The Best Policy Part 24

Harry could not quite agree to this-he thought he had been wonderfully patient. In his straightforward way he began to ponder the matter deeply. It had seemed to him he was doing a wonderfully clever thing that ought to settle the matter definitely. Had he made a mistake? If so, what was necessary to rectify it? Incidentally, he heard that some of Tom Nelson's little speculations had turned out favorably, and Tom was still quite as devoted as ever and seemed to be received with as much favor. Then to Harry came an idea-a really brilliant idea, he thought.

"Perhaps," he told himself, "I ought not to have a.s.signed that policy to her; perhaps I ought to have kept it in my control so that a wedding would be necessary to give her the benefit of it. As it is now, she has the policy, no matter whom she marries. I don't think she would-"

Without finis.h.i.+ng the sentence, Harry knitted his brow and shook his head. It was not a pleasant thought-he told himself it was an unjust thought-but, as he had gone in to win, he might as well take every precaution. If the conditions were a little different, it might put an end to her flirtatious mood and compel a more serious consideration of his suit; it might have a tendency to emphasize his point and "wake her up," as he expressed it. Possibly, it was just the argument needed.

With this in mind, he again called upon Murray.

"I'm in a little trouble," he explained. "I ought to have had that policy made out to my wife."

"It makes no difference, unless the estate is involved in some way,"

explained Murray. "She'll get it through-"

"It makes a big difference," interrupted Harry. "You see, I've got to get the wife."

"What!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Murray. "Say that again, please."

"Why, if I had an insurance policy in favor of my wife, it would make it easier to get the wife, wouldn't it?"

"Thunder!" exclaimed Murray. "I thought I was pretty well up on insurance financiering, but this beats me. Are you hanging an insurance policy up as a sort of prize package?"

"That's it, that's it!" cried Harry, pleased to find the situation so quickly comprehended. "The other fellow is worth more, but insurance looks bigger than anything else I can buy for the money, and I want to show her how much safer she will be with me than with him."

"You're all right," laughed Murray, "but I'm afraid you'll have to marry first. We can't very well make a policy payable to a person who doesn't exist, and you have no wife now. When you have one, bring the policy back if you're not satisfied to have it payable to the estate, and-"

"But she's got it."

"Who?"

"The girl. I a.s.signed it to her, so she doesn't have to marry me to get the benefit. That wasn't good business."

Murray leaned back in his chair and looked at the youth with amus.e.m.e.nt and curiosity.

"No," he said at last, "that may have been good sentiment, but it wasn't good business. And," he added jokingly, "I don't know that this transaction is quite legal."

"Why not?" asked Harry anxiously.

"Well, we're not allowed to give prizes, and, if a girl goes with the policy, it looks a good deal like a prize-package affair. I'm not sure that that wouldn't be considered worse than giving rebates on premiums."

"You've got the wrong idea," argued Harry with solemn earnestness. "The girl doesn't go with the policy, but the policy goes with me. At least, that's what I intended."

"Better try it again with another policy," suggested Murray. "Make it payable to your estate, and then hang on to it until you get the girl.

Let me give you a word of advice, too, although it's not exactly to my interest."

"Well?"

"Well, the policy that you gave to her doesn't amount to much if you stop paying premiums on it. You might suggest that to her."

"By George! I never thought of that!" exclaimed the youth. "I guess I haven't much of a financial head."

"Oh, you're all right," returned Murray. "You're the first fellow I ever knew who made a matrimonial bureau of an insurance office. I've got something to learn about this business yet."

With his second policy in his pocket, Harry reverted quite casually to the subject of insurance, although he had first taken the precaution to have a lot of insurance literature sent to Alice. From this she learned that nothing could quite equal it in making the future secure.

"I have decided," said Harry in an offhand way, "that the best investment for a young man who has any one dependent upon him is life insurance. I have just taken out another policy for a thousand dollars."

"How thoughtful of you!" exclaimed Alice.

"It's on the twenty-year endowment plan," explained Harry. "At the end of twenty years the whole sum may be drawn down or it may be left to acc.u.mulate. As provision for the future, I guess that makes any two or three thousand in the bank look like thirty cents."

"You're awfully good to me," said Alice, for this apparent evidence of unselfish devotion, in addition to what had preceded it, really made her reproach herself for her capriciousness. But it was such jolly fun to keep two men anxious!

"The insurance," Harry went on, "is payable to my estate."

"What does that mean, Harry?" she asked.

"It means," replied Harry, "that a girl has got to marry me to get a chance at it."

"I always did like you, Harry."

"Yes?"

"But you're so impatient."

Harry was beginning to develop a little strategical ingenuity.

"There is no need," he said, "to make a secret of this. I'm not ashamed to have all the girls know that I am making proper provision for the one who becomes my wife."

"Harry Renway," exclaimed Alice, "if you make our private affairs a subject of public gossip I'll never speak to you again as long as I live."

Thereupon Harry demonstrated that he was not as "simple" as he was supposed to be, for he promptly returned the kiss that she had given him on a previous occasion. There could be no misinterpreting "our" private affairs.

"When?" he asked.

"Oh, pretty soon," she replied, for the flirtatious instinct was still in evidence. Besides, under the circ.u.mstances, too much haste might be in poor taste. However, their friends were told of the engagement, and that was something. Tom Nelson was angry and disgusted.

"The fool!" he exclaimed. "A live man wants to have the use of his money, and he has tied himself up with insurance. That isn't my way."

"But he got the girl," some one suggested.

"Not yet," retorted Tom, "and you never can tell."

In truth, it seemed as if Tom's insinuation was almost prophetic, for Alice procrastinated and postponed in a most tormenting way, and Harry took it all in good part for two or three months. There was no particular reason for this delay, as the preliminaries of such a wedding as they would have could be arranged very quickly, and in time it tried the patience even of Harry.

"The semi-annual premium on that first policy is due the day after to-morrow," he remarked one evening.

"Well?" she returned inquiringly.

"If the premium isn't paid the policy lapses," he went on.