"Married!" says Mr. Robert. "A rich widow, too; a Mrs. Grenville
Hawks."

"Zippo!" says I. "Then he's passed the buck back on Nivens."

"I--er--I beg pardon?" says Mr. Robert.

"You see," says I, "Nivens kind of thought an option on her went with
the place. He had Ham all counted out. But that spell of real work
must have done Ham a lot of good--must have qualified him to come back.
Believe me, too, he'll never be the same again."

"That, at least, is cheering," says Mr. Robert.




CHAPTER V

WITH ELMER LEFT IN

All I can say is that it was a busy day at the Corrugated. Course, I
might go into details, just as I might put mustard in my coffee, or
lock Piddie in the bond safe. Neither of them performances would be
quite so fruity as for me to give out particulars about this special
directors' meetin' that was goin' on. Speakin' by and large, though,
when you clean up better'n thirty per cent. on a semi-annual, you got
to do some dividend-jugglin', ain't you? And with them quiz committees
so thick, it's apt to be ticklish work.