CHAPTER XII
_The Ultimatum_
Upon the following morning Gramont called both Jachin Fell and LucieLedanois over the telephone. He acquainted them briefly with the resultof his oil investigation, and arranged a meeting for ten o'clock, atFell's office.
It was slightly before ten when Gramont called with the car for Lucie.Under the spell of her smiling eagerness, the harshness vanished fromhis face; it returned again a moment later, for he saw that she, too,was changed. There was above them both a cloud. That of Gramont wassecret and brooding. As for Lucie, she was in mourning. The murder ofJoseph Maillard, the arrest and undoubted guilt of Bob Maillard, dwarfedall else in her mind. Even the news of the oil seepage, and the factthat she was probably now on the road to wealth, appeared to make littleimpression upon her.
"Thank heaven," she said, earnestly, as they drove toward Canal Street,"that so far as you are concerned, Henry, the Midnight Masquer affairwas all cleared up before this tragedy took place! It was fearfullyimprudent of you----"
"Yes," answered Gramont, soberly, reading her thought. "I can realize myown folly now. If this affair were to be laid at my door, some kind of acase might be made up against me, and it would seem plausible. But,fortunately, I was out of it in time. Were we merely characters in astandardized detective story, I suppose I'd be arrested and deluged withsuspense and clues and so forth."
"Your escape was too narrow to joke over, Henry," she reproved him,gravely.
"I'm not joking, my dear Lucie. I learned nothing about the tragedyuntil late last night. From what I can find in the papers, it seemsagreed that Bob was not the real Masquer, but had assumed that guise fora joke. A tragic joke! Since he was undoubtedly drunk at the time, hisstory can't be relied upon as very convincing. And yet, it's frightfullyhard to believe that, even by accident, a son should have shot down hisown father----"
"Don't!" Lucie winced a little. "In spite of all the evidence againsthim, in spite of the way he was found with that aviation uniform, it'sstill awful to believe. I can't realize that it has actually happened."
"According to the papers, poor Mrs. Maillard has gone to pieces. Nowonder."
"Yes. I was there with her all day yesterday, and shall go again to-day.They say Bob is terribly broken up. He sent for his mother, and sherefused to see him. I don't know how it is all going to end! Do youthink his story might be true--that somebody else might have acted asthe Masquer that night?"
Gramont shook his head.
"It's possible," he said, reluctantly, "yet it hardly seems veryprobable. And now, Lucie, I'm very sorry indeed to say it--but you mustprepare yourself against another shock in the near future."
"What do you mean? About the oil----"
"No. It's too long a story to tell you now; here we are at the MaisonBlanche. Just remember my words, please. It's something that I can't gointo now."
"Very well. Henry! Do you think that it's possible your chauffeur,Hammond, could have learned about the drinking party, and couldhave----"
Gramont started. "Hammond? No. I'll answer for him beyond any question,Lucie. By the way, does Fell know anything about Hammond having been thefirst Masquer?"
"Not from me," said the girl, watching him.
"Very well. Hammond got into a bit of trouble at Houma, and I had toleave him there. It was none of his fault, and he'll get out of it allright. Well, come along up to our oil meeting! Forget your troubles, anddon't let my croakings about a new shock cause you any worry just yet."
He was thinking of Jachin Fell, and the girl's closeness to Fell. Had henot known that Fell was responsible for Hammond's being in jail, hemight have felt differently. As it was, he was now fore-warned andfore-armed, although he could not see what animus Fell could possiblyhave against Hammond.
It was lucky, he reflected grimly, that he had never breathed to a soulexcept Lucie the fact that Hammond had been the first Masquer! Had Fellknown this fact, his desire to lay Hammond by the heels might have beeneasily fulfilled--and Hammond would probably have found himself chargedwith Maillard's murder.
They found Jachin Fell dictating to a stenographer. He greeted themwarmly, ushering them at once into his private office.
Gramont found it difficult to convince himself that his experiences ofthe previous afternoon had been real. It was almost impossible tobelieve that this shy, apologetic little man in gray was in reality the"man higher up!" Yet he knew it to be the case--knew it beyond anyescape.
"By the way," and Fell turned to Gramont, "if you'll dictate a briefstatement concerning that oil seepage, I'd be obliged! Merely give thefacts. I may have need of such a statement from you."
Gramont nodded and joined the stenographer in the outer office where hedictated a brief statement. It did not occur to him that there might bedanger in this; at the moment, he was rather off his guard. He wasthinking so much about his future assault on Fell that he quite ignoredthe possibility of being placed on the defensive.
Within five minutes he had returned to Lucie and Jachin Fell, who werediscussing the condition of Mrs. Maillard. Gramont signed the statementand handed it to Fell, who laid it with other papers at his elbow.
"I suppose we may proceed to business?" began Fell. "I have drawn uparticles of partnership; we can apply for incorporation later if we sodesire. Lucie, both Henry Gramont and I are putting twenty-five thousanddollars into this company, while you are putting in your land, which Iam valuing at an equal amount. The stock, therefore, will be dividedequally among us. That is understood?"
"Yes. It's very good of you, Uncle Jachin," said the girl, quietly."I'll leave everything to your judgment."
The little gray man smiled.
"Judgment is a poor horse to ride, as Eliza said when she crossed theice. Here's everything in black and white. I suggest that you bothglance over the articles, sign up, and we will then hold our firstmeeting."
Gramont and Lucie read over the partnership agreement, and found itperfectly correct.
"Very well, then, the meeting is called to order!" Jachin Fell smiled ashe rapped on the desk before him. "Election of officers--no, wait! Thefirst thing on hand is to give our company a name. Suggestions?"
"I was thinking of that last night," said Lucie, smiling a little. "Whynot call it the 'American Prince Oil Company'?" And her eyes darted toGramont merrily.
"Excellent!" exclaimed Jachin Fell. "My vote falls with yours, mydear--I'll fill in the blanks with that name. Now to the election ofofficers."
"I nominate Jachin Fell for president," said Gramont, quickly.
"Seconded!" exclaimed the girl, gaily, a little colour in her palecheeks.
"Any other nominations? If not, so approved and ordered," rattled Fell,laughingly. "For the office of treasurer----"
"Miss Lucie Ledanois!" said Gramont. "Move nominations be closed."
"Seconded and carried by a two-thirds vote of stockholders," chirpedFell in his toneless voice. "So approved and ordered. For secretary----"
"Our third stockholder," put in Lucie. "He'll have to be an officer, ofcourse!"
"Seconded and carried. So approved and ordered." Mr. Fell rapped on thetable. "We will now have the report of our expert geologist in furtherdetail than yet given."
Gramont told of finding the oil; he was not carried away by the gaymock-solemnity of Jachin Fell, and he remained grave. He went on torelate how he had secured the lease option upon the adjoining land, andsuggested that other such options be secured at once upon other propertyin the neighbourhood. He handed the option to Fell, who laid it with theother documents.
"And now I have a proposal of my own to make," said Jachin Fell. Heappeared sobered, as though influenced by Gramont's manner. "Althoughwe've actually found oil on the place, there is no means of telling howmuch we'll find when we drill, or what quality it will be. Is that notcorrect, Mr. Gramont?"
"Entirely so," assented Gramont. "The chances are, of course, that we'llfind oil in both quality
and quantity. On the other hand, the seepagemay be all there is. Oil is a gamble from start to finish. Personally,however, I would gamble heavily on this prospect."
"Naturally," said Mr. Fell. "However, I have been talking over the oilbusiness with a number of men actively engaged in it in the Houma field.I think that I may safely say that I can dispose of the mineral rightsto our company's land, together with this lease option secured yesterdayon the adjoining land, for a sum approximating one hundred and fiftythousand dollars; reserving to our company a sixteenth interest in anyoil located on the property. Personally, I believe this can be done, andI am willing to undertake the negotiations if so empowered by a note ofour stockholders. Lucie, you do not mind if we smoke, I know? Let meoffer you a cigar, Mr. Gramont."
Gramont took one of the El Reys offered him, and lighted it amid astartled silence. Fell's proposal came to him as a distinct shock, andalready he was viewing it in the light of prompt suspicion.
"Why," exclaimed Lucie, wide-eyed, "that would be fifty thousand dollarsto each of us, and not a cent expended!"
"In case it went through on that basis," added Jachin Fell, his eyes onGramont, "I would vote that the entire sum go to Miss Ledanois. Her landalone is involved. If she then wishes to invest with us in a new companyto exploit other fields, well and good. One moment, my dear! Do notprotest this suggestion. The sixteenth interest reserved to our companywould provide both Mr. Gramont and me with a substantial reward for ourslight activity in the matter. Don't forget that interest, for it mightamount to a large figure."
"Right," assented Gramont. "I would second your vote, Mr. Fell; I thinkthe idea very just and proper that Miss Ledanois should receive theentire amount."
Lucie seemed a trifle bewildered.
"But--but, Henry!" she exclaimed. "What do you think of selling thelease to these other men?"
Gramont eyed the smoke from his cigar reflectively, quite conscious thatMr. Fell was regarding him very steadily.
"I can't answer for you, Lucie," he said at last. "I would not presumeto advise."
Mr. Fell looked slightly relieved. Lucie, however, persisted.
"What would you do, then, if you were in my place?"
Gramont shrugged his shoulders.
"In that case," he said, slowly, "I would gamble. We know oil is in thatground; we know that it has been found in large quantities at Houma ornear there. To my mind there is no doubt whatever that under your landlies a part of the same oil field--and a rich one. To sellfifteen-sixteenths of that oil for a hundred and fifty thousand is togive it away. I would sooner take my chances on striking atwenty-thousand barrel gusher and having the whole of it to myself.However, by all means disregard my words; this is not my affair."
Lucie glanced at Jachin Fell.
"You think it is the best thing to do; Henry does not," mused the girl."I know that you're both thinking of me--of getting that money for me.Just the same, Uncle Jachin, I--I won't be prudent! I'll gamble!Besides," she added with smiling naivete, "I'm not a bit willing to giveup having a real oil company the very minute it is formed! So we'lloutvote you, Uncle Jachin."
Despite their tension, the two men smiled at her final words.
"That motion of mine has not yet been made," said Fell. Her rejection ofhis proposal had no effect upon his shyly smooth manner. "Will youexcuse us one moment, Lucie? If I may speak with you in the outeroffice, Mr. Gramont, I would like to show you some confidential matterswhich might influence your decision in this regard."
Lucie nodded and leaned back in her chair.
Gramont accompanied Fell to the outer office, where Fell sent thestenographer to keep Lucie company. When the door had closed and theywere alone, Fell took a chair and motioned Gramont to another. A coldbrusquerie was evident in his manner.
"Gramont," he said, briskly, "I am going to make that motion, and I wantyou to vote with me against Lucie. Unfortunately, I have only a third ofthe voting power. I might argue Lucie into agreement, but she is adifficult person to argue with. So I mean that you shall vote withme--and I'm going to put my cards on the table before you."
"Ah!" Gramont regarded him coolly. "Your cards will have to be powerfulpersuaders!"
"They are," returned Jachin Fell. "I have been carefully leading up tothis point--the point of selling. I have practically arranged the wholeaffair. I propose to sell the mineral rights in that land, largely onthe strength of the signed statement you gave me a few moments ago. Thatstatement is going to be given wide publicity, and it will besubstantiated by other reports on the oil seepage."
"You interest me strangely." Gramont leaned back in his chair. The eyesof the two men met and held in cold challenge, cold hostility. "What'syour motive, Fell?"
"I'll tell you: it's the interest of Lucie Ledanois." In the gaze ofFell was a strange earnestness. In those pale gray eyes was now a lightof fierce sincerity which startled and warned Gramont. Fell continuedwith a trace of excitement in his tone.
"I've known that girl all her life, Gramont, and I love her as a father.I loved her mother before her--in a different way. I can tell you thatat this moment Lucie is poor. Her house is mortgaged; she does not know,in fact, just how poor she really is. Of course, she will accept nomoney from me in gift. But for her to get a hundred and fifty thousandin a business deal will solve all her problems, set her on her feet forlife!"
"I see," said Gramont with harsh impulse. "What do you get out of it?"
He regretted the words instantly. Fell half rose from his chair asthough to answer them with a blow. Gramont, aware of his mistake,hastened to retract it.
"Forgive me, Fell," he said, quickly. "That was an unjust insinuation,and I know it. Yet, I can't find myself in agreement with you. I'mfirmly set in the belief that a fortune in oil will be made off thatland of Lucie's. I simply can't agree to sell out for a comparativepittance, and I'll fight to persuade her against doing it! As I look atit, the thing would not be just to her. I'm thinking, as you are, onlyof her interest."
A light of sardonic mockery glittered in the pale eyes of Jachin Fell.
"You are basing your firm conviction," he queried, "very largely uponyour discovery of the free oil?"
"To a large extent, yes."
"I thought you would," and Fell laughed harshly.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean," said the other, fiercely earnest, "that for a month I'veworked to sell that land! I had young Maillard hooked and landed--itwould have been poetic justice to make him hand over a small fortune toLucie! But that deal is off, since he's in jail. And do you know whyyoung Maillard wanted to buy the land? For the same reason you don'twant to sell. I sent him out there and he saw that oil seepage, as Imeant that he should! He thought he would skin Lucie out of her land,not dreaming that I had prepared a nice little trap to swallow him. Andnow you come along----"
"Man, what are you driving at?" exclaimed Gramont. He was startled bywhat he read in the other man's face.
"Merely that I planted that oil seepage myself--or had it done by men Icould trust," said Jachin Fell, calmly. He sat back in his chair andtook up his cigar with an air of finality. "The confession is shameless.I love Lucie more than my own ethical purity. Besides, I intend to wrongno one in the matter."
Gramont sat stunned beyond words. The oil seepage--a plant!
The thing could have been very easily done, of course. As he sat silentthere unfolded before him the motives that underlay Fell's entireaction. The amazing disclosure of Jachin Fell's intrigue to enrich thegirl left him bewildered. This, coupled with what he had learned on thepreceding day about Jachin Fell, put his own course of action into graveperplexity.
There was no reason to doubt what Fell said. Gramont believed the littleman sincere in his love for Lucie.
"No matter what the outcome, your reputation will not be affected," saidFell, quietly. "The company which will buy this land of Lucie's iscontrolled by me. You understand? Even if no oil is ever found there, Ishall see to it that you will not be injured bec
ause of that signedstatement."
Gramont nodded dull comprehension. He realized that Fell had devisedthis whole business scheme with infernal ingenuity; had devised it inorder to take a hundred and fifty thousand dollars out of his own pocketand put it into that of Lucie. It was a present which the girl wouldnever accept as a gift, but which, if it came in the way of business,would make her financially independent. Nobody would be defrauded. Therewas no chicanery about it. The thing was straight enough.
"That's not quite all of my plan," pursued Fell, as though readingGramont's unuttered thoughts. "The minute this news becomes public, theminute your statement is published, there will be a tremendous boom inthat whole section. I shall take charge of Lucie's money, and withinthree weeks I should double it, treble it, for her. Before the boombursts she will be out of it all, and wealthy. Now, my dear Gramont, Ido not presume that you will still refuse to vote with me? I have beenquite frank, you see."
Gramont stirred in his chair.
"Yes!" he said, low-voiced. "Yes, by heavens, I do refuse!"
With an effort he checked hotly impulsive words that were on his tongue.One word now might ruin him. He dared not say that he did not want tosee Fell's money pass into the hands of Lucie--money gained by fraud andtheft and crime! He dared not give his reasons for refusing. He meantnow to crush Fell utterly--but one wrong word would give the man fullwarning. He must say nothing.
"It's not straight work, Fell. Regardless of your motives, I refuse tojoin you."
Jachin Fell sighed slightly, and laid down his cigar with precision.
"Gramont," his voice came with the softly purring menace of a tiger'sthroat-tone, "I shall now adjourn this company meeting for two days,until Saturday morning, in order to give you a little time toreconsider. To-day is Thursday. By Saturday----"
"I need no time," said Gramont.
"But you will need it. I suppose you know that Bob Maillard has beenarrested for parricide? You are aware of the evidence against him--allcircumstantial?"
Gramont frowned. "What has that got to do with our present business?"
"Quite a bit, I fancy." A thin smile curved the lips of Jachin Fell."Maillard is not guilty of the murder--but you are."
"Liar!" Gramont started from his chair as those three words burned intohim. "Liar! Why, you know that I went home----"
"Ah, wait!" Fell lifted his hand for peace. His voice was calm. "Ansleyand I both saw you depart, certainly. We have since learned that you didnot reach home until some time after midnight. You have positively noalibi, Gramont. You may allege, of course, that you were wandering thestreets----"
"As I was!" cried Gramont, heatedly.
"Then prove it, my dear fellow; prove it--if you can. Now, we shall keepLucie out of all this. What remains? I know that you were the MidnightMasquer. My man, Ben Chacherre, can prove by another man who accompaniedhim that the Masquer's loot was taken from your car. A dictograph in theprivate office, yonder, has a record of the talk between us of the othermorning, in which you made patent confession to being the Masquer.
"Once let me hand this array of evidence over to the district attorney,and you will most certainly stand trial. And, if you do stand trial, Ican promise you faithfully that you will meet conviction. I havefriends, you see, and many of them are influential in such smallmatters."
It was not a nice smile that curved the lips of Fell.
Gramont choked back any response, holding himself to silence with a firmwill. He dared say nothing, lest he say too much. He saw that Fell couldindeed make trouble for him--and that he must strike his own blow atFell without great delay. It was a battle, now; a fight to the end.
Fell regarded Gramont cheerfully, seeming to take this crushed silenceas evidence of his own triumph.
"Further," he added, "your man Hammond is now in jail at Houma, as youknow, for the murder of the sheriff. Now, my influence is not confinedto this city, Gramont, I may be able to clear Hammond of this charge--ifyou decide to vote with me. I may keep what I know about the MidnightMasquer from the press and from the district attorney--if you decide tovote with me. You comprehend?"
Gramont nodded. He saw now why Fell wanted to "get something" onHammond. Fell had rightly reasoned that Gramont would do more to saveHammond than to save himself.
"You think I murdered Maillard, then?" he asked.
"Gramont, I don't know what to think, and that's the honest truth!"answered Fell, with a steady regard. "But I am absolutely determined toput this oil deal across, to make Lucie Ledanois at least independent,if not wealthy. I can do it, I've made all my plans to do it, and--I_will_ do it!
"We'll hold another meeting day after to-morrow--Saturday morning." Fellrose. "That will give me time to conclude all arrangements. I trust, Mr.Gramont, that you will vote with me for the adjournment?"
"Yes," said Gramont, dully. "I will."
"Thank you," and Jachin Fell bowed slightly, not without a trace ofmockery in his air.