Eleanor turned from the window and pa.s.sed her arm around Alice's waist.

"I have tried a hundred times. The few opportunities when I might have done so naturally found me too weak; at other times it has been impossible. Robert is so sweet and tender with me these days that the mere possibility of having him blame me is the most terrifying thought which I can have."

"It ought not to be so hard now, dear. Everything is going to be straightened out. Already the burden is a good deal lighter than before because now we have something tangible to work upon. This leaves you simply the one thing to think about, and of course father will believe everything you tell him."

Eleanor looked at Alice irresolutely. "It isn't in the nature of man to be so credulous--I doubt if I would believe the story myself if I heard any one else tell it. Under these circ.u.mstances, how can I expect more from your father?"

"Because it is--father," the girl replied, feelingly "--because he's the grandest, n.o.blest, truest man who ever lived; because he loves you, Eleanor; and because he believes in you as he believes in himself."

"If I did not know of this belief in me, Alice dear, and was not so jealous of it, perhaps I should not fear to bring the matter to the test. But, of course, you are right. He must know the whole story, and he must know it from me. I only hope that the opportunity may offer itself naturally for me to tell him, under such conditions as will make it appear less incredible than it does just now."

"It doesn't seem to me that that ought to enter into it at all," Alice continued, quietly. "Even if you knew that it would destroy this belief, you could do nothing else than tell him, could you, Eleanor? There could be nothing good come from anything kept from father."

Eleanor felt reproached by the faith which the girl exhibited. "I have done it to spare him," she urged. "If there had been anything in the experience of which I need feel ashamed, I should have felt it necessary to let him know it before we were married. I thought it all over then, and decided it was wiser not to bring the matter up. It was weak and cowardly not to do it, I can see that now, but at the time I thought I was acting for the best."

"If father were to tell you something about his life which seemed incredible, and which might be misinterpreted into something dishonorable to him, would you believe his version of it?"

"Implicitly," Eleanor replied, with much feeling.

"Then do you think he is less loving or less tender or has less faith than you, Eleanor?"

"Not that, dear," Eleanor replied; "but he is a man, and a man's standpoint is essentially different from a woman's."

"I never think of him as a man," the girl replied, simply. "He is so far above and beyond any man I have ever known that I have never thought of him as only that."

XXV

A week later the Gorhams' dinner-table received two unexpected additions. Gorham had returned from Chicago earlier in the day, and found a telegram awaiting him which announced that Senator Kenmore would call at his house at five o'clock that afternoon. As he was unable to complete his work upon the acc.u.mulated matters which demanded immediate attention, he put the papers into his bag, and took Allen with him to the house in time to keep his appointment with the Senator, intending to continue his day's labors after his caller had departed.

During the weeks which had elapsed since Gorham's conversation with Allen, the boy's att.i.tude toward him manifested a respect so marked that the older man saw in it an effort to atone for his momentary disloyalty; in his work he was devoted and exact to a degree beyond anything he had previously demonstrated; inwardly he was the investigator. Never had he put himself through so merciless a self-examination. He felt keenly Alice's misunderstanding of his dislike of business; he blamed himself for having spoken so freely to Mr. Gorham before he had fully satisfied himself that the doubts he expressed at that time were based on anything beyond inexperience and a lack of knowledge. He knew that he had committed an error in accusing Covington before he could substantiate his statements. He was glad, therefore, to be able to work this all out in his own mind during the absence of his chief, yet when Mr. Gorham returned, the boy was still further embarra.s.sed by his special kindliness toward him.

Kenmore's face wore a worried expression as he entered the hall soon after Gorham and Allen arrived. He was shown at once to the library, where he and Gorham pa.s.sed the next two hours in close conference.

Indeed, the discussion was sufficiently important to hold Kenmore longer than he expected, and to cause Gorham to break over a rule which he had never before violated, in discussing business matters at the dinner-table and in the presence of his family.

The thought had come to Gorham, as he was rushing along toward New York on the limited express, of the rapidity with which events had shaped themselves since that moment, only a few weeks earlier, when he had sat in his library indulging in day-dreams. James Riley had come first, with his news of Buckner's presence in New York; then Allen called, bringing his suspicions concerning the att.i.tude of those trusted in the affairs of the corporation, adding his own unexpected and unwarranted doubts as to the integrity of Covington and the morality of this company, which to its creator had seemed to embody every idealistic and altruistic principle; then Litchfield, at the meeting of the committee, substantiated to a considerable extent Allen's deep-seated conviction that the men who made up the fibre of the corporation were actuated by selfish motives in their relations to it and to its transactions, thus making the situation even more acute. James Riley later had brought him the first definite ray of hope in what promised a solution of his domestic tangle; but as the burden lightened on the one hand, it seemed to bear him down with added weight on the other. Senator Hunt, urged on by Brady and other powerful interests, was working against the Consolidated Companies with an energy which would have done him credit had it owed its origin to his appreciation of the responsibilities of his public duties. Now, Kenmore's description of the situation at Washington left no room for doubt that for the first time Gorham must admit the a.s.sailability of the Companies. After the two hours'

interview, Gorham could not fail to recognize that the one thing which showed above all else in Kenmore's att.i.tude, was his anxiety lest the threatened adverse position on the part of the Government toward the Companies should result in a loss of his own future profits. Could it be possible, Gorham asked, inwardly, that Allen was right in saying that he himself was the only man in the corporation who lived up to the ideals he expressed!

"Next Tuesday is the critical day," the Senator repeated at the table, all other conversation giving way to the matter which he had so strongly upon his mind. "The Attorney-General was not far wrong when he told us in Washington that there was not the slightest possibility of pa.s.sing any bill through either House which could accomplish the results which the President desires, and yet I cannot believe that the position which the Administration has taken will be overridden."

"If we can get the bill through the Senate, do you think there will be the same difficulty in the House?" asked Gorham.

"No," Kenmore responded; "the Congressmen are more eager to serve their const.i.tuents. The people are still with us, and Congress knows it. In the Senate, however, they are playing for bigger game. The great interests there hope to divert attention from themselves to the Consolidated Companies, and if they can secure legislation which will operate against us they think that the people will so resent it that it will probably put a stop, for the present at least, to all agitation against consolidations, good or bad. It is a clever game, and they are playing it well."

"We must not let them play it better than ourselves," Gorham replied, decisively.

"We are working hard, Gorham," the Senator replied. "That was a great move of yours, having each stockholder invest in the Consolidated Companies to such an extent that it made the welfare of the corporation a matter of personal concern. Those of us who are stockholders are fighting for our lives, and the Companies is getting the benefit of it."

"So is the public," Gorham replied, quickly, regretting particularly the turn the conversation had taken owing to Allen's presence, and noting the expression on the boy's face. "You and our other colleagues in the Senate are fighting for the people, and the right is bound to win."

Kenmore laughed nervously. "I don't know that it makes much difference what you call it," he replied. "We are fighting all right, and the result is bound to be the same whether it is for the people or for ourselves. You won't fail us next Tuesday, Gorham? If you can turn the tide in our favor, you will accomplish the greatest stroke in your career."

"I shall be there," Gorham replied, and with deliberate intent turned the conversation into general channels.

Kenmore took his departure shortly after dinner, and Eleanor and Alice remained with Mr. Gorham and Allen, who lingered a few moments over their cigars before taking up their evening's labors. Eleanor, in an effort to relieve her own mind from its oppressing thoughts, quite unconsciously called attention to Allen's quiet bearing, which Mr.

Gorham had hoped would pa.s.s by without attracting attention, knowing as he did what lay beneath.

"How sober you are to-night, Allen," she said.

The boy looked up quickly. "Forgive me for being such poor company," he replied, simply. "I was thinking over what the Senator has been telling us."

"You must leave all that worry to me," Gorham said, kindly. "Great burdens are not meant for young shoulders. The Consolidated Companies is too strong a force to be vanquished without a hard struggle, even when attacked by so mighty an organization as the United States Senate."

"I was not worrying about that, Mr. Gorham," Allen replied, and he regretted the words as soon as they had left his lips.

"What is it, then?" asked Alice.

The boy pa.s.sed his hand across his forehead and rose to his feet. "I don't know what it is," he answered, irresolutely. "I am all upset to-night--do you mind if I go up to the library now, Mr. Gorham, and wait for you there?"

Gorham held out his hand and Allen grasped it firmly, yet turned his face away.

"Have you lost faith in me, too, my boy? Has it really come to that?"

"I beg of you, let me go now," Allen replied, controlling himself with difficulty. "You know I shall never lose faith in you."

"You are in no condition for work to-night," Gorham remarked, quietly.

"Draw your chair up here beside me, and let us talk it all out right now."

Allen looked hesitatingly at Eleanor and Alice and then at Gorham. "Not now?" he said.

"Why not now, Allen?" Alice asked, curious to know what so affected him.

"You told me once that you were my business creation, and that I must accept the responsibility whether I wished it or not. Surely I am ent.i.tled to be present."

"Affairs have changed since then. If I don't hold my tongue now, I shall say things for which you and your father will never forgive me."

"I want to hear them, Allen," she insisted; "I have a right to hear them."

Gorham was impressed by the girl's att.i.tude. "She is right," he added.

"Now, out with it, boy, and let us get to the bottom of things."

Then the pent-up thoughts which had been collecting during the past few months burst forth.

"You have made me do it, Mr. Gorham," the boy cried, pa.s.sionately. "You would never have heard it from my lips except for that, but I can't stand it any longer. I have tried hard since we talked that last time to convince myself that I was wrong, but I can't do it. I know it's because I can't see things the right way, but, whatever the cause, the trouble is there. To me the Companies seems based on interests which are wholly selfish, and to be accomplishing good only because doing business on this basis brings extra dividends to its stockholders. It is growing bigger and more powerful and more irresistible, but with this increasing power there is also increasing danger; and I feel sure, Mr.

Gorham, as I told you before, that some day the public will have to pay the price. When the dike breaks the flood is going to wipe out all the advantages which the people have received, and more too."

The boy paused for breath and waited, expecting to hear Gorham's stern reproaches, but none came. The amazed expression both on Eleanor's and Alice's faces, however, evidenced the heresy of his words.