Five Thousand an Hour | Page 6

make a stringless million?"
"If I knew that, I wouldn't be your lawyer," declared Loring. "Excuse
me, Johnny; there's a client of mine."
CHAPTER II
IN WHICH STRANGERS BECOME OLD FRIENDS

Into the box where Miss Constance Joy--slender and dark and tall--
entertained her bevy of admirers, there swished a violently-gowned
young woman of buxom build and hearty manner, attended by a young
man who wore a hundred-dollar suit and smiled feebly whenever he
caught an eye. In his right hand he carried Miss Polly Parsons' gloves
and parasol; in his left, her race-card and hand-bag. Round his
shoulders swung her field-glasses; from his right pocket protruded her
fan and from his left her auto veil. She carried her own vanity box.
"If you aren't the darlingest thing in the world!" she greeted Miss Joy,
whose face had lighted with a smile of both amusement and pleasure.
"You certainly are some Con! Every time I see you in a new gown I
change my dressmaker. Hello, boys!" She shook hands cordially with
all of them as soon as she had paid her brief respects to Mrs. Pattie
Boyden, who was pleasant and indulgent enough in her greeting,
though not needlessly so.
"You're looking as happy as ever, Polly," observed Constance.
"I'm as happy as a mosquito in a baby's crib," avowed Polly. "I've
added three thousand to-day to the subscription list for our Ocean View
Baby Hotel. Where's that list, Sammy?"
Sammy Chirp passed a few things from his right to his left hand and

searched a few pockets; passed a few things from his left to his right
hand, dropped the lady's handkerchief and picked it up, smiled feebly
upon everybody, and then at last produced the subscription list, which
Miss Joy read most interestedly.
"That's splendid, Polly!" she approved. "Another day's work as good as
this, and we'll be able to buy our hotel."
Paul Gresham, standing stiffly between her and Polly, looked down at
her and smiled correctly.
"I guess we'd better go, don't you think?" he remarked to the other
young men.
"You're safe enough," retorted Polly. "You're safe any place with your
check-book. Besides, we don't want to double names on this list. We'll
spring another one when we're ready to equip and run the place. Oh,
there's Johnny Gamble! Hello, Johnny!" And she leaned far over the
rail to call to him.
It was strange how quickly Johnny Gamble was able to distinguish a
sound coming from that direction, and he looked up immediately.
"Come right up here, Johnny," she commanded him. "I have a great
surprise in store for you."
"Go any place you say if it's not too hot there," he cheerfully assured
her, and started off towards the staircase.
"When I get Johnny Gamble's name this list is closed," said Polly
confidently.
"I'll bet with you on that," offered Bruce Townley. "Johnny probably
hasn't enough money to buy a tin rattle for your babies' hotel."
"No!" she protested, shocked. "I'm so used to seeing him with money
that I don't think I'd know him if he had it shaved off."
"He was too honest, as usual," supplemented Val Russel, lounging

carelessly against the rail. "Here comes Ashley Loring. He can tell you
all about it. Johnny Gamble hasn't a cent left, has he, Loring?"
"It would be most unprofessional to discuss Mr. Gamble's private
affairs," said Loring reprovingly as he came into the box. "Aside from a
mere detail like that, I don't mind saying that Johnny Gamble has just
bet the last hundred dollars he has in the world on an absolutely
criminal long shot."
"I hope he wins!" stated Polly heartily. "I think he's the only real
gentleman I ever knew."
"Well, I like that!" protested Val Russel, laughing.
"I don't mean a slam at you boys," she hastily corrected. "You're a nice
clean bunch; but I know so much about Johnny. He helps people, then
hides so he can't be thanked. He's the one man out of a thousand that
both women and men can absolutely trust."
"That's rather a broad statement," objected Paul Gresham, who had
eyed Polly with fastidious distaste every time she spoke. He was a
rather silent young man with a thin high-arched nose and eyebrows that
met, and was so flawlessly dressed that he sat stiffly.
"I'll make it two in a thousand, Mr. Gresham," said Polly pleasantly. "I
hadn't noticed you; and whatever I am I try to be polite."
The four other young men, who were used to Polly's sweeping
generalities, laughed; for Polly had their hearty approval.
Johnny Gamble arrived.
"Where's the surprise?" he demanded with a furtive glance in the
direction of Miss Joy, a glance which Gresham jealously resented.
"Me!" Polly gaily told him, thrusting her subscription list into