"No, I didn't say all that," Brady protested; "I simply said that a big block of the stock was bought for you. It wasn't necessary to say why."

"But you don't really believe that this stock was purchased for me, or with my knowledge, do you?"

Few men could resist the frank appeal of Gorham's eyes when he chose to exert it, and Brady was not one of these. He moved uncomfortably in his chair, and laughed consciously.

"Why, no, guv'nor, since you put it that way, man to man, I don't."

"Then why did you say what you did? I can't blame you for harboring some resentment against me because I interfered with your plans in that railway deal, but this statement is so easily refuted that I wonder why you made it. It was to discover this that I asked you to come here this morning."

Brady looked over at Covington meaningly. "That was just why I did do it," he said. "I knew it would bring out certain facts that I wanted to have known. I ain't harborin' any resentment against you. You licked me, an' I took my medicine. P'raps I've worried you a bit in Washington since,--that's another matter. I'm a sport all right, an' I know when to take my hat off to any man. But there is other slick Alecks, who think they're so all-fired smart, that I like to get even with when they try to be funny with me,--an' there's one of 'em sittin' in that chair over there now."

"Well--go on." Gorham encouraged him as he paused, at the same time studying the unexpressive face of Covington as the man progressed.

"Just before that railway deal was put through, an' Harris an' me was feelin' nervous about you gettin' so close to the big stockholders, I found out that this Covington here was saltin' away some good blocks of stock of the New York Street Railways Company. He wasn't buyin' them direct, you understand, an' the stool-pigeon he was usin' happened to be one of my own men. Then I sent Harris to see Covington, to get his influence with you to let our personal scheme go through, usin' the little information we had gained to act as an argument to help him make up his mind. He see the game was up, of course, an' then he tried to be smart. He had it all figured out that if he could unload that stock on your daughter, it would make things run easier for him when the facts come out. I wouldn't have held this up against him, for it was nothin'

but a cheap trick, but then he come to us of his own accord, an' told us that you an' him had gone all over the matter, an' you was goin' to let the thing go through all right. Well, you remember what happened. He evidently went right back to you an' told you what we had up our sleeve.

I swore then I'd get even with him, an' this is the way I chose to do it."

"That's the whole story, is it?" Gorham asked.

"Yes; unless friend Covington here can add a few details."

"I don't think he can,--but you do him an injustice in thinking that he spoke to me of your plans. His failure to do so is noteworthy, but it affects others rather than yourself. I am exceedingly obliged to you for your time and frankness. I will not detain you further unless Mr.

Covington would like to make any comments."

"I have nothing to say," Covington replied.

Gorham waited until Brady had made his departure before he turned to the man sitting in silence before him.

"This is all that is needed to make the blow complete, is it not?" he asked, in a voice which betrayed the feeling beneath by its quiet restraint. "Even the awakening which came to me when the committee showed their real selves was not enough. I still believed that I could carry through my purpose, and I relied on you to help make this possible. I, who felt myself strong enough to undertake the revolutionizing of the business world because of my magnificent support, find myself, like Samson, shorn of my strength, and face to face with a realization that man is by nature the cringing slave of the almighty dollar. He may, for a time, or for a purpose, disguise it even from himself, but when the real test comes, he dare not disregard the compelling voice of his master. This is enough of an awakening, but think of the pain which accompanies it when one finds that the friend in whom he trusted, that the one man whom he was most proud to honor, fails even to measure up to the simple test of honesty! Oh, Covington, I find it hard to bring myself to believe it!"

"What do you propose to do?" Covington asked.

"First of all, I shall place the facts before the Directors. They at least shall know that I have not been false to them or to myself."

"When will you do this?"

"As soon as possible,--this afternoon if I can get them together."

"Would you mind postponing it until to-morrow?"

"What is to be gained by that?"

"May I have an interview with you at your house to-night? It is for this that I ask the postponement."

"Certainly," Gorham replied, wonderingly. "I will see you at nine o'clock."

"I thank you," said Covington, rising and leaving the office without further comment.

XXIX

Gorham received two callers on that Sat.u.r.day night. Sanford came first, and the heartiness of the welcome extended him thawed out the bl.u.s.tering exterior which made it so difficult for the warm heart underneath to a.s.sert itself.

"I never was so proud of any one," cried Gorham, with more enthusiasm than he often manifested. "Now it is the old Stephen I used to know and love, acting his own self once more! But you are going to have your chance to crow over me. Stephen, I've been a more obstinate old fool than you ever thought of being, and I'm going to make you my father-confessor."

Then he told him of Allen's development, from the first day he entered the offices of the Consolidated Companies down to the time when he had himself sent the boy away from him in anger. He even told him of the crisis in the corporation, knowing that their conversation was sacred to his old friend. Then he dwelt on Allen's courage in the face of his own blindness, and his admiration for the boy's att.i.tude throughout.

"He is planning to go back to you, Stephen, but I shan't let him if I can help it. I have made him think that his work has been a failure, when in reality his vision has been clearer than mine. But don't tell him this. Let your talk be of yourselves. Then bring him to me to-morrow for dinner, and let me show him what he really is."

"I told you he'd make a fine business man," Stephen could not resist saying. "You remember that."

"I do," laughed Gorham. "That is why I gave him the chance. You remember asking me to do it, don't you?"

"There's another thing I told you, Robert,--that you never could do business on the basis you planned unless you had angels all the way up from the office boy to the Board of Directors."

"It has been my fault in not being able to distinguish between angels and mortals," Gorham replied seriously, his mind reverting to the great problem which still lay unsolved before him. "I am not willing yet to admit that the basis is wrong,--the error must rest in the building.

Good-night, Stephen. Be sure to bring Allen with you to-morrow."

Covington entered the library, walking with short, quick steps quite unlike his usual deliberate gait, and sat down in the chair just vacated by Mr. Sanford. Gorham noted at once the change which had come over his features, even during the few hours which had elapsed since morning. For the first time his eyes showed a nervous unrest, the lines about his mouth had settled into a hard, disagreeable expression, and his whole manner evidenced the strain he was enduring. Gorham noted all this, and in a measure it surprised him. If Covington was so const.i.tuted that he could play the hypocrite, he would not have supposed his sensibilities acute enough to overwhelm him in the unmasking.

"You are wondering why I desired this interview," Covington began. "You cannot understand what there is left for me to say to you in view of what has happened. I could have bluffed this out for a time, but it was no use. There are other developments which will follow on the heels of this which make it useless to temporize. I have played the game my way, letting you make the rules, believing that when it came to the showdown my cards would be strong enough to win. They would be under normal circ.u.mstances, but you've called my hand too soon. You see before you a desperate man, Mr. Gorham, upon whom you have forced the necessity of taking a gambler's chance. That is why I am here to-night."

"You must be implicated in matters far deeper than I have knowledge to talk like this, Covington. You have been false to me and false to the Companies, but after all there is nothing criminal in what you have done. To me, the greatest crime a man can commit is so to forget the manhood with which his Maker endowed him, as to prost.i.tute it for temporary personal advantage, but the law looks upon other lesser crimes as deserving of greater punishment. I cannot tell how much of a lesson this may be to you. It will, of course, be necessary for you to leave New York, as the committee, however much they may criticise my code, have one of their own which you have transgressed. As far as I am concerned, you may have no anxiety. I have too many important matters in hand to wish to divert myself from them simply to make you pay the penalty you owe me."

"I am implicated deeper than you know, but I am here to make terms rather than accept them," Covington replied. "I do not choose to begin life over again, and I require your definite a.s.surances that whatever you know or may learn against me be kept from the knowledge of the committee. At present I hold their confidence, and I am not willing to relinquish it. What I have done in this stock transaction will not strike them as so serious a matter as you make of it. I venture to say that I am not the only one of them to do it."

Gorham looked at him keenly. "This is the talk of a man bereft of his senses."

"I told you I was desperate, and so I am. I have been working all my life to gain the position of wealth and power which is now within my grasp, and you shall not keep me from it."

"You yourself have made its attainment impossible."

"Next to you, I am the one man most competent to conduct the affairs of the Consolidated Companies. You yourself have trained me to be your successor. The committee know this, and they also know that with me at the head, the Companies will be run as they wish it. They are eager to have the change, and only fear your influence against the corporation if they force you out."

"All that may have been true, Covington, in the past. Not one of them would trust you now."

"They know nothing which reflects upon my character, and they must not know. You and they can never continue together,--it is hopeless to expect a compromise. I am the only man who can hold these forces together, and you must give me this chance."

Gorham could only believe that the excitement which controlled Covington had affected him to the extent of irresponsibility, and his unusual manner heightened the impression.

"I see no reason to continue this interview," he said shortly. "You speak of what must and shall happen when the shaping of events has already pa.s.sed from your control."

"You think it has, Mr. Gorham; but that is where the gambler's chance comes in. It is a desperate chance, and it is one which I could never have believed myself capable of taking. It simply shows how far a man will go when forced against the wall."