"Come in!" he yelled, and, as there was no answer, walked to the door
and opened it.
A young man stood in the doorway--a young man very earnest and very
mysterious--none other than James Jacobus Jelf.
"Oh, it's you, is it?" said Bones unfavourably "I thought it was
somebody important."
Jelf tiptoed into the room and closed the door securely behind him.
"Old man," he said, in tones little above a whisper, "I've got a
fortune for you."
"Dear old libeller, leave it with the lift-man," said Bones. "He has a
wife and three children."
Mr. Jelf examined his watch.
"I've got to get away at three o'clock, old man," he said.
"Don't let me keep you, old writer," said Bones with insolent
indifference.
Jelf smiled.
"I'd rather not say where I'm going," he volunteered. "It's a scoop,
and if it leaked out, there would be the devil to pay."
"Oh!" said Bones, who knew Mr. Jelf well. "I thought it was something
like that."
"I'd like to tell you, Tibbetts," said Jelf regretfully, "but you know
how particular one has to be when one is dealing with matters affecting
the integrity of ministers."
"I know, I know," responded Bones, wilfully dense, "especially huffy
old vicars, dear old thing."
"Oh, them!" said Jelf, extending his contempt to the rules which govern
the employment of the English language. "I don't worry about those
poor funny things. No, I am speaking of a matter--you have heard about
G.?" he asked suddenly.
"No," said Bones with truth.
Jelf looked astonished.
"What!" he said incredulously. "You in the heart of things, and don't
know about old G.?"
"No, little Mercury, and I don't want to know," said Bones, busying
himself with his papers.
"You'll tell me you don't know about L. next," he said, bewildered.
"Language!" protested Bones. "You really mustn't use Sunday words,
really you mustn't."
Then Jelf unburdened himself. It appeared that G. had been engaged to
L.'s daughter, and the engagement had been broken off....
Bones stirred uneasily and looked at his watch.
"Dispense with the jolly old alphabet," he said wearily, "and let us
get down to the beastly personalities."
Thereafter Jelf's conversation condensed itself to the limits of a
human understanding. "G" stood for Gregory--Felix Gregory; "L" for
Lansing, who apparently had no Christian name, nor found such appendage
necessary, since he was dead. He had invented a lamp, and that lamp
had in some way come into Jelf's possession. He was exploiting the
invention on behalf of the inventor's daughter, and had named it--he
said this with great deliberation and emphasis--"The Tibbetts-Jelf
Motor Lamp."
Bones made a disparaging noise, but was interested.
The Tibbetts-Jelf Lamp was something new in motor lamps. It was a lamp
which had all the advantages of the old lamp, plus properties which no
lamp had ever had before, and it had none of the disadvantages of any
lamp previously introduced, and, in fact, had no disadvantages
whatsoever. So Jelf told Bones with great earnestness.