'I feel I didn't bring you much luck,' Peter Marlowe said quietly.
'Huh?'
'The sale. It didn't go too well, did it?'
The King roared. 'According to plan. Here,' he said, and peeled off a hundred and ten dollars and gave them to Peter Marlowe. 'You owe me two bucks.'
'Two bucks?' He looked at the money. 'What's this for?'
'It's your commission.'
'For what?'
'Jesus, you don't think I'd put you to work for nothing, do you? What d'you take me for?'
'I said I was happy to do it. I'm not entitled to anything just for interpreting.'
'You're crazy. A hundred and eight bucks — ten percent. It isn't a handout. It's yours. You earned it.'
'You're the one who's crazy. How in the hell can I earn a hundred and eight dollars from a sale of two thousand, two hundred dollars when that was the the total price and there was no profit? I'm not taking the money he gave you.'
'You can't use it? You or Mac or Larkin?'
'Of course I can. But that's not fair. And I don't understand why a hundred and eight dollars.'
'Peter, I don't know how you've survived in this world up to now. Look, I'll make it simple for you. I made ten hundred and eighty bucks on the deal.
Ten percent is one hundred and eight. A hundred and ten less two is one hundred and eight. I gave you one hundred and ten. You owe me two bucks.'
'How in the hell did you make all that when —'
'I'll tell you. Lesson number one in business. You buy cheap and sell dear, if you can. Take tonight, for instance.' The King happily explained how he had outfoxed Prouty. When he finished, Peter Marlowe was silent for a long time. Then he said, 'It seems — well, that seems dishonest.'
'Nothing dishonest about it, Peter. All business is founded oa the theory that you sell higher than you buy — or it costs you.'
'Yes. But doesn't your-profit margin seem a little high?'
'Hell, no. We all knew the watch was a phony. Except Torusumi. You don't mind screwing him, do you? Though he can off-load it on a Chinese, easy, for a profit.'
'I suppose not.'
'Right. Take Prouty. He was selling a phony. Maybe he'd stolen it, hell, I don't know. But he got a poor price 'cause he wasn't a good trader. If he'd had the guts to take the watch back and start down the street, then I'd have stopped him and upped the price. He could have bartered me. He doesn't give a goddam in hell about me if the watch backfires. Part of the deal is that I always protect my customers - so Prouty's safe and knows it -
when I may be out on a limb.'
'What'll you do when Torusumi finds out and does come back?'
'He'll come back,' the King grinned suddenly and the warmth of it was a joy to see, 'but not to scream. Hell, if he did that he'd be losing face. He'd never dare admit that I'd outsmarted him in a deal. Why, his pals'd rib him to death if I spread the word. He'll come back, sure, but to try to outsmart me next time.'
He lit a cigarette and gave one to Peter Marlowe.
'So,' he continued blithely, 'Prouty got nine hundred less my ten percent commission. Low but not unfair, and don't forget, you and I were taking all the risk. Now as to our costs. I had to pay a hundred bucks to get the watch burnished and cleaned and get a new glass. Twenty for Max, who heard about the prospective sale, ten apiece for the four guards and another sixty for the boys for covering with the game. That totals eleven twenty. Eleven twenty from twenty-two hundred is a thousand and eighty bucks even. Ten percent of this is one hundred and eight. Simple.'
Peter Marlowe shook his head. So many figures and so much money and so much excitement. One moment they were just talking to a Korean, and the next he had a hundred and ten — a hundred and eight-dollars handed to him as simple as that. Holy mackerel, he thought exultantly. That's twenty-odd coconuts or lots of eggs. Mac! Now we can give him some food. Eggs, eggs are the thing!
Suddenly he heard his father talking, heard him as clearly as though he were beside him. And he could see him, erect and thickset in his Royal Navy uniform 'Listen, my son. There is such a thing as honor. If you deal with a man, tell him the truth and then he must of necessity tell you the truth or he has no honor. Protect another man as you expect him to protect you. And if a man has no honor, do not associate with him for he will taint you. Remember, there are honorable people and dirty people.
There is honorable money and duty money.'
'But this isn't dirty money,' he heard himself answer, 'not the way the King has just explained it. They were taking him for a sucker. He was cleverer than they.'
'True. But it is dishonest to sell the property of a man and tell him that the price was so far less than the real price.'
'Yes, but…'
'There are no buts, my son. True there are degrees of honor — but one man can have only one code. Do what you like. It's your choice. Some things a man must decide for himself. Sometimes you have to adapt to circumstances. But for the love of God guard yourself and your conscience — no one else will — and know that a bad decision at the right time can destroy you far more surely than any bullet!'
Peter Marlowe weighed the money and pondered what he could do with it, he, Mac and Larkin. He struck a balance and the scales were heavy on one side. The money rightly belonged to Prouty and his unit. Perhaps it was the last thing they possessed in the world. Perhaps because of the stolen money, Prouty and his unit, none of whom
