DISCOVERIES
On reaching New York Rufus made his way at once to the office of Messrs.
Seaward and Graythorne. He discovered that Mr. Seaward had been dead a
dozen years and that Mr. Graythorne was a man well advanced in life.
Mr. Graythorne received him without enthusiasm, and with some slight
evidence of embarrassment, and during the time they talked he appeared
to be preoccupied and more or less distraught.
Rufus wondered if this was some new type of American that he had not
heard of, or whether it was merely professional dignity. He had to drag
everything out of him, and what he did say appeared to be capable of
divers interpretations.
Rufus wanted facts about his father's property--why the litigation had
continued so long, what was the nature of the claims that had to be
considered, in what court or courts the litigants were heard, and on
what principle the distribution of funds had been made.
But to none of these questions could he get an intelligible answer. Mr.
Graythorne talked vaguely and ponderously. He enlarged on American law
in general, pointed out how different methods obtained in different
States, showed how the interests of clients were safeguarded by the
judges of the supreme courts, and how the wastefulness of English
Chancery cases was avoided by the simpler American methods.
But all this failed to touch the real point at issue. Rufus became
pertinacious, and Mr. Graythorne somewhat restive.
In the end the lawyer had to admit that he knew little about the matter.
It was a very old case, and his partner, Mr. Seaward, had been dead a
dozen years. A hint was given that Mr. Seaward had the case in hand at
the beginning, but at present the case was entirely in the hands of the
judge. The claims were disposed of as they rose; in time they would all
be disposed of. He (Mr. Graythorne) had been commissioned to forward
five thousand dollars, which he had done. If he received any similar
commission he would execute it with the greatest pleasure.
Rufus left the lawyer's office feeling not a little perplexed, and ten
minutes later Mr. Graythorne descended to the street with a look of
annoyance on his face.
Getting on to the elevated railway, he was soon speeding in the
direction of Central Park. Alighting at length, he made his way slowly
along a quiet street for some considerable distance, paused for a moment
in front of a house that had no distinguishing features, then ran
lightly up the steps and rang the door bell.
He was ushered by a maid-servant into a comfortably but modestly
furnished room, where he flung himself into an easy chair and waited.
In a few seconds a light step sounded outside; the door was pushed
quickly open, and Madeline Grover came smiling and radiant into the
room. The old lawyer rose slowly, and his face relaxed.
"This is an unexpected pleasure," she said, brightly. "Have you been
hearing again from Sir Charles?"
"Not a word. It's the other man we have to deal with now."
"What other man?"
"Why the man I sent the money to, of course."
"Well, what of him?"
"He's in New York, and has nearly worried the life out of me this
morning!"
"In New York!" and the hot blood rushed suddenly to her neck and face.
"In New York! And if he don't clear out soon there'll be complications!"
"Why has he come?"
"To look after his property, of course. Are you surprised?"
"I am a little. It never occurred to me that he might come to America."
"Well, he has come, and the question is whether you are going to
make--well, a clean breast of it, or allow him to ferret it out
himself?"
"Oh! he must not know for the world!" she said, in a tone of alarm.
"He's bound to get to know sooner or later that somebody has made him a
present of five thousand dollars----"
"No, it is only a loan," she interrupted, quickly.
Mr. Graythorne laughed. "A loan that was never to be paid, eh? A loan by
an anonymous lender? Well, what's in a name? Call it a loan if the word
pleases you better."
"But you know what I mean. Some day, of course,--years and years hence,
when nothing matters"--and she blushed uncomfortably; "but just now
nothing need be said or even hinted----"
"I understand," he said, with a twitching of the lips.
"You know very well that he has property out West somewhere, which he is
bound to come into possession of soon, and it seemed a pity that he
should starve and perhaps die while waiting for it."
"Well, yes; the motive does you credit."
"You ascertained beforehand, as you know, that he would have plenty to
pay me back with later on, and, after all, the sum was only a small
one."
"To you, perhaps."
"But to him it would mean everything, and I owe him more than gold can
ever pay. As I told you before, he saved my life and nearly lost his own
in doing it."
"Quite a pretty little romance, I own; worked up into a story it would
read very well. But how about the present situation?"
"He must not know, of course."
"And you expect me, a lawyer, to equivocate--to say one thing and mean
another--to talk, as it were, with my tongue in my cheek? Oh, Miss
Grover, what would become of the profession--I mean morally--if all
clients were like you?"
"It would be much nearer the kingdom," she said, with a laugh. "I don't
ask you to tell lies; I only ask you to hold your tongue."
"But it is much easier said than done. You know this young man, and he
ain't no fool either; and he has a pretty little way of asking
point-blank questions. And if I ain't mistaken he can draw an inference
as slick as most folks."
"But lawyers never reveal secrets," she said, smiling at him with her
eyes.
"Nothing more quickly awakens suspicion than silence," he said. "And if
he once gets on the trail----"
"He cannot possibly find me among eighty millions of people scattered
over this continent."
"But suppose he were to drop on you by accident?" and the old lawyer
pretended to be looking at a picture on the other side of the room.
She tried her best to keep back the tell-tale blush, but it would come.
"Oh, we should shake hands," she said, in a tone of indifference, "and
pretend to be surprised, of course, and then we should talk about what
had happened in St. Gaved since I left."
"He is a very handsome young man," the lawyer said absently.
"Yes, he is rather good-looking, isn't he?" and the colour grew deeper
on her usually pale face.
"I think you told me once you admired his spirit?"
"I admire him very much."
"And if he calls to-morrow I must say no more than I have said to-day?"
"Say what you like so long as you keep my name out of it."
"And you don't want to see him? And you wouldn't for the world that he
should know you are alive in New York City?"
"For the present at any rate."
"I think I understand," he said, gravely, but a smile twinkled in the
corner of his eye.
Meanwhile Rufus was busy reading through once more the papers he had
obtained from his grandfather. He folded them up at length and replaced
them in his portmanteau.
"It's not a bit of use waiting here," he said to himself. "That old
lawyer knows no more about it than I do. I'll go westward to-night."
The next morning found him in the busy town of Pittsburg, where he spent
a couple of days making inquiries; then he pressed forward again until
he reached Reboth, on the borders of Ohio.
Settling himself in the most comfortable hotel he could find he
commenced his investigations. It was here his father had lived for
several years. It was here he died. Reboth was only a village then. Its
mineral wealth was unknown; its blast furnaces had not been lighted, its
coal seams undiscovered. Joshua Sterne foresaw some of its
possibilities, and invested all his savings, lived long enough to see
the prospect of great wealth, and then almost suddenly passed out of
life.
After that followed years of litigation, Joshua Sterne had left no one
who could fight his battles. The widow quickly yielded up the ghost, and
the Rev. Reuben was too far away, too other-worldly, too lacking in
business tact, and too suspicious of American lawyers and American ways
to follow up any advantage that came to him.
The litigants appeared to be numberless. Disputes arose over boundaries.
Part of the property appeared to be in Pennsylvania and part in Ohio.
Different States had different laws. The findings of one court were
rejected by another. So the fight went on in a fitful and desultory way
year after year. Some of the claimants died and their heirs dropped the
struggle. Others had their claims allowed. Others who never had any real
case gave up the contention. But there were a few who held on like grim
death. They had no real claim, but they hoped for a good deal, and in
the end they succeeded in the case being hung up indefinitely.
In time it was practically forgotten. New judges were appointed.
Important questions came before them which demanded immediate attention.
The papers relating to the Sterne property grew yellow in their
pigeon-holes. The rents accumulated, but the mineral wealth remained
undeveloped.
One of the first discoveries Rufus made was that there had been no
distribution of profits.
"There must be some mistake," he declared.
But the court was positive. There had been some inquiries lately through
a New York solicitor, but beyond that there was no record of any kind
for several years, but certainly no money had been paid.
Rufus felt bewildered. Why should Mr. Graythorne send him five thousand
dollars on such a pretence? Why should anybody be so generous? Who was
there in the whole of America who knew him or cared two straws whether
he lived or died? As a matter of fact, he did not know a single soul on
all that broad continent. But stop----
All the colour left his face in a moment. He did know one person.
Madeline Grover was in America. Had she done this?
He felt himself trembling from head to foot; the very suggestion meant
so much.
That night he lay awake for hours thinking. He recalled the night after
his return from Tregannon--the long walk he had with Madeline Grover
across the downs, the frank confession he made to her of his toils and
struggles, the generous sympathy she had extended to him. It was their
last walk and talk. He remembered now he had told her how his father's
savings had been lost at Reboth, and how they had long given up hope of
recovering a penny of it.
"I must get to know somehow," he said to himself. "Bless her! If she has
done this she is the noblest woman on earth."
Rufus was not long in getting his father's case reopened. There were
only two men left to be dealt with. The claims of the others had gone by
default. The court was anxious that the case should be disposed of once
for all.
Rufus employed the cleverest lawyer he could find, and together they
struggled through the whole case from the beginning.
"Look here," said the lawyer; "if these fellows are ugly it may last
years longer."
"Well, Mr. Mason, what do you advise?" Rufus questioned.
"Come to terms with them."
"They may not be reasonable."
"Or they may be. They don't appear to have the ghost of a claim, but
they may keep the thing hanging on for ever and ever."
"There can be no harm in making the attempt," Rufus said.
"Then I will see their solicitors at once."
Rufus hung about Reboth two months longer, hoping, expecting, sometimes
despairing. But in the end all the parties agreed that a bird in the
hand was worth two in the bush. So terms were accepted and ratified by
the court.
"Now," said Mr. Mason, "you can begin to develop your property."
"You think it is valuable?"
"No doubt about that. If it had been worthless the whole thing would
have been settled a generation ago."
"But how should I begin?"
"Form a syndicate. Let me take the matter in hand for you."
Rufus was eager to go in search of Madeline. But he found himself,
suddenly, one of the busiest men, so he believed, in the United States.
Moreover, he refused to be rushed. A good many American methods he did
not like, and would not have. There was any number of capitalists ready
to stake large sums in the new venture. Any number of Stock Exchange
men who flickered around like flies. Any number of sharpers who tried
the confidence trick, but tried it in vain.
In a great many instances Yankee cuteness was pitted against British
caution and common-sense, and in the end the caution and common-sense
won the day.
Moreover, Rufus's sense of accountability was particularly keen. He had
only just come out of the furnace, in which he had been tried as few men
have been tried. The consciousness of God had not been blurred by long
years of professionalism. There was no latent or acquired taint of
Pharisaism in his nature. His faith was as pure and simple as that of a
child.
He might have made his pile in a week in an exciting gamble. On the mere
chance of mineral being found he might have become a rich man; but he
refused to proceed on those lines. He wanted occupation for himself. He
wanted moral authority for all he did.
The breathless haste to be rich which he saw all around him almost made
him angry. The majority of men seemed to be too eager to be honest, they
were tumbling over each other in their passion to be first in the field.
The Rebothites began to understand the young Englishman after a while,
and to respect him. His sterling honesty, his refusal to take a mean
advantage, won their admiration. It might not be business. Judged by
local standards, his conduct was Quixotic. They could not understand a
man who was not eager and impatient to scoop up the dollars when he had
the chance. But they had to take him as they found him, and in their
hearts they admired him while they blamed him.
Rufus came slowly to the consciousness that he was a man of considerable
importance. Slowly, too, he realised that in time he would be a rich
man, not through any merit of his own, but through the judgment and
foresight of his father.
For months he only thought of Madeline Grover at odd moments. He was too
busy with the tasks that had been thrown suddenly upon him. Fresh duties
appeared nearly every day, and better still, from his point of view,
fresh opportunities were given for the exercise of his inventive talent.
He was no longer cribbed, and cabined, and confined. There was a sense
of freedom he had never known in other days. He had room to work in,
scope for all his energies, and release from the bars and bands imposed
by a landed aristocracy. There were many things American he cordially
disliked, but the air of freedom that was over everything was most
exhilarating. He felt as though his brain worked with only half the
effort, and with no slightest sense of weariness.
Besides all that, he was free to adopt new methods. Nobody was bound by
precedent. He could exercise his inventive faculty without hostility and
without criticism. Hence, life became to him a daily unfolding of fresh
interests.
The days grew rapidly into weeks, and the weeks into months. Autumn gave
place to winter, and winter to spring, and spring to summer, and summer
began to fade into autumn once more. He had expected to be in Reboth a
month, and he had been there a year. And what a year it had been! The
most crowded year of his life, and the most formative. He had found his
feet at last, had taken the measure of his strength, and realised some
of the things of which he was capable.
He heard from his grandfather every week, and now and then he got a
letter from Captain Tom Hendy; but the old life was becoming more and
more distant, while the last six months he spent in St. Gaved seemed
like a hideous dream.
And yet there were times when it seemed an integral and necessary part
of the great scheme of his life. A cog in the wheel that couldn't be
dispensed with. How strangely he had been led, step by step, through
darkness to light, through pain to peace.
It was not until nearly the end of September that he was able to leave
Reboth for a little excursion to New York. He felt sure that Madeline
was in that city, and his heart was aching for another sight of her
face.
That he might have great difficulty in finding her he saw clearly
enough, but after all he had passed through, nothing seemed impossible.
He might fail in his first effort, and in his second, but he resolved to
let nothing daunt him or lead him to give up the quest. Life could never
be complete for him until he had found her. He must have answers to the
questions that were baffling him to-day--must know the best or the
worst.
So he made preparations for a stay of months, if necessary. But in his
heart there was a secret hope that Providence was guiding him still.