Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 October 1908 — Obliging Jordan. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Obliging Jordan.

By, W. F. Bryan.

’ Copyrighted. 1908, by Associated ] > Literary Press. ( *WM4**Vt*V**W*M**MM<MMMI I “Well, sir?” George Jordan swung around In his office chair and regarded Sidney Harlan with a portentous frown. “I though I told you not to bother me again about Vera until you had money enough to support a wife.” “You did,” assented Sidney, “but, you see”— "I don’t see you,” broke in Jordan, “and I have had an eye on you, too, sir. You have some SB,OOO in the bank, drawing 3 per cent. I offered you an opportunity to invest it at 10 per cent, and sou refused.” “But, you see, I thought"— “That’s the trouble. You don’t think right!” thundered Jordan. “You are afraid to risk It in a speculation which, I believe, will do better even than the 10 per cent I ( prophesied. Then you hang on to that absurd farm which is 'bound to be valuable some day’ because it Is on the water front” “It is valuable already,” interrupted Sidney. “In a year from now”— “It will be worth Just as much as it is worth today and will be the same five years hence. A paltry bank account and a hundred acres of your farm, and yet you insist that you are entitled to come here and bother me about Vera every six months. It’s absurd. It wastes my time.” “But this time”— broke in Sidney plea<yngly. . “Last time it was the rumor that a trolley line was to be built, and you wanted to cut your farm up into building lots. You’re dippy about the value of that land. I’ve got 200 acres more

than that I’ll sell you for your SB,OOO cash. That’s about S4O an acre.’’ “I’ll take you,” agreed Sidney as he drew out bis check book. “Will you hare the transfer made out at once?” Jordan stared Incredulously. It seemed too goo«|-to be true. Though he was a rich man, Jordan was terribly pressed for ready cash with which to swing certain deals, and this SB,OOO would solve several financial problems. Rising, he led the way across the hall to the offices of his lawyers, instructing them to make out a deed to Harlan, and the latter sat down to wait for it, being assured that it would require but a few minutes. The clerk did not explain that a similar deed had been drawn up only a few weeks before, when Jordan had sought to sell the ground for half of what he was getting from Harlan. The deal had fallen through, and It only remained to recopy the document with the new name and terms. In twenty minutes Harlan owned the property and an office boy was on his way to the bank with the- check for Jordan. Harlan followed Jordan to his own offices, but at the'door the elder turned. “If you think you ijave won my admiration with any such grand stand play as this,” he said brutally, “you have made a mistake. You’re paying twice what that land is worth just to. call my bluff. That’s not the sort of man I want for a son-in-law. I want a man who can drive a bargain, not one who can be fooled the way you have been.” “If you will let me explain”— began Harlan; but, with a laugh, Jordan shut the door between them. He was still chuckling over the incident when a card was brought in, to be followed by a sharp, Gager looking man, a local real estate agent “Uncommon cheerful you look,” cominented the' newcomer as he took a chair uninvited. "Just been turning down my daughter’s suitor and getting rid of a lot of useless real estate by loading it on him,” responded Jordan, with a chuckle. “That’s the seventh time I’ve told Harlan that he couldn’t marry Vera.” “And you sold him that parcel of land out by the lake?” asked the other man. ♦ Jordan nodded. “And at forty an

acre,” he said, with a grin. “Got rid of the whole 200 acres. He’s an idea that some of these days the land is going to be worth something. I knew he had SB,OOO In bank, and I le* him buy the lot for just what he had. I bet he can’t even pay the taxes.” “You haven’t delivered the deeds yet, have you?” “Did you think I was going to give him a chance to cool off?” demanded Jordan. “That’s not my way of doing business. I just took him across the hall and had the deeds drawn and turned over to him. The money Is in the bank by now.’’ “And you can’t possibly get it back?” asked the other man anxiously. “I couldn't be forced to take it back.” was the answer, followed by a rumbling laugh. “I’ve put that parcel on poor Harlan so tight that it’s going to stick. What’s worrying you about it?” “Jordan, Harlan didn't tell you that be had given forty acres of bis land to the Mower and Reaper people, did he?" asked the agent. “They’re going to take a site on the other side of the river,” said Jordan. “I picked up a few acres cheap just the other side of their plant They employ several thousand people, and there will be a fortune in sites for homes for the workmen.” “They were planning to build over there,” said the visitor slowly, “but the cost of the land was run up when it was discovered who wanted it Then Harlan came along and, heard of th® deal and gave them forty acres outright and looked to the other sixty to make his profit. Now you’re made him a present of 200 acres for S4O when I came to offer you an even SIOO an acre.* For a moment Jordan’s face purpled. He knew the ground, and he knew that the 300 acres were about all that could be Used by the factory and the town that would arise near by. fit would l>e Impossible to pick up any more land, for Harlan's holdings were on a peninsula, and the Jordan tract was immediately behind that On the other side of the road was a marsh that it. would scarcely pay to fill in. Harlan had the game in bls own hands. The visitor took his departure when he found that Jordan had no land to sell, and the old man was left alone to think things over. As the result of his cogitations he reached for the telephone and called up his house. when he heard his daughter’s voice in answer. “Tell him to wait,” he added. “Ask him to stay to dinner. We might as well settle when you two are to be married.” “I wanted to let him in on my information.” explained Sidney when Vera demanded light on the peculiar message. “Itseems that he wants his son-in-law to be able to do him, and— I did him—just to oblige.” “And you'll sell the land back to him?” urged Vera. “Not a bit of it,” asserted Harlan. “He wouldn’t really like me if I did.”

“YOU’RE PAYING TWICE WHAT THAT LAND IS WORTH.”