SHIFTED BURDENS
Porter insisted that Margrave should not have the Traction Company at
any price, though the general manager of the Transcontinental was
persistent in his offers. As Margrave did not care to deal with Porter,
who was not, he complained, "an easy trader," he negotiated with Fenton
and Saxton. After several weeks of ineffectual effort he concluded that
Fenton and Saxton were almost as difficult. He called Saxton a "stubborn
brute" to Saxton's face; but offered to continue him in a responsible
position with the company if he would help him with the purchase. He
still wanted to control the company for political reasons, but there was
also the fact of his having invested the money of several of his friends
in the Transcontinental directorate, prior to the last annual meeting.
These gentlemen had begun to inquire in a respectful way when Margrave
was going to effect the _coup_ which, he had been assuring them, he had
planned. They had, they were aware, no rights as against the
bondholders; and as Margrave understood this perfectly well, he was very
anxious to buy in the property at receiver's sale for an amount that
would satisfy Porter and his allies, and give him a chance to "square
himself," as he put it. This required additional money, but he was able
to command it from his "people," for the receiver had demonstrated that
the property could be made to pay. While these negotiations were
pending, Saxton and Fenton were able to satisfy their curiosity as to
the relations which had existed between Wheaton and Margrave. Margrave
had no shame in confessing just what had passed between them; he viewed
it all as a joke, and explained, without compunction, exactly the manner
in which he had come by the shares which had belonged to Evelyn Porter
and James Wheaton.
When Saxton came back from Colorado, Porter was ill again, and Fenton
was seriously disposed to accept a price which Margrave's syndicate had
offered. Margrave's position had grown uncomfortable; he had to get
himself and "his people" out of a scrape at any cost. His plight pleased
Fenton, who tried to make Porter see the irony of it; and this view of
it, as much as the high offer, finally prevailed upon him. He saw at
last the futility of securing and managing the property for himself; his
health had become a matter of concern, and Fenton insisted that a street
railway company would prove no easier to manage than a bank.
Porter was, as John had said, "a peculiar brick," and after the final
orders of the court had been made, and Saxton's fees allowed, Porter
sent him a check for five thousand dollars, without comment. Fenton made
him keep it; Porter had done well in Traction and he owed much to John;
but John protested that he preferred being thanked to being tipped; but
the lawyer persuaded him at last that the idiosyncrasies of the rich
ought to be respected.
Porter felt his burdens slipping from him with unexpected satisfaction.
He grew jaunty in his old way as he chid his contemporaries and friends
for holding on; as for himself, he told them, he intended "to die
rested," and he adjusted his affairs so that they would give him little
trouble in the future. The cottage which he had bought on the North
Shore was a place they had all admired the previous summer. Porter had
liked it because there was enough ground to afford the lawn and flower
beds which he cultivated with so much satisfaction at home. The place
was called "Red Gables," and Porter had bought it with its furniture, so
that there was little to do in taking possession but to move in. The
Whipples were their first guests, going to them in mid-July, when they
were fully installed.
The elder Bostonians whom Porter had met the previous summer promptly
renewed their acquaintance with him. He had attained, in their eyes, a
new dignity in becoming a cottager. The previous owner of "Red Gables"
had lately failed in business and they found in the advent of the
Porters a sign of the replenishing of the East from the West, which
interested them philosophically. Porter lacked their own repose, but
they liked to hear him talk. He was amusing and interesting, and they
had already found his prophecies concerning the markets trustworthy. The
ladies of their families heard with horror his views on the Indian
question, which were not romantic, nor touched with the spirit of Boston
philanthropy; but his daughter was lovely, they said, and her accent was
wholly inoffensive.
So the Porters were well received, and Evelyn was glad to find her
father accepting his new leisure so complacently. She and Mrs. Whipple
agreed that he and the general were as handsome and interesting as any
of the elderly Bostonians among their neighbors; and they undoubtedly
were so.