She walked home rapidly, swept by half-formulated impulses that stirred her to almost adolescent self-revelations, yet when she reached her apartment she was quite calm, almost too calm, and outwardly cold.

That night over the black coffee Fred Starratt said to his wife, with an air of restrained triumph: 

“Well, I landed the insurance on Hilmer’s car to-day.”

She flashed him, an enigmatical smile.  “Oh, lovely!"...

He sipped his coffee with preening satisfaction.

“Everything is going beautifully,” he continued.  “I hired an office and began to connect up with two or three firms.  That preliminary from Hilmer was a great boost...  A man named Kendrick handles all his business, so I’ve sort of got the street guessing.  They can’t figure how I could even get a look in...  Of course I’m convinced that Kendrick shares his commissions with Hilmer, which is against the rules of the Broker’s Exchange.  But he didn’t ask for any shakedown...  Brauer and I ordered some office furniture, and to-morrow I’ll advertise for a girl.”

“I’ve got one for you already,” she said, deliberately.

“Who?”

She reached across the shallow length of the table and touched his arm significantly.

“I’ve decided to do it myself,” she purred.

He patted her hand as an incredulous stare escaped him.  “You!” he laughed.

She suffered his indulgent and mildly contemptuous caress.  “Don’t laugh, sonny,” she drawled, almost disagreeably.  “Your wife may prove a lot more clever than she seems.”

CHAPTER V

After the first two weeks Fred Starratt’s business venture went forward amazingly.  His application for membership in the Insurance Broker’s Exchange was rushed through by influential friends and he became, through this action, a full-fledged fire insurance broker.  He did not need this formality, however, to qualify him as a solicitor in other insurance lines.  There was a long list of free lances, where the only seal of approval was an ability to get the business.  Automobile liability, personal accident, marine, life—­underwriters representing such insurances shared commissions with any and all who had a reasonable claim to prospective success.  Therefore, while he was waiting for his final confirmation from fire-insurance circles he took a flyer at these more liberal forms.  There seemed no end to this miscellaneous business which, he came to the conclusion, could be had almost for the asking.  And all the time he had fancied that the field was overworked!  He mentioned this one day to a seasoned veteran in the brokerage world.

“Writing up policies is one thing,” this friend had assured him, emphatically; “collecting the premiums is another matter...  If your fire-insurance premiums aren’t paid up inside of two months, the policies are canceled.  But they let the others drag on until the cows come home.  There’s nothing so intangible in this world as insurance.  And people hate to pay for intangibilities.”