REGGIE CONFESSES
Joe resumed his seat, too astounded to know what to do or say under the
circumstances.
“Beg pardon for being so brusque, old fellow,” he remarked, “but really
you took the ground from under my feet. What on earth led you to give
your money to a man who is as mad as a March hare?”
“I’ve asked myself that same question many times since the thing
happened,” answered Reggie drearily, “and the only answer I can find is
that I must have been the more insane of the two.
“It’s only fair to say, though,” he went on, “that at the time I ran
across him there wasn’t a trace of insanity about him. He seemed to me
to be one of the cleverest men I ever met. Others thought so too, so
perhaps I’m not so very much to blame after all.”
“Where and when did you first meet him?” asked Joe.
“At the Goldsboro Country Club,” answered Reggie. “You know that our
folks have membership there and I run out very often. I was out there
one day watching a tennis tournament when this Tabbs came strolling
along and spoke to me. There seemed to be something familiar about his
face and yet I couldn’t quite place him until he said he had met me one
time at Morgan & Company’s in New York. Then I remembered him perfectly.
I had gone down to the city on a trip with my father, and as he had
business with the Morgan people, he took me along with him. Tabbs was
holding an important position with the firm at the time, and he seemed
to take quite a liking to me. Took me out to lunch with him and then
showed me around the city. That was two or three years ago, and I hadn’t
seen him since until he came to me at the Country Club.
“Of course, it was up to me to give him as good a time as I could, in
return for what he had done for me in New York, and I did. Introduced
him to lots of the best people in Goldsboro, took him home with me and
had him stay with me for a day or two, and whizzed him about the country
in my automobile. To tell the truth, it wasn’t hard to entertain him,
for he was a bright and amusing talker and seemed in every way to be an
all-around good fellow.”
“How did he happen to be so far away from New York City and right in the
busy season, too?” asked Joe.
“That struck me as rather queer,” replied Reggie, “but he explained by
saying that he was on a secret mission for his firm. Awfully mysterious
and all that, don’t you know. Of course, the more mysterious he was the
more curious I became. I suppose he figured on that. Anyway, after a lot
of hinting and fencing about, he came right out one day and said that he
was going to take me into his confidence, that I was too good a fellow
to leave on the outside when I might get in on the ground floor, and a
lot of rot like that, don’t you know.”
“I know, all right,” said Joe, with a smile. “I’ve had lots of tips
about big things that were going to be pulled off and been urged to
get aboard while there was time. Ball players are known to get good
salaries, and they’re deluged with circulars and market tips of all
kinds. But I never yet tried to beat Wall Street at its own game. You
know what they say of it, that ‘it’s a crooked street with a graveyard
at one end of it and a river at the other.’”
“I guess that description fits it, all right,” agreed his friend, “but
of course I thought that Tabbs was different from an ordinary market
tipster. I had seen him holding down a big job with Morgan & Company,
and I naturally thought he had inside information.”
Joe had to admit that this was reasonable.
“He put me under a pledge of secrecy,” went on Reggie, “and then he
opened up. Said that Morgan & Company had a big scheme for combining
under one control all the electric light and power companies of the
State. Claimed that he already had an agreement with the majority of
them to come into the deal. The thing was to be kept under cover until
everything was ripe, and then the stock would double and treble in
value, and the lucky holders would make a fortune. Now was the time to
buy before the big news came out.”
“Old stuff,” thought Joe to himself, although he did not give utterance
to the thought for fear of wounding Reggie, who was sore enough already.
“Of course,” went on Reggie, “the first thing I thought of was the ten
thousand in stocks that the governor had put in my hands to show what
I could do. Here was the chance to make it twenty or thirty thousand
or more, if Tabbs was right. And honest, Joe, that fellow could have
convinced anybody. He was the most persuasive talker I ever met. Had
facts and figures at his tongue’s end and reeled them off by the
thousand. Showed me a chart of his own on which he had marked all the
market fluctuations on leading stocks for ten years back. Had an answer
for every objection. He was a perfect encyclopedia on everything that
concerned stocks and bonds. If ever any man knew his business, it was
Talham Tabbs.”
And Joe, recalling the keen face of the madman, could very well
understand how Reggie would be putty in his hands.
“The upshot of it all was,” blurted out the dudish young man desperately,
“that I put the whole ten thousand in his hands to turn into cash
and invest for me in the securities of the different light and power
companies. He was to do this quietly and secretly as he went from one
place to another, and then when he had invested it all he was to turn
them over to me to hold them for the rise that would come as soon as the
deal was concluded.
“I didn’t do this right off the reel. I felt skittish about putting all
my eggs in one basket. I wanted to put in part of the money only, but he
laughed at me. Opportunity only came once to a man, he said, especially
such an opportunity as that. I was dazzled by his figures, and when I
thought of the pleasure it would be to prove to my father that I had
more brains than he gave me credit for and knew how to double and treble
my money in a few months, I gave in and went into the thing, hook, line
and sinker.”
“Too bad, old fellow,” consoled Joe, who was moved to pity by the
distress that showed in his friend’s face. “What happened then?”
“He went away a few days later,” continued Reggie. “Had to go to
Raleigh, he said, to see some members of the legislature. He wrote to
me every few days and told me he was getting along famously. Then his
letters stopped. I didn’t think so much of this at first, because I knew
he would be tremendously busy putting through the deal. But when three
weeks passed without hearing from him I got uneasy. I wrote to him to
the address of Morgan & Company, thinking they would of course know his
whereabouts and forward his mail to him, and you can imagine how I felt
when I got my letter back marked ‘Not here.’ I wrote then to the firm
direct, and asked about Talham Tabbs. They wrote back promptly that
Tabbs had once been employed by them and that they had valued him as one
of their most competent men, but that a year before he had gone suddenly
insane and had to be committed to an asylum. They gave me the name of
the asylum so that I could write there if I wished to learn anything
further about his condition, although they had been informed that his
case was thought to be incurable.
“I tell you what, old man, that knocked me all in a heap. My ten
thousand dollars had been put in the care of a crazy man, who, for all I
knew, had turned the securities into cash and by this time might be in
Canada, or Europe, or South America, or any old place.”
“It must have been a knockout blow,” said Joe.
“For a little while I thought I would go crazy myself,” continued
Reggie. “I couldn’t eat or sleep, and the folks saw there was something
the matter with me. Mabel was worried out of her head, and tried to get
me to tell her what was the trouble.”
“Just like Mabel,” thought Joe to himself, conscious of a sudden warmth
in the region of his heart.
“I think the governor rather suspected that something had gone wrong
in a money way,” continued Reggie. “But he’s a thoroughbred, and since
he had said he wouldn’t ask me about it for a year, he stuck to his
promise.”
“Couldn’t you pick up any clue as to Tabbs’ whereabouts?” queried Joe.
“Not a thing for a long while,” was the answer. “Of course, I was
handicapped because I had to keep everything under cover. The first
thing I did was to make a trip to the asylum where he had been confined.
The superintendent told me that Tabbs had escaped about two months
before. Said he was one of the brightest and ablest men that had ever
been confined there. There would be weeks at a time when he would appear
to be as sane as any man. Then he would have sudden fits of violence
come upon him, when they couldn’t do anything with him and had to truss
him up in a strait-jacket to keep him from harming the other inmates. I
suppose he must have had one of those spells come on him when he carried
off the baby.”
“I suppose so,” said Joe with a shudder, as the thought of the narrow
escape came up before him.
“The superintendent told me that they had been hunting for him ever
since he got away but hadn’t got a trace of him. I told him then that I
had met him and that he was still going by his right name. Naturally I
didn’t tell him what a fool Tabbs had made of me. He was delighted to
get the information I gave him and said that he would follow up the clue
at once. I didn’t rely wholly on that, however, and on the quiet I put
the matter in the hands of a detective agency.”
“Did that help you out any?” asked Joe.
“Not a bit,” replied Reggie disgustedly. “All they sent me was a bill
for services rendered, although they kept hinting that they were right
on his heels. They must have been a pretty nimble pair of heels,
though, because they always got away. Don’t talk to me of detectives.
‘Defectives’ would be a better name for them.”
“How did you find out then that he might be at Riverside?” asked Joe
with lively curiosity.
“By the merest chance in the world,” replied Reggie. “I was in
Wilmington and when I went to the hotel and started to register I turned
over the leaves to see if any of my friends were there and caught sight
of Tabbs’ name. Of course I made inquiries in a hurry, and the clerk
told me that he had left a week before. I went to the station and found
that a man answering to his description had bought a ticket and had
his baggage checked through to Riverside. Then I sent the telegram and
followed it as soon as I could. Now you know the whole story.”
“Well,” said Joe, drawing a long breath, “it’s pretty bad, but it might
have been worse. Now that we have Tabbs where the dogs can’t bite him,
you have a chance to get your money back.”
“Yes,” agreed Reggie, “but after all it’s only a chance. No knowing what
he may have done with it by this time.”
“Would he have had any trouble in turning the securities into cash?”
asked Joe.
“Not the least in the world,” was the answer. “They are as easily
handled almost as if they were United States currency. The mere
possession of them is regarded as proof of ownership. He could go to any
bank or big brokerage house in the country and turn them into cash at
five minutes’ notice.”
“Well, even if he did, he may have all, or nearly all, of the money
left,” said Joe hopefully. “Sol Cramer, the landlord at the hotel, said
that he had a big roll of bills when he paid for his week’s board. He
can’t spend any of it where he is now, at any rate.”
They discussed the matter for an hour or more and then Joe insisted that
Reggie ought to get to bed.
“You’ve had a long journey,” he remarked, as he rose to show his friend
to his room, “and you need a good night’s rest so as to be fit when you
tackle Talham Tabbs in the morning.”