DEVELOPMENT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5686, 3 October 1896, Page 1

DEVELOPMENT.

[By Luke Sharp.] As Stanmore turned the corner and saw the other man approach, he thought there was something familiar in the set of his figuro, in spite of the general dilapidation of his appearance. As they neared each other, Stanmore involuntarily paused and the other looked nervously at him, Buddenly exclaiming, as his eye lighted up: " Good heavens, Mr Stanmore, is this actually you ?" " Yes," replied Stanmore. "It is some time since we met, Mellor, and until you spoke I wasn't quite certain " "I know, I know," interrupted the other, glancing at his worn, almost tattered garments. Most of my old friends have some difficulty in recognising me, but you were never one of that kind, Stanmore. When a man is down on his luck, there are few who remember him." "lam sorry to hear that you are down on your luck. Didn't that patent turn out all you expected ? " A wan smile illumined Mellor's face for a moment. "Which patent, Stanmore?" he asked. " Some railway appliance, wasn't it ? You expected to make a great fortune out of it, don't you remember ? " "Ah, that one. Is it then so long since we met? I wouldn't have believed it. How time does fly! Yes, that was a great invention," He added with a sigh. " But I could never get anyone to look into it It would have made several fortunes, if I could only have gotten it fairly tried, but bribes were required and, as usual, I had no money, nor could I get the ear of any man of influence. I have never yet .had a fair chance, Stanmore, and am beginning to fear I never shall." " Has the patent run out, then ? " " Oh, it never got so far as patenting. A patent does not require much money, but it was always more than I could ever scrape together at one time. I have invented many things since then, but I am a man who has never had a chance, and I am beginning to lose heart now." " I wish I were rich," said Stanmore, " I would then give you a chance on at least one invention." "You are rich enough," cried the other eagerly, "to do me one favour. You are evidently on your way to lunch. Ask. me to have something to eat." "You don't mean to say, Mellor, that you Come along with me to the club." "I am not dressed for the club, Stanmore. Take me somewhere else." After lunch the two men talked together, Stanmore, as the prosperous man of the two, naturally took it upon himself to offer advice, as well as coffee. " Haven't you had enough of this sort of life, Mellor ? Why not give it up, and get some regular employment that mil at least keep you from starvation, and give up this ineffectual dreaming of fortunes ? Remember, not one invention in a thousand succeeds, even when the inventor gets someone to back him." "Shall I sell myself as a packhorse," cried Mellor, who, being fed, had regained his normal enthusiasm, " when I know that I have the capabilities of making a thousand men rich ? There are honest labourers in plenty, but you must not forget, Stanmore, although you have paid for my lunch, that lam one man in a million. No amount of disaster will ever drive that knowledge from my brain. I know it, I tell you, and I shall yet meet the man whom I will convince ;• but even if I die in the s-utter, I shall die as confident in myself as I am at this moment." "You always were confident enough, but what has it all amounted to ?" " Nothing, I grant you — so far. But the time will come. You spoke a while since of my railway invention. That would have taken much money to develop, and it is now superseded, but it was great in its time. I have now an invention, that if once put on the market would soon be used in every household. It is as perishable as soap, and as indispensable and as cheap. That is the kind of thing out of which immense fortunes are made. Now, how much- do you imagine stands between me and success? A beggarly .£4O. If I had .£4O in my hand to-day I would use the first five of it to get me a decent suit of clothes, a new hat, and a pair of boots : the rest would make me a millionaire." "You would certainly be sure of your outfit, but I should doubt the rest." " Did you ever gambles Stanmore?" " I never did." " I thought not. Then you must have a little money in your possession. Gamble on me to the extent of .£4O. It is surely as good to bet on a man as on a horse." " But I don't bet on horses." "True. I have been using the wrong argument. I intended to use that phrase with some one who put a little on a horse now and then. But neve* mind. Will you give me my chance ? If I fail, I will seek what you call honest work and will pay you back by instalments." " I'll do it, Mellor, for old time's sake and because I know you will never settle down to regular- work until you have had your chance, as you call it. But you must promise me that after the money is gone you will not say that all yoxi needed was* that much more. You promise to take to your engineering trade and stick to it." " I promise you." " Very well. I will write you a cheque for the amount." " You must do moi*e than that, Sfcanmore. You must give it to me in money. No sane man wouid cash a cheque for me. I look too much like a tramp. Now I shall write you out a note of hand for .£40,000. The note will be worth that amount inside of a year or it will be worth nothing." "I shall accept no note from you, Mellor. If it makes, you easier in your mind write me an acknowledgement of the £4.0, but that is a rmality which will prove unnecessary, if you succeed you will pay me ; if you don't, you won't." "I see you still don't believe in me, although you are giving me the money. Well, that is all the more to your credit, Stanmore." Mellor wrote, on a sheet of paper the waiter brought him a note for the amount and handed the document to his friend, who putiMn his waistcoat pocket. They went out together to the bank and Stanmore handed him the money. It was three months after that the two mot again and once more Stanmore laid some difficulty in recognizing Mellor, but this time not on account .of his seedy appearance. It was Stanmore who did the accosting, as the other was hurrying by. Mellor greeted him with great cordiality. "Well, old man," he cried, "are you getting anxious about the mouvy? I really believe you are going to get th©

.£40,000 I gave yen the note for. Big usury, Stanmore." "You forget; that I refused anything but the acknowledgement of the .£4O. I am glad to see that you are evidently getting «n." " It's all in the air yet, Stanmore. You understand how this sort of thing goes. Just as you get them to a point they dissolve and there you are. This is an uncertain world, my boy." " Thaf s what I told you. But the money I gave you must be gone long ago T* " It is and hundreds more with it, but I would not take two hundred thousand in my hand at this moment for my chances. I've got a little syndicate together and— well, if s too long a story to tell just now, but everythings going my way, thanks to you." "I'm very glad indeed to hear it. I confess that I looked on my loan as so much money thrown away." "I know you did. You never really believed in me, Stanmore, and yet no man knew me better. Well, I am not yet exactly in a position to repay -you at the moment but — " "I had no intention of dunning you, Mellor. lam not in need of the mousy." "Quite so. I hope you didn't think I had forgotten it. Well, I must be off — the syndicate meets .at three, and I am chairman." * Stanmore stood and looked after his friend as he hurried through the crowd. There was certainly an air of prosperity about him. "It would be rather odd if he pulled it off after all," Stanmore said to himself as the other disappeared. Months passed, and now and then Stanmore saw in the papers huge advertisements of companies promoted to work various patents of Mellor's, but whether 01* mt the public subscribed the enormous stdts asked, he had no means of knowing. More than a year had gone by before he saw anything more of Mellor, then as he was; passing along Lombard Street, he noticed his friend standing with one foot on the step of a private hansom, giving hurried orders to a man on the pavement, who received them obsequiously. In the hansom was seated an elderly gentleman of distinguished appearance. Something in Mellor's manner suggested the millionaire. ■ Stanmore touched hfm on the shoulder just as he was about to step into the hansom. Mellor looked hastily round, a shade of annoyance on his face. Be wrinkled his brow, as if he recognised the man who accosted him, but could not. recollect his name. . " You seem to be prospering, MelJor." "Ah, Stanmore. How are you? How are you ? I see so many people, you know, that sometimes I get a little mixed. Anything I can do for you ? Yon catch me at rather a busy moment. My friend, Lord Raymon, is waiting for me; we have a board meeting on. Look me up some time, won't youf You will excuse me now, I know?" " Certainly. I had nothing partteular to say to you, except to offer my congratulations, I suppose. The world seams to be using you well." " Oh, the world's all right if you know how to take it. By the way, there was some little matter between us, 4000dol, wasn't itp You got that all right, I suppose?" . • ' "If you are talking of money, it was merely a matter of £410. No, I never re- " ceived it to my knowledge. But there is no hurry, you know." "Now that is very annoying. That shows how we are served by those we pay to serve us. One can't attend to everything one's self, and so things go wrong. I told my secretary months ago to see to that. I will make a note of it. Do look me up when you have time. Good bye." The hansom drove away and again Stanmore stood and looked, unheeding the hurrying crowd. He turned at last with a sigh. Again the secretary probably forgot, for as the months passed the money did not come. A friend of Stanmore's said to him one" day in the club: "You know Mellor, don't you ? He is a member of this club." " I knew him once." "I thought you knew him intimately. You told me a year or two ago that you lent him the money that gave him his start." " I don't remember saying that, but if I did, it was quite true." "Then won't you give me a letter of introduction to him. Tve got a little scheme on hand and I want him to lend his name to it. Anything with Mellor's name attached goes now-a-days." " I would rather not give a letter of introduction to him." " Have j ou quarrelled with him ?' " Oh, no." "It would be a tremendous obligementto me." " I doubt if it would do you any good." " I'll take the risk of that, if you will be kind enough to oblige a fellow." "Very well." A week later the friend said to Stanmore : " I'm afraid I took Mellor on the wrong tack. I had great difficulty in getting to see him, and when at last audience was granted me and I was ushered into the presence of the great man, I ventured to remind him of his obligations to you." "Oh, but you shouldn't have done that." " I know I shouldn't. He said he never met you in his life, and swore like a trooper. He sa^d that eveiy second man in the city claimed to have given him hii starb in life, and he was tired of being pestered with them. He was a self-made man, he added, and no one had ever helped him, or he would have been a millionaire years ago." " Ho said all that, did he ?" " Yes, and much more." " I shall have to call upon him and stir up his recollection a bit. Where is he to be found ? " " Yon will find him to-night drinking champagne with some of his friends in the upper smoking room. In fact, I have just left him." " You don't mean to tell me that he made these statements in the presence of the men upstairs ? You never presented my letter to him there ? " "I had to, or not at all. He refused to see me in his own office." "Oh, well, this serves me right for giving the letter of introduction. It isn't usual to do business in a club, you know." "I am very sorry, Stanmore, but it was a case of needs must." ,' " 'We will say no more about it, but the worm ultimately turns, and I am myself going to break through all the rules that oughfc to .gwwra ciszEsed .society.. Cone

upstairs -with me and yon will see me collect a -Qnee^Qßr-old debt." Mellor was somewhat flushed with wine when flfauriinqpy approached the table at which he sat, s&mnmded by his admiring friends. " Meßor, for three years you have owed me .£4O, I want it, and I want it now." rr Who are your roared MeUor. "I never owed you a penny, and if I did, apply at my counting house for it. If you are a member of this club I shall have youexpeHed for your impudence in — -" "Yon may take what action yon please after ; but now I want the forty pounds. I'll throw off the interest. As yon deny the debt, here is the note written, by your own hand. Perhaps some of your frien d ' may recognise the signature, i understand it is a very valuable autograph now ; but it was not when that was written." Mellor, purple with rage, threw a handful of gold and notes on the table crying : . " Take what you want, you hound, then I 3hall haveyou driven from this club. It ia not the first time I have been black- . mailed." " Oh, no, Mr Mellor. You will count out the notes to the exact amount of forty pounds and hand them to me, after which I will give you your receipt. I call on you to pay here, because you have made statements in presence of this company which are untrue. Therefore I want them contradicted before the company disperses. If you, pay the money at once and make an apology that is acceptable to me, I will say nothing more. If not, I shall publish the whole particulars, with a fac-simile of your note, and I will give the reason why you refused my invitation to lunch at this club •the day that' note was written, and although the reason is not so discreditable to you — in facts no discredit to you at all— as some of your actions since then, still, perhaps,' you would prefer it not to be made public." Mellor glared at him for a moment, murmured, an apology, and handed his former friund four ten pound note 3.