A TERRIBLE COMPACT.
Perry Lamont, the millionaire, stood underneath the brilliant
chandelier in his luxurious library, apparently waiting for some one.
He looked anxiously toward the door, and when it opened his eyes
glittered.
The person who entered the room was his son.
For half a second father and son stood face to face, and then the
former waved the other to a chair.
Claude, looking a little worse for the night out, complied, and waited
for his father to speak.
“Who is this man Richmond?” asked Lamont, senior.
The young man started.
“He is your friend, I believe?”
“He is, and he is a nice gentleman,” said Claude.
“I judge so,” and a smile came to the father’s lips.
“What has happened? You speak sarcastically this morning.”
“Do I? Well, I want you to give up this ‘nice gentleman.’”
Claude looked away, but in a moment his gaze came back to his father’s
face.
“This man is a rascal,” spoke up the millionaire.
“That’s a pretty bold charge against a friend of mine.”
“Bold or not, it’s true.”
“Who is the accuser?”
“Never mind that.”
“I demand to know. Mr. Richmond has a right to face his accuser, and he
will do so.”
“But you haven’t denied the charge of your friend.”
“I do it now.”
“Then he is a nice gentleman still, is he?”
“He is, sir.”
Claude flushed.
“I am the accuser,” and the face of the millionaire grew white. “I call
him a rascal.”
“Upon what grounds?”
“He tried to blackmail me.”
“Mr. Richmond?”
“Yes, sir. That man came here but a few days ago and wanted to rob me
of ten thousand dollars.”
“Impossible!” cried Claude, feigning astonishment.
“It is true, and what is more, he hinted that you had committed a great
crime.”
“Come, come; you must have been dreaming.”
“I was as wide awake then as I am now.”
Lamont, senior, smiled knowingly.
“You must drop this black bird.”
“I am of age and have the right to choose my friends,” was his son’s
answer.
“Then keep him and yourself in the future.”
The young man gazed at his father in wide-open astonishment.
“You certainly don’t mean that,” he said.
“I do. He is your friend, you say. Keep him and yourself. I guess
that’s plain.”
Claude Lamont arose and crossed the room.
“You don’t know what you do,” he cried.
“I know what I do. It is either lose this friend, as you call him, or
lose your fortune.”
“He never tried to blackmail you.”
“He did!” thundered the nabob. “In this very room he wanted to sell
the so-called secret for ten thousand dollars. I drove him away. I
wouldn’t have anything to do with the scoundrel. But it seems you do.
You are with him night and day, and you are old enough to know that you
can’t play with pitch and not become defiled.”
Claude smiled derisively at this, and for a moment was silent.
“Look here,” he suddenly said, “I can’t give this man up. He knows too
much.”
“What’s that?” cried Lamont, senior. “Do you admit that you are in his
power?”
“I didn’t say so. I only remarked that I can’t throw him to one side.
He knows too much.”
“Against whom?”
“Against the house.”
“It cannot be.”
“I’m afraid it’s true. This man is my friend, and I have been keeping
near him for a purpose, and that purpose the salvation of the good name
of Lamont.”
A strange and eager light seemed to come into the millionaire’s eyes,
and for half a second he did not continue.
“Sit down,” he said. “Tell me what this man knows.”
Claude went back to the chair.
“He knows a good deal more than we can afford to let him tell,” he
said. “I don’t say that Richmond will tell the secret on the street
or anything of that kind, but we can’t afford to let him have the
opportunity.”
“In God’s name, what is the secret?”
“Of course he never told me, but I only guess at it from hints he
has dropped while in his cups. It’s a terrible thing, if it’s true--a
fearful secret, father.”
“Out with it. I am strong, you see, and can listen to any recital you
make.”
Claude crossed the room, and looked cautiously into the hall.
No one was there.
Coming back, he resumed his seat in the chair and looked at the
white-faced man opposite.
“Whatever became of Aunt Hester?” he asked.
The expression that came into Perry Lamont’s face was most startling.
Every vestige of color left it, and it became as white as a marble
statue.
“Who ever told you that I had a sister named Hester?” he asked.
“Never mind that. I only asked the question.”
“Is this some of your friend’s work?”
“That is a part of his secret. He says he has certain papers that will
startle the world, that he has in his possession a certain confession
or a family history written out by an old woman who called herself----”
Young Lamont paused, for his father was gasping like a man fighting for
his breath.
“Go on. Tell me all. What did this woman call herself?” he cried.
“Mother Flintstone,” coolly said the son. “She lived in Hell’s
Kitchen, and after being threatened a number of times--in spite of the
protection of Carter’s assistants--she was murdered a few nights ago.”
“Yes, yes. I saw something of that in the newspapers.”
“Well, from what I have heard Richmond say in a dark way when in his
cups he can prove that Mother Flintstone, the old fence, was your
sister.”
“Great heavens!” cried Perry Lamont. “Has he got the documents left by
this woman?”
“I fear he has.”
“But he didn’t offer them to me.”
“I can’t say as to that.”
“He only offered to keep the knowledge of your doings from the world
for ten thousand dollars.”
“But he has the papers now. I am confident of that.”
“Will he sell them?” eagerly asked the millionaire.
“He might.”
“For how much?”
“You must negotiate with him.”
“Look here, Claude, my boy. Can’t you get possession of those papers?”
“How?”
“Any way, I don’t care how you get them.”
“You wouldn’t want me to rob my friend?”
“I say I don’t care how you get them.”
“But he would still possess the secret.”
“We’ll take care of him after the documents have been found. How did he
get them? Was he familiar with Mother Flintstone?”
“I don’t know.”
“Merciless villain! He holds the peace of our house in his hands.
The man is the quintessence of rascality. Talk about your polished
blackmailers. He stands at the head of the procession. I’ll hand him
over to the police at once.”
“Try it, and the whole thing will come out.”
Lamont, senior, gasped again.
“Where does Richmond board?”
“He changes his place often. I don’t believe he sleeps two nights in
the same place.”
“Like the sultan. But, look here, my boy. You don’t want the good name
of our house destroyed?”
“One of the last things I want to see,” said the young rake.
“Then help me destroy this man. Help me to get those papers and silence
him.”
“It is true, then?”
“It is true.”
“Mother Flintstone was your sister?”
“Yes, yes. She was Hester, the sister who contracted a poor marriage
years ago and finally drifted into crime.”
Claude Lamont seemed struck with a thunderbolt, and for some time he
sat in the presence of his father, dazed and speechless.
“I had hoped the truth would never come out,” continued the
millionaire. “I accidentally discovered a year ago who Mother
Flintstone was, but I said nothing. I would have given her thousands
to have thrown herself from the bridge or to have left the city, but I
dared not approach her. And so she left a confession behind; she has
left the secret to a scoundrel like this George Richmond. Why, this man
has more names than one.”
“A good many people have nowadays,” answered Claude.
“Well, he must be silenced somehow.”
“With money?”
“Not if I can help it. I would like to know what sort of communication
Mother Flintstone left.”
“It seems to me the best way to deal with the secret holder is to come
to his terms,” suggested Claude.
“And be bled every now and then? I’ll defy him first!”
“Come, come. You can’t afford to do that. Think of our station in
society. Sister is on the eve of marriage, and mother’s health is not
what it used to be. We must come to his terms to save the house of
Lamont.”
The millionaire began to pace the floor like a wild beast.
“What will you take to strangle the scoundrel, Claude?” he suddenly
exclaimed, halting before his son. “You have every opportunity. Name
your price.”
“You don’t really mean that?” cried the young man.
“I do, every word of it. What will you take to silence this man
forever?”
“Two hundred thousand cash in hand.”
“Done!” exclaimed the millionaire. “That’s a bargain!”