“Vell,” said T-S--and suddenly he had an inspiration. “I know. I git Mary Magna to give it! She's a voman!” Carpenter turned with sudden wonder. “Then women are permitted to have hearts?” “Shoost so, Mr. Carpenter! Ha, ha, ha! Ve business fellers--my Gawd, if you knew vot business is, you'd vunder we got hearts enough to keep our blood movin'.” “Business,” said Carpenter, still pondering. “Then it's business--” “Yes, business--” put in T-S. “Dat's it!” And he lowered his voice, and looked round once more. “It's time we vas talkin' business now! Mr. Carpenter, I be frank vit you, I put all my cards on de table. I seen de papers shoost now, vot vunderful tings you do--healin' de sick and quellin' de mobs and all dat--and I tink I gotta raise my offer, Mr. Carpenter. If you sign a contract I got here in my pocket, I pay you a tousand dollars a veek. Vot you say, my friend?” Carpenter did not say anything, and so the magnate began to expatiate upon the artistic triumphs he would achieve. “I make such a picture fer you as de vorld never seen before. You can do shoost vot you vant in dat story--all de tings you like to do, and nuttin' you didn't like. I never said dat to no man before, but I know you now, Mr. Carpenter, and all I ask you is to heal de sick and quell de mobs, shoost like today. I pledge you my vord--I put it in de contract if you say so--I make nuttin' but Bible pictures.” “That is very kind of you, Mr. T-S, and I thank you for the compliment; but I fear you will have to get some one else to play my part.” Said T-S: “I vant you to tink, Mr. Carpenter, vot it vould mean if you had a tousand dollars every week. You could feed all de babies of de strikers. I vouldn't care vot you did--you could feed my own strikers, ven I git some at Eternal City. A tousand dollars a veek is an awful pile o' money to have!” “I know that, my friend.” “And vot's more, I pay you five tousand cash on de signin' of de contract. You can go right in now vit dese strikers--maybe you could beat Prince's vit all dat money!” Then, as Carpenter still shook his head: “I give you vun more raise, my friend--but dat's de last, you gotta believe me. I pay you fifteen hunded a veek. I aint ever paid so much money to a green actor in my life before, and I don't tink anybody else in de business ever did.” But still Carpenter shook his head! “Vould you mind tellin' me vy, Mr. Carpenter?” “Not at all. You tell me that I may quell mobs for you. But there are mobs in your business that I could not quell.” “Vot mobs?” “Among others, yourself.” “Me?” “Yes--you are a mob; a mob of money! You storm the souls of men, and of women too. It will take a stronger force than I to quell you.”