FLINT AND STEEL
At three minutes to ten the following morning Blake entered the doorway
of the mammoth International Industrial Company Building. At one minute
to ten he was facing the outermost of the guards who fenced in the
private office of H. V. Leslie, capitalist.
"Your business, sir? Mr. Leslie is very busy, sir."
"He told me to call this morning," explained Blake.
"Step in, sir, please."
Blake entered, and found himself in a well-remembered waiting-room, in
company with a dozen or more visitors. He swung leisurely across to the
second uniformed doorkeeper.
"Business?" demanded this attendant with a brusqueness due perhaps to
his closer proximity to the great man.
Blake answered without the flicker of a smile: "I'm a civil engineer,
if you want to know."
"Your business here?"
"None that concerns you," rejoined Blake.
His eyes fixed upon the man with a cold steely glint that visibly
disconcerted him. But the fellow had been in training for years. He
replied promptly, though in a more civil tone: "If you do not wish to
state your business to me, sir, you'll have to wait until--"
"No, I won't have to wait until," put in Blake. "Your boss told me to
call at ten sharp."
"In that case, of course--Your name, please."
"Blake."
The man slipped inside, closing the door behind him. He was gone
perhaps a quarter of a minute. When he reappeared, he held the door
half open for Blake.
"Step in, sir," he said. "Mr. Leslie can spare you fifteen minutes."
Blake looked the man up and down coolly. "See here," he replied, "just
you trot back and tell Mr. H. V. Leslie I'm much obliged for his
favoring me with an appointment, but long as he's so rushed, I'll make
him a present of his blessed quarter-hour."
"My land, sir!" gasped the doorkeeper. "I can't take such a message to
_him_!"
"Suit yourself," said Blake, deliberately drawing a cigar from his vest
pocket and biting off the tip.
This time the man was gone a full half-minute. He eyed Blake with
respectful curiosity as he swung the door wide open and announced: "Mr.
Leslie asks you to come in, sir."
As the door closed softly behind him, Blake stared around the bare
little room into which he had been shown. He was looking for the third
guardian of the sanctum,--the great man's private secretary. But the
room was empty. Without pausing, he crossed to the door in the side
wall and walked aggressively into the private office of Genevieve's
father.
Mr. Leslie sat at a neat little desk, hurriedly mumbling into the
trumpet of a small phonograph.
"Moment!" he flung out sideways, and went on with his mumbling.
Blake swung around one of the heavy leather-seated chairs with a twist
of his wrist, and drew out a silver matchsafe. As he took out a match,
Mr. Leslie touched a spring that stopped the whirring mechanism of the
phonograph, and wheeled around in his swivel desk-chair.
"Dictate on wax," he explained. "Cuts out stenographer. Any clerk can
typewrite. No mislaid stenographer's notes; no mistakes. Well, you're
nearly on time."
"Sharp at the door, according to your waiting-room clock," said Blake,
striking the match on his heel.
"Good--punctuality. First point you score. Now, what do you expect to
get out of me?"
Blake held the match to his cigar with deliberate care, blew it out,
and flipped it into the wastebasket, with the terse answer: "Just
_that_ much."
The other's bushy eyebrows came down over the keen eyes. For a full
minute the two stared, the man of business seeking to pierce with his
narrowed glance Blake's hard, open gaze. The failure of his attempt
perhaps irritated him beyond discretion. At any rate, his silent
antagonism burst out in an explosion of irascibility.
"Needn't tell me your game, young man," he rasped. "You think, because
you were alone with my daughter, you can force me to pay hush money."
Blake rose to his feet with a look in his eyes before which Mr. Leslie
shrank back and cringed.
"Wait! Sit down! sit down! I--I didn't mean that!" he exclaimed.
Blake drew in a deep breath and slowly sat down again. He said nothing,
but puffed hard at his cigar.
Mr. Leslie rebounded from panic to renewed irascibility. "H'm! So
you're one of that sort. I might have foreseen it."
Blake looked his indifference. "All right. That's the safety-valve.
Blow off all the steam you want to through it. Only don't try the other
again. You're her father, and that gives you a big vantage. Any one
else have said what you did, he wouldn't have had the chance to take it
back."
"Do you mean to threaten me?"
"I've smashed men for less."
"You look the part."
"It's not the part of a lickspittle."
"Look here, young man. As the man who happened to save the life of my
daughter--"
"Suppose we leave her out of this palaver," suggested Blake.
"Unfortunately, that is impossible. It is solely owing to the
obligations under which your service to her have put me that I--"
"That you're willing to let me come in here and listen to your pleasant
conversation," broke in Blake ironically. "Well, let me tell you, I'm
some busy myself these days. Just now I'm out collecting one of your
past-due obligations, I've heard you admit you owe for that first Q. T.
Railroad survey."
"There was no legal claim on me. I conceded the point at the request of
Mr. Griffith."
"Had to hire him, eh? Best consulting engineer in the city. And he held
out for a settlement," rallied Blake.
"You were one of the party?"
"Transitman."
"Then apply to my auditor. He has your pay-check waiting for you."
"How about interest? It's two years over-due."
"I never allow interest on such accounts."
Blake took out his cigar and looked at his antagonist, his jaw
out-thrust. "If I had a million, I wouldn't mind spending it to make
you pay that interest."
"You could spend twice that, and then not get it," snapped Mr. Leslie.
"You'll soon find out I can't be driven, young man. On the other
hand--how big a position do you think you could fill?"
"Quien sabe?"
"See here. You've put me under obligations. I'd rather it had been any
other man than you--"
"Ditto on you!" rejoined Blake.
The blow struck a shower of flinty sparks from Mr. Leslie's narrowed
eyes.
"You'll do well to be more conciliatory, young man," he warned.
"Conciliatory? _Bah!_"
"Didn't take you for a fool."
"Well, you won't take me in for one," countered Blake.
"You seem determined to hurt your own interests. Unfortunately you've
put me in your debt--an obligation I must pay in full."
"Why not get a receiver appointed, and reorganize?" gibed Blake.
"That's one of the ways you dodge obligations, isn't it?"
Mr. Leslie's wrinkled face quickly turned red, and from red to purple.
He thrust a quivering finger against a push-button. Blake grinned
exultantly and picked up his hat.
"Don't bother your bouncer," he remarked in a cheerful tone. "I don't
need any invitation to leave."
The tall doorkeeper stepped alertly into the room, but turned back on
the instant at sight of his master's repellent gesture.
"Mistake," snapped Mr. Leslie, and as the man disappeared, he turned to
Blake. "Wait! Don't go yet."
Blake was rising to his feet. He paused, considered, and resumed his
seat. Mr. Leslie had regained his normal color and his composure. He
put his finger-tips together, and jerked out in his usual incisive
tone: "I propose to liquidate this obligation to you without delay.
Would you prefer a cash payment?"
"No." Again Blake set his jaw. "You couldn't settle with me for cash,
not even if you overdrew your bank account."
"Nonsense!" snapped Mr. Leslie. He studied the young man's resolute
face, and asked impatiently, "Well--what?"
"Can't you get it into your head?" rejoined Blake. "I'm not asking for
any pay for what I did."
"What, then? If not a money reward--I see. You're perhaps ambitious.
You want to make a name in your profession."
"Ever know an engineer that didn't?"
"I see. I'll arrange to give you a position that--"
"Thanks," broke in Blake dryly. "Wait till I ask you for a job."
"What are you going to do?--loaf?"
"That's my business."
Mr. Leslie again studied Blake's face. Though accustomed to read men at
a glance, he was baffled by the engineer's inscrutable calm.
"You nearly always win at poker," he stated.
"Used to," confirmed Blake. "Cut it out, though. A gambler is a fool.
More fun in a nickel earned than a dollar made at play or speculating."
"So! You're one of these socialist cranks."
Blake laughed outright. "It's the cranks that make the world go 'round!
No; I've been too busy boosting for Number One--like you--to let myself
think of the other fellow. The trouble with that crazy outfit is they
want to set you to working for the people, instead of working the
people. No; I've steered clear of them. 'Fraid I might get infected
with altruism. Like you, I'm a born anarchist--excuse
me!--individualist. What would become of those who have the big
interests of the country at heart if they didn't have the big interests
in hand?"
Mr. Leslie ignored the sarcasm. "Either you're a fool, or you're
playing a deep game. It occurs to me you may have heard that my
daughter has money in her own right."
"Three million, she said," assented Blake.
"She told you!"
"Guess she told me more than she seems to have told you."
"About what?"
"Ask her."
Mr. Leslie's eyes narrowed to thin slits. "Her aunt wrote me that she
suspected you had the effrontery to--aspire to my daughter's hand. I
couldn't believe it possible."
"That so?" said Blake with calm indifference.
Mr. Leslie started as though stung. "It's true, then! You--you!--" He
choked with rage.
"I thought that would reach you," commented Blake.
"You rascal! you blackguard!" spluttered Mr. Leslie. "So that's your
game? You know she's an heiress! Think you have the whip-handle--bleed
me or force her to marry you!--Alone with her after the other man--!
You--you scoundrel! you blackguard! I'll--"
"Shut up!" commanded Blake, his voice low-pitched and hoarse, his face
white to the lips. For the second time during the interview Mr. Leslie
cringed before his look. His pale eyes were like balls of white-hot
steel.
Slowly the glare faded from Blake's eyes, and the color returned to his
bronzed face. He relaxed his fists.
"God!" he whispered huskily. "God! ... But you're her father!"
Something in his tone compelled conviction, despite Mr. Leslie's bitter
prejudice. He jerked out reluctantly: "I'm not so sure--perhaps I spoke
too--too hastily. But--the indications--"
"Needn't try to apologize," growled Blake.
"I'll not--in words. How about a twenty-five-thousand-dollar position?"
"What?" demanded Blake, astonished.
"That, as a beginning. If you prove yourself the kind of man I think
you are,--the kind that can learn to run a railroad system,--I'll push
you up the line to a hundred thousand, besides chances to come in on
stock deals with George Ashton and myself."
"But if you think I'm a--"
"You're the only man that ever outfaced me in my own office. I'll
chance the rest,--though I had your record looked up as soon as your
name was cabled to me. I know not only who you are but _what_ you are."
Blake bent forward, frowning. "I've stood about enough of this."
"Wait," said Mr. Leslie. "I'm not going to drag that in. I mention it
only that you will understand without argument why my offer is based on
the condition that you at once and for all time give over your
ridiculous idea of becoming my son-in-law."
"You--mean--that--?"
"That I'd rather see my daughter in her grave than married to you. Is
that plain enough? You're a good engineer--when you're not a
_drunkard_."
For a moment Blake sat tense and silent. Then he replied steadily: "I
haven't touched a drop of drink since that steamer piled up on that
coral reef."
"Three months, at the outside," rejoined Mr. Leslie. "You've been known
to go half a year. But always--"
"Yes, always before this try," said Blake. "It's different, though,
now, with the backing of two such--ladies!"
"Two?" queried Mr. Leslie sharply.
"One's dead," replied Blake with simple gravity.
"H'm. I--it's possible I've misjudged you in some things. But this
question of drink--I'll risk backing you in a business way, if it costs
me a million. I owe you that much. But I won't risk my daughter's
happiness--supposing you had so much as a shadow of a chance of winning
her. No! You saved her life. You shall have no chance whatever to make
her miserable. But I'll give you opportunities--I'll put you on the
road to making your own millions."
Blake raised his cigar and flecked off the ash. "_That_ for your damned
millions!" he swore.
Mr. Leslie stared and muttered to himself: "Might have known it! Man of
that kind. Crazy fool!"
"Fool?" repeated Blake contemptuously. "Just because money is _your_
god, you needn't think it's everybody else's. You--money--hog! You
think I'd sell out my chance of winning _her!_"
"You have no chance, sir! The thought of such a thing is
absurd--ridiculous!"
"Well, then, why don't you laugh? No; you hear me. If I knew I didn't
have one chance in a million, I'd tell you to take your offer and--"
"Now, now! make no rash statements. I'm offering you, to begin with, a
twenty-five-thousand-dollar position, and your chance to acquire a
fortune, if you--"
Blake's smouldering anger flared out in white heat. "Think you can
bribe me, do you? Well, you can just take your positions and your
dollars, and go clean, plumb to hell!"
"That will do, sir!--that will do!" gasped Mr. Leslie, shocked almost
beyond speech.
"No, it won't do, Mr. H. V. Leslie!" retorted Blake. "I'm not one of
your employees, to throw a fit when you put on the heavy pedal, and I'm
not one of the lickspittles that are always _baa-ing_ around the Golden
Calf. You've had your say. Now I'll have mine. To begin with, let me
tell you, I don't need your positions or your money. Griffith has given
me work. I'm working for him, not you. Understand?"
"You are? He's my consulting engineer."
"That cuts no ice. I'm doing some work for him--for _him_; understand?
It's not for you. He gave me the job--not you. After what you've said
to me here, I wouldn't take a _hundred_-thousand-dollar job from you,
not if I was walking around on my uppers. Understand?"
"But--but-"
Blake's anger burst out in volcanic rage. "That's it, straight! I don't
want your jobs or your money. They're dirty! You've looked up my
record, have you? How about your own? How about the Michamac Bridge?
Griffith says the Coville Company has taken it over; but you started
it--you called for plans--you advertised a competition. Where are my
plans?--you!"
Mr. Leslie shrank back before the enraged engineer.
"Calm yourself, Mr. Blake!" he soothed in a quavering voice. "Calm
yourself! This illusion of yours about lost plans--"
"Illusion?" cried Blake. "When I handed them in myself to your
secretary--that dude, Ashton."
Mr. Leslie sat up, keenly alert. "To him? You say you handed in a set
of bridge plans to my former secretary?"
"He wasn't a _former_ secretary then."
"To young Ashton, at that time my secretary. Where was it?"
"In there," muttered Blake, jerking his thumb towards the empty
anteroom. "I had to butt in to get even that far."
"Why didn't you show your receipt when you applied for your plans?"
"Hadn't a receipt."
"You didn't take a receipt?"
"And after that Q. T. survey, too!" thrust Blake. "I sure did play the
fool, didn't I? But I was all up in the air over the way I had worked
out that central span, and didn't think of anything but the committee
you'd appointed to pass on the competing plans. Those judges were all
right. I knew they'd be square."
"Sure you had any plans? Where's your proof?" demanded Mr. Leslie with
a shrewdness that won a sarcastic grin from Blake.
"Don't fash yourself," he jeered. "You're safe--legally. Of course my
scratch copy of them went down in the steamer. The fact I wrote
Griffith about them before the contest wouldn't cut any ice--with your
lawyers across the table from any I could afford to hire."
"Griffith knows about your plans?"
"Didn't get a chance to show them to him. All he knows is I wrote him I
was drawing them to compete for the bridge--which of course was part of
my plan to blackmail you," gibed Blake. He rose, with a look that was
almost good-humored. "Well, guess we're through swapping compliments. I
won't take up any of your valuable time discussing the weather."
With shrewd eyes blinking uneasily under their shaggy brows, Mr. Leslie
watched his visitor cross towards the door. The engineer walked firmly
and resolutely, with his head well up, yet without any trace of swagger
or bravado.
As he reached for the doorknob, Mr. Leslie bent forward and called in
an irritable tone: "Wait! I want to tell you--"
"Excuse _me!_ My time's too valuable," rejoined Blake, and he swung out
of the room.
Mr. Leslie sat for a few moments with his forehead creased in intent
thought. He roused, to touch a button with an incisive thrust of his
finger. To the clerk who came hastening in he ordered tersely: "Phone
Griffith--appointment nine-fifteen to-morrow. Important."