“No, they don’t,” Coleman said with a wink. “But they do let me keep the money I make when I sell the stocks. Say, I feel like I should give you some kind of reward for returning my wallet since you saved my bacon. I know you don’t need the money, but how about if I give each of you fellows a hundred to cover your expenses while you’re in town at least?”
“That’s awfully sporting of you, Coleman—” Thornton started to say, probably thinking a hundred sounded good, but someone knocked on the door and called, “Telegram!”
“Excuse me,” Coleman said and went to answer.
“Say, Thornton, did you ever hear of a scheme like this?” Jake whispered while Coleman was busy with the bellhop.
“Sure,” Thornton said, although he was most certainly lying. “Those Wall Street types are always manipulating the market somehow.” Which was probably true, at least.
Coleman tipped the bellhop and sent him on his way. Then he hurried over to the desk and consulted his cipher to translate the telegram he’d just received. When he’d finished, he said, “I’ve just gotten instructions to buy some stocks, so I’m going to have to go to the brokerage right away. Before I do, though, I want to give you fellows your reward.”
“We couldn’t take a reward,” Jake said, completely ignoring the black look Thornton was giving him. “Anybody would’ve done the same thing.”
Thornton wouldn’t have, Elizabeth was certain, but Coleman said, “Don’t be too sure of that, young fellow. I know you’re both honorable men, but I still think I owe you something. Tell you what—why don’t I take the two hundred I was going to give you and buy stock with it for each of you? This order I just got is going to pay off big, and I’m going to sell by the end of the day, so you can keep the original investment and whatever your share earns. It should at least double.”
Even Thornton smiled at that prospect. “I think I could live with that, Coleman.”
“I don’t know much about stock, but it sounds good to me,” Jake said. “If it’s going to double, I have a notion to give you fifty of my own, too, if you wouldn’t mind.”
“Oh, Jake, do you really think you should?” Elizabeth said with a worried frown.
“You’re right to be careful, Miss Perkins, but in this case, you can’t go wrong,” Coleman said. “I can guarantee your brother will double his money.”
Before Elizabeth could protest again, Jake pulled out his wallet and passed Coleman a fifty.
“How about it, Thornton?” Jake said. “Don’t you want to get in on this deal?”
“Mr. Thornton is as careful as your sister,” Coleman said with a smile when Thornton made no move for his own wallet. “I don’t blame him for hesitating. But I think I’ll have your confidence by the end of the day. Can I meet you gentlemen in the hotel bar at around six o’clock to give you your earnings?”
They agreed that would be satisfactory, and Coleman tucked the money into an envelope. Then he thanked them again and sent them on their way.
“I can’t believe you gave him your own money,” Elizabeth scolded her brother when they were in the elevator.
“Do you think I made a mistake?” Jake asked Thornton.
“I guess you’ll find out,” Thornton said, apparently gratified that Jake was finally asking his advice.
“And maybe you’ll be sorry you didn’t give him anything yourself,” Jake said with a grin.
• • •
“Oh, Jake, how could you have been so foolish?” Elizabeth cried, blinking back tears. Two days had passed since they’d found Mr. Coleman’s wallet, and Coleman’s stock deals had turned the original two hundred reward dollars and Jake’s fifty into over a thousand. Thornton had even given Coleman some of his own money to invest the last time. This success had led Jake to sign a check for a hundred thousand dollars he didn’t have in order to purchase stock that Mr. Coleman had recommended.
And now he was in trouble.
“It’s not foolish, Betty,” Jake said. They were sitting with Thornton in the empty hotel dining room in the middle of the afternoon, discussing the situation. “This Coleman knows what he’s doing, and the stock he told us to buy with that check did exactly what he said it would. We made a fortune! Just think what the Old Man will say when he finds out,” he added, his eyes literally sparkling with glee at the prospect. She only wished she thought the Old Man would really be pleased by any of this.
“Then why can’t you just collect your money? Wouldn’t that cover the check, too?” she asked.
“Miss Perkins,” Thornton said gently, “it’s really nothing to concern yourself about. The brokerage is just being careful, and we did give them a worthless check when we bought the stock.”
“We just didn’t realize they’d contact the bank and find out we didn’t even have an account there,” Jake said, as if this were some unimportant detail.
“I told you not to put your name on a check so large,” Elizabeth said, sniffling again. “You heard me say it, Mr. Thornton, but you let him do it anyway.”
“All we have to do is come up with the cash to cover the check, and we can collect our profits,” Jake said. “Betty, we made over a hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”
“But only if you have a hundred thousand in cash to cover the check. How on earth will you manage that?”
Jake nodded at Thornton. “Our friend here is going to help.”
Elizabeth let him see her admiration. “Oh, Mr. Thornton, we hardly know you. We couldn’t ask you to do that.”
“Why not?” he asked. “Jake and I are partners.”
“And Oscar and I are going to split the profits,” Jake said.
“Oh,” Elizabeth said. “I didn’t realize.”
“Which is why I’m putting up half of the money to cover the check,” Thornton said.
“But where will the other half come from?” Elizabeth asked.
“I’ve got those bonds Grandmother gave me that I can sell for about thirty,” Jake said.
“But what will Father say?”
Jake waved away her concerns. “He’ll never know, because I’ll buy them back when I get my money. And I thought we could use your inheritance, too.”
“You want me to help you?” she cried, suddenly furious. “But that’s the money Aunt Mabel left me for my dowry.”
“It’s only for a few days,” Jake said.