gh to amuse Mr. Lamb and occupy his spare time, which was
really about all he had asked of the glue project. He had "all the MONEY
anybody ought to want," he said, when Adams urged him; and he could
"start up this little glue side-line" at any time; the formula was safe
in their two heads.

At intervals Adams would seek opportunity to speak of "the little glue
side-line" to his patron, and to suggest that the years were passing;
but Lamb, petting other hobbies, had lost interest. "Oh, I'll start it
up some day, maybe. If I don't, I may turn it over to my heirs: it's
always an asset, worth something or other, of course. We'll probably
take it up some day, though, you and I."

The sun persistently declined to rise on that day, and, as time went
on, Adams saw that his rather timid urgings bored his employer, and he
ceased to bring up the subject. Lamb apparently forgot all about glue,
but Adams discovered that unfortunately there was someone else who
remembered it.

"It's really YOURS," she argued, that painful day when for the first
time she suggested his using his knowledge for the benefit of himself
and his family. "Mr. Campbell might have had a right to part of it, but
he died and didn't leave any kin, so it belongs to you."

"Suppose J. A. Lamb hired me to saw some wood," Adams said. "Would the
sticks belong to me?"

"He hasn't got any right to take your invention and bury it," she
protested. "What good is it doing him if he doesn't DO anything with it?
What good is it doing ANYBODY? None in the world! And what harm would
it do him if you went ahead and did this for yourself and for your
children? None in the world! And what could he do to you if he WAS old
pig enough to get angry with you for doing it? He couldn't do a single
thing, and you've admitted he couldn't, yourself. So what's your reason
for depriving your children and your wife of the benefits you know you
could give 'em?"

"Nothing but decency," he answered; and she had her reply ready for
that. It seemed to him that, strive as he would, he could not reach her
mind with even the plainest language; while everything that she said to
him, with such vehemence, sounded like so much obstinate gibberish.
Over and over he pressed her with the same illustration, on the point of
ownership, though he thought he was varying it.

"Suppose he hired me to build him a house: would that be MY house?"

"He didn't hire you to build him a house. You and Campbell inve