HOW NORTHERN CONSOLIDATED WAS SOLD
When the President of these United States so dauntlessly flourished the
Monroe Doctrine in the German face, and shook the Presidential fist
beneath the German nose, the flourishing and fist-shaking were
accomplished through the medium of a special message to Congress
which--a clap of thunder from a cloudless sky--made its appearance in
House and Senate upon a certain Tuesday afternoon at four of the
congressional clock. The hour of four had been settled upon to diminish
as much as might be, so the President said, the chances of an earthquake
in the New York stock market, which closed at three. In San Francisco,
which is three hours younger than New York, the winds of disastrous
speculation blew a hurricane that afternoon; but no one east of the
Mississippi cares what happens in San Francisco. Besides, the New York
hurricane was only deferred.
Tuesday afternoon, after word of that Presidential fist-shaking had
soaked into the souls of men, speculative New York went nervous to the
frontiers of hysteria. Tuesday night, speculative New York couldn't
sleep; it sat up till morning, for, like cattle, it could smell in the
breeze the coming storm. Wednesday heard the crash; and the crashing
continued unabated throughout Thursday and Friday. The papers of that
hour in attempting to describe stock conditions drew exhaustively on
such terms as "tornado," "blizzard," "simoon," "maelstrom," "cyclone,"
"landslide," "avalanche," and whatever else in the English language
means death and devastation. No one found fault of those similes, which
were justified of the hopeless truth. Values were beaten as flat as a
field of turnips. The best feature was that no banks failed; two or
three of the weaker sisters wavered, but the big, burly concerns gave
them the arm of their aid and led them through.
Days before the smash, that osprey pool had perfected the last fragment
of its arrangements. The old gray buccaneer, who had charge of the
pool's interests, was as ready for action as was Mr. Bayard. The latter
stock-King was perhaps the only one in the Street who possessed a
foreknowledge of what daring deeds our White House meditated. To Mr.
Bayard the secrets of Courts and Cabinets were told, for he had an agent
at the elbow of every possibility. The old gray buccaneer was not so
well provided; none the less, with decks cleared, guns shotted,
cutlasses ground to razor-edge, he was prompt on the instant to put
forth against Northern Consolidated now when the tempest which lashed
the market favored his pirate purposes.
Those four millions which had been decided upon as the fund of the
osprey pool were banked ready to the hand of the old gray buccaneer.
Storri, who had been losing money, exhausted himself in providing the
five hundred thousand which made up his one-eighth of the four millions.
By squeezing out his last drop of credit, he succeeded in gathering
those thousands; once gathered, he tossed them into the pool's fund as
carelessly as though they had been nothing more than the common
furniture of his pocket, without which he would not think of beginning
the day. Storri at least was a magnificent actor.
In collecting those five hundred thousand dollars, Storri, among other
securities, put up the French shares. He thought nothing of that, since
following victory over Northern Consolidated they would be back in his
hands again. Incidentally, a gratifying thing happened, something in the
nature of a compliment or a concession, which he attributed to the
snobbish eagerness of Americans to pay homage to his nobility. Fatuous
Storri; he should never have looked for compliment or concession or
snobbish adulation in a plain lend-and-borrow traffic of dollars and
cents! Men will buy a coat of arms; but they will not take a coat of
arms in pawn. No; Storri, instead of feeling flattered, should have
grown suspicious when the gentleman from whom he borrowed those five
hundred thousand proposed to let him have the full value of his
securities if in return he were given the right to confiscate should the
loans not be repaid on the nail. Why not? The new arrangement meant no
real risk; the security might always be sold in case of default. And
under the arrangement offered, Storri's credit would be enlarged by
twenty per cent. He agreed, and had immediate advantage of the fact.
Drawing to the last dollar, he made his share of the pool's four
millions good.
When the storm descended Wednesday morning, the old gray buccaneer was
instantly in the middle of it doing all he might to encourage the storm.
As the stock world went to its sleepless bed on Tuesday night, it knew
about the Presidential defiance of Germany. That news was enough to keep
the stock world shivering till morning. When it arose and read the
_Daily Tory_, its chills were multiplied by two. As if trouble with
Germany were not sufficient invitation to general ruin, here came the
Hanway report driving a knife to the heart of Northern Consolidated! At
sight of that, the stock world's last hope abandoned it, and the work of
slaughter commenced. The old gray buccaneer grinned with happiness that
awful morning as he looked across the field of coming war.
Andrew Jackson, being half Scotch and half Irish, was wont before a
battle to think and plan with the prudent sagacity of a Bailey Jarvie.
Once the battle began, he ceased to be Scotch and became wholly Irish;
he quit thinking and devoted himself desperately to execution. The old
gray buccaneer of stocks was like Andrew Jackson. His plan, thoroughly
cautious and Scotch, had been laid to sell and sell and sell Northern
Consolidated until the stock was beaten down to twenty. He would sell
savagely, relentlessly, sell with his eyes shut, until the twenty point
was reached. And if necessary, he would sell four hundred thousand
shares.
The old gray buccaneer, under the conditions existing, did not think it
would require a sale of four hundred thousand shares before the market
broke to the figure he had fixed his heart upon. The general
conflagration raging must of necessity smoke out thousands and thousands
of innocent Northern Consolidated shares. These, blind and frenzied,
would rush plungingly into the flames like horses at a fire. The old
gray buccaneer felt sure that while he was selling four hundred thousand
shares, full two hundred thousand, mayhap three hundred thousand, shares
in addition would be offered. What stock could support itself against
such a flood as that? When the bottom was reached, and the time was
ripe, the pool would gather in the harvest. It was a beautiful plan; the
more beautiful because of its simplicity!
Instantly on the morning of that black Wednesday the sale of Northern
Consolidated began. Thousands of shares in two thousand, five thousand,
and even ten thousand lots were thrown upon the market by the old gray
buccaneer. In the roar and tumult of that disastrous day, what would
have been in calmer moments a spectacle of astonishment passed much
unnoticed. The stock world was busy saving itself out of the teeth of
destruction, and the smashing and slugging in Northern Consolidated
attracted the less attention.
Northern Consolidated merited admiring attention; against that desperate
hammering, it stood like a wall of granite. Ten, twenty, forty, eighty,
over one hundred thousand shares were sold that Wednesday; and yet,
marvel of marvels, Northern Consolidated at the day's close had fallen
off no more than six points. It retreated sullenly, slowly, step by step
and eighth by eighth; ever and anon it would make a stand and hold a
price an hour. Other stocks lost twice and threefold the ground; the
stubbornness of Northern Consolidated began to engage the notice of men.
More than one poor "bull" when sore beset that day took fresh heart from
the obstinacy of Northern Consolidated; his own foothold was steadied
and made the stronger for it.
But the old gray buccaneer refused to be denied; he had quit thinking
and begun to act; he would break the back of Northern Consolidated if it
took the last share of those four hundred thousand! His courage never
wavered; he would charge and keep charging; in the end his cavalry work
must tell and the lines of Northern Consolidated crumple up like paper.
All it required was dash and confidence, with an underlying grim
determination to win or die, and Northern Consolidated must yield.
The war was renewed upon Thursday, and staggered fiercely on throughout
the day. Then Friday followed, a roaring, tottering, crashing, smashing
fellow of the two days gone before. Millionaires became beggars and
beggars millionaires between breakfast and lunch.
As on Wednesday, so also on Thursday and Friday the stock which best
sustained itself was Northern Consolidated. And yet no other stock was
so bitterly sold! As against this it should be added that no other was
so bitterly bought! Every offer to sell was closed with at the very
moment of its birth.
At last the end came; the old gray buccaneer could go no further. He had
already oversold his self-fixed limit, having parted with four hundred
and eleven thousand shares. The sales were made in the names of the
various members of the pool, each selling one-eighth of the whole.
Senator Hanway's interest, as well as that of Mr. Harley, being
fifty-one thousand three hundred and fifty shares for each, for reasons
that do not require exhibition, was handled in the name of an agent.
Full one hundred and fifty thousand innocent shares, smoked into the
open market as the old gray buccaneer had anticipated, were also sold,
making the round total of five hundred and sixty-one thousand shares of
Northern Consolidated offered and snapped up during those three days of
fire. It was the greatest "bear" raid in the annals of the Stock
Exchange, so graybeards said; and what peculiarly marked it for the
admiration of mankind was that it had had the least success. In three
days, with five hundred and sixty-one thousand shares sold, the stock
had fallen only eleven points. The raid was over and the "bears" had
growlingly retreated thirty minutes before the close on Friday. Within
ten minutes after the last offer to sell, and when it was plain the
"bears" had quit the field, under a cross-fire of bids that fell as
briskly thick as hail, Northern Consolidated was bid up thirteen points.
It had stood forty-one at Tuesday's close; it was forty-three when,
"bears" routed, the market was over Friday afternoon. And thus
disastrously fared the osprey pool.
"We're ruined, gentlemen," coolly remarked the old gray buccaneer when,
with the exception of Senator Hanway, the members of the pool gathered
themselves together Friday evening. "We're in a corner; we're
gone--hook, line, and sinker!"
"What can we do?" asked Mr. Harley, his face the hue of putty.
"Nothing!" said the old gray buccaneer, lighting a Spartan cigar. "We're
penned up; whoever has us cornered may now come round and knock us on
the head whenever he finds it convenient."
"The market is still weak," observed one, "for all it lived through the
panic. Suppose we creep in to-morrow and cover our shorts. The shares are
forty-three; I for one think it might be wise to close the deal and take
our losses, even if we go as high as fifty."
"For myself," remarked the old gray buccaneer, with a half-sneer at what
he regarded as a most childish suggestion, "I'd be pleased to settle at
sixty-five or even seventy." Then, turning to him who was for softly
buying his way out: "Do you imagine that what has happened was accident?
I tell you there's a shark swimming in these waters--a shark so big that
by comparison Port Royal Tom would seem like a dolphin. And, gentlemen,
that shark is after us. He's been after us from the beginning; he's got
between us and the shore, and he'll pull us under when the spirit moves
him. If you think differently, go into the market to-morrow and try to
buy Northern Consolidated. An attempt to buy five hundred shares will
put it up ten points."
The next day, Saturday, the pool sent quietly into the Exchange to buy
one thousand shares; that, by way of feeler. The old gray buccaneer was
right; Northern Consolidated climbed fifteen points with the vivacity of
a squirrel, and rested mockingly at fifty-eight. Following this
disheartening experiment, which resulted in nothing more hopeful than a
demand for further margins from the pool's brokers, there were no more
efforts to "buy." The pool was marked for death; but that, while
discouraging, offered no argument in favor of self-destruction.
When the markets opened upon that storm-swept Wednesday, there were
forty brokers on the floor of the Exchange to execute the orders of Mr.
Bayard. Not one of the forty knew of the other thirty-nine; not one was
aware of Mr. Bayard in the business of the day. Thirty as a maximum had
been commissioned to buy--each man twenty thousand shares--six hundred
thousand shares of Northern Consolidated. The orders had come through
banks in the city, and from banks and brokerages in London, Paris,
Berlin, and a dozen points in Europe. They ran from five hundred to as
high as twelve thousand shares the order. Each broker was given a
certain limit below which he might buy, and the orders of no two were in
conflict. Each for his orders would have the unobstructed market to
himself.
Mr. Bayard arranged for that fall of eleven points; the "bear" raid must
seem to have effect to encourage the pool. To thus foster the pool in
its hopes, ten of the forty were to "sell" Northern Consolidated in
limited lots; these sales should augment "bear" enthusiasm.
In each instance the stock thus offered was taken by one of Mr. Bayard's
brokers, who little imagined that both he and the broker selling drew
their inspirations from the same source. As demonstrating the finesse of
Mr. Bayard, if one had collected from the forty those orders which they
brought upon the floor that Wednesday morning, and spread them on a
table, they would have exhibited a perfect picture of speculation. One
would have fitted with another, and each in its proper place, until the
whole was like a mosaic of defense. The "bear" pool was met on the
threshold; it was permitted to press forward eighth by eighth according
to a plan; one Bayard broker having made his purchases, another took his
place; it was like clockwork. The whole five hundred and sixty-one
thousand shares were bought and sold; and from first to last there came
never a glimpse of Mr. Bayard.
It had been Mr. Bayard's earlier thought to let Northern Consolidated
fall as low as twenty-five. For the sake of poor men in peril from that
defiance of all things German, Mr. Bayard in the last hours of his
preparations decided to support the market. To hold Northern
Consolidated above thirty against the double pressure of a falling
market and a "bear" raid would be to the general stock list as a prop to
a leaning wall. It would save hundreds from annihilation, and Mr. Bayard
resolved for their rescue. It would cost him nothing, lose him nothing;
once cornered, the question whether that osprey pool were cornered at
twenty or at thirty or at forty was unimportant. The corner complete,
Mr. Bayard with a breath could put Northern Consolidated to fifty, to
one hundred, to five hundred, to one thousand! The measure of his
triumph would be the measure of the mercy of Mr. Bayard. _Væ Victis!_
Our Brennus of the Stocks might demand from the members of the
vanquished pool their final shilling. He might strip them as he was
stripped those thirty years before, and turn them forth naked. For thus
read the iron statutes of the Stock Exchange where quarter is unknown.
It was Mr. Bayard who caused Northern Consolidated to climb,
squirrel-wise, to forty-three as the market closed on Friday, and later
to fifty-eight. It had the effect desired; there came the call for
margins. Storri, who had put his last dollar to the hazard, went down,
exhausted, destroyed, and under foot, and, as parcel of the spoils of
that Russian's overthrow, those French shares were sent to Mr. Bayard.
Within ten minutes after he received them they were on their way to
Richard, with a letter telling how complete had been the osprey pool's
defeat. For all his dignity and his gray crown of sixty years, Mr.
Bayard's eyes were shining like the eyes of a child with a new toy. What
battle was to that Scriptural hero's warhorse so was the strife of
stocks as breath in the nostrils of Mr. Bayard. Richard's eyes were as
bright as those of Mr. Bayard when he received the French shares, but it
was a softer brightness born of thoughts of Dorothy, and in no wise to
be confounded with that battle-glitter which shone in the eyes of the
other. Thus ran the note of Mr. Bayard:
Dear Mr. Storms:
Our bears are safely in the pit which we digged for them. The New
York five are taking it in a temper of stolid philosophy, being
bruins of experience. We may keep them in the pit what time you
will before we begin the butchery--one week, one month, one year.
They cannot escape, since my agents on the floor of the Exchange
will be always on the watch to see that they don't climb out. The
first time an offer to buy or sell a share of Northern Consolidated
is made, I shall put the price to three hundred. Our bears,
however, know this, and will make no attempt to get away, realizing
its hopelessness. The Storri bear is already dead; that first call
for margins killed him, and I send you a specimen of his pelt, to
wit, the French shares, with this. As for the others, whenever you
are ready we will call on them for their fur and their grease and
what else is valuable about a bear. Believe me your friend, as was
your father the friend of
Robert Lance Bayard.
Richard, now he had possession of those fateful securities, was somewhat
put about as to the best manner of getting them into the hands of Mr.
Harley. He, Richard, could not personally appear in the transaction. He
thought of using the excellent Mr. Gwynn; but that course offered
objections, since it would be assumed hereafter by Mr. Harley that
Richard, because of his confidential relations with Mr. Gwynn, must know
the history of those shares. Richard did not care to have such a thought
take hold on Mr. Harley; it might later embarrass both Mr. Harley and
Richard when the latter called at the Harley house, as he meant shortly
to do. Finally he hit upon an idea; he would employ the worthy name of
Mr. Fopling. The secret would be safe with one who, like Mr. Fopling,
could never be brought to understand it.
Being decided as to a path, Richard inclosed those dangerous shares with
a typewritten note to Mr. Harley. The note, speaking in the third
person, presented Mr. Fopling's compliments, explained that Mr. Fopling
was given to understand that Mr. Harley would purchase those particular
shares, stated their value as fifteen thousand dollars, and said that
Mr. Harley might send his check to Mr. Fopling.
This missive and those shares being safely on their road to Mr. Harley,
Richard made speed to hunt up Mr. Fopling. He found the sinless one at
the house of his beloved. Fortune favored Richard; Bess was not there,
being across with Dorothy, and, save for the company of Ajax, Mr.
Fopling was alone. Mr. Fopling was in the Marklin library, glaring
ferociously at Ajax, who was blinking disdainful yellow eyes at Mr.
Fopling by way of retort.
Richard explained to Mr. Fopling that through certain deals in stocks he
had become possessed of two hundred shares of one of Mr. Harley's pet
stocks. Mr. Harley would give anything to regain them. Richard desired
to return them to Mr. Harley without being known in the business. Would
Mr. Fopling permit him the favor of his name? He would employ Mr.
Fopling's name most guardedly. Richard did not tell Mr. Fopling that his
sacred name was already in the harness of the affair.
The benumbed Mr. Fopling, by listening attentively, succeeded in getting
an impression that Richard through lucky dexterity and sleight had
obtained some strange hold in stocks on Mr. Harley, and now in a foolish
leniency was about to let him go. This excited Mr. Fopling hugely; he
put in a most vigorous protest.
"Weally, Stawms," he squeaked, "if you've twapped the old curmudgeon you
must stwip him for his last dime, don't y' know! I wemembah a song my
governor used to sing; he said it was his motto. The song wan like this:
"'When you catch a black cat, skin it, skin it!
When you catch a black cat, skin it to the tail!'
"Yes, Stawms, use my name as fweely as you please; but I pwotest against
letting up on this old cweature Harley."
"But, my dear boy," observed Richard, "you must consider! Mr. Harley is
to be my father-in-law, he's Dorothy's father."
Mr. Fopling declined to consider what he called a "technicality." Mr.
Harley must be squeezed.
"Weally, Stawms," said Mr. Fopling, "it's the wules of the game, don't
y' know."
After no little argument, Mr. Fopling yielded his point. Mr. Fopling,
however, bethought him of troubles of his own, and made condition that
Richard stand his friend with Bess as against his enemy, Ajax.
"Bees always sides with Ajax," explained Mr. Fopling plaintively, "and
it ain't wight!"
Richard gave Mr. Fopling a fraternal grip with his mighty hand. He would
be to Mr. Fopling as was Jonathan to David. It should be back to back
and heel to heel with them against Ajax, Bess, and all the world! The
violent loyalty of Richard alarmed Mr. Fopling; he threw in a word of
caution.
"You mustn't be weckless, Stawms."
Bess came back from the Harley house, and found Richard with Mr.
Fopling. Bess reported Dorothy's spirits as improved; those rays of
comfort emanating from Richard's promises had put a color in her cheek.
"The promises have been redeemed," observed Richard, "and I came to tell
you first of all--you who have been our truest friend," and here, to the
utter outrage of Mr. Fopling's sensibilities, Richard kissed Bess's
yellow hair.
"Oh, I say, Stawms!" squeaked Mr. Fopling reproachfully.
"Mistake, I assure you!" said Richard, again giving Mr. Fopling his
hand.
"Well, please don't wepeat it!" returned Mr. Fopling a bit sulkily. "It
gives me a most beastly sensation, don't y' know, to see a chap
cawessing Bess; it does, weally!"
"Hush, child!" said Bess; "you excite yourself about nothing."
Bess was for having Dorothy over on the strength of the good news, but
Richard was against it, proudly.
"No," said he. "With Storri's hold upon him, Mr. Harley asked me to stay
away from his house. Now Storri's hold is broken, I shall give him a
chance to ask me to return."
"Oh, I see," replied Bess teasingly. "Sir Launcelot having done a
knightly deed and rescued a fair damsel, and the fair damsel's family,
from a dragon, will give his vanity an outing."
"Only till to-morrow evening!" protested Richard, humbled from the high
horse. "If Mr. Harley doesn't invite me by that time, I'll invite
myself."
"If Mr. Harley doesn't invite you by that time," returned Bess, "I will
interfere. Those who can't see their duty must be shown their duty, Mr.
Harley among the rest. On the whole, I think you take a very proper
stand."
* * * * *
Storri, without a dollar, lay in his rooms like a wounded wolf. He did
not go to the San Reve; he would see no one until he had worn down his
anguish and regained control of himself. Hurt to the death, Storri was
too cunning to furnish word of it to mankind. No one must know; it was
the instinct of self-preservation. The wounded wolf, while his wounds
are fresh, avoids the pack lest the pack destroy him. And so with
Storri; he would hide until he could command that old-time manner of
unclouded ease. He would stifle every surmise, deny every rumor if rumor
blew about, of the blow he had received. A few days, and Storri would be
himself again. As for immediate money, Storri would extort that from Mr.
Harley, who, in his dull-head ignorance or worse, had been the author of
his losses. Who first spoke of Northern Consolidated? Who suggested the
"bear" raid? Was it not Mr. Harley? The affair had been his; the loss
should be his; Mr. Harley must repay, or face the wrath of Storri.
"Face the wrath of Storri!" exclaimed that furious nobleman with an
oath. "He would face nobody--nothing! Bah! that Harley; he is a dog and
the coward son of a dog! Yes, he shall come here; he shall crawl and
crouch! I, Storri, will give him the treatment due a dog!"
Storri wrote a blunt word to Mr. Harley and dispatched it to that
shattered capitalist.
"Come to-night at nine, you Harley," said the note, "and do not presume
to fail, or my next communication will be through one of your officers
of police."
Storri was aware that the French shares were gone from him, but he
counted on easily tracking them and buying them back. He would force Mr.
Harley to give him the very money that was to buy them. The thought
lighted up his cruel face like a red ray from the pit; it would be such
a joke--such a triumph over the pig American! Meanwhile he would bully
Mr. Harley, who did not know but what the shares were in his pocket.
If Storri had been informed of how, through the deep arrangements of
that strategist of stocks, he had borrowed every dollar of those five
hundred thousand from Mr. Bayard, as well as every share of Northern
Consolidated delivered to perfect those sales that had brought him down
in ruin--in short, if he had been told the whole romance, from Mr.
Fopling's exhortation to "Bweak him!" to the close of the market on that
crashing Friday afternoon, he might have been less sure of recapturing
those French shares. But he was ignorant of those truths; and, with
confidence bred of ignorance, he summoned Mr. Harley. He, Storri, would
browbeat and bleed him; he would teach the caitiff Harley to be more
careful of the favor, not to say the fortune, of a Russian nobleman.
Mr. Harley, with the defeat of the "bear" attack on Northern
Consolidated, was left in forlornest case. He was aware that it spelled
money-ruin for both him and Senator Hanway; but the picture of the rage
of Storri, and what that savage might do in his bitterness, so filled up
his thoughts that he scarcely heeded anything beyond. Mr. Harley was
stricken sick by his own fears, and, after returning from New York on
the evening of that fearful Friday, never moved from his room. To the
anxious tap of Dorothy, he sent word that he was not ill, but very busy;
he must not be disturbed. Like Storri, only more a-droop, Mr. Harley
owned no wish for company.
Mr. Harley was thus broken to the ground when Storri's message found
him. The threat at the tail, like the sting at the tail of a scorpion,
stunned Mr. Harley past thinking. He could neither do nor plan; he could
only utter his despair in groans.
Two hours later, and while he lay writhing, Richard's inclosure of the
French shares arrived by post. Mr. Harley at sight of them came as near
fainting as any gentleman coarsely grained and hearty ever comes. Ten
minutes went by in stupid gazing, and in handling and feeling those
certificates that were to him as is the reprieve that comes to one who
else would die within the hour.
There is such a thing as compensation, and the very coarseness of which
you have now and again complained made most for the rescue of Mr. Harley
at this crisis. By dint of that valuable coarseness, Mr. Harley,
discovering that he could trust his eyes,--he at one time doubted those
visual organs,--recovered such strength, not to say composure, that he
ordered up a quart of burgundy and drank it by the goblet. Under this
wise treatment, and with the reassuring shares in his clutch, Mr. Harley
became a new man.
The first evidence of this newness given to the world was when at eight
o'clock Mr. Harley, faultlessly caparisoned and in full evening dress,
descended upon Mrs. Hanway-Harley and Dorothy. The ladies were together
in the back drawing-room as the restored Mr. Harley, with brow of Jove
and warlike eye, strode into their startled midst. Establishing himself
in mighty state before the fireplace, rear to the blaze, he gazed with
fondness, but as though from towering altitudes, on Dorothy.
"Come and kiss me, child!" said Mr. Harley.
Dorothy obeyed without daring to guess the cause of this abrupt
affection.
"You act strangely, Mr. Harley!" commented Mrs. Hanway-Harley, with a
tinge of severity. "I hope you will compose yourself. It is quite
possible that Count Storri will drop in!"
"Madam," shouted Mr. Harley explosively, "I shall shoot that scoundrel
Storri if he puts hand to my front gate!"
"John!" screamed Mrs. Hanway-Harley.
"Madam, I shall shoot him like a rat!"
Mr. Harley got this off with such fury that it struck Mrs. Hanway-Harley
speechless. She was the more amazed, since she knew nothing of either
Mr. Harley's wrongs or his burgundy. After surveying her with the utmost
majesty for a moment, Mr. Harley came back to Dorothy.
"There's a gentleman named Mr. Storms?"
"Yes, papa!" (timidly).
"You love him?"
"Yes, papa!" (feebly).
"You shall marry him!"
"Yes, papa!" (blushingly).
"John!" (with horror).
"Invite him to dinner to-morrow."
"Yes, papa!" (rapturously).
"And every other evening you choose!"
"Yes, papa!" (more rapturously).
"John!" (with a gasp).
"And now, madam," observed Mr. Harley, wheeling on Mrs. Hanway-Harley
with politeness sudden and vast, "I am ready to attend to you. Let me
commence by mentioning that I am master of this house, and shall give
dinners when I will to whomsoever I please."
"But you said marriage, John, and Mr. Storms is a pauper! Think what you
do!"
"It may entertain you, madam," returned Mr. Harley, in a manner of grim
triumph, "to hear that you also are a pauper. Yes, madam, you, I, Pat
Hanway--we are all paupers. Now I shall go to your scoundrel Storri and
tell him what I have told you. Oh! I shall not murder the villain,
madam; though I give you my word, if there were no one to think of but
Jack Harley, I'd return to you blood to my elbows; yes, madam, to my
elbows!" and Mr. Harley pulled up his coatsleeves very high to give
force to his words.
Lighting a cigar, which he set between his teeth so that it projected
outward and upward at an angle of defiance, Mr. Harley got into his hat
and greatcoat, and made for the door. As he threw it open preparatory to
issuing forth, there floated back with a puff of cigar smoke these
words, delivered presumably for the good of Mrs. Hanway-Harley:
"Yes, madam; blood to my elbows!"
"Your father is insane!" groaned Mrs. Hanway-Harley to Dorothy, when the
door had slammed and Mr. Harley was on his way to Storri, "absolutely
insane!"
Then Mrs. Hanway-Harley, with many an ejaculation of self-pity over a
fate that had made her helpmeet to a lunatic, called her maid to aid
her in creeping to her room. As for Dorothy, she danced about as light
as air; in the finale she danced across the way to Bess to tell that
sorceress what wonders had befallen.
"Eh! you Harley--you John Harley, is it you?" jeered Storri, as Mr.
Harley was shown in.
"Yes, you black villain and thief, it is I!" roared Mr. Harley, planting
himself in front of Storri, who had not taken the polite trouble to get
up from the sofa where he reclined. "Yes, you world's scoundrel, who but
I!"
"Scoundrel?" repeated Storri with a screech, springing to his feet.
"Sit down!" thundered Mr. Harley, a pistol coming from his pocket like a
flash.
[Illustration: "Sit Down!" Thundered Mr. Harley]
Mr. Harley was from a region where pistols were regarded in the light of
arguments, and gentlemen gravely debating therewith at ten paces had the
approving countenance of the public. This may explain the ready grace
with which Mr. Harley produced a specimen of that species of artillery
when Storri seemed to threaten violence.
"Sit down!" thundered Mr. Harley, and Storri, with terror twitching at
his lips, obeyed. Mr. Harley replaced the pistol in his pocket, and
surveyed Storri with a look so sinister it alarmed that nobleman to the
heart. "I have come," continued Mr. Harley, taking a chair and
maintaining the while a dangerous eye on Storri, "I have come to return
your insults, you blackmailing rogue, in the room where I received
them."