e brow while I
was doin' it!

Then came the rehearsin'. Say, you should have seen me risin' dignified
behind the washstand in my room, strikin' a Bill Bryan pose, and smilin'
calm at the bedposts as I launched out on my speech. Not that I was
tryin' to chuck any flowers of oratory. What I aimed to do was to tell
'em about Rowley's schemes as simple and straight away as I could,
usin' one-syllable words for the most part, cannin' the slang, and
soundin' as many final G's as my tongue would let me. Before I turned in
too, I had it almost pat; but I hardly dared to go to sleep for fear it
would get away from me.

Say, but it ain't any cinch, this breakin' into public life, is it? The
obscure guy with the dinner pail and the calloused palms thinks he has
hard lines; but when the whistle blows he can wipe his trowel on his
overalls and forget it all until next day. But here I tosses around
restless in the feathers, and am up at daybreak goin' over my piece
again, trembly in the knees, with a vivid mental picture of how cheap
I'd feel if I should go to pieces when the time came.

A good breakfast pepped me up a lot, though, and by noon I had them few
remarks of mine so I could say 'em backwards or forwards. How they was
goin' to sound outside of my room was another matter. I had my doubts
along that line; but I was goin' to give 'em the best I had in stock.

It was most time for the session to begin when Vincent boy trots in with
a card announcin' Mr. Henry Clay Rowley. And, say, when this
smooth-faced party in the sporty Scotch tweed suit and the new model
pearl gray lid shows up, I has to gasp! He's had himself tailored and
barbered until he looks like an English investor come over huntin' six
per cent. dividends for a Bank of England surplus.

"Zowie!" says I. "Some speed to you, Mr. Rowley. And class? Say, you
look like you was about to dump a trunkful of Steel preferred on the
market, instead of a few patents."

"I'm giving your advice a thorough trial, you see," says he.

"That's the stuff!" says I. "It's the dolled up gets the dollars these
days. Be sure and sit where they'll get a good view."

Then we went into the directors' room and heard Willis G. Briscoe
deliver his knock. He does it snappy and vigorous, and when he's through
it didn't listen like anything more could be said. He humps his eyebrows
humorous when Mr. Robert announces that perhaps the board might like to
hear another view of the subject.