Test Bank For Intermediate Algebra 7Th Edition by Martin Gay 0134196171 9780134196176 Full Chapter PDF
Test Bank For Intermediate Algebra 7Th Edition by Martin Gay 0134196171 9780134196176 Full Chapter PDF
Test Bank For Intermediate Algebra 7Th Edition by Martin Gay 0134196171 9780134196176 Full Chapter PDF
9780134196176
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MULTIPLE CHOICE. Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the question.
2) 3x - 8 = 16
A) 25 B) 8 C) 13 D) 21
Answer: B
3) 35 = -10x + 5
A) 40 B) 44 C) 8 D) -3
Answer: D
4) 8x - 10 = 3x + 5
A) -3 B) -1 C) 3 D) 1
Answer: C
5) 8(y + 2) = 10y + 16
A) 16 B) 32 C) -16 D) 0
Answer: D
6) 7x + 8 = 8(x - 6)
A) -40 B) 40 C) 56 D) -56
Answer: C
Answer: A
8) 3(5x + 3) + 50 = 8x - 4
A) -63 B) -441 C) -9 D) 9
Answer: C
9) -8x + 8 + 2x - 9 = 1
1 1 1
A) - B) - C) 3 -3
3 5 D)
Answer: A
10) 3x + 2 - 3x - 7 = 2x - 2x - 8
A) 0 B) ∅ C) -96 D) all real numbers
Answer: B
11) 7x = 5(9x + 2)
5 5 19 10
A) B) - C) D)
19 19 5 7
Answer: B
1
12) 12(7x - 2) = 9x - 6
6 6 6
A)
2 B) - C) 25 D) 31
5 25
Answer: C
15) (x - 9) - (x + 6) = 5x
15 B) 1 5
A) - C) - 3 D) -
5
7 3
Answer: C
2 x 1
18) - =
3 4 12
7 7 C) 7 7
A) B) - D) -
4
3 4 3
Answer: A
x x 1
19) = +
10 9 10
1
A) - 9 B) 0 C) -
1 D) -
9 10
Answer: A
x x
20) - =9
3 4
A) 36 B) 12 C) 108 D) 27
Answer: C
2x x
21) - =2
5 3
2
A) -30 B) 60 C) -60 D) 30
Answer: D
3
x x
22) - 13 =
7 7
91
A) B) all real numbers C) ∅ D) 0
2
Answer: C
7x 1 3x
23) + =
4 2 2
A) -8 B) 8 C) 2 D) -2
Answer: D
x+4 x-1 5
24) + =
6 2 6
7
A) 0 B) 10 C) D) 1
2
Answer: D
x + 3 3x - 12
25) - =1
3 11
A) - 6 B) 18 C) - 18 D) -36
Answer: C
1 1
26) (x - 12) - (x - 9) = x - 5
4 9
252 108 324 36
A) B) C) D)
31 31 31 31
Answer: B
1 x 1
27) (10x - 15) = 6 - +5
5 3 2
B) 5
A) 0 4 C) all real numbers D) ∅
Answer: D
Answer: C
36) x(x + 8) - 8 = x2 + 3x + 1
8 9 9
A) 5 B) 8 C) 5 9
D)
Answer: C
x + 38
A) x2 + 38x B) 4x + 76 C) 2x + 38 D) 4x + 38
Answer: B
38) The sum of three even consecutive integers if the first integer is y.
A) 3y B) 3y + 3 C) 3y + 6 D) 6
Answer: C
39) The perimeter of a triangle whose sides are of lengths 5x, 5x + 9, and x.
A) 10x + 9 B) 11x + 9 C) 19x D) 25x2 + 45x
Answer: B
5
40) The sum of three consecutive integers if the last integer is z.
A) 3z + 6 B) 3z C) 3z - 3 D) 3z + 3
Answer: C
42) The total value of money (in cents) of (4x - 2) nickels, 6x dimes, and x quarters.
A) (105x - 2) cents B) (105x - 10) cents C) (80x - 10) cents D) (105x + 10) cents
Answer: B
12
x-3
A) 48 B) 2x C) 2x + 48 D) 2x + 18
Answer: D
Solve.
44) Three times the sum of some number plus 3 is equal to 7 times the number minus 15.
A) -24 B) 6 C) -6 D) 24
Answer: B
45) The difference of a number and 7 is the same as 49 less the number. Find the number.
A) 28 B) -28 C) -21 D) 21
Answer: A
46) Seven times some number added to 4 amounts to 32 added to the product of 3 and the number.
A) -28 B) 7 C) 28 D) -7
Answer: B
6
50) A region consists of 2545 thousand acres of farm land. If 28% of this land is privately owned, find how may
acres are not privately owned.
A) 1832.4 acres B) 712.6 acres
C) 712.6 thousand acres D) 1832.4 thousand acres
Answer: D
51) A diamond ring sold for $2776.80 including tax. If the tax rate where the diamond was purchased is 6.8%, find
the price of the ring before the tax was added. (Round to the nearest cent, if necessary.)
A) $188.82 B) $2600.00 C) $2587.98 D) $2965.62
Answer: B
52) The three most prominent buildings in a city, Washington Center, Lincoln Galleria, and Jefferson Square Tower,
have a total height of 1800 feet. Find the height of each building if Jefferson Square Tower is twice as tall as
Lincoln Galleria and Washington Center is 120 feet taller than Lincoln Galleria.
A) Washington Center: 720 feet B) Washington Center: 540 feet
Lincoln Galleria: 360 feet Lincoln Galleria: 420 feet
Jefferson Square Tower: 720 feet Jefferson Square Tower: 840 feet
C) Washington Center: 680 feet D) Washington Center: 480 feet
Lincoln Galleria: 340 feet Lincoln Galleria: 360 feet
Jefferson Square Tower: 780 feet Jefferson Square Tower: 960 feet
Answer: B
53) The sum of three consecutive even integers is 330. Find the integers.
A) 108, 110, 112 B) 110, 112, 114 C) 109, 110, 111 D) 106, 108, 110
Answer: A
54) The population of a town increased by 20% in 5 years. If the population is currently28,000, find the population
of this town 5 years ago. (Round to the nearest whole, if necessary.)
A) 23,333 B) 22,400 C) 140,000 D) 5600
Answer: A
55) Find the measures of the angles of a triangle if the measure of the first angle is twice the measure of the second
angle and the third angle is 40° more than the second angle.
A) 55°, 15°, 110° B) 30°, 15°, 135° C) 75°, 35°, 70° D) 56°, 28°, 96°
Answer: C
56) A publisher printed 62 million pages in its production process last year. If this represents a 124% over the
number of pages printed the previous year, how many pages were printed the previous year? (Round to the
nearest hundredth million, if necessary.)
A) 153.76 million pages B) 50 million pages
C) 15,376 million pages D) 500 million pages
Answer: B
7
57) Recall that two angles are complements of each other if their sum is 90°. Angle A and angle B are
complementary angles and angle A is 2° more than three times angle B. Find the measures of angle A and angle
B.
58) Rcall that two angles are supplements of each other if their sum is 180°. Angle A and angle B are supplementary
angles and angle A is 25° less than four times angle B. Find the measures of angle A and angle B.
59) The cost C to produce x number of tennis rackets is C = 140 + 25x. The tennis rackets are sold wholesale for $30
each, so revenue R is given by R = 30x. Find how many tennis rackets the manufacturer needs to produce and
sell to break even.
A) 14 tennis rackets B) 33 tennis rackets C) 28 tennis rackets D) 23 tennis rackets
Answer: C
Answer: B
Answer: B
8
1
62) A = bh for h
2
A 2A Ab b
A) h = B) h = C) h = D) h =
2b b 2 2A
Answer: B
1
63) V = Bh for B
3
3V h 3h V
A) B = B) B = C) B = D) B =
h 3V V 3h
Answer: A
64) P = a + b + c for a
A) a = P - b - c B) a = P + b - c C) a = P + b + c D) a = b + c - P
Answer: A
65) P = 2L + 2W for L
P - 2W P- W
A) L = P - W B) L = C) L = d - 2W D) L =
2 2
Answer: B
Answer: B
1
67) A = h(B + b) for B
2
2A + bh 2A - bh A - bh
A) B = 2A - bh B) B = C) B = D) B =
h h h
Answer: C
9
68) F = C + 32 for C
5
F - 32 9 5 5
A) C = B) C = (F - 32) C) C = (F - 32) D) C =
9 5 9 F - 32
Answer: C
9
r nt
Use the formula A = P 1 + to find the amount requested.
n
70) A principal of $1,000 is invested in an account paying an annual interest rate of 10%. Find the amount in the
account after 11 years if the account is compounded annually.
A) $2593.74 B) $2853.12 C) $3138.43 D) $1853.12
Answer: B
71) A principal of $1,000 is invested in an account paying an annual interest rate of 11%. Find the amount in the
account after 11 years if the account is compounded semiannually.
A) $3247.54 B) $3151.76 C) $2247.54 D) $3078.23
Answer: A
72) A principal of $14,000 is invested in an account paying an annual interest rate of 6%. Find the amount in the
account after 5 years if the account is compounded semiannually.
A) $4814.83 B) $18,266.82 C) $18,814.83 D) $18,735.16
Answer: C
73) A principal of $480 is invested in an account paying an annual interest rate of 18%. Find the amount in the
account after 7 years if the account is compounded quarterly.
A) $1529.03 B) $1166.26 C) $1575.36 D) $1646.26
Answer: D
74) A principal of $12,000 is invested in an account paying an annual interest rate of 6%. Find the amount in the
account after 6 years if the account is compounded quarterly.
A) $17,022.23 B) $16,900.53 C) $17,154.03 D) $5154.03
Answer: C
Solve.
9
75) Use the formula F = C + 32 to write 20° C as degrees Fahrenheit.
5
A) -6.6° F B) 4° F C) 29° F D) 68° F
Answer: D
5
76) Use the formula C = (F - 32) to write 203° F as degrees Celsius.
9
A) 95° C B) 80.8° C C) 130.6° C D) 397.4° C
Answer: A
77) It took Sara's mother 6 hours round trip to drive to the University and bring Sara back home for spring break. If
the University is 111 miles from home, find her mother's average speed.
1 1
A) 38 mph B) 18 mph C) 55 mph D) 37 mph
2 2
Answer: D
1
78) You are varnishing the background for a rectangular mural. The base of the mural is 7 meters and the height
2
of the mural is 3 meters. How many cans of varnish will you need if each can covers 10 square meters?
A) 9 cans of varnish B) 23 cans of varnish C) 3 cans of varnish D) 5 cans of varnish
Answer: C
10
79) A manufacturing company was asked to make a special testtube with dimensions r = 1.1 cm and h = 9.8 cm as
shown on the figure. If the body of the test tube is a cylinder and the bottom is a hemisphere, find the volume of
the testtube. Round to two decimal places when necessary, using 3.14 for π.
Graph the solution set of the inequality and write it in interval notation.
80) {x|x > 5}
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
A) (5, ∞)
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
B) [5, ∞)
- - - - - 0 5
-7 -6 5 4 3 2 1 1 2 3 4 6 7
C) (-∞, 5]
- - - - - 0 5
-7 -6 5 4 3 2 1 1 2 3 4 6 7
D) (-∞, 5)
- - - - - 0 5
-7 -6 5 4 3 2 1 1 2 3 4 6 7
Answer: A
11
81) {x|x < 3}
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
A) (-∞, 3]
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
B) (3, ∞)
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
C) (-∞, 3)
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
D) [3, ∞)
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Answer: C
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
A) (-∞, -7)
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
B) (-∞, -7]
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
C) (-7, ∞)
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
D) [-7, ∞)
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Answer: D
12
83) {x|x ≤ -3}
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
A) [-3, ∞)
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
B) (-∞, -3]
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
C) (-∞, -3)
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
D) (-3, ∞)
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Answer: B
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
A) [3, ∞)
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
B) (3, ∞)
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
C) (-∞, 3)
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
D) (-∞, 3]
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Answer: B
13
85) {x|-1 ≤ x ≤ 3}
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
A) [-1, 3)
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
B) (-1, 3]
- - - - -1 3 6 7
-7 -6 5 4 3 2 0 1 2 4 5
C) [-1, 3]
- - - - -1 3 6 7
-7 -6 5 4 3 2 0 1 2 4 5
D) (-1, 3)
- - - - -1 3 6 7
-7 -6 5 4 3 2 0 1 2 4 5
Answer: C
86)
{x|-2 < x < 2}
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
A) (-2, 2]
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
B) [-2, 2)
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
C) (-2, 2)
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
D) [-2, 2]
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Answer: C
14
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girl at the wheel was showing disturbing signs of putting the motor into
reverse and seeking to back off the heavy piece of bridge-railing that,
jammed in between their rear mud-guard and the side of the car, was the
only thing preventing the machine from plunging off into eternity.
"I say, leave the motor alone!" Rodrigo shouted at once and scrambled
hurriedly out from behind the wheel of the sedan, his companions following.
"And whose motor is it, may I ask?" the pretty blonde in the driver's seat
came back promptly, at the same time jabbing furiously at levers.
Rodrigo was by this time at her side and, horrified, was clutching for her
wrist. "Lady, lady," he cried half in fear and half in mockery. "Shut off the
motor and get out quick. You're on the brink of eternity."
"Yes, Sophie, do," the other girl, slightly older and a brunette, agreed.
Thus the Oxonians made the acquaintance of Sophie Binner and Adele
Du Bois, ladies of the chorus in "The Golden Slipper," the current revue at
the Gayety. On the promise of stopping at the nearest garage and having the
wrecked machine sent for, the girls consented to enter the sedan and be
driven back to London. By the time the outskirts of the city were reached,
the party was a very gay one and Sir William Newbold's Treasure Hunt was
quite forgotten.
Having, following this adventure, made his apologies to his uncle and
aunt for having left the Treasure Hunt flat, the excuse being the necessity of
rescuing an automobile party in distress, Rodrigo proceeded to cultivate the
further acquaintance of Miss Binner assiduously and without the knowledge
of the Newbolds.
He was her constant cavalier. She taught him much—for instance, that a
baby-faced blonde can possess a wicked tongue, a sudden and devastating
temper and a compensating tenderness that made up for both defects. He was
thoroughly infatuated at first. Then his ardor cooled as he realized that
Sophie was professing to take his wooing seriously. The idea of contracting
an alliance with a future nobleman seemed to appeal to her. Rodrigo did not
think of her in that regard at all, and he was alarmed. He began looking for a
loophole.
The climax came at a party arranged for after the show in Sophie's
Mayfair apartment. Rodrigo had recruited Bill Terhune, Bond and three or
four other Oxford friends for the fun. They had accumulated Sophie, Adele
and a quartet of their sister coryphees at the theatre after the evening
performance and whirled them through the London streets in a fleet of
taxicabs. At two o'clock in the morning the party was in full swing. The
tinpanny piano crashed out American jazz under the nimble fingers of
Sophie. Leslie Bond numbered drumming among his numerous avocations
and had brought along the clamorous tools of his hobby. His hysterical
efforts on drums, cymbals and cowbells augmented the din and broke both
drums.
The revelers sang, danced, drank and made love. Bill Terhune, under the
impetus of spirits, was especially boisterous.
Sophie, from the piano, however, did not share their enthusiasm. "It may
interest you impetuous lads to know that our killjoy friend is a magistrate
and will probably have a couple of bobbies here in five minutes," she
warned them. They laughed at her and the party went on.
In twenty minutes there was another knock. Two bobbies, each built like
Dempsey, confronted Rodrigo when he opened the door. The policemen
entered with that soft, authoritative tread that London police have. One of
them laid hands upon Bill Terhune. Bill, former intercollegiate boxing
champion, was in a flushed and pugnacious mood. He promptly struck the
officer in the face and sent him reeling to the floor.
"First, don't you think we'd better revive your friend on the floor?"
Rodrigo suggested.
When they had brought the fallen one back to life, Rodrigo soothingly
and skillfully persuaded the officers to let Sophie alone, to allow him to
assume sole responsibility for the trouble. He asked only permission to
telephone his uncle, Sir William Newbold. The bobbies generously
consented to take him, without Sophie, to jail for the rest of the night, but
they declined to allow him the use of the telephone.
The jail cell was cold, cramped and dirty. Rodrigo's cellmate was a hairy
navvy recovering from a debauch. Rodrigo had to listen to the fellow's
alternate snoring and maudlin murmurings until dawn. When, around ten
o'clock in the morning, he did succeed in getting in touch with his uncle, the
latter's influence was sufficient to secure his release.
He resolved to call upon her and break off any possible entanglement
with her.
During the two years following his graduation from Oxford, Rodrigo had
vague ambitions to become a painter and spent considerable time browsing
about the galleries of England, Spain, France and his native Italy. He had a
workroom fitted up in the palace of the Torrianis and did some original work
in oil that was not without merit. But he worked spasmodically. His heart
was not in it. He knew good painting too well to believe that his was an
outstanding talent, and he lacked ambition therefore to concentrate upon
developing it.
In the pursuit of pleasure and the spending of money he was more
whole-hearted. He skied and tobogganed at St. Moritz, gambled at Monte
Carlo, laughed at Montmartre's attempts to shock him, and flirted in all three
places. Upon the invitation of the bobby-assaulting American Rhodes
scholar, Terhune by name, now squandering his South Dakotan father's
money in New York under the pretence of making a career in architecture,
Rodrigo visited America. America, to Rodrigo, was represented by the
Broadway theatre and nightclub belt between dusk and dawn. Having in a
few weeks exhausted his funds and finding his cabled requests for more
greeted with a strange reticence, Rodrigo started for home. Three days out
from New York he received the cable announcing to him Count Angelo
Torriani's sudden death.
In the flash he saw that the girl was dark, and beautiful in a wildflower-
like manner. She was also very dusty from walking. In the torrent of oaths
which she poured after him, she furthermore revealed herself as charmingly
coarse and unrestrained. Rodrigo cheered up. After the weeks of grief and
loneliness, and particularly after the Naples realtor, he found himself
wanting ardently to talk to a woman, any woman. He stopped the car and
slowly backed up even with the approaching girl. She continued to swear at
him. He smiled. When she had gradually quieted, he apologized and offered
her a seat beside him. Her angry face relaxed, she pouted, and ended by
accepting.
In a few days he had drifted into a fast ripening friendship with Rosa
Minardi, who was childlike, was no tax upon his conversational charms or
ingenuity, and who liked him very much. Her mother was dead, her father
was away in Rome on some mysterious errand. Rodrigo badly needed any
sort of companionship, and Rosa filled the need.
CHAPTER III
Maria's gnarled knuckles beat vigorously upon her young master's door.
When her tattoo failed to bring results, she opened the door and walked
boldly in. Waddling to the floor-length windows, she flung aside the heavy
draperies, drenching the room with sunlight. With a guttural exclamation that
was half disgust and half tenderness, she turned toward the dark, recumbent
form upon the canopied bed, still undisturbed by her activities. She
approached Rodrigo and shook him.
When at last he blinked up at her, she said sharply, "Get up, lazy one.
Your American has already breakfasted and is downstairs waiting for you."
"I see you are making the acquaintance of my ancestors," said Rodrigo.
"This one, like the others, you will observe, led a short life and, so I
understand, a merry one." Rodrigo noted curiously how glasses added at
least five years to the age of John Dorning. Having at the instant of their first
encounter at the Café Del Mare set the American down as an innocent and
probably a prig, Rodrigo had, during their discourse and drinking of the
previous night, changed his mind and conceived a mild liking for the man.
Dorning was honest, outspoken, and possessed of considerable culture. He
was, Rodrigo vaguely felt, the sort of person whom he should cultivate, the
type that develops into a staunch and worth-while friend.
"Your ancestor has at least had the good fortune to have been perpetuated
by an excellent artist," said Dorning.
"Here is something that will interest you," offered Rodrigo, walking over
to a low, ornately carved cabinet set against an adjacent wall. "This is the
best example of Early Renaissance cabinet work anywhere around here."
Dorning bent a grave, interested head and ran expert fingers over the
carving. His host tugged at the doors of the cabinet. As he wrenched them
apart, a shelf inside, unbalanced by his effort, slid out upon the floor, spilling
its contents as it came. The two young men looked at each other, and
Rodrigo grinned sheepishly. Two bundles of letters and a feminine lace fan
lay at Dorning's feet.
Rodrigo dropped to his knees and, replacing the souvenirs, closed the
cabinet. He rose, dusted his hands, said suavely, "The cabinet was made by
Beniti, in Genoa, around 1627. The contents are slightly more modern."
"So I judged," said John Dorning dryly. Then with more enthusiasm, "I
only wish I knew Italian antiques as well as you do, Count Torriani—and
antiques are my business."
She turned doubtfully. She lacked her usual faith in her sharp tongue in
dealing with a calloused fellow like Minardi. She had taken but a step when
the draperies parted and Minardi, wearing the same clothes, expression, and
carnation as on the previous evening, bulked before them. He had heard
Rodrigo's voice talking with Maria, and he was taking no chances. His fat,
weak face was trying its best to assume hard, menacing lines. His ill-kept,
corpulent body was drawn up as straight as possible with unrighteous
indignation. He relaxed for an instant to turn around and drag by the wrist
from the other side of the curtain his daughter, Rosa.
Rosa had been brought to the scene with some difficulty. She flashed
indignation at her father through swollen eyes. Actually propelled now into
the presence of Rodrigo, she glanced half defiantly, half shamefacedly at
him, then stood regarding the floor.
Minardi wheeled upon Rodrigo. "So—it was you! Ah. Why did you not
say so before, eh?" And he launched into a fresh flood of indignation.
Rodrigo raised a hand to stop him. He perceived that this fellow could
not be easily overawed. Minardi wanted money and would probably
continue to be a howling nuisance until he got it. Rosa, Rodrigo suspected
shrewdly, was in the plot with her father. Certainly she would not otherwise
have revealed her love affair with Rodrigo to Minardi and, instead of
keeping her rendezvous at the Café Del Mare, allowed the noisy old man to
come on a blackmailing expedition in her place. Any tenderness Rodrigo had
previously felt for Rose Minardi disappeared. His lips curled as he looked at
her dark head, cast down in assumed modesty.
When Minardi had calmed down, Rodrigo snapped, "How much do you
want?"
Minardi's anger faded. His eyes lighted up with greed. "Five thousand
lira," he replied in a business-like tone.
Minardi's hand went to his greasy inside coat pocket, "I have here letters
that are worth more than that," he said. "Letters you have written to my
Rosa. There are such things as breach of promise suits. The newspapers
would like them, eh? The Torrianis are not popular at Naples, eh?"
In spite of himself, Rodrigo winced a little. This fat, futile old reprobate
began to assume the proportions of a real danger. Rodrigo essayed frankness.
"You know so much about the Torrianis," suggested he, "you perhaps know
that I have not five thousand liras at the moment."
Minardi shrugged his stooped shoulders. "Even if that is true, you can
get them," he said. And he looked significantly at John Dorning, an
interested and somewhat disgusted spectator at the scene.
Rodrigo's slim fingers were drumming nervously upon the Beniti cabinet
which he had just been displaying to his guest. In their nervous course over
the top of the cabinet the finger points met the smooth surface of an
elaborately wrought silver vase standing there. Rodrigo looked down. He
hesitated an instant, then caught up the vase in his hand.
Dorning said at once to Rodrigo, "Give him money then. I will buy the
vase. I'll give you twice what he wants—ten thousand liras—and make a
handsome profit if I ever want to dispose of it." He took out his purse.
Rodrigo regarded his guest with puzzled surprise. "I don't want you to do
this for me, Dorning. I——"
"Please tell me you do not think I plotted this with him," she pleaded, her
dark, warm face quite near to his. "It is not for money I love you. I did not
come to the café last night, because I was angry with you for telling me I am
bad tempered. I cried all last night over that, Rodrigo. But I am not angry at
you now. I am angry only at Papa." Her soft arms attempted to steal around
Rodrigo's neck. "Tell me that you still love me," she begged in a low, husky
voice.
"But you are bad tempered, Rosa," he jibed, disengaging her arms. "And
I think you are somewhat of a liar besides."
She fairly flung herself away from him at that, standing with heaving
bosom and flashing eyes. She was still cursing him when her father laid
violent hands upon her and led her out of the house.
"The trouble with women," Rodrigo remarked, "is that they cannot keep
love in its proper place. It soon ceases to be a game with them and becomes
a mad scramble to possess a man. Then comes jealousy, bad temper,
remorse, and complications such as you have just seen."
"There was a terrific four-handed clash. Poor Francesca was half mad
with anxiety. The Count challenged him to a duel. In the fight, Francesca,
who, unlike the rest of the Torrianis, was no swordsman, was killed."
"The lady should not have taken Francesca's love so seriously as to have
become jealous. When will women understand that when they take our
admiration seriously they kill it?"
"Yes. I am in debt. Economy was not one of my father's virtues, nor did
he take the trouble to develop it in me." Rodrigo, fearing to be
misunderstood, added, "Not that I am in need of a loan, you understand. You
have done quite enough for me, and I am grateful."
"I can either marry the first single rich lady or widow who will have me,
or I can sell or rent this place and its contents."
"Why not?" Rodrigo was curious. He was secretly rather pleased at the
personal turn the conversation had taken, for, with all his worldliness and
experience along romantic lines, it seemed that Dorning's common sense
might be valuable in considering the rather dismaying future.
Thus encouraged, John Dorning revealed what was in his mind. "We—
Dorning and Son," he explained, "have gone in recently, to a very extensive
degree, for Italian antiques. My mission over here is for the purpose of
adding to our stock. Also, if possible, to acquire a man to manage that
department of our business, someone who is an expert in that line and who at
the same time is fitted to deal with our rather exclusive clientele. It occurs to
me that you might be that man, if you would care to consider it."
Rodrigo did not reply at once. He took three or four steps in silence,
thoughtfully, away from Dorning. Go to America! Enter business! He
recalled the deprecatory manner in which his father had always talked about
business and the great relief it had been for the elder Torriani to leave the
Indian trade and settle down at last to be a gentleman again. And he was very
much like his father in so many ways. The business of John Dorning, to be
sure, was art, something he, Rodrigo, loved. It was not like the mad
commercial scramble of ordinary trade. There was nothing commercial
about Dorning. Something within Rodrigo said "Go." Something in
Dorning's offer was lifting off his mind the almost physical weight that
oppressed him every time he considered the future.
"I will accept your offer and return with you to America," Rodrigo said
with quiet suddenness.
John Dorning started. He had not suspected such a quick and decisive
answer. "Fine," he said. "Can you arrange your affairs to sail with me next
week on the Italia?"
Rodrigo was sure that he could. Now that he was committed to the
plunge, he was positively gay about it. The two young men spent the rest of
the day talking the arrangements over. In the afternoon they journeyed in to
Naples in Rodrigo's car and entered an agreement with the fussy Italian real
estate agent to rent the palace of the Torrianis to the family of a young
American author who had just made a fortune out of a best-selling novel and
wished to write its sequel along the romantic shore of the Bay of Naples.
CHAPTER IV
The great floating hotel glided steadily ahead over the smooth, black
waters of the Mediterranean. Somewhere within her hull, boiler fires were
roaring and a labyrinth of machinery was driving furiously, but only a slight,
muffled throb reached the ears of the lone passenger standing at the rail
directly under the bridge. Over his head he could hear the regular tread of
the watch officer as he paced his monotonous round. In front of him was the
dark immensity of the night, broken only when he lowered his eyes to take
in the lights from the port-holes and the jagged streaks of phosphorescence
streaming back from the bow as it cut the water.
Rodrigo was quite happy. His ripening friendship with Dorning, the new
clean life into which every minute of the ship's progress was carrying him,
the cool, damp darkness that surrounded him, added to his content. He
snapped his cigarette into the Mediterranean and with a peaceful sigh walked
into the crowded, brilliantly lighted saloon in search of his friend.
"I feared you had changed your mind and leaped overboard or
something," Dorning smiled as Rodrigo approached. "I want you to meet Mr.
Mark Rosner, Rodrigo. Mr. Rosner—Count Torriani." Rodrigo bowed and
slid into his place at the table.
Rosner replied in his jerky voice, "Really? You couldn't join a concern
with a finer reputation, Count Torriani. Dorning and Son are the leaders in
their line in New York, as you probably know. Sometimes I wish I had never
left your father, John." Dorning secretly smiled at Rosner's sudden
familiarity. "But you know how it is—there is a certain satisfaction in being
on your own, in spite of the risk involved."
"I don't suppose, though, that it's much different in New York," Rosner
admitted. "I remember many of the old-line concerns were against foreigners
there too, and I don't suppose it has changed much. I recall how Henry
Madison opposed your father's taking on that Italian sculptor, Rinaldi, and
how pleased he was when the chap fell down and had to be let out. You were
there then, weren't you, John?"
John did not look over-pleased. "Rinaldi was not the man for the job," he
said with a frown. "My father was carried away with his enthusiasm for the
man's work in clay. Rinaldi was no good out of his studio, and Madison
quickly recognized it. The fact that Rinaldi was a foreigner had nothing to do
with the matter."
Rodrigo now listened with interest for the first time since he had sat
down at the table. He foresaw that his career with Dorning and Son might
not prove as unruffled as he had anticipated. This did not greatly annoy him.
He had little of the eccentric artistic temperament, and there was enough of
the merchant blood in him to enable him to adapt himself to office work. At
least, he hoped so. If obstacles arose, he would overcome them.
Rosner, glancing furtively from one of his tablemates to the other, sensed
that he had rather put his foot into it. Why had he not remembered that
Count Torriani was a foreigner? He flushed with embarrassment and, to
change the subject, asked John, "Is your father still active in the business?"
"Yes—with the able assistance of Madison and the rest of our staff. It
isn't a very difficult job, as you can imagine. The long-standing reputation of
Dorning and Son and the organization my father built up don't leave a very
great deal for the head of the concern to do."
"All the same, it's quite a responsibility for a young fellow only a few
years out of college, John, and I congratulate you." What there was of
shrewdness in Mark Rosner now showed in his dark, ineffective eyes. Young
Dorning was evidently kind-hearted, and, of necessity, inexperienced. An
appeal to him for assistance by an old employee of his father's would
probably meet with a favorable response.
The red-faced Englishman guided them over to a table near the stairway.
A gaunt, pale, long-haired man was already seated there, surrounded by
three tipped-up chairs. He was idly shuffling the cards and dropped them to
rise as his companion reappeared. The introductions revealed that the stout
Englishman was Gilbert Christy, producer of the Christy Revues, which
Rodrigo was familiar with as elaborate girl-and-music shows relying upon
well-drilled choruses and trick stage effects rather than cleverness for their
success. The lean Englishman was Clive Derrick, leading man in Christy's
current show. The Christy Revue was transporting itself overseas, after a
brief and rather unremunerative engagement at Rome and Naples, to try its
luck on Broadway.
Rodrigo agreed that the chances were excellent, being too polite to
explain that Charlot's divertissements were clever, while Christy was about
to offer America something which Ziegfeld and other native New York
producers were already doing better than anybody else in the world.