Strictly Business: More Stories of the Four Million
John Stuart Mill · en
“Good morning, Mr. Haskins—sir?—it’s natural, thank you—don’t be quite
so fresh . . . Hello, Johnny—ten, fifteen, twenty—chase along now or
they’ll take the letters off your cap . . . Beg pardon—count it again,
please—Oh, don’t mention it . . . Vaudeville?—thanks; not on your
moving picture—I was to see Carter in Hedda Gabler on Wednesday night
with Mr. Simmons . . . ’Scuse me, I thought that was a quarter . . .
Twenty-five and seventy-five’s a dollar—got that ham-and-cabbage habit
yet. I see, Billy . . . Who are you addressing?—say—you’ll get all
that’s coming to you in a minute . . . Oh, fudge! Mr. Bassett—you’re
always fooling—no—? Well, maybe I’ll marry you some day—three, four and
sixty-five is five . . . Kindly keep them remarks to yourself, if you
please . . . Ten cents?—’scuse me; the check calls for seventy—well,
maybe it is a one instead of a seven . . . Oh, do you like it that way,
Mr. Saunders?—some prefer a pomp; but they say this Cleo de Merody does
suit refined features . . . and ten is fifty . . . Hike along there,
buddy; don’t take this for a Coney Island ticket booth . . . Huh?—why,
Macy’s—don’t it fit nice? Oh, no, it isn’t too cool—these light-weight
fabrics is all the go this season . . . Come again, please—that’s the
third time you’ve tried to—what?—forget it—that lead quarter is an old
friend of mine . . . Sixty-five?—must have had your salary raised, Mr.
Wilson . . . I seen you on Sixth Avenue Tuesday afternoon, Mr. De
Forest—swell?—oh, my!—who is she? . . . What’s the matter with it?—why,
it ain’t money—what?—Columbian half?—well, this ain’t South America . .
. Yes, I like the mixed best—Friday?—awfully sorry, but I take my
jiu-jitsu lesson on Friday—Thursday, then . . . Thanks—that’s sixteen
times I’ve been told that this morning—I guess I must be beautiful . .
. Cut that out, please—who do you think I am? . . . Why, Mr.
Westbrook—do you really think so?—the idea!—one—eighty and twenty’s a
dollar—thank you ever so much, but I don’t ever go automobile riding
with gentlemen—your aunt?—well, that’s different—perhaps . . . Please
don’t get fresh—your check was fifteen cents, I believe—kindly step
aside and let . . . Hello, Ben—coming around Thursday evening?—there’s
a gentleman going to send around a box of chocolates, and . . . forty
and sixty is a dollar, and one is two . . .”
About the middle of one afternoon the dizzy goddess Vertigo—whose other
name is Fortune—suddenly smote an old, wealthy and eccentric banker
while he was walking past Hinkle’s, on his way to a street car. A
wealthy and eccentric banker who rides in street cars is—move up,
please; there are others.