"It's Harbert," said Elias Droom.
"Why didn't you say to him that I am busy? I don't want to seehim," said his employer in a sharp undertone. Droom's long fingerwas on his lips, enjoining silence.
"He said that you wouldn't want to see him, but that it didn't makeany difference. He'll wait, he says."
They were in the private office, with the door closed. Bansemer'sface was whiter and more firmly set than ever. The ugly fightinglight was in his eyes again.
"If he has come here to threaten me, I'll kill him," he saidsavagely.
"You'll do nothing of the kind," said the clerk with what was meantto be a conciliatory smile. "Meet him squarely and hear what hehas to say."
"Do you suppose she has told Cable? He may have sent Harbert here."
"Cable's hands are tied. I know too much. If I were to tell the policewhat I know he'd have a devil of a time getting the presidency ofhis road. Besides, they both owe me a vote of thanks. Didn't Ihave sense enough to make it look like robbery?"
"Yes, but curse your stupidity, they may charge you with the job.Nobody would believe that Cable would attempt to rob his own wife."
"But they would, in any event, decide that he had taken the ringsto make it appear like robbery." There was a hard rap on the glasspanel. "He's bound to see you, sir."
"Well, then, show him in!" snarled Bansemer.
"Mr. Bansemer will see you, sir," said Droom suavely, opening thedoor suddenly.
"Thanks," said Harbert shortly. He entered the private officeand faced the lawyer, who was standing near his desk. "I've takenadvantage of your invitation to drop in and see you."
"This is one of my busy days, Mr. Harbert," said Bansemer, determinedto come to the point at once. "However, I hardly expected a socialcall from you, so it must be of a business nature. What is it?"
"It concerns your son, Mr. Bansemer. I'm here in the capacityof a physician. You must go away for his health." Harbert smiledas though he thought it a good joke. Bansemer turned red and thenwhite.
"I don't quite appreciate your wit, sir."
"My humour, I'd suggest as a substitute. Well, to be perfectlyplain, sir, your son does not know the true nature of the malady.He--"
"Do I understand you to say that he really has an ailment?" exclaimedBansemer seriously.
"It isn't hopeless, my dear sir. My only desire is to keep himfrom ever finding out that he has a malady. He is sure to learnthe truth if you remain here."
"Damn you, Harbert, I understand you now, and I want to say thisto you: I'll not drag that boy away from this city. He's successfulhere and he's one of the most promising young men in town. I'm notgoing to have him hounded from town to town by--"
"You don't quite understand me, sir. On the contrary, he shouldremain here. What I do mean to say is this: he won't feel likestaying here if the truth about his father is uttered. That's thebrutal way to put it, Bansemer, but you've GOT TO GET OUT."
The two glared at each other for a full minute. Bansemer was aswhite as a sheet--but not with fear.
"Harbert," he said in low tones, "I've half a mind to kill you."
"Don't. You'd hang for it. There are at least a dozen members ofthe bar who know that I have come here to see you, and they knowwhy, too. See here, Bansemer, you're a scoundrel to begin with.You've always been a knave. How you happen to have a son likeGraydon I can't imagine. If I did not know that your wife was anoble, honest woman, it wouldn't be difficult to supply a reasonfor--"
"Stop! By God, you shall not say a word against my wife! I'll brainyou with this weight! You--"
"I have not said a word against her--nor against your son. For herand for him I have the deepest respect. I am trying to protect thememory of one and the future of the other. Bansemer, I believe thatI drove you out of New York. You escaped without exposure simplybecause the witnesses lost their nerve. That won't be the casehere. You think you've covered your tracks nicely. You haven't.You've tripped into half a dozen traps. I don't know what yourgame is with the Cables, but you're base enough to take advantageof your son's position in that home. Don't interrupt! I'll soon bethrough. I'm a man of few words. If it were not for your son I'dswear out the warrants for you to-day on five different charges.For his sake I'm going to give you a chance. I've worked on you forthree years. I swore I'd get you some time. Well, I've got you, andI'm going to cheat myself out of a whole lot of pleasure. I'm notgoing to smash you as I intended. Your son's friends have prevailed.To show you that I'm not bluffing, I have every bit of evidencein the Burkenday case, the Flossie Bellamy job, the widow Hensmithaffair--and it was a damnable one, too--with two or three more. Youbroke that woman's heart. I don't suppose you know that she diedlast month. You never noticed it, eh? Her precious coachman is livinglike a lord on the money you and he took from her. Old Burkenday'shousemaid has bought a little home in Edgewater--but not fromher wages. The two jobs you now have on hand never will be pulledoff. The girl in the Banker Watts case has been cornered and hasconfessed. She is ready to appear against you. McLennan's wifehas had the courage to defy your accomplice--that dastardly butlerof theirs--and he has left town, frightened out of his wits. Yourtime has come. The jig is up. It won't be as it was in New York,because we have the proof. There is a committee of three down inRigby's office now waiting for me to report. If I take word to themthat you expect to sail for Europe next week, never to return tothis country, all well and good. It is for your son's good health,bear in mind. If you go, the public may never learn the truth aboutyou; if you stay you will be in jail before you are a week older.And, Mr. Bansemer, you've got to decide DAMNED QUICK."
Bansemer looked his accuser straight in the eye, a faint smile ofderision touching his lips, but not his eyes.
"Mr. Harbert, the first thing you have to learn in connection withyour patient's father is that he is not a coward. I refuse to run,sir. I am innocent of any intentional wrong, and I'll stand myground. My son will stand beside me, too; he is that sort. Go backto your committee and tell them that Bansemer will not go to Europefor his son's health. Good-day, sir!"
"Nonsense, Bansemer," exploded Harbert. "You know we've got youfast enough. Why be a fool as well as a knave? You haven't a ghostof a chance. I'm trying to do you a good turn."
"A good turn? Mr. Harbert, I am neither a fool nor a knave. IfI were a fool I'd kill you where you stand. I would be justifiedin killing the man who represents a crowd of blackmailers. That'swhat you are, sir. I refuse to pay your price. If I were a knaveI'd pay it. I want you to understand one thing. I shall stand myground here. If you persecute me, I'll not stop flaying you untildeath ends my endeavours. We'll see what justice can give me inexchange for your bulldozing. I will have restitution, rememberthat. Now, you've nothing more to say to me. Get out!"
"Sir!"
"Get out!"
"By George, you're a wonderful bluffer."
"Do you expect me to throw you out, sir?"
"It isn't necessary. I've had a change of heart in the last minute,Mr. Bansemer. I withdraw my proposition. By all that's holy, Iintend to go after you now without pity. Hang your son's feelings!You won't take my advice. I didn't give it as a friend, because Idetest you. It was done in a weak spirit of fairness toward yourson and toward the girl he is to marry. Now, I put them out of myconsideration. They---"
"Get out!"
Harbert, very red in the face, slammed the door after him andstrode angrily through the outer office into the corridor. Droomimmediately entered the consultation room.
"Well? What is it?" demanded Bansemer.
"What did he want?"
"He invited me to go to Europe for an indefinite stay. I refused.We'll fight it out, Droom. We have covered our trail better than hethinks. They can't convict me. I'm sure of that. They have nothingbut conjectures, and they won't go in court."
"I'm afraid of him, just the same. You're bull-headed about it.Every criminal thinks his tracks are covered until it is too lateto cover them properly."
"Curse you, D
room, I'm no criminal."
"A slip of the tongue on my part. Do you know who is down there inRigby's office with those fellows?"
"An officer, I daresay."
"No. David Cable."
"Cable? Then, his wife has told him everything. Well, I've somethingto tell, too. By the Lord Harry, Elias, there will be severalsensations in high life."
"You don't mean that you'll tell all there is to tell about thegirl?"
"No! That's just it! That is one thing I won't tell. If you tellwhose blood she has in her veins, I'll kill you like a dog. But,I'll see that Miss Cable is dropped by Chicago society inside ofa week. I'm mad, Droom--do you understand?"
"But Graydon loves her."
"He won't love her long. I was a fool to let him go this far--ablind, loving fool. But I'll end it now. He shan't marry her. Hehas no---"
"I haven't much of a heart to boast of, Bansemer, but I beg of younot to do this thing. I love Graydon. He doesn't deserve any painor disgrace. Take my advice and leave the city. Let me call Harbertback."
"No! They can't drive me out! Telephone over and ask Graydon tostop here on his way up this afternoon."
The opening and closing of the outer door attracted their attention.Droom peeped forth. In spite of himself, Bansemer started and hiseyes widened with sudden alarm. A glance of apprehension passedbetween the two men.
"It's that Deever boy from Judge Smith's," reported Droom.
"Tell him to get out," said Bansemer, with a breath of relief.
"I thought it might have been---" began Droom with a wry grin.
"Nonsense!"
"It is a bit too soon. They haven't had time."
As Droom left the room, Bansemer crossed to the window and lookeddown into the seething street far below. He saw that his handtrembled and he tried to laugh at his weakness. For a long timehe stood there, his unseeing eyes focused on the hurrying masses,his ears alert for unusual sounds from the outer office.
"If it were not for Graydon," he was muttering between set teeth."God, how I hate to have him know!"
Droom had told Eddie Deever to "get out," but Eddie was there totalk and be talked to, so he failed to take the hint.
"Say, I haven't seen you since you played the hero up in thefashionable part of town. Gee, that was a startler! I'll bet oldman Cable rewards you in some way. What's your theory about thehold-up?"
Droom looked up sharply. For the first time there shot into hismind the thought that the breezy boy might be a spy.
"I haven't any," he replied shortly. He was trying to remember ifhe had ever said anything incriminating to the boy.
"How d' you happen to be over there just at that time?"
"I haven't time to talk about it. Please don't bother me. Ithappened three days ago and I've really forgotten about it. Don'tthrow that cigarette into the wastebasket. Haven't you any sense?"
"Gee, you don't suppose I'm going to throw it away, do you? There'shalf an inch of it left. Not me. Say, I've heard your boss has quitea case on Mrs. Cable. How about it?" he almost whispered this.
"You shouldn't talk like that."
"Oh, you mean that gag about people living in glass houses? Gee,don't worry about that. Chicago is a city of glass houses. A blindman could throw rocks all day and smash a hole in somebody's houseevery crack. I believe the hold-up man was one of those strikerswho have been out of jobs all winter. Smith thinks so."
"Who?"
"Judge Smith."
"That's better."
"Did you see his face?"
"What are you, bub--a detective?"
"Rosie Keating says I'd make a better policeman than lawyer. She'ssore at me for taking Miss Throckmorton to Mam' Galli's the othernight. Fellow stood on the piano and sang the derndest song I'veever heard. But, gee, I don't think Miss Throck was on. She didn'tseem to notice, I mean. Say, on the dead, do you think you couldidentify that fellow?"
"Look here, boy, if anyone ever asks you whether I'd know thatman's face if I saw it again, you just say that I'd know it in athousand. I saw it plainly."
Eddie gulped suddenly and looked more interested than ever.
"Do you think they'll get him?"
"They will if he talks too much."
"I hope so. Say, how's that new patent coming on?"
"I'm not making a patent. I'm making a model. It's nearly completed.The strike in the shops is holding me back with it. Curse thesestrikes."
"Oh, they bust 'em up mighty quick. There hasn't been a big one onsince Debs engineered his and Cleveland called out the troops."
"Boy, you wait a few years and you'll see a strike that willparalyse you. Look at these teamsters. They're powerful now. They'llget licked, but they'll come back. When the next big money paniccomes--it'll be in my day, too--you'll see the streets of Chicagorunning with blood. These fellows will go after the rich, andthey'll get 'em. You will live to see the day when women who weardiamonds around their throats will have harsh, horny ringers thereinstead. There will be rich men's blood on every paving stone andbeautiful necks will be slit with less mercy than marked the Frenchbutchery years ago. That's my prophecy. Some day you'll recall itto mind, especially if you happen to become very prosperous. It'sbound to come. Now get out. I have a lot of writing to do." Eddiesnickered.
"What will the law be doing all this time?"
"Bosh! The law can't even capture Mrs. Cable's assailant. Do youknow what the human lust for blood is? Take an enraged man, doesn'the hunger for blood? He wants to kill and he does kill. Well, heis but an atom--an individual. Now, can you imagine what it willmean when a whole class of people, men and women, are forced to onecommon condition--the lust for blood? The individual lusts, and sowill the mass. The rage of the mass will be the same as the furyof the individual. It will be just like one tremendous man of manyparts rioting for---"
The outer door opened suddenly and an old gentleman entered.
"Is Mr. Bansemer here?" he asked, removing his silk hat nervously.
"Yes, Mr. Watts. I'll tell him you are here."
Watts, the banker, confronted Bansemer a moment later, an anxious,hunted look in his eyes. John Watts was known as one of the meanestmen in the city. No one had bested him in a transaction of any kind.As hard as nails and as treacherous as a dog, he was feared alikeby man and woman.
Watts, perhaps for the first time in his self-satisfied life, wasready to bow knee to a fellow-man. A certain young woman had falleninto the skilful hands of Counsellor James Bansemer, and Mr. Wattswas jerked up with a firmness that staggered him.
"Mr. Bansemer, I have come in to see if this thing can't be settledbetween us. I don't want to go into court. My wife and daughterswon't understand that it's a case of blackmail on the part of thiswoman. Let's come to terms."
Bansemer smiled coolly. It was impossible to resist the temptationto toy with him for a while, to humble and humiliate this man whohad destroyed hundreds in his juggernaut ride to riches. Skilfullyhe drew the old man out. He saw the beads of perspiration on hit,brow and heard the whine come from his voice. Then, in the end, hesharply changed his tactics.
"See here, Watts, you've got a wrong impression of this affair.I don't like your inferences. I am not asking you for a cent.I wouldn't take it. You have just offered me $25,000 to drop theaffair. That's an insult to my integrity. I've investigated thisgirl's claim pretty thoroughly and I believe she is trying to fleeceyou. I have given up the case. None of that sort of thing for me.She'll go to some unscrupulous lawyer, no doubt, but I am out ofit. I don't handle that kind of business. You have insulted me.Get out of my office, sir, and never enter it again."
"Give me that in writing," began the wily banker, but Bansemer hadcalled to Droom. Eddie Deever was standing near the door, almostdoggedly curious.
"Show Mr. Watts the door, and if he ever comes here again call thepolice. He has tried to bribe me."
Watts departed in a dazed sort of way and Droom closed the door.
"Are you still here?" he demanded of Eddie
Deever in such a mannerthat the young man lost no time in leaving.
"There goes twenty-five thousand," said Bansemer, with a cold grin.
"I guess you can afford to lose it," muttered Droom. "It was slick,I suppose, but it's probably too late to help."
"Have you telephoned to Graydon?"
"Not yet."
"Don't."
"Change of heart?"
"Change of mind."
"That's so. You haven't any heart."
CHAPTER XIX
THE CRASH