Alice Adams Booth Tarkington (ebook reader txt) đ
- Author: Booth Tarkington
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The old man slapped his sturdy knee, angrily. âWhy, that dang fool of a Virgil Adams!â he exclaimed. âHe wouldnât even give me a chance to talk; and he got me so mad I couldnât hardly talk, anyway! He might âaâ known from the first I wasnât going to let him walk in and beat me out of my ownâ âthat is, he might âaâ known I wouldnât let him get ahead of me in a business matterâ ânot with my boys twitting me about it every few minutes! But to talk to me the way he did this morningâ âwell, he was out of his head; thatâs all! Now, wait just a minute,â he interposed, as she seemed about to speak. âIn the first place, we arenât going to push this case against your brother. I believe in the law, all right, and business men got to protect themselves; but in a case like this, where restitutionâs made by the family, why, I expect itâs just as well sometimes to use a little influence and let matters drop. Of course your brotherâll have to keep out oâ this state; thatâs all.â
âButâ âyou saidâ ââ she faltered.
âYes. Whatâd I say?â
âYou said, âwhere restitutionâs made by the family.â Thatâs what seemed to trouble papa so terribly, becauseâ âbecause restitution couldnâtâ ââ
âWhy, yes, it could. Thatâs what Iâm here to talk to you about.â
âI donât seeâ ââ
âIâm going to tell you, ainât I?â he said, gruffly. âJust hold your horses a minute, please.â He coughed, rose from his chair, walked up and down the room, then halted before her. âItâs like this,â he said. âAfter I brought your father home, this morning, there was one of the things he told me, when he was going for me, over yonderâ âit kind of stuck in my craw. It was something about all this glue controversy not meaning anything to me in particular, and meaning a whole heap to him and his family. Well, he was wrong about that two ways. The first one was, it did mean a good deal to me to have him go back on me after so many years. I donât need to say any more about it, except just to tell you it meant quite a little more to me than youâd think, maybe. The other way he was wrong is, that how much a thing means to one man and how little it means to another ainât the right way to look at a business matter.â
âI suppose it isnât, Mr. Lamb.â
âNo,â he said. âIt isnât. Itâs not the right way to look at anything. Yes, and your father knows it as well as I do, when heâs in his right mind; and I expect thatâs one of the reasons he got so mad at meâ âbut anyhow, I couldnât help thinking about how much all this thing had maybe meant to him;â âas I say, it kind of stuck in my craw. I want you to tell him something from me, and I want you to go and tell him right off, if heâs able and willing to listen. You tell him I got kind of a notion he was pushed into this thing by circumstances, and tell him Iâve lived long enough to know that circumstances can beat the best of usâ âyou tell him I said âthe best of us.â Tell him I havenât got a bit of feeling against himâ ânot any moreâ âand tell him I came here to ask him not to have any against me.â
âYes, Mr. Lamb.â
âTell him I saidâ ââ The old man paused abruptly and Alice was surprised, in a dull and tired way, when she saw that his lips had begun to twitch and his eyelids to blink; but he recovered himself almost at once, and continued: âI want him to remember, âForgive us our transgressions, as we forgive those that transgress against usâ; and if he and I been transgressing against each other, why, tell him I think itâs time we quit such foolishness!â
He coughed again, smiled heartily upon her, and walked toward the door; then turned back to her with an exclamation: âWell, if I ainât an old fool!â
âWhat is it?â she asked.
âWhy, I forgot what we were just talking about! Your father wants to settle for Walterâs deficit. Tell him weâll be glad to accept it; but of course we donât expect him to clean the matter up until heâs able to talk business again.â
Alice stared at him blankly enough for him to perceive that further explanations were necessary. âItâs like this,â he said. âYou see, if your father decided to keep his works going over yonder, I donât say but he might give us some little competition for a time, âspecially as heâs got the start on us and about ready for the market. Then I was figuring we could use his plantâ âitâs small, but itâd be to our benefit to have the use of itâ âand heâs got a lease on that big lot; it may come in handy for us if we want to expand some. Well, Iâd prefer to make a deal with him as quietly as possibleâ âno good in every Tom, Dick and Harry hearing about things like thisâ âbut I figured he could sell out to me for a little something moreân enough to cover the mortgage he put on this house, and Walterâs deficit, tooâ âthat donât amount to much in dollars and cents. The way I figure it, I could offer him about ninety-three hundred dollars as a totalâ âor say ninety-three hundred and fiftyâ âand if he feels like accepting, why, Iâll send a confidential man up here with the papers soonâs your fatherâs able to look âem over. You tell him, will you, and ask him if he sees his way to accepting that figure?â
âYes,â Alice said; and now her own lips twitched, while her eyes filled so that she saw but a blurred image of the old man, who held out his hand in parting. âIâll tell him. Thank you.â
He shook
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