Five Thousand an Hour | Page 8

I bet I can do it."
"That's the trouble," she expostulated; "it's too easy. You can fall in all
right, but how will you get out?"
"I don't want out," he assured her. "I play marbles for keeps."
"All right then; take to pickles and perfume. Look here, Johnny; if none
of her own set can ring her with an orange wreath what can an outsider
do?"
"How do I know till I try?" he inquired. "I get you, Polly. You mean
I'm not in her class; but, you see, I want her!"
"So do the others," she objected.
"They're not used to hard work," he earnestly informed her. "Say, I

need a million dollars."
"Take enough while you're at it! What do you want it for?"
"Her stack's that high."
"She'd never count it."
"I know; but Aunt Pattie and I would. I have to have it, Polly."
"Then you'll get it," she resignedly admitted. "Why, Johnny, I believe
you could get Constance, too!" she added with suddenly accelerated
belief in him. "Well, I'm certainly for you. Tell me, what can I do to
help you?"
"Poison Gresham for me."
"Give me your fifteen cents," she directed. "He's about as popular with
her as a flea with a dog; but he goes with the furniture. He was wished
on her by her Aunt Gertrude."
"Why did her aunt hate her?"
"She hated everybody; so she went in for charity. She made six wills,
each time leaving all her money to a different public institution; but
they each one did something she didn't like before she could die. The
last time she decided to give Constance a chance, made a new will and
took sick the same night. Constance has the interest on her million till
she marries Gresham; then she gets it all. If she marries anybody else
before Gresham dies the money goes to a home for blind cats, or
something like that."
"Healthy soul, wasn't she?" commiserated Johnny. "But why
Gresham?"
"The bug for family. Aunt Gertrude's father didn't make his tobacco-
trust money fast enough for her to marry Gresham's father, who would
have been a lord if everybody in England had died. Constance is to
bring aristocracy into the family now."

"Tell her to tear up that million. I'll get her another one," offered
Johnny easily.
"You'll need some repairs before you start," she suggested. "They tell
me you're down and out."
"Tell them to guess again!" he indignantly retorted. "I own all the
to-morrows in the world. There's money in every one of them."
"I've got an awful big bank-account that needs exercise," she offered.
"Now, look here, Johnny, don't yell like I'd hit you with a brick. You
told me to help myself once when I needed it, and I did. You ought to
let me get even. All right, then; be stingy! Where's Sammy?" She had
been feeling in both sleeves with a trace of annoyance, and now she
turned to discover Sammy a few paces back, idly watching a policeman
putting an inebriated man off the track. "Sammy!" she called him
sharply. He came, running and frightened. "I've lost my handkerchief,"
she informed him. "Go get it." Sammy smiled gratefully and was gone.
"Where did you find it?" asked Johnny, indicating the departing
messenger. "Follow you home one cold night, or did a friend give it to
you?"
"Oh, no," she said carelessly; "it just sticks around. I can't get rid of it,
so I've trained it to be handy when I need it."
She fastened upon Colonel Mason just as the horses came to the post,
and she was suplying him with a check blank just as they got away
from the barrier. Gamble turned to the track and distinguished his long
shot off in the lead. He smiled grimly at that irony, for he had seen
long-shot horses raise false hopes before. Mildly interested, he watched
Angora reach the quarter pole, still in the lead. Rather incredulously, he
saw her still in the lead at the half. He was eager about it when she
rounded the three-quarters with nothing but daylight before her; and as
she came down the stretch, with Nautchautauk reaching out for her
flanks, he stuck the ash-end of his cigar in his mouth and did not see
the finish. He knew, by the colossal groan from the grandstand,
however, that Angora had beaten the favorite; and, though he was not

in the least excited, he felt through all his pockets for his tickets,
forgetting that he had taken them out at the beginning of the race and
still held them in his hand; also, he forgot completely that he was
supposed to be escorting Polly, and immediately sauntered down to the
betting shed- -to collect the largest five