was no doubt that the two terminal cities, and the counties in which
they lay, would vote the bonds asked of them. But there was grave doubt
as to results in the rural counties, in each of which a special election
was to be held a month or two later. It was Guilford Duncan's task to
remove that doubt, to persuade the voters to favor the proposed
subscriptions, and incidentally to secure rights of way, station sites,
etc., by gift from the land owners.
During the next two months he toiled ceaselessly at this task, going to
Cairo only once a week to keep in touch with his bank, and to pass the
Sundays with Barbara.
Tandy also worked in the county towns, where he had a good deal of
influence. He had been made president of the proposed railroad, and was
supposed to be very earnestly interested in it. He was so--in his own
way, and with purposes of his own.
Duncan's campaign was a tireless one, and it proved successful. When the
elections occurred every county and every town voted in favor of the
proposed subscription, but some of them did so by majorities so narrow
as to show clearly how great the need of Duncan's work had been.
"Worse still," he said to Hallam, a few weeks later, "the smallness of
the majorities in two or three counties is a threat to us and a warning.
The county authorities are putting all sorts of absurd provisions into
their subscriptions, and they will give us trouble if our construction
company fails in the smallest particular to meet these requirements."
"Just what are the conditions?"
"Oh, every sort of thing. In every county it is provided that we shall
somewhere break ground for construction before the last of January--less
than two months hence--or forfeit the subscription. That gives us too
little time for organization, but we can meet that requirement by
sending a gang of men at our own expense to do a day's work somewhere on
the line. In two of the counties there is a peculiarly absurd provision.
There are rival villages there, one in each county, and the authorities
have stipulated that "a track shall be laid across the county line and a
car shall pass over said track from one county to the other" before the
fifteenth of March. Curiously enough, I learn that Tandy himself
suggested that stipulation to the county authorities. I hear he is
giving it out that he had to do so to save the election, but that's
nonsense, just as the provision itself is. Such a requirement will
greatly embarrass us in our negotiations with capitalists. For the line
will not be fully surveyed by that time, and nobody can tell, till that
is done, precisely where the road ought to cross that county line, or at
what grade. I can't imagine what Tandy meant by getting such a
provision inserted."
"Neither can I," answered Hallam; "but we'll find out some fine morning,
and we must be prepared to meet whatever comes. He's up to some trick of
course."
XXIX
A SCRAP OF PAPER
When Duncan assumed control of the bank as its president, his first care
was to acquaint himself minutely with its condition. In general he found
its affairs in excellent shape, for Tandy was a skillful banker and, on
the whole, a prudent one. There were many small loans to local
shopkeepers which Duncan could not approve, and these he called in as
they fell due, refusing to renew them. Beyond such matters he found
nothing wrong till he came to examine the record of Tandy's own dealings
with the bank.
There he found that in carrying on his multifarious enterprises, Tandy
had been in the habit of borrowing and using the bank's funds in ways
forbidden by the law of national banking. Had Tandy anticipated his own
removal from control he would doubtless have set his account in order so
that no complaint could be made. As it was, Duncan found that he was at
that very time heavily in debt to the institution for borrowings made in
evasion though possibly not in direct violation of a law carefully
framed for the protection of stockholders and depositors.
The matter troubled Duncan sorely, and acting upon the resolution he had
formed with regard to his relations with Barbara, he told her of it.
"I really don't know what to do," he said in a troubled tone. "Of course
the money is perfectly safe. Tandy is good for two or three times the
amount. And I learn that it is a practice among bank officers sometimes
to stretch their authority and borrow their own bank's funds in this
way."
"You say the thing is a violation of the law?" asked Barbara, going
straight to the marrow of the matter after her uniform fashion.
"In effect, yes. I am not sure that it could be called a positive
violation of law--it is so well hedged about with little fictions and
pretenses--but it is plainly an evasion, and one which might get the
bank into trouble with the authorities at Washington."
"You mean that it is something which the law intends to forbid?"
"Yes. It is in violation of the spirit of the law."
"Then I don't see why you should have any doubt as to what you ought to
do."
"It is only that under the circumstances, if I press Tandy and call in
these loans, it might look like an unworthy indulgence in spite on my
part."
"I think you have no right to consider that. You have taken an oath to
obey the law in the conduct of the bank, and----"
"How did you know that, Barbara?"
The girl flushed and hesitated. At last she said:
"I've been reading the national banking laws."
"What in the world did you do that for?"
"Why, I'm to help, you know. So as soon as I heard you were to be
president of the bank I asked Mrs. Hallam to get Captain Hallam to lend
me the books."
Duncan smiled and kept silence for a while.
"Was that wrong, or very foolish, Guilford? I can really understand the
book."
"Of course you can, and it was neither wrong nor very foolish in you to
try. It was only very loyal and very loving. But there was no occasion
for you to do anything of the sort."
"But how can I help you if I don't try my best to understand the things
you are dealing with?"
"As I said before," he answered tenderly, "it is very loyal and very
loving of you to think in that way, and I thank you for it. But that
isn't what I have had in mind when we have talked of your helping me. I
have never had a thought of burdening you with my affairs except to ask
for your sympathy when things trouble me, and your counsel on all points
of right and wrong, and all that. You see, you have two things that I
need."
"What are they?"
"A singularly clear insight into all matters of duty, and a conscience
as white as snow. In this matter of Tandy's account, for example, you
have helped me more than you imagine. You have seen my duty clearly,
where I was in doubt about it, and you have prompted me to the resolute
doing of it, regardless of my own feelings, or Tandy's, or of any other
consideration whatever. Moreover, it is an immeasurable help to me
simply to sit in your presence and feel that you want me to do right
always. I think association with you would keep any man in the straight
road. I _know_ that your love would do so."
"I am very, very glad," the girl answered with misty eyes, "but I must
help in practical ways, too--in all ways. So I must do my best to
understand all the things that you have to manage."
"God bless you!"
That was all he said. It seemed to him quite all there was to say. But
early the next morning he sent a courteous note to Tandy, calling his
attention to the "irregularity" of his relations with the bank, and
asking him to call at once to set the matter right.
After he had sent off the note he continued his examination of the
details of the bank's affairs. He had gone over the books very
carefully. He had examined the notes held for collection and the like.
It remained only for him to make a personal inspection of the cash and
securities held by the bank, and that was his task this morning.
He had not gone far with it when he came upon a small three-cornered
slip of paper, with a memorandum penciled upon it. It lay in the midst
of a bundle of greenbacks.
Looking at it carefully, Duncan turned sharply upon the teller who had
charge of the currency, and demanded:
"What does this mean? Why did you not bring that to my attention
sooner?"
Before the teller could reply with an excuse or explanation, Tandy was
announced as waiting in the bank parlor to see Mr. Duncan.
Duncan slipped the scrap of paper into his vest pocket, saying to the
teller:
"Make a memorandum that I have possession of this."
Then he walked into the parlor.
There he received Tandy with cold dignity and marked reserve--more of
coldness, more of dignity, and far more of reserve than he would have
thought necessary if he had not found that scrap of paper.
Before seating himself, he called in one of the bookkeepers, saying:
"Mr. Leftwich, I desire you to remain with Mr. Tandy and me, during the
whole of our interview."
"Surely that is unnecessary, Duncan," said Tandy hastily. "I don't care
to discuss my private affairs in the presence of a clerk."
"I have no intention to discuss your private affairs at all, Mr. Tandy,"
Duncan replied. "The matter concerning which I have asked you to call
here, is not a private affair of yours or mine. It is a matter connected
with the administration of the bank. Be seated, Mr. Leftwich."
"But I insist," said Tandy, with a good deal more of heat than he was
accustomed to permit himself to show, "I insist upon a confidential
interview."
"You cannot have it. I do not regard myself as upon confidential terms
with you, nor do I think of you as a man with whom I desire to establish
confidential relations."
"Do you mean to insult me in my own--in a bank that I founded, and in
which I am still a large stockholder?"
"Perhaps you had better not press me to explain myself," answered Duncan
with a calmness that emphasized his determination. "I might feel it
necessary to mention some facts that otherwise there is no occasion for
Mr. Leftwich to know."
"Oh, very well. I ought not to have expected courtesy at your hands."
"I think I must agree with you in that," answered Duncan. "In view of
the circumstances--which, I may remind you, are of your own making--I
really think you ought not to have expected courtesy at my hands.
Suppose we get down to business instead. What have you to suggest by way
of arranging your affairs with the bank?"
"I don't know. I came here hoping and expecting that in view of all the
circumstances you might be willing to let this matter of my loans from
the bank rest between ourselves for a time."
Duncan was outwardly calm now, but inwardly he was in a towering rage,
for Tandy's presence reminded him bitterly of the way in which the
ex-banker had tried first to corrupt him and then to blast his
reputation with a lie; and Tandy's manner clearly enough indicated that
he had come to the bank in full expectation of warping him to his will
in another matter involving his duty and his honor.
"How do you mean to 'let it rest'?" he asked, carefully controlling his
voice.
"Oh, you understand, or you would if you knew anything of banking."
"I will trouble you to omit all discussion of my knowledge or my
ignorance. Your account with this bank is at present in a shape
forbidden by law. It must be adjusted at once. That is all that concerns
me in the case. Please confine yourself to that."
Tandy became placative and apologetic.
"You must really pardon me, Mr. Duncan. This thing has knocked me out a
good deal--it came upon me so suddenly and unexpectedly. I make my
apologies if I have said anything to offend. But is there nothing I can
do to fix the thing up--so that the bank can carry it for me till I can
turn around? You see these things are so customary in banks that it
never occurred to me that you would insist upon the strict letter of the
law."
"I have taken an oath," answered Duncan, "to obey and enforce the strict
letter of the law in the administration of this bank's affairs--just as
you did when you were president here. _I_, at least, intend to respect
my oath."
"What do you require of me?"
"For one thing, that you shall put your account into a shape permitted
by law and warranted by prudence. In doing that, you shall have all the
help the bank can properly lend you."
"Tell me your exact terms," said Tandy, "and I will endeavor to comply
with them."
"You must comply with them, as they will be only such as it is my duty
to insist upon."
"What are they?"
"First of all, you must to-day deposit fifteen thousand dollars, in cash
or securities, to make good that bit of paper," said Duncan, holding up
the three-cornered fragment of a letter sheet, on which there was
written in Tandy's hand:
Good for $15,000--count this as cash. N. T., Pres't.
"I found that in our cash assets only this morning, Mr. Tandy. Until it
turned up I had cherished the belief that your irregularities were only
such as you say are customary with bank officers. I believe it is not
customary, however, for the president of a bank to abstract fifteen
thousand dollars of the bank's cash and substitute for it a mere pencil
scribbling on a scrap of paper, signed with initials."
Tandy sat gazing vacantly at Duncan, with livid lips and contorted
features. He had so long been accustomed to administer the bank's
affairs as suited his personal convenience that he had quite forgotten
this little transaction. Recovering himself, he said presently:
"That was an oversight on my part, Mr. Duncan. It was merely a matter of
temporary convenience. You see, one evening after hours, I happened
suddenly to need that amount in currency. I came here to the bank and
got it, putting the mem. into the cash box in its stead, as there were
none of the bank's officers or clerks here to take my check. Besides, I
hadn't my check-book with me. I fully intended to arrange the matter
before the bank opened the next morning, but somehow I forgot it. It was
only an oversight, I assure you."
"It was a felony," answered Duncan, in a tone as free from stress as if
he had merely said, "It is raining." Then he added:
"Will you make a deposit now to clear that matter up? After you do so we
can go on and adjust the other matters."
"Have mercy on me, Duncan! Give me a day or two to look about me! I've
been investing very heavily of late, and really I can't raise fifteen
thousand at a moment's notice. You know I am good for ten times the sum.
Why not let it rest for a week, say?"
"Mr. Tandy," replied Duncan, enunciating every syllable as precisely as
if he had been reciting a lesson in a foreign tongue, "let me remind you
of something. Some time ago you offered to pay me a high price to commit
a crime. You remember the circumstance, I have no doubt. You remember
that I refused, and that you sought revenge by lying to the men who were
then employing me. You told an infamous lie that, if it had been
believed, would have blasted my good name forever. No, don't interrupt.
I had not intended to mention this matter, especially in Mr. Leftwich's
presence," bowing toward the bookkeeper, whose jaw had relaxed in
astonishment. "I had not intended to mention that matter, but you have
forced me to remind you of it, by trying now to persuade me to commit a
crime without any inducement whatever except such as may be implied in
my concern for your convenience. Until now I have been prepared to
consider your convenience so far as I could do so consistently with my
duty to the bank. I am now not disposed to consider it at all. You must
bring fifteen thousand dollars here within an hour, and redeem that
piece of paper, or I shall proceed against you criminally. After you
shall have done that, you must make such other deposits of cash or
acceptable securities as may be necessary to set your general account in
order. That is all I have to say. I give you one hour in which to take
up this paper, and I give you the rest of the day in which to adjust the
other matter. That ends our conference, and I must excuse myself. You
know your way out."
XXX
THE MYSTERY OF TANDY
Tandy quitted the bank in very serious distress of mind. He was a
capitalist of large means, but even a great capitalist--and he could not
be reckoned as quite that--may sometimes find it inconvenient to raise
money in considerable sums upon the instant. It so happened that just at
this time Tandy's means were all employed and his credit stretched
almost to the point of breaking, by reason of his excessive and largely
concealed investments in a number of enterprises.
On the moral side, it would have been difficult even for Tandy himself
to say just what measure of suffering he endured. His conscience was
casehardened, but his financial reputation was not only a valuable, but
an absolutely necessary part of his equipment for the businesses in
which he was engaged. That reputation was now in great danger. He
wondered if Duncan would tell the story of that scrap of paper. He
wondered still more, whether Duncan might not report the matter to the
comptroller of the currency at Washington, and thus bring about a
criminal prosecution, even after the sum irregularly borrowed had been
repaid. Then he remembered, with something like a spasm round his heart,
that the bookkeeper, Leftwich, had heard the whole conversation, and he
remembered also that he had been, as he put it, "rather hard on
Leftwich" upon several occasions in the past. If Leftwich cherished
resentment on that account, his malice now had its opportunity.
On the whole, Napper Tandy could not recall another day in all his life
on which he had suffered so much in spirit as he did now. But there was
no time for brooding or lamenting. He felt that he was in Guilford
Duncan's clutches, and, while he knew little of conscientious scruples
by virtue of any soul experiences of that kind on his own part, he had
so far learned to understand Duncan as to know that he would, as a
matter of conscience alone, enforce the strict letter of his demand.
He hastened to find Captain Will Hallam, and to him he made almost a
piteous appeal for a loan of fifteen thousand dollars through the Hallam
bank.
"So Duncan carries too many guns for you, eh?" was the flippant remark
with which Captain Hallam received the appeal.
"Will you let me have the money?" almost frantically pleaded the now
thoroughly frightened man. "You see time is precious. I've less than an
hour in which to raise the sum. You _must_ help me out, Hallam."
"I really don't know whether I can arrange it or not. I'll see Stafford
and find out how far our loans are extended. What security can you give?
You know Stafford is very exacting as to the character of the security
on which he lends the bank's funds."
"Yes, I know--and that is very awkward just now. I'm a good deal tied
up, you know. I've been buying property along the line of our proposed
railroad. I've bought rather heavily, and as I hadn't expected to be
called upon to raise money just now, I have gone in pretty deep on
credit. You know how impossible it is to realize on such property, even
at a loss, when a man must have money at once."
"Then what can you offer?"
"Well, I've a pretty large block of stock in the Memphis and Ohio River
Railroad----"
"Not good collateral till the road is finished. You know we couldn't
touch that."
Tandy mentioned some other securities that Hallam deemed insecure, and
by this time Hallam had begun to wonder what was the matter with Tandy.
He knew, or thought he knew, that the man must have greatly more money
invested somewhere than these things represented. He had a great
curiosity to know what the other investments were, but he did not find
out, for at last, within a brief while of the end of his hour of grace,
the troubled man said:
"There is nothing for it but to hypothecate a part of my stock in the X
National. You know that is good."
"Oh, yes, that's good. Stafford will accept that as collateral if the
bank is in a position to extend its loans. I'll go and see."
When he told Stafford what the situation was, that astute banker--who
had been in many a financial fisticuff with Tandy--quietly said:
"I don't see why we should make the loan. Why not refuse it, and then
have you offer to buy the stock outright at about par? He must sell, for
if I have correctly sized up our friend Duncan, he'll never let up on
his demand in this case. A man with a conscience like his simply can't
let up in such a matter."
"That's the way we'll fix it," answered Hallam, with an amused twinkle
in his eye. "He's obviously in need of a little more education at my
hands, and he can afford to pay for it. I'll buy the stock at par--not a
cent more. I suppose it's worth a hundred and three?"
"Yes--all of that, and it will be worth more presently under Duncan's
management. What a fellow that is, anyhow!"
"I imagine Tandy thinks so by this time."
As there was no other bank in Cairo, and nobody else who could make a
loan such as Tandy must have on the instant, he was simply compelled to
make the sale on Hallam's own terms.
With Hallam's check in hand, he hurried to the X National, arriving
there just in time to meet Guilford Duncan's demand.
Duncan received the check in the bank parlor, again insisting that
Leftwich should be present at the interview.
"I'll take that paper, if you please," Tandy said, holding out his hand
for it.
"Not until you shall have adjusted the other matter. The bank's books
show that, while you were still president of the institution, you made a
loan of thirty thousand dollars to yourself, on your unsecured note,
without even an endorsement. You know that in doing so, you violated the
law you were sworn to obey and enforce. With that I do not now concern
myself. What I ask is that you secure the bank for that loan, which
still stands. When that is done, Mr. Leftwich will return this paper to
you. In the meanwhile, I place it in his hands."
"Really, Mr. Duncan"--for since the early part of that morning's
interview, Tandy had not ventured again upon the familiarity of
addressing Duncan without the "Mr."--"really, Mr. Duncan, you are
pressing me too hard. You must give me a few days----"
"How can I? The law would hold me at fault if I should allow the bank to
close to-day with that loan unsecured. I have no right to give you
time."
"You are persecuting me!"
"No, I am not. If I were minded to do that, I should call the loan in at
once. As it is, I only ask you--as I must--to secure it as the law
requires. I will accept any fairly good collateral you may have to
offer. There is surely no hardship in that--no persecution in demanding
that you shall temporarily leave with the bank enough of the bonds or
stock certificates that you hold in plenty, to comply with the law
concerning loans by national banks. I have simply no choice but to
insist upon that."
"But I tell you," answered Tandy, "that at present I have no bonds or
stocks conveniently available for such a purpose."
"I will accept your insurance stock."
"I've parted with that."
"Well, as I certainly have no disposition to be hard upon you, I'll
accept your stock in the Atlantic and Mississippi Steamship Company, or
even your Mississippi Valley Transportation Company stock, though
neither can be reckoned a first-class security."
"I've sold out of both companies," answered Tandy.
By this time Duncan began to wonder what had happened to Tandy, in a
financial way, just as Hallam had done.
"Wonder where he has been putting his money," he thought. "For surely he
had plenty of it a little while ago. He's been buying property along the
new railroad, but that isn't sufficient to tie up a man of Tandy's
wealth. Something must be the matter. I must be cautious."
"I'll put up a hundred thousand in Memphis and Ohio River stock----"
began Tandy.
"You know I can't consider that," said Duncan; "no sane banker could.
But if you choose, the bank will accept stock in your coal
mine--reckoned at fifty cents on the dollar--as security."
"That's out of the question. I'm negotiating a sale of my interests
there, and it would embarrass me to have the stock hypothecated just
now."
"Very well, then. What do you propose to do? Of course you have a large
block of stock in this bank. Why not put that up as security, and give
yourself all the time you need? Or if you don't want to hypothecate the
stock with this bank, you can arrange a loan on it with Stafford or
Hallam."
Tandy hesitated for a time before answering. At last he said:
"I've only thirty-three shares left. Why shouldn't the bank buy it
outright, putting the loan in as a principal part of the purchase
money?"
"At what price will you sell?"
"At 103. It's worth that and more."
"I'll consider the offer. Come back in an hour for your answer."