Company, dissolved, in which Mr. Roderick Hoff was vice-president
and silent partner," replied Average Jones with an amiable smile, as
he opened the door significantly.




CHAPTER IV

THE MERCY SIGN-ONE


"Want a job, Average?"

Bertram, his elegance undimmed by the first really trying weather of
the early summer, drifted to the coolest spot in the Ad-Visor's
sanctum and spread his languid length along a wicker settee.

"Give a man breathing space, can't you?" returned Average Jones.
"This is hotter than Baja California."

"Why, I assumed that your quest of the quack's scion would have
trained you down fit for anything."

"Haven't even caught up with the clippings that Simpson floods me
with, since I came back," confessed the other. "What have you got
up your faultlessly creased sleeve? It's got to be something
different to rouse me from a well-earned lethargy."

"Because a man buncoes a loving father out of five thousand