Page images
PDF
EPUB

"I should prefer not to have you do so until my plans are advanced a step further forward," said Mr. Morton. "Sign the agreement Harmon will bring you in the morning. Keep it a secret, as I shall do, until I give you word, and then you can consult." "Very well," said Percy; "I agree.'

As he left the house of the great financier an hour later, and walked down to Fiftyninth street, he said:

"There will be four or five millions in it for me. I am getting rich quick.'

[ocr errors]

Then he added, with a bitter laugh:

"And I am doing Cohen, Raab & Co."

A little later he muttered:

"With what skill and easy strength these financiers toss the millions about. Well, my financial muscles are increasing in size."

He made his way to Broadway and turned into a theater to listen to the last act of a comic opera.

CHAPTER XXIII

A DINNER WITH A PURPOSE

Two months after Percy, had dined with Henry Morton, as the holiday season approached, Mrs. Hilary Stanford gave a din

ner.

As with most dinners, a purpose was behind it. Mrs. Stanford wore on the third finger of her left hand, to the exclusion of all other rings, a sparkling solitaire of the most exquisite purity, unmistakably fresh from the hands of the artificers. By it, at least, Mr. Anstruthers, Mr. Wiswall and Joe Hackett were informed of that purpose. And when Mrs. Elbert and Mrs. Anstruthers, accustomed to the subtle and mute language of society's conventions, observed, as the butler announced that madame was served, that Mrs. Stanford asking Mr. Wiswall for his arm, instructed Percy to take in Miss Van Zandt (for Mabel and Kitty had again become friends), and to lead the way to the diningroom, they, too. saw a relation between the

dinner and the gem. It was Mrs. Stanford's announcement of her engagement to marry J. Percival Dunbar, rising financier, tacitly made to those to whom she knew Percy had told he had offered himself.

There were two subsidiary purposes. Percy had told Mabel of his alliance with Mr. Morton. She had desired this, but it had come in a shape alarming to her, because of its magnitude. Percy had also told her that Mr. Anstruthers, seeking him on the day following his interview with Mr. Morton, had brought up the occurrences of the directors' meeting; that he, Percy, had taken the aggressive, complaining of Mr. Raab's arrogance; that Mr. Anstruthers, in an excusatory way, had said that Mr. Raab, knowing' that Mr. Morton was engaged in a financial movement of some kind, had had his suspicions excited by the financier's proxies having been given to Percy, and at the meeting had thought he had seen signs that Percy was acting under the guidance of Mr. Morton's agent, Mr. Harmon. Percy further told Mabel that on this he had become indignant, had pointed, as proof of his loyalty to the Cohen-Raab interest, to the fact that he had, on receiving them, submitted the proxies to its control; that neither prior to nor on the day of that meeting had he any communication as

to his action with Mr. Morton, or any agent of his, while his own course had been dictated wholly by what he thought was right; that when Mr. Anstruthers had gone a step further, had asked Percy to hand over his proxies to Mr. Raab for one year, he, Percy, had indignantly refused, declaring he was not willing to enter into slavery to any man. Therefore, Percy feared Mr. Anstruthers was angry with him. The days had passed, and while there had been no rupture of relations on the surface, Percy had seen little of Mr. Anstruthers, while he had had no communication with Mr. Raab at all.

Therefore, one of Mabel's purposes was to have an opportunity to probe Mr. Anstruthers' mind as to Percy and as to his knowledge of Mr. Morton's plan. Another was to seal the reconciliation with the Van Zandts by bringing the father and daughter to her table in the old relationship.

The dinner given by Mrs. Stanford moved along swimmingly, with a great deal of light talk, more or less bright, until Mr. Wiswall, perhaps impishly, perhaps because he enjoyed Joe's tirades, threw in a firebrand by suddenly exclaiming:

"Mirabile dictu! Here have we been an hour with Mr. Hackett, and not an incendiary

note from him-not a single speech of fiery denunciations of wealth."

"Have we, then, an anarchist in Mr. Hackett?" asked Mr. Anstruthers.

"Perhaps not an anarchist," replied Mr. Wiswall, "but a lucid radical and an intelligent socialist."

"Oh, I've promised to be good," replied Joe. "When Mrs. Stanford sent me her dainty missive, informing me she desired to waste some of her delicious cookery on me, I was not permitted to accept until I had promised I would reverse my morals and behave after the manner of the sane minion of wealth. Hence!"

He turned a quizzical glance on Nan, on whose face was consternation and deep blushes.

Mrs. Anstruthers, herself, typical of the possibilities of extreme beauty in the women of her race, gazing admiringly on the young girl, whose confusion enforced her modesty, and comprehending the situation, said:

"Whatever your morals or your manners, Mr. Hackett, of your wisdom in your choice of a guiding star there can be no doubt."

"And," cried Mr. Anstruthers, eagerly, "his confession is forgiven in the display of the charming roses it produces."

"Very pretty, Mr. Anstruthers," said his

« PreviousContinue »