ng a lot
of other crazy things."

"Not I," quoth the Idiot. "I didn't have sense enough to go to some
quiet place like Coney Island, where you can get seven square meals a
day, and then climb into a Ferris Wheel and be twirled around in the air
until they have been properly shaken down. I took one of the 400
Vacations. Know what that is?"

"No," said Mr. Brief. "I didn't know there were 400 Vacations with only
365 days in the year. What do you mean?"

"I mean the kind of Vacation the people in the 400 take," explained the
Idiot. "I've been to a house-party up in Newport with some friends of
mine who're in the swim, and I tell you it's hard swimming. You'll never
hear me talking about a leisure class in this country again. Those
people don't know what leisure is. I don't wonder they're always such a
tired-looking lot."

"I was not aware that you were in with the smart set," said the
Bibliomaniac.

"Oh yes," said the Idiot. "I'm in with several of 'em--way in. So far in
that I'm sometimes afraid I'll never get out. We're carrying a whole lot
of wild-cats on margin for Billie Van Gelder, the cotillion leader;
Tommy de Cahoots, the famous yachtsman, owes us about $8,000 more than
he can spare from his living expenses on one of his plunges into Copper,
and altogether we are pretty long on swells in our office."

"And do you mean to say those people invite you out?" asked the
Bibliomaniac.

"All the time," said the Idiot. "Just as soon as one of our swell
customers finds he can't pay his margins he comes down to the office and
gets very chummy with all of us. The deeper he is in it the more affable
he becomes. The result is there are house-parties and yacht cruises and
all that sort of thing galore on tap for us every summer."

"And you accept them, eh?" said the Bibliomaniac scornfully.

"As a matter of business, of course," replied the Idiot. "We've got to
get something out of it. If one of our customers can't pay cash, why we
get what we can. In this particular case Mr. Reginald Squandercash had
me down at Newport for five full days, and I know now why he can't pay
up his little shortage of $800. He's got the money, but he needs it for
other things, and now that I know it I shall recommend the firm to give
him an extension of thirty days. By that time he will have collected
from the De Boodles, whom he is launching in society--C. O. D.--and will
be able to square matters with us."

"Your conversation is Greek