"
"You, Father! But why you?" Gladys cried.
"Because they were incurred in the name of the Firm. I can meet them
all right, but it will be a big drain on my resources. That's worry
number one. Worry number two is about young Davenport--Shiel. I don't
know what to do about him. He was entirely dependent on Dick. His work
as an artist doesn't bring him in enough to keep him in tobacco, and
the worst of it is he doesn't seem capable of turning his hand to
anything else; I can't see him starve, so I shall have to allow him
something."
"He seemed to me very intelligent," Gladys observed, "couldn't you
take him into the Firm? Who are you going to have in his uncle's
place?"
"That's the trouble!" John Martin replied. "I do feel I want some one.
I am getting on in years, my brain is not so vigorous as it used to
be, and I can't go on inventing fresh tricks _ad infinitum_. Moreover,
I need assistance in the purely business side of the concern. I want
some one who is both business-like and inventive--some one young,
brilliant and reliable."
"You couldn't sell out I suppose?"
"No, not just at present. Thanks to poor old Dick the Firm is in
rather a precarious condition! Another six months over, and we may be
perfectly all right. No! I must stick on, and get another partner. And
look here, Gladys, you know I let you do pretty nearly everything you
like. But let me beg of you not to be too friendly with that young
Davenport.
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