The child made a magnificent courtesy. "Good-bye, Sir Launcelot, 'til death asunder."

XIII

John Covington's mind had been fully occupied during the few days which succeeded Harris's call. Inwardly he blamed himself as a bungler not to have covered his footsteps with greater skill; outwardly he was as unruffled and self-satisfied as ever. He called on Brady with Harris, as he promised. He allowed them both to explain their plans with even greater detail than Harris's previous disclosures. He listened, calmly and unprotestingly, to their confident statements as to what they proposed to make him, as a director in the Consolidated Companies, do for them. Then with equal serenity he flatly declined to yield to the pressure brought to bear upon him.

"I suppose you understand what this means to you," Brady snapped, angered by the unexpected refusal.

"Better than you do, I feel certain."

"What will the virtuous Mr. Gorham say when he finds out that you hold all that stock?"

"He will give your statement no credence whatever."

"But we can prove it to him."

"On the contrary, you will find yourself unable to do this."

"Didn't Harris show you that list?"

"Yes; but that was some days ago."

"You've unloaded, eh? That won't help you any. We'll find out who's got it."

"You need not take any trouble about the matter, as I am quite ready to give you the necessary information. Miss Gorham now holds the shares."

"Gorham's daughter?" queried Harris. "Does he know it?"

"I really don't know whether Miss Gorham has advised her father or not; that is her affair."

"Well, we'll see that he does know it," stormed Brady; "and will also see that he knows how you've unloaded it on her."

"You may find some difficulty," Covington replied, suavely. "The certificates, you know, never stood in my name. I simply acted as the young lady's agent. If you can make any capital out of that, you are at perfect liberty to do so. Was there any other detail in connection with this matter which you wished to discuss with me? Mr. Harris and you have been most confidential, and I might possibly feel inclined to reciprocate."

"You know too d.a.m.ned much already," retorted Brady, savagely. "I was a fool not to put the deal through before Gorham got into the game. After that it was too late--the stockholders would never have stood for our extra rake-off after he put them wise."

Harris's face paled. "You don't mean that there's danger of our getting thrown down, do you?" he queried in a tense voice. "I've put every dollar I own and some I don't own into this pool with you."

Brady struck him familiarly on the back and laughed. "You are in hard when you show the white feather like that. Cheer up. There's no question of being thrown down. What do you take me for? It's only a question of whether or not we can get all there is in it--that's what I'm worrying about. Gorham's been getting next to Littleton and Graham all summer.

I've tried to find out just what he was up to, but he's smarter in covering his tracks than I am to uncover 'em, even if he ain't quite so smart in some other directions. He's been in to see me several times, and there hasn't been a word to make me think that things ain't going through just as we planned 'em; but if they are, what's he monkeying round with those other fellows for? That's what I want to know. If our friend here feels like reciprocating, as he says he does, now's his chance."

Covington watched the two men closely. He may have enjoyed the fact that the course of the conversation had turned, but if so he gave no evidence of it.

"You have placed me in possession of certain information which obviously would not a.s.sist in carrying out your plans," he remarked, suggestively.

"Now, this whole transaction, as I informed Mr. Harris, is in Mr.

Gorham's hands. Under certain conditions, I might not feel it inc.u.mbent upon me to interfere."

"And those are?" asked Harris.

"That you forget my insignificant part in the purchase of Miss Gorham's stock," he replied. "It is not of great concern to me, and you are perfectly free to communicate it to Mr. Gorham if you choose; but in view of certain things which have occurred since, I should be glad to have the matter dropped if agreeable to you."

"That's easy enough," Brady remarked, showing signs of relief. "Is that all?"

"Yes," Covington replied; "I am not as avaricious as you are in exacting my pound of flesh. Now, one other thing in order to give good measure: it may interest you to know that Mr. Gorham went over the contract with me yesterday in detail, and he is going to accept it as it stands, paying you the price you named."

"You saw what it stipulated, Covington? It covers everything just as we turn it over. He can find out all in good time what three lines ain't included, and also the price his precious Companies will have to pay for them."

"He appeared to be perfectly satisfied," Covington continued, calmly. "I should judge that everything was all right."

"Then he's been wastin' time," growled Brady, "and he can have all the pink teas he wants with Littleton and Graham. We directors have the authority, anyhow; n.o.body could stop us. Who the devil is Gorham to dictate to me? He thinks he's the whole show, he does. It makes me sick to see him swellin' around with that girl wife of his. She's a stunner all right, and I don't blame him; but who the devil is she? Somebody's divorced wife, ain't she, Covington? Does anybody know anything about her? He ain't so much." He took out his watch and looked at it mechanically. "I guess I'm gettin' old to have these nervous spells--it ain't like me."

Covington bade them good-morning and returned to his office fairly well satisfied. The danger of the present situation had been minimized. He felt sure that Alice would not go out of her way to acquaint her father with the name of the stock by which her property would be handsomely increased, and he knew that Gorham's mind was too full of other matters to press her for the details unless she volunteered them. But he must be more discreet, this he realized. If the matter could be dropped here, he would have learned a useful lesson; and then, too, the interview had not been without a suggestion which was well worth following up. It occurred to Covington, in view of Brady's remark, that he had been unpardonably obtuse in neglecting to acquaint himself with the details of Mrs. Gorham's early life. He knew vaguely that she had been the victim of unpleasant experiences before her present marriage, but what they were he had never learned. There might be something in them which it would be to his advantage to know, and it could surely do no harm to make a quiet investigation.

On the following day, Covington found himself in front of an old-fashioned brick building standing almost significantly in the shadow of the Tombs. He paused for a moment to wonder at the enormous gaudy sign, "Levy & Whitcher's Law Offices," running across the front and side of the edifice, which impressed him with a sense of its vulgarity. The door creaked as Covington opened it and pa.s.sed on into the dingy offices--even dingier than the nature of the business done in them required, because of the dirt-trodden floors and their unwashed windows.

He pushed his way through the bunch of process-servers, messengers, and clerks who littered up the outer office, almost tripping over a torn law-book on the floor, and finally found his way to the waiting-room of Mr. Levy's private sanctum in the rear. Here he was subjected to a careful scrutiny by the lawyer's "secretary," whose personal appearance seemed to indicate greater familiarity with the prize ring than with clerical labors. There may have been method in his selection, as Mr.

Levy was a gentleman whose professional life had been spent in undertakings which a conservative insurance company might cla.s.sify under "hazardous risks."

Levy had reached a point in his career when he could afford to keep his clients waiting. He and his partner, during the twenty-five years they had been together, had prospered even beyond their early dreams of avarice. It was their boast that during their partnership it had not been necessary to open a law-book three times. There was always a way to beat a case "on the facts," and they had learned the way. They kept no books, and the pleasantest part of each day's business was the five-o'clock adjournment to a neighboring saloon, where the partners had punctiliously divided the millions which came to the firm during the years of their successful a.s.sociation.

After a delay which proved more or less aggravating to Covington, he was ushered into the presence of the "great" man. Levy endeavored to be courteous in his reception, but Covington showed scant interest in conventions. He plunged at once into the nature of his business, finding Levy an interested and sympathetic listener. It was some minutes after his caller ceased speaking that the silence was broken.

"Well," Covington said at length, coldly, "does the matter interest you?"

"I was deliberating," the lawyer rejoined, almost as if in apology.

"Do you think you can discover anything of interest?"

Levy smiled blandly. "How can I say as yet?" he replied, conservatively.

"There are certain elements which might contain interesting and promising details--a famous man married to a divorced woman twenty-five years his junior. We might easily find enough so that if you cared to push it he would prefer to make some concessions rather than suffer any unpleasant notoriety; and she may have a past which she would do much to keep forgotten. Yes, there are possibilities. Do you wish me to investigate?"

"How long will it take?"

"It may require a fortnight; it may take six months."

"By that time you would know whether there was anything in it?"

"a.s.suredly."

"Then you may proceed. Advise me when you are ready to talk and I'll come in again."

"There is one other matter," added Levy. "In case the affair develops, it may be fairly expensive."

Covington looked at him curiously. "I presume so," he said. "Before we get into it too far, I shall insist upon some understanding. I am not your debtor yet, am I?"

"The investigation will entail some expense and time," Levy continued, thoughtfully. "You might pay me--say, five thousand as a retainer."