Allen Sanford, during the next few weeks, found much to think about
besides himself. His advance had been more rapid than Gorham had
expected. His position with the Companies was still the same, but his
value in his position had steadily increased. The impetuosity and
intensity which, previously uncontrolled, had made him heedless, were
now directed through a smaller vent, and gained in power. Gorham's early
belief that the boy possessed in no small degree, though undeveloped,
the business genius which had accomplished his father's great success,
was being definitely confirmed, and he rejoiced in it.
Allen had studied the business problem with which he came daily in
contact as closely as he could with the little experience which had as
yet come to him. What man of affairs does not recall how intangible was
that turning-point, in his own early business career, before which he
felt hopelessly submerged in that sea of infinite detail, vainly
struggling to gauge its currents and to escape its undertow; after which
he found himself advancing with steady strides, short at first, but
gaining in power as the lesser responsibilities merged into greater
ones!
Gorham's business training, previous to the inception of the
Consolidated Companies, had been in accord with the universal business
code, quite at variance with the idealistic basis which he himself had
now established. Allen's training had all been along Gorham's idealistic
thread. It was perhaps natural, therefore, that Allen, under these
circumstances, should look upon the transactions of the Consolidated
Companies from a different viewpoint from that which Mr. Gorham took. At
all events, some of these business acts did not seem to the boy to be in
full accord with the altruism which he had learned from his preceptor.
Allen had come to know most of the directors and some of the
stockholders, and he was convinced that the prevailing instinct which
controlled their relations to the Consolidated Companies and to its
transactions was self-interest pure and simple. There was no question
that the Companies had accomplished important reductions in the
necessities of life and in the cost of public utilities, as a result of
which the people were radically benefited; but to Allen's untrained mind
even this seemed to be a clever business policy from the exercise of
which the corporation gained more than it gave. Already there had come
to him a sense of apprehension as to what might happen if Mr. Gorham's
restraining hand should lose its present power, and the control should
fall into the hands of men such as he conceived Covington and his
sympathizers to be; and lately the boy had regarded this chance as not
altogether remote.
Gorham never allowed Allen to discuss with him the personalities of any
of the directors or stockholders with whom he came in contact. This was
partly due to his feeling that Allen was not as yet competent to form
opinions of any value, and partly to his general principle that he must
hold his own mind unprejudiced in his duty toward his associates. For
this reason, and for another which lay closer to his heart, the boy had
never expressed to him his distrust of Covington, though he had been
tempted to do so on more than one occasion. Now, however, during the
absence of his chief from the offices, Allen felt sure that a crisis was
near at hand. He knew that Covington was in constant communication with
certain of the directors, and the nature of these conferences could
perhaps be divined by the growing discontent which he saw developing
among those upon whom he knew Gorham depended as his most valued
lieutenants. He had been brooding over matters so long that this new and
tenser situation, as he saw it, made him feel it to be his duty to talk
it over with Gorham. He was none too sure that his doubts would be
shared or even accepted, and this uncertainty added to his
apprehensiveness in breaking over what he knew to be his chief's implied
commands. This was his first experience in a business office, and it
might be that what caused him anxiety was only a part of the day's work,
to be found in any similar establishment. Still, he determined to free
his mind of its ever-present burden, and he selected the time shortly
after Gorham's return from Washington.
Gorham listened to Allen's reports well into the night. The boy did most
of the talking, and Gorham absorbed with little comment the story which
he had to tell. Allen was surprised and relieved to find that he
listened to him without criticism, and it strengthened him in his own
confidence to find that the elder man treated him with a consideration
beyond that which he had previously received.
"You are quite right to come to me with this," Gorham said at length;
"but I feel that, as far as the business is concerned, you are unduly
apprehensive. I shall satisfy myself on this point on my return to the
office. Now, as to Mr. Covington: I have been aware for weeks of your
personal dislike for each other, but it is unworthy of you, Allen, to
allow this to influence you to the extent of doing him so great an
injustice."
Allen colored deeply at the criticism. "I have waited until I am certain
that it is no injustice before bringing the matter to you," he said.
"I have also been aware of another fact," Gorham continued, "which is in
itself an explanation of your present attitude. When I tell you that it
is my fondest hope that Alice shall marry Mr. Covington, you will
understand. This in itself is the strongest evidence I could give of my
confidence in him."
This was a blow far greater than any Alice had dealt him. Allen had
never lost hope that sooner or later he could convince her that he had
attained man's estate, and this he considered the only real barrier
between them. But if Mr. Gorham had set his heart upon her marriage to
Covington, he knew the case was hopeless. The older man watched him as
he struggled with himself.
"You should have no thought at present of marrying any one," he said,
kindly. "You are not mature enough yet to know your own mind. You have
done well, and I have great hopes for your future, but for the present
you must be content to solve one day's problems before taking up the
next."
"I wouldn't mind so much about Alice," the boy finally managed to blurt
out, "if it was any one except Mr. Covington."
"Have you any actual evidence that he is other than an upright, able
man, whose character entitles him to the fullest confidence and esteem?"
"No actual evidence; but I know I'm right. Please don't let him have
Alice without making sure."
Gorham placed his hand kindly upon the boy's shoulder. "Your interest in
my little girl's happiness, though prejudiced, makes me overlook this
boyish jealousy toward a man whom I respect. But you can't think that my
carefulness in so important a matter as this would be any less than your
own. Come, now, let us forget all this. Go back to your duties, my boy,
with a confidence that my judgment is better than yours."
As Allen made no reply and showed no inclination to leave, Gorham
wondered if he had still anything further to say. The boy moved
uncomfortably in his chair as the question was asked.
"Not regarding the business detail, Mr. Gorham," he replied at length.
"Oh, I am all at sea!" he burst out suddenly, his voice trembling with
emotion. "I guess business isn't in my line anyhow."
"What do you mean, Allen?" Gorham asked, completely surprised by the
boy's intensity.
"If I tell you what I really mean you will think I am ungrateful for the
chance you have given me, and, truly, that isn't it. I know you feel
that the Consolidated Companies is accomplishing a great work, and
you're right; but there's another side which I don't like at all. With
the single exception of yourself, I don't believe there is a man
connected with it who isn't in it for what he can get out of it. The
public is being benefited by certain reductions which the Companies
accomplishes, but before long I'm sure they will have to pay up for all
they have saved, with a bitter interest. Of course, my feeling this way
is simply an evidence that I don't understand things at all."
Allen had touched upon Gorham's most sensitive point. "It is a deep
disappointment to me that you feel as you do," he replied. "As you say,
it is an evidence that you don't understand things at all. The
Consolidated Companies has almost reached a point where individual
personality is merely incidental; where, in my opinion, my own services
even will not long be essential. I like to believe that my continued
connection strengthens and guides it, but no one man can now affect its
progress to any serious degree; but, my boy, loyalty to the Companies on
the part of its employees is absolutely imperative. That I must demand
of you."
Allen winced under the criticism, but he could not withdraw from his
position.
"Could not a man like Mr. Covington change the entire policy of the
Companies if he came into control?" he asked, significantly.
"No," Gorham replied, firmly. "In the first place, if he gained control,
he would have no desire to change it; in the second, my Executive
Committee is made up of men of too high principle to permit him or any
other man to operate the Companies upon other than a proper basis."
"You may not feel so sure of this after you have investigated," Allen
insisted.
"I shall never alter my opinion." Gorham was annoyed by the boy's
persistence. "It is too late to-night to discuss this phase of the
subject with you as thoroughly as we must if you are to continue with
the corporation, but in the mean time remember that the Consolidated
Companies is in the hands of men whose self-interest is coupled with a
personal gratification in the altruistic basis whose nature you have
learned from me. You are not competent to pass upon their motives, and
until you are you should not venture to criticise."
"I admitted that it is all due to my inexperience, Mr. Gorham, and I am
sorry that you are angry. I believe in you as I could never believe in
any other man, and I know that, as far as you can control it, you will
keep the Consolidated Companies within the lines you have laid down; but
I can't make myself believe that the others have the same honorable
intentions."
"Stop!" cried Gorham, seriously aroused by the boy's words. "I shall
listen to you no further. It is only my friendship for your father and
my affection for you which, keeps me from speaking harshly to you; but
be warned! You are attempting to interfere in a matter which is too
heavy for your strength. Leave it to those who understand it."
After Allen left the house Gorham sat for a long time in his library,
smoking and meditating. Yet it was not the possible internal business
complications, as suggested by the boy, which occupied his thoughts; it
was not some new gigantic transaction about to be launched on behalf of
the Companies which filled his mind, nor was it the suggested danger to
Eleanor's peace of mind. He was thinking of Allen, half blaming himself
for the forlorn expression the boy's face had worn as he left the room.
It was a courageous thing for this youngster to rush in where older and
more experienced men would not have dared, to face Robert Gorham and to
tell him that the monument he had erected rested upon a base of shifting
sand. His absurd statements regarding Covington were easily explained,
but what he had said of the business was an honest expression, even
though groundless in fact and resulting from an inexperienced
interpretation of matters far beyond his present knowledge.
Gorham contrasted in his mind the changes which these few months had
wrought in him. He remembered how lightly the boy had taken his father's
tirade which had thrown him upon his own resources, and compared this
with the depressing effect which his own criticism had produced.
"Poor boy, I'm really sorry for him," he said to himself. "With old
Stephen on one side and with me on the other, and with his fancied
devotion to Alice on top of it all, he must feel that the world is
against him." Then Gorham's face became stern again. "But he must take
on ballast," he said, firmly; "he must get over these snap-judgments and
learn to recognize that he is playing with tools too heavy for him to
handle. It will do him good--but I love the boy for his courage. It will
land him somewhere if he keeps his head."