Nadine Haer looked up, a twinge of pain crossing her face.
"Indeed," Balt Haer said flatly. "You are talking to the Baron, Major
Mauser."
Joe Mauser looked at him, then at his sister, who had taken to her
handkerchief again. Consternation ebbed up and over him in a flood. He
wanted to say something such as, "Oh _no_," but not even that could he
utter.
Haer was bitter. "I assume I know why you are here, major. You have come
for your pound of flesh, undoubtedly. Even in these hours of our
grief--"
"I ... I didn't know. Please believe ..."
"... You are so constituted that your ambition has no decency. Well,
Major Mauser, I can only say that your arrangement was with my father.
Even if I thought it a reasonable one, I doubt if I would sponsor your
ambitions myself."
Nadine Haer looked up wearily. "Oh, Balt, come off it," she said. "The
fact is, the Haer fortunes contracted a debt to you, major.
Unfortunately, it is a debt we cannot pay." She looked into his face.
"First, my father's governmental connections do not apply to us. Second,
six months ago, my father, worried about his health and attempting to
avoid certain death taxes, transferred the family stocks into Balt's
name. And Balt saw fit, immediately before the fracas, to sell all
Vacuum Tube Transport stocks, and invest in Hovercraft."
"That's enough, Nadine," her brother snapped nastily.
"I see," Joe said. He came to attention. "Dr. Haer, my apologies for
intruding upon you in your time of bereavement." He turned to the new
Baron. "Baron Haer, my apologies for _your_ bereavement."
Balt Haer glowered at him.
Joe Mauser turned and marched for the door which he opened then closed
behind him.
On the street, before the New York offices of Vacuum Tube Transport, he
turned and for a moment looked up at the splendor of the building.
Well, at least the common shares of the concern had skyrocketed
following the victory. His rank had been upped to Major, and old
Stonewall Cogswell had offered him a permanent position on his staff in
command of aerial operations, no small matter of prestige. The
difficulty was, he wasn't interested in the added money that would
accrue to him, nor the higher rank--nor the prestige, for that matter.
He turned to go to his hotel.
An unbelievably beautiful girl came down the steps of the building. She
said, "Joe."