FRIGHT AND COURAGE
With unhesitating steps, Tavia led Dorothy, without any of the confusion
of her own first visit, directly to Mr. Akerson's offices.
The same switchboard operator sat sleepy-eyed at the telephone, and the
same young person conducted the girls through the office suite, the only
difference was that the hour was near twelve, and most of the desks were
empty, as the clerks had left the building for lunch.
The offices seemed strangely quiet, as the girls sat, with their hearts
beating wildly, waiting for the door marked "_Private_" to open. When it
did, Mr. Akerson came forth with a genial smile.
"I arrived a little ahead of you," said he, and he led the girls into his
private office.
"But where is Mrs. White?" demanded Dorothy.
"Evidently delayed in reaching here," answered Mr. Akerson, pulling his
watch from his pocket. "No doubt she'll be here directly."
With this the girls had to be content. Dorothy watched the door,
expecting to see Aunt Winnie enter at every sound.
"Well," said the man, balancing himself on his heels, "and what is the
decision in regard to the apartment you wanted?"
Tavia shot a meaning glance in Dorothy's direction and Dorothy quickly
suppressed a start of surprise at the man's words. She decided instantly
that she must watch Tavia's every glance, if she were to follow the
hidden meaning.
"Haven't decided yet," carelessly answered Tavia. "Besides, there's
plenty of time."
"Are you sure it was an apartment you wanted, or"--the man wheeled about
his desk chair and arranged himself comfortably before continuing--"was
it just a woman's curiosity?" He smiled broadly at the girls; his look
was that of a very kindly disposed gentleman.
"My reasons were just as I stated--I may want an apartment--I liked the
arrangement of the Court Apartments, and was seeking information for my
own future use," defiantly replied Tavia.
"Of course, of course," Mr. Akerson replied. "But why come to me?
Couldn't--er--your friend here have secured the information from--well
say, from Mrs. White?"
"Mrs. White, I regret to say, Mr. Akerson," responded Dorothy, "seems to
be ill-informed about her own property."
"Mrs. White has access to my books," he replied coldly, "whenever she
chooses to look them over. Everything is there in black and white."
"Except your verbal statements to me," said Tavia, standing up and facing
Mr. Akerson. "Your statement that rents used to be thirty-five dollars,
and are now one hundred dollars."
Dorothy guessed instantly whither Tavia was leading.
"And the difference between the thirty-five dollars and the one hundred
dollars," she asked, "goes to whom? Some charitable institution perhaps?"
"Ha! Ha!" laughed Mr. Akerson, "that's rich! So you," he turned to Tavia,
"took all my nonsense so seriously that you're convinced I'm a
scoundrel." His teeth gleamed wickedly through his stubby mustache, and
Dorothy wished that Aunt Winnie would hurry. She did not like this man.
"By your own statements you've convicted yourself," declared Tavia. "The
morning I interviewed you, you did not know me, and told me your prices."
"You're wrong; I did know you," declared the man bluntly. "I knew you to
be a friend of Mrs. Bergham's, that you had listened to a rambling tale
of that feeble-minded woman, and came to me expecting to have it
confirmed--and, as you know, I fully confirmed it. By the way, Mrs.
Bergham moves to-day, but I suppose you are thoroughly conversant with
her affairs."
Like a shot the thought came to Dorothy and Tavia, as they exchanged
glances, could Mrs. Bergham, who certainly did not seem dependable,
misrepresent matters to gain sympathy for herself? But as quickly came
the picture of patient Miss Mingle, and all doubt vanished at once.
"That's true," confessed Tavia, "the first inkling of absolute
wrong-doing came quite unexpectedly through Mrs. Bergham. I'm sorry,
though, that she has been ordered to move on account of it."
"Mrs. Bergham will not move," said Dorothy, quietly. "We have sufficient
evidence, I should say, Mr. Akerson, to convince even you that your
wrong-doings have at last been found out."
Mr. Akerson jumped to his feet, a sudden rage seeming to possess him.
He sprang to the door and locked it and turned on the girls. Tavia
slipped instinctively behind a chair, but Dorothy stood her ground,
facing the enraged man with courage and aloofness.
"You can't frighten me, Mr. Akerson," she said to him. White with rage
the man approached nearer and nearer to Dorothy.
"Just what do you mean?" he asked, and there was that in the cool, and
incisive quality of his tones that made both girls feel, if they had not
before, that they had rather undertaken too much in coming to the office.
There was silence for a moment in the office, a silence that seemed yet
to echo to the rasping of the lock in the door, a sound that had a
sinister meaning. And yet it seemed to flash to Dorothy that, at the
worst, the man could only frighten them--force them, perhaps, to some
admission that would make his own case stand out in a better light, if it
came to law procedings.
Too late, Dorothy realized, as perhaps did Tavia, that they had been
indiscreet, from a legal standpoint, in thus coming into the camp of an
enemy, unprotected by a lawyer's advice.
All sorts of complications might ensue from this hasty proceeding. Yet
Dorothy, even in that moment of trouble, realized that she must keep her
brain clear for whatever might transpire. Tavia, she felt, might do
something reckless--well meant, no doubt, but none the less something
that might put a weapon in the hands of the man against whom they hoped
to proceed for the sake of Aunt Winnie.
"Just what do you mean?" snapped the man again, and he seemed master of
the situation, even though Dorothy thought she detected a gleam of--was
it fear? in his eyes. "I am not in the habit of being spoken to in that
manner," he went on.
"I am afraid I shall have to ask you to explain yourself. It is the first
time I have ever been accused of wrongdoing."
"I guess it isn't the first time it has happened, though," murmured
Tavia.
"What's that?" demanded the man, quickly turning toward her. Even bold
Tavia quailed, so menacing did his action seem.
"There always has to be a first time," she substituted in louder tones.
"I don't know whether you are aware of it, or not, young ladies," the
agent proceeded, "but it is rather a dangerous proceeding to make
indiscriminate accusations, as you have just done to me."
"Danger--dangerous?" faltered Dorothy.
"Exactly!" and the sleek fellow smiled in unctuous fashion. "There is
such a thing as criminal libel, you know."
"But we haven't published anything!" retorted Tavia. "I--I thought a
libel had to be published."
"The publishing of a libel is not necessarily in a newspaper," retorted
Mr. Akerson. "It may be done by word of mouth, as our courts have held in
several cases. I warn you to be careful of what you say."
"He seems to be well up on court matters," thought Tavia, taking heart.
"I guess he isn't so innocent as he would like to appear."
"I would like to know what you young ladies want here?" the agent blurted
out.
"Information," said Tavia, sharply.
"What for?"
"What is information generally for?" asked Tavia, verbally fencing with
the man. "We want to know where we stand."
"Do you mean you want to find out what sort of apartments they
are--whether they are of high class?"
He was assuming a more and more defiant attitude, as he plainly saw that
the girls, as he thought, were weakening.
"Something of that sort--yes," answered Tavia. "You know we want to start
right. But then, of course," and she actually smiled, "we would like to
know all the ins and outs. We are not at all business-like--I admit
that--and we certainly did not mean to libel you." Crafty Tavia! Thus,
she thought she might minimize any unintentional indiscretion she had
committed.
"Mrs. White doesn't know much about business, either," she went on. "She
would like to, though, wouldn't she, Dorothy?"
"Oh, yes--yes," breathed Dorothy, scarcely knowing what she said. She was
trying to think of a way out of the dilemma in which she and Tavia found
themselves.
"I will give Mrs. White any information she may need," said Mr. Akerson,
coldly.
"But about the apartments themselves," said Tavia. "She wants to know
what income they bring in--about the new improvements--the class of
tenants--Oh, the thousand and one things that a woman ought to know about
her own property."
"Rather indefinite," sneered the man.
"I don't mean to be so," flashed Tavia. "I want to be very definite--as
very definite as it is possible for you to be," and she looked meaningly
at the agent. "We want to know all you can tell us," she went on, and,
growing bolder, added: "We want to know why there is not more money
coming from those apartments; don't we, Dorothy?" and she moved over
nearer to her chum.
"Yes--yes, of course," murmured Dorothy, hardly knowing what she was
saying, and hoping Tavia was not going too far.
"More money?" the agent cried.
"Yes," retorted Tavia. "What have you done that you should be entitled to
more than the legal rate?"
"I brought those apartments up to their present fitness," he snarled,
"and whatever I get over and above the regular rentals, is mine; do you
understand that? What do you know about real estate laws? I'll keep you
both locked in this office, until I grind out of your heads the silliness
that led you to try and trap me. I'll keep you here until----"
"You will not," said Dorothy.
"Where did she go?" He suddenly missed Tavia, and Dorothy, turning, saw
too that Tavia had disappeared.
"This is nothing but a scheme to get us down here," cried Dorothy, after
several moments of anxiety, "Aunt Winnie was never expected, and now
Tavia has gone!"
"Oh, no I haven't," cried Tavia, as she stepped from a sound-proof
private telephone booth. "I've just been looking about the office. It's
an interesting place, and the melodrama of Mr. Akerson I found quite
wearisome."
"Also that my private 'phone isn't connected; didn't you?" he said.
Suddenly dropping the pose of the villain in a cheap melodrama, he smiled
again and rubbing his hands together said, as though there never had been
a disagreeable word uttered:
"Seriously, girls, that Bergham woman is out of her head, that's a fact.
You must know there is something queer about her."
On that point he certainly had Dorothy and Tavia puzzled. Mrs. Bergham
surely was not the kind of a person either Tavia or Dorothy would have
selected as a friend, and they looked at the man with hesitation. He
followed up the advantage he had gained quickly.
"Here's something you young ladies knew nothing about--that woman has
hallucinations! It has nearly driven her poor little sister, Miss Mingle,
distracted. Why, girls, she tells Miss Mingle such yarns, and the poor
little woman believes them and blames me." He looked terribly hurt and
misunderstood.
"To show your good faith," demanded Dorothy, "unlock the door. Then we
will listen to all you have to say. But, first, I must command you to
talk to us with the doors wide open!"
"With pleasure, it was stupid to have locked it at all," he agreed
affably. "Now if you'll just come with me to the bookkeeper's department
I'll prove everything to your entire satisfaction, and since Mrs. White
has not seen fit to keep her appointment, you may convey the intelligence
to her, just where you stand in this matter."
"About the apartment we might wish to rent," said Tavia, serenely, "have
you the floor plan, that we might look over it?"
Tavia was just behind Mr. Akerson, and Dorothy brought up the rear.
"I'm not as much interested in the books as in the floor plan," explained
Tavia.
"The only one I have is hanging on the wall of my private office," he
said slowly, looking Tavia over from head to foot.
"If you'll show me the books, so that I can explain matters to my aunt,
while Miss Travers is looking over the plan of the apartment she may wish
to take," said Dorothy seriously, "we can bring this rather unpleasant
call to an end."
"I'm sure I am sorry for any unpleasantness," said Mr. Akerson, "but
you'll admit your manner of talking business is just a little crude. No
man wants to be almost called a scoundrel and a cheat."
"The books, I hope," Dorothy answered bringing out her words slowly and
clearly, "will show where the error lies. By the way, do you collect
these rents in person, or do you employ a sub-agent?"
"This, you understand, is not a company matter. It's a little investment
of my own, and I take such pride in that house, that I allow no one to
interfere with it. Yes, I collect the rents and give my personal
attention to all repairing. If I do say it myself, it is the
best-cared-for apartments in this city to-day. And I'll tell you this
confidently, Miss Dale, five per cent. for collecting doesn't pay me for
my time. But I'm interested in the up-building of that house, you
understand."
Tavia strolled leisurely back to the private office, while Mr. Akerson
went into a smaller office just off the private one, and while he was
bending over the combination of the safe, quick as a flash, Dorothy took
off the receiver of the desk telephone from the hook, and, in almost a
whisper, asked central for their Riverside home number.
"Ned," she gasped, when she heard his voice, "quick, don't waste a
moment! This is Dorothy. We are in Akerson's office and are frightened!
Come downtown at once! I'm afraid we won't be able to hold out much
longer! Quick, quick, Ned!" Then she softly put the receiver back and
turned just in time to see Mr. Akerson rising from before the safe with a
bundle of books in his arms. Dorothy to hide her confusion bent over a
blue print that had been hanging on the walls, but all she saw was a
confused bunch of white lines drawn on a blue background, and from the
outer room came the sound of Tavia's voice, as she and Mr. Akerson went
over the pages of the ledger, the alert girl seizing the opportunity to
dip into the books as well as look at the floor plans in order to gain
more time.