Part 46 (1/2)
”Yes,” said Dr. Eaton. ”And I have been to see him and I think it is a poor loan unless his business is looked into more closely. Now, Miss Doane, I have an idea. My friend, Frank Stillman, has just started into business as an efficiency engineer.”
”What's that?” asked Drusilla, interested at once in anything new.
”He makes it his business to study firms that are going to the wall and locate their trouble and puts them on their feet again, if possible. I took him with me to Mr. Panoff, and I believe he could go there a while and find out what the difficulty is. It used to be a good business when Panoff bought it, but he seems to have lost his grip some way, and he can't see far enough ahead because he is so crowded by the daily troubles. An outsider will be able to see with a better perspective.”
”Are we goin' to let this Mr. Panoff have the money?”
”No; not at present. Here is my scheme. I want you to put Frank in there for a time and let him find out if there are any possibilities of getting the business back on its feet. If Frank succeeds, we will let Panoff have the money on his personal note, if he agrees to follow out the suggestions of Frank.
”I have another idea that I have been thinking about. There are a lot of small business ventures that are running to seed, where the owner is getting discouraged, and lacks the broad outlook that would keep him going, and needs some one who is a professional setter-up like Frank, to put him wise, and to readjust his business. I suggest that we hire Frank, for at least a part of his time--he won't be expensive, as he is just starting--to look into the affairs of the men who come to us for money. The owner must agree to allow Frank to readjust things for him, and then when his affairs are prospering again, he will pay a certain sum for Frank's services, taking the expense away from us. It is also a better guarantee for our loan, because Frank is a pretty level-headed business man and if there are any possibilities in the run down business, he will find them, and if there are not he will report to us. What do you think of it?”
”I think it is a good thing; but is there enough things like that to keep him busy?”
”Well, we need take only a part of his time; but I can think of half a dozen little manufacturers who would welcome the chance to find out what is wrong. That publis.h.i.+ng house I was telling you about. The manager is impractical, is paying too much out in salaries, hasn't any method in his establishment, and has a dozen leaks that he can't find, but which could easily be located by a professional leak finder. There are a lot of men in business who are honest and willing to work, but who are in a rut and can't see the new things coming, and who could be put on their feet by an injection of a little outside ginger and a readjustment of their business on more modern methods. They are the ones who need help and who will be good for their loans; and that's one thing we are going to try to make sure of, because we aren't going to give any money away if we know it.
It's going to be a real service too, Miss Doane. I don't think there is anything more pitiful than a man, who has been in business for himself, to have to give up and say he is a failure. It hurts to be compelled to go into some one's shop as a clerk or mechanic when you've once been your own master. It'll put jasm into a lot of men that have lost their nerve and only need some one to set them straight. You won't lose by it, Miss Doane; I am sure of that.”
”I ain't thinkin' about that. Yet I ain't makin' a charity; it's a business, and I don't want a lot of salaried people to eat up everything. That's too much like most of them charities we looked into. I want this a business that'll sound sensible and that'll be sensible, and I don't want a lot of failures to think they can work us. I want 'em to find that they got the wrong pig by the ear if they try to do the Doane fund.
”Bring that young man Frank to me and let me look him over. I ain't very worldly, but I like to look a man in the eye if he's going to do something for me. I want the men who's goin' to be with us, ambitious, upright young men that's willin' to work. I hate a lazy man--I can tell one a mile off. A lazy man's worse'n a dead one, 'cause a dead one's put away and can't do no harm while a lazy one's always around, spoilin' the ambitious one's work.
”Now, we won't talk business no more. Let's go into the yard. Daphne is there with some of the babies. Let's go out to her.”
Dr. Eaton hesitated.
”I think I had better be going on to the hospital. I--I--”
Drusilla looked up at him quickly.
”Dr. Eaton, what's the matter with you? I don't understand young men of to-day nohow. Here I been for more'n a year tryin' to have you and Daphne see somethin' of each other, riskin' her father takin' my head off, and now you shy off as if you thought she would bite you. Don't you like my little girl?”
Dr. Eaton flushed under the clear brown of his tan.
”It isn't that, Miss Doane. You must know what I think of Daphne.”
”Well, what is it, then? You're clear beyond me.”
”Well--well--” and the doctor hesitated.
”Well, go on. Tell me all about it.”
”It's this way, Miss Doane. I'm only a poor doctor without much of a practise, and it'll take me several years to work into a good one.
And Daphne--you know how she has been brought up--and the kind of things she is used to having--and the crowd she goes with--”
”What's that got to do with it?”
”I--you must see, Miss Doane--that I can't give Daphne the things she is used to and that she'd quite likely expect as a matter of course--not that she is any more mercenary than any of the rest of the girls of her set, but she doesn't understand not being rich--she has never known anything else--”
”Oh, stuff and nonsense! I know Daphne.”
”Yes, but her people; her father--and, O Lord, Miss Doane--her mother--”