"Did they sting you?" Wallingford inquired with a dawning interest that was more than courteous sympathy. "I guess _not_!" snapped Mr. Klug triumphantly, and the other made quick note of the fact that the man was familiar with current slang. "I was too smart for them." Then, after a reflective pause, he added: "Maybe. They might steal my patent some way." Patent! Mr. Wallingford's small, thick ears suddenly twitched forward. "Been trying to sell one?" he asked, pausing with his cigar half way to his mouth and waiting for the answer. "Three hundred dollars they offer me!" exploded Mr. Klug, again smiting both fists on his knees. "Six years I worked on it in my little shop of nights to get up a machine that was different from all the rest and that would work right, and when I get it done and get my patent and take it to them, they already had a copy of my patent and showed it to me. They bought it from the Government for five cents, and called me the same as a thief and offered me three hundred dollars!" Wallingford pondered seriously. "You must have a good machine," he finally announced. Mr. Klug thought that he was "being made fun of." "It _is_ a good machine. It's as good a machine as any they have got. There is no joke about it!" "I'm not joking," Wallingford insisted. "Who are the people?" Mr. Klug considered for a suspicious moment, but the appearance of this gentleman, the very embodiment of sterling worth, was most reassuring. Beneath that broad chest and behind that diamond scarf pin there could rest no duplicity. Moreover, Mr. Klug was still angry, and anger and discretion do not dwell together. "The United Sales Recording Machine Company of New Jersey," he stated, rolling out the name with a roundness which betrayed how much in respect and even awe he held it. Wallingford was now genuinely interested. "Then you _have_ a good patent," he repeated. "If they offered you three hundred dollars it is worth thousands, otherwise they would not buy it at any price. They have hundreds of patents now, and you have something that they have not covered." "Four hundred and twelve patents they own," corrected Mr. Klug. "I have been over every one in the last six years, every little wire and bar and spring in them, and mine is a whole new machine, like nothing they have got. They have got one man that does nothing else but look after these patents. You know what he said? 'Yes, you have worked six years for a chance to hold us up. But we're used to it. It happens to us every day. If you think you can manufacture your machine and make any money, go at it.' He told me that!" Wallingford nodded comprehendingly.