CHAPTER XVIII.
DICK RALSTON.
Chester was new to the city and a novice in worldly affairs, but thediscovery that the bookkeeper was on intimate terms with a gamblerastounded him. He felt that Mr. Fairchild ought to know it, but heshrank from telling him.
Of course, the presumption was that Mullins was also a gambler, butthis was not certain. Chester decided to say nothing, but to bewatchful. David Mullins had been five years in his present place, andhis services must have been satisfactory or he would not have beenretained.
There was one thing, however, that Chester did not know. Thisgambler--Dick Ralston, as he was familiarly called--was only a recentacquaintance. Mullins had known him but three months, but had already,through his influence, been smitten by the desire to become rich morequickly than he could in any legitimate way.
He had accompanied Dick to the gaming table, and tried his luck, losingmore than he could comfortably spare. He was in debt to his dangerousfriend one hundred and fifty dollars, and on the evening in questionDick had intimated that he was in need of the money.
"But how can I give it to you?" asked Mullins, in a tone of annoyance.
"You receive a good salary."
"One hundred dollars a month, yes. But I can't spare more than thirtydollars a month toward paying the debt."
"Which would take you five months. That won't suit me. Haven't you gotany money saved up?"
"No; I ought to have, but I have enjoyed myself as I went along, and ithas taken all I earned."
"Humph! Very pleasant for me!"
"And for me, too. It isn't very satisfactory to pinch and scrape forfive months just to get out of debt. If it was for articles I hadhad--in other words, for value received--it would be different. But itis just for money lost at the gaming table--a gambling debt."
"Such debts, among men of honor," said Dick, loftily, "are the mostbinding. Everywhere they are debts of honor."
"I don't see why," grumbled Mullins.
"Come," said Ralston, soothingly, "you are out of sorts, and can't seethings in their right light. I'll lend you fifty dollars more, makingthe debt two hundred dollars."
"I don't see how that will help me."
"I'll tell you. You must win the money to pay your debt at the gamingtable. Why, two hundred dollars is a trifle. You might win it in oneevening."
"Or lose as much more."
"There's no such word as fail! Shall I tell you what I did once?"
"Yes," answered Mullins, in some curiosity.
"I was in Nashville--dead broke! I was younger then, and lossesaffected me more. I was even half inclined--you will laugh, I know--toblow my brains out or to throw myself into the river, when a strangeroffered to lend me ten dollars to try my luck again. Well, I thought asyou did, that it was of little use. I would lose it, and so makematters worse.
"But desperation led me to accept. It was one chance, not a very goodone, but still a chance. From motives of prudence I only risked fivedollars at first. I lost. Savagely I threw down the remaining five andwon twenty-five. Then I got excited, and kept on for an hour. At theend of that time, how do you think I stood?"
"How?" asked Mullins, eagerly.
"I had won eight hundred and sixty-five dollars," answered DickRalston, coolly. "I paid back the ten dollars, and went out of thegambling house a rich man, comparatively speaking."
Now, all this story was a clever fiction, but David Mullins did notknow this. He accepted it as plain matter of fact, and his heart beatquickly as he fancied himself winning as large a sum.
"But such cases must be rare," he ventured.
"Not at all. I could tell you more wonderful stories about friends ofmine, though it was the luckiest thing that ever happened to me. Now,will you take the fifty dollars I offered you?"
"Yes, but I don't want to play again to-night. I feel nervous."
"Very good. Meet me to-morrow evening at the gambling house, and themoney shall be ready for you."
Then they parted, and the bookkeeper, who had a headache, went home andto bed. He had that evening lost fifty dollars to Dick Ralston, and soincreased his debt from one hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars.
But his heart was filled with feverish excitement. The story told byRalston had its effect upon him, and he decided to keep on in thedangerous path upon which he had entered. Why pinch himself for fivemonths to pay his debt, when a single evening's luck would clear himfrom every obligation? If Dick Ralston and others could be lucky, whynot he? This was the way Mullins reasoned. He never stopped to considerwhat would be the result if things did not turn out as he hoped--if helost instead of won.
Some weeks passed. The bookkeeper met with varying success at thegaming table. Sometimes he won, sometimes he lost, but on the whole hisdebt to Dick Ralston didn't increase. There were reasons why thegambler decided to go slow. He was playing with Mullins as a cat playswith a mouse.
But our chief concern is with Chester Rand. He found a comfortable roomon Twelfth Street, not far from the office, which, with board, onlycost him five dollars per week. This, to be sure, took all his salary,but he was earning something outside.
On account of so much time being taken up by his work for theprofessor, he did little for the comic weeklies. But occasionally,through his friend, the artist, a five or ten-dollar bill came into hishands. He bought himself a new suit, and some other articles which hefound he needed, and wrote home to ask his mother if she wished anyassistance.
"Thank you for your offer," she replied, "but the money Miss Dolby paysme defrays all my housekeeping expenses and a little more. She iscertainly peculiar, but is good-natured, and never finds fault. She isa good deal of company for me. Of course, I miss you very much, but itcheers me to think you are doing well, and are happy, with goodprospects for the future. There is nothing for you in Wyncombe, as Ivery well know; that is, nothing you would be willing to accept.
"That reminds me to say that Mr. Tripp is having a hard time with boys.He discharged Abel Wood soon after you went to New York. He has triedtwo boys since, but doesn't seem to get suited. When I was in the storeyesterday, he inquired after you. 'Tell him,' he said, 'that if he getstired of New York, he can come back to the store, and I will pay himthree dollars a week!" He said this with an air of a man who is makinga magnificent offer. I told him you were satisfied with your positionin the city. I must tell you of one mean thing he has done.
"He has been trying to induce Miss Dolby to leave me and take boardwith him, offering to take her for two dollars a week less. She told meof this herself. 'I wouldn't go there if he'd take me for nothing,' shesaid, and I believe she meant it. She is not mean, and is willing topay a fair, even a liberal, price, where she is suited. You see,therefore, that neither you nor I need borrow any trouble on thispoint!"
This letter relieved Chester of all anxiety. All things seemed brightto him. What he did for the comic weeklies, added to his work for Prof.Hazlitt, brought him in ten dollars a week on an average. This, addedto the five dollars a week from Mr. Fairchild, gave him an aggregatesalary of fifteen dollars a week, so that he was always amply providedwith money.
"Cousin David," said Felix to the bookkeeper one day, "I don't see howit happens that Chester is so well supplied with cash."
"Is he?" asked Mullins.
"Yes; he has just bought a new suit, a new hat and new shoes. They musthave cost him altogether as much as thirty dollars. How much wages doyou pay him?"
"Five dollars a week."
"And he pays all that for board, for he told me so."
"It does seem a little mysterious. Perhaps his friend the artist helpshim."
"No, he doesn't. I intimated as much one day, but he said no, that hepaid his own way. One evening last week, I saw him going into Daly'sTheatre with a young fellow handsomely dressed--quite a young swell.They had two-dollar seats, and I learned that Chester paid for them. Hedoesn't have any chance to pick up any money in this office, does he?"asked Felix, significantly.
"I can't say as to that. I haven't missed any."
"I wish he would help himself. Of course, he would be discharged, andthen you might find a place for me."
"I may do so yet."
"Is there any chance of it?" asked Felix, eagerly.
"In about two weeks, Mr. Fairchild is going West on business. He willbe gone for a month, probably. In his absence, I shall run the office."
"I see."
"And I shall probably find some reason for discharging Chester Rand,"added the bookkeeper, significantly. "In that case, you will holdyourself ready to slip into his place."
"Bully for you, Cousin David," exclaimed Felix, in exultation.