“You fool!” shouted Bill, furiously, “what can I do? How can I do it, with only an hour or two after dinner? Do you think I can do anything here when the cold weather comes?”
“Talk to Thompson. He'll find a way. Oh, you needn't think he'll cheat you. I'll vouch for him”--Tommy spoke savagely--“a blamed sight quicker than I would for a suspicious lunkhead of an inventor.”
“Yes, he's got you hypnotized,” said Bill, with grim decision. Then, because he saw in Tommy's face the loyalty that he himself felt toward Tommy, he went on: “Well, Tommy, I give up. It's all yours. You can talk to Thompson and get what you can out of him.”
“No, you will talk to him, and then you can come back and tell me I don't know Thompson. And, anyhow, the time of our discovery is now a matter of record. Nobody can get back of the priority of claim. I tell you, Bill, if you must do business, you'd better pick out a man who is as much of a gentleman in his office as he is in his own home.”
“I'm not afraid,” said Bill, boldly. “But you arrange for the meeting.”
Afraid to talk to Thompson? Tommy almost laughed. Then he remembered that he himself was afraid to talk to Thompson about one thing!
But perhaps if he did talk to Thompson about it Thompson might help.
And Tommy, after half a month of peace, once more thought of the secret.
TOMMY was at his old desk in the outer office when Thompson arrived on Monday morning.
“How do you do, Mr. Thompson?” said Tommy, boyishly trying not to look as grateful as he felt.
Thompson stopped and shook hands. “I want to get off some letters. Tell Miss Hollins I need her, won't you? When she comes out you come in”; and Thompson passed on.
Tommy waited for the stenographer to come out of Mr. Thompson's office. Then he walked in.
Tommy, thinking of Bill's needs, said, “I think I'd better.”
Then Tommy told him about Bill's experiments and what he and Bill had done and what Professor Jenkins said, and then showed him Mr. Kemble's letter, which Thompson read carefully. Tommy waited. Thompson folded the letter, returned it to Tommy, and said:
“Tommy, you knew what you didn't have, so you went to the right place to get it.”
Thompson laughed, somewhat to Tommy's surprise, and said, “Go and bring him in now.” Presently Tommy appeared with Bill.