CHAPTER XIII
A FRIEND IN NEED
It was while Brewster was in the depths of despair that his financialaffairs had a windfall. One of the banks in which his money wasdeposited failed and his balance of over $100,000 was wiped out.Mismanagement was the cause and the collapse came on Friday, thethirteenth day of the month. Needless to say, it destroyed everyvestige of the superstition he may have had regarding Friday and thenumber thirteen.
Brewster had money deposited in five banks, a transaction inspired bythe wild hope that one of them might some day suspend operations andthereby prove a legitimate benefit to him. There seemed no prospectthat the bank could resume operations, and if the depositors in the endrealized twenty cents on the dollar they would be fortunate.Notwithstanding the fact that everybody had considered the institutionsubstantial there were not a few wiseacres who called Brewster a fooland were so unreasonable as to say that he did not know how to handlemoney. He heard that Miss Drew, in particular, was bitterly sarcasticin referring to his stupidity.
This failure caused a tremendous flurry in banking circles. It was butnatural that questions concerning the stability of other banks shouldbe asked, and it was not long before many wild, disquieting reportswere afloat. Anxious depositors rushed into the big bankinginstitutions and then rushed out again, partially assured that therewas no danger. The newspapers sought to allay the fears of the people,but there were many to whom fear became panic. There were short, wildruns on some of the smaller banks, but all were in a fair way torestore confidence when out came the rumor that the Bank of ManhattanIsland was in trouble. Colonel Prentiss Drew, railroad magnate, was thepresident of this bank.
When the bank opened for business on the Tuesday following the failure,there was a stampede of frightened depositors. Before eleven o'clockthe run had assumed ugly proportions and no amount of argument couldstay the onslaught. Colonel Drew and the directors, at first mildlydistressed, and then seeing that the affair had become serious, grewmore alarmed than they could afford to let the public see. The loans ofall the banks were unusually large. Incipient runs on some had put allof them in an attitude of caution, and there was a natural reluctanceto expose their own interests to jeopardy by coming to the relief ofthe Bank of Manhattan Island.
Monty Brewster had something like $200,000 in Colonel Drew's bank. Hewould not have regretted on his own account the collapse of thisinstitution, but he realized what it meant to the hundreds of otherdepositors, and for the first time he appreciated what his money couldaccomplish. Thinking that his presence might give confidence to theother depositors and stop the run he went over to the bank withHarrison and Bragdon. The tellers were handing out thousands of dollarsto the eager depositors. His friends advised him strongly to withdrawbefore it was too late, but Monty was obdurate. They set it down to hisdesire to help Barbara's father and admired his nerve.
"I understand, Monty," said Bragdon, and both he and Harrison wentamong the people carelessly asking one another if Brewster had come towithdraw his money. "No, he has over $200,000, and he's going to leaveit," the other would say.
Each excited group was visited in turn by the two men, but theirassurance seemed to accomplish but little. These men and women werethere to save their fortunes; the situation was desperate.
Colonel Drew, outwardly calm and serene, but inwardly perturbed,finally saw Brewster and his companions. He sent a messenger over withthe request that Monty come to the president's private office at once.
"He wants to help you to save your money," cried Bragdon in low tones."That shows it's all up."
"Get out every dollar of it, Monty, and don't waste a minute. It's asmash as sure as fate," urged Harrison, a feverish expression in hiseyes.
Brewster was admitted to the Colonel's private office. Drew was aloneand was pacing the floor like a caged animal.
"Sit down, Brewster, and don't mind if I seem nervous. Of course we canhold out, but it is terrible--terrible. They think we are trying to robthem. They're mad--utterly mad."
"I never saw anything like it, Colonel. Are you sure you can meet allthe demands?" asked Brewster, thoroughly excited. The Colonel's facewas white and he chewed his cigar nervously.
"We can hold out unless some of our heaviest depositors get the feverand swoop down upon us. I appreciate your feelings in an affair of thiskind, coming so swiftly upon the heels of the other, but I want to giveyou my personal assurance that the money you have here is safe. Icalled you in to impress you with the security of the bank. You oughtto know the truth, however, and I will tell you in confidence thatanother check like Austin's, which we paid a few minutes ago, wouldcause us serious, though temporary, embarrassment."
"I came to assure you that I have not thought of withdrawing mydeposits from this bank, Colonel. You need have no uneasiness--"
The door opened suddenly and one of the officials of the bank boltedinside, his face as white as death. He started to speak before he sawBrewster, and then closed his lips despairingly.
"What is it, Mr. Moore?" asked Drew, as calmly as possible. "Don't mindMr. Brewster."
"Oglethorp wants to draw two hundred and fifty thousand dollars," saidMoore in strained tones.
"Well, he can have it, can't he?" asked the Colonel quietly. Moorelooked helplessly at the president of the bank, and his silence spokemore plainly than words.
"Brewster, it looks bad," said the Colonel, turning abruptly to theyoung man. "The other banks are afraid of a run and we can't count onmuch help from them. Some of them have helped us and others haverefused. Now, I not only ask you to refrain from drawing out yourdeposit, but I want you to help us in this crucial moment." The Colonellooked twenty years older and his voice shook perceptibly. Brewster'spity went out to him in a flash.
"What can I do, Colonel Drew?" he cried. "I'll not take my money out,but I don't know how I can be of further assistance to you. Command me,sir."
"You can restore absolute confidence, Monty, my dear boy, by increasingyour deposits in our bank," said the Colonel slowly, and as if dreadingthe fate of the suggestion.
"You mean, sir, that I can save the bank by drawing my money from otherbanks and putting it here?" asked Monty, slowly. He was thinking harderand faster than he had ever thought in his life. Could he afford torisk the loss of his entire fortune on the fate of this bank? Whatwould Swearengen Jones say if he deliberately deposited a vast amountof money in a tottering institution like the Bank of Manhattan Island?It would be the maddest folly on his part if the bank went down. Therecould be no mitigating circumstances in the eyes of either Jones or theworld, if he swamped all of his money in this crisis.
"I beg of you, Monty, help us." The Colonel's pride was gone. "It meansdisgrace if we close our doors even for an hour; it means a stain thatonly years can remove. You can restore confidence by a dozen strokes ofyour pen, and you can save us."
He was Barbara's father. The proud old man was before him as asuppliant, no longer the cold man of the world. Back to Brewster's mindcame the thought of his quarrel with Barbara and of her heartlessness.A scratch of the pen, one way or the other, could change the life ofBarbara Drew. The two bankers stood by scarcely breathing. From theoutside came the shuffle of many feet and the muffled roll of voices.Again the door to the private office opened and a clerk excitedlymotioned for Mr. Moore to hurry to the front of the bank. Moore pausedirresolutely, his eyes on Brewster's face. The young man knew the timehad come when he must help or deny them.
Like a flash the situation was made clear to him and his duty wasplain. He remembered that the Bank of Manhattan Island held everydollar that Mrs. Gray and Peggy possessed; their meager fortune hadbeen entrusted to the care of Prentiss Drew and his associates, and itwas in danger.
"I will do all I can, Colonel," said Monty, "but upon one condition."
"That is?"
"Barbara must never know of this." The Colonel's gasp of astonishmentwas cut short as Monty continued. "Promise that she shall never know."
"I don't
understand, but if it is your wish I promise."
Inside of half an hour's time several hundred thousand came to therelief of the struggling bank, and the man who had come to watch therun with curious eyes turned out to be its savior. His money won theday for the Bank of Manhattan Island. When the happy president anddirectors offered to pay him an astonishingly high rate of interest forthe use of the money he proudly declined.
The next day Miss Drew issued invitations for a cotillon. Mr.Montgomery Brewster was not asked to attend.