him, and my turnin" the scheme down so prompt was a hard blow. He continued to argue the case for ten minutes before he gives up.

"Well, what is the objection, then," he goes on, "to a handsome limousine, with one of those luxurious French bodies, solid silver fittings, and----"

"He"s got a garage full of cars now," says I, "and hardly ever steps into one himself. His fad is to stick to horses, you know."

More long-face business by J. Bayard. But he"s a quick recoverer. "In that case," says he, "suppose I send over for a pair of Arabs, the best blood to be found, and have them put into his stable as a surprise?"

"Steele," says I, tappin" him encouragin" on the knee, "you"ve got the spendin" part down fine; but that alone don"t fill the bill. As I take it, Pyramid meant for us to do more than just scatter around a lot of expensive gifts reckless like. "Some kind and generous act," is the way he put it. Let"s remember that."

"But," says he, shruggin" his shoulders eloquent, "here is a man who has everything he wants, money enough to gratify every wish. How am I to do anything kind and generous for him?"

"That"s all up to you," says I. "As a matter of fact, I don"t believe there ever was anybody, no matter how rich, who had everything he wanted. There"s always something, maybe so simple as to sound absurd, that he"d like and can"t get. I"ll bet it"s that way with Twombley-Crane. Now if you don"t know him well enough to find out, my advice would be to----"

"Oh, I know him well enough," breaks in J. Bayard, "even if he doesn"t know me. I share the distinction with Gordon of having been, on one occasion, barred out of Twombley-Crane"s office; only I got no farther than his private secretary. It meant a good deal to me at the time too, and wouldn"t have hurt him at all. I merely wanted his firm to handle some bonds of a concern I was trying to promote. With merely a nod he could have opened the door of success for me. But he wouldn"t. Oh, no!

Played the role of haughty aristocrat, as usual, and never gave me another thought. But I managed to get back at him, in a small way."

"Oh, you did, eh?" says I.

"It was a couple of years later, in Paris," goes on Steele. "I was dining in one of those big cafes--Maxime"s, I think,--when I recognized him at the next table. He was telling a friend of a find he"d made in an old printshop,--a pencil sketch by Whistler. He collects such things, I believe. Well, this was something he wanted very badly; but he"d happened to be caught without cash enough to pay for it. So he"d asked the dealer to put it aside until next day. There was my chance. I know something about etchings; own a few, in fact, although I"d never splurged on Whistlers. But I was on hand next morning when that shop opened, and for a bonus of twenty francs I persuaded the old pirate to sell me the sketch he was holding for Twombley-Crane. It was a beauty too; one of the half-dozen Whistler did in working up that portrait of his mother, perhaps his most famous piece. It"s about the only sketch of the kind, too, not in a public gallery. How Twombley-Crane must have raved at that Frenchman! So, as the English put it, I did score off him a bit, you see."

"You sure did," says I. "That picture collection is what he"s daffy over; even more so than over his horses. And right there, J. Bayard, is your cue."

"Eh?" says he, starin" puzzled.

"Simple as swearin" off taxes," says I. "Send him the sketch."

Mr. Steele gasps. "Wha-a-at!" says he. "Why, I"ve been offered ten times what I paid for it, and refused; although there have been times when--well, you understand. My dear McCabe, that little pencil drawing is much more to me than a fragment of genius. It stands for satisfaction. It"s something that I own and he wants."

"And there you are," says I. "Been rackin" your nut to dig up something kind and generous to do for him, ain"t you! Well?"

Say, you should have seen the look J. Bayard gives me at that! It"s a mixture of seven diff"rent kinds of surprise, reproach, and indignation.

And the line of argument he puts up too! How he does wiggle and squirm over the very thought of givin" that picture to Twombley-Crane, after he"d done the gloat act so long!

But I had the net over Mr. Steele good and fast, and while I was about it I dragged him over a few b.u.mps; just for the good of his soul, as Father Reardon would say.

"Oh, come!" says I. "You"re makin" the bluff that you want to scatter deeds of kindness; but when I point one out, right under your nose, you beef about it like you was bein" frisked for your watch. A hot idea of bein" an angel of mercy you"ve got, ain"t you? Honest now, in your whole career, was you ever guilty of wastin" a kind word, or puttin" out the helpin" hand, if you couldn"t see where it might turn a trick for J.

Bayard Steele?"

Makes him wince a little, that jab does, and he flushes up under the eyes.

"I don"t know that I have ever posed either as a philanthropist or a saint," says he. "If I seem to have a.s.sumed a role of that sort now, it is because it has been thrust upon me, because I have been caught in a web of circ.u.mstances, a tangle of things, without purpose, without meaning. That"s what life has always been to me, always will be, I suppose,--a blind, ruthless maze, where I"ve s.n.a.t.c.hed what I could for myself, and given up what I couldn"t hold. Your friend Gordon did his share in making it so for me; this man Twombley-Crane as well. Do you expect me to be inspired with goodness and kindliness by them?"

"Oh, Pyramid had his good points," says I. "You"d find Twombley-Crane has his, if you knew him well enough."

"And who knows," adds Steele, defiant and bitter, "but that I may have mine?"

I glances at him curious. And, say, with that set, hard look in them narrow eyes, and the saggy droop to his mouth corners, he"s almost pathetic. For the first time since he"d drifted across my path I didn"t feel like pitchin" him down the stairs.

"Well, well!" says I soothin". "Maybe you have. But you don"t force "em on folks, do you? That ain"t the point, though. The question before the house is about that----"

"Suppose I hand back Twombley-Crane"s name," says he, "and try another?"

I shakes my head decided. "No dodgin"," says I. "That point was covered in Pyramid"s gen"ral directions. If you do it at all, you got to take the list as it runs. But what"s a picture more or less? All you got to do is wrap it up, ship it to Twombley-Crane, and----"

"I--I couldn"t!" says J. Bayard, almost groanin". "Why, I"ve disliked him for years, ever since he sent out that cold no! I"ve always hoped that something would happen to bend that stiff neck of his; that a panic would smash him, as I was smashed. But he has gone on, growing richer and richer, colder and colder. And when I got this sketch away from him--well, that was a crumb of comfort. Don"t you see?"

"Kind of stale and picayune, Steele, it strikes me," says I. "Course, you"re the doctor. If you"d rather see all them other folks that you dislike come in for a hundred and fifty thousand apiece, with no rakeoff for you--why, that"s your business. But I"d think it over."

"Ye-e-es," says he draggy. "I--I suppose I must."

With that he shakes his shoulders, gets on his feet, and walks out with his chin well up; leavin" me feelin" like I"d been tryin" to wish a dose of castor oil on a bad boy.

"Huh!" thinks I. "I wonder if Pyramid guessed all he was lettin" me in for?"

What J. Bayard would decide to do--drop the whole shootin" match, or knuckle under in this case in the hopes of gettin" a fat commission on the next--was more"n I could dope out. But inside of an hour I had the answer. A messenger boy shows up with a package. It"s the sketch from Steele, with a note sayin" I might send it to Twombley-Crane, if that would answer. He"d be hanged if he would! So I rings up another boy and ships it down to Twombley-Crane"s office, as the easiest way of gettin"

rid of it. I didn"t know whether he was in town or not. If he wa"n"t, he"d find the thing when he did come in. And while maybe that don"t quite cover all the specifications, it"s near enough so I can let it pa.s.s. Then I goes out to lunch.

Must have been about three o"clock that afternoon, and I"d just finished a session in the gym, when who should show up at the studio but Twombley-Crane. What do you suppose? Why, in spite of the fact that I"d sent the picture without any name or anything, he"d been so excited over gettin" it that he"d rung up the messenger office and bluffed "em into tellin" where the call had come in from. And as long as I"d known him I"ve never seen Twombley-Crane thaw out so much. Why, he acts almost human as he shakes hands! Then he takes the package from under his arm and unwraps it.

"The Whistler that I"d given up all hope of ever getting!" says he, gazin" at it admirin" and enthusiastic.

"So?" says I, non-committal.

"And now it appears mysteriously, sent from here," says he. "Why, my dear fellow, how can I ever----"

"You don"t have to," I breaks in, "because it wa"n"t from me at all."

"But they told me at the district office," he goes on, "that the call came from----"

"I know," says I. "That"s straight enough as far as it goes. But you know that ain"t in my line. I was only pa.s.sin" it on for someone else."

"For whom?" he demands.

"That"s tellin"," says I. "It"s a secret."

"Oh, but I must know," says he, "to whom I am indebted so deeply. You don"t realize, McCabe, how delighted I am to get hold of this gem of Whistler"s. Why, it makes my collection the most complete to be found in any private gallery!"

"Well, you ought to be satisfied then," says I. "Why not let it go at that?"

But not him. No, he"d got to thank somebody; to pay "em, if he could.

"How much, for instance?" says I.

"Why, I should readily have given five thousand for it," says he; "ten, if necessary."

"Not fifteen?" says I.