"Yeh?" grins Alex. "Well, I'll tell you somethin': As long as I'm goin' to all this trouble, I might as well get somethin' outta it. I'll bet you ten thousand to five the girl marries him and he lands the contract. If he loses either one, or both, you win!" "Write it!" I says. He hain't no more than handed the thing over to me, when in comes Jared. His face is all flushed and he acts like a guy walkin' in his sleep. "I know neither of you will believe it," he says, in a far-away voice. "In fact, I think I'm dreaming, myself!" "What did she say?" demands Alex, shakin' him. "She said yes!" hollers Jared, in a voice that must of woke up sleepers in Kansas City. "Let me have my hat, I want to go over to her right away!" "Well, what do you think of my dope now, hey?" says Alex. "I'll never be able to thank you for what you've done for me!" says Jared, holdin' out his hand. "Why, just imagine! This wonderful girl is going to be my wife and I had no more idea--Why, this girl is as different from any other as--But you wouldn't understand--" "I understand perfect!" says Alex, shakin' his hand. "And now the next thing is that contract, which should be a cinch for you after what you just done. Go over and see her now, but don't forget them figures on the--" "Contract?" butts in Jared, jammin' on his hat. "What's a contract to me now? I'm going to marry the greatest girl in the world, man! Can you imagine her accepting me! Oh, boy!!!!!" With that he does a few little fancy steps around the room, throwing a twenty-dollar pillow at Alex and a book at me. This here's a new angle, and Alex grabs him. "Look here!" he says. "I know you're in a hurry, so I don't want to hold you up now; but you wanna recover from this here till you land that contract! You'll lose your job if you don't, and you ain't gonna start off married life outta work, are you?" "I should worry!" sings Jared, still one-steppin' about the room. "I can get another job--forty of 'em! I can get anything at all, now. She's going to marry me, she's going to marry me!" [Illustration: "She's going to marry me, she's going to marry me!"] He dashes for the door, and Alex runs after him. "What time is the appointment with the big steel men?" he shrieks in his ear. "What's a big steel man to me?" asks Jared, struggling to get away. "What's anything? I'll bet she would have accepted me long ago if--" "What time is that conference?" howls Alex. "I care not!" sings Jared, throwing the phone book up in the air, and a idiotic grin at me. "I'm going to have a quiet wedding and--" I thought Alex was gonna choke him! Personally, I developed a bad case of the hystericals. "The time?" screams Alex. "Eleven o'clock," says Jared. "Will you promise me on your word of honor to meet me at that hotel at ten to-morrow, in view of what I done for you?" says Alex. "Sure!" hollers Jared. "I'll promise anything! Look what's been promised to me!"