Uncle Sid and Winston, after leaving the office, went toward the Rio
Vista. Winston was the first to break the silence. He spoke musingly.
"Helen doesn't absolutely know whether Elijah got that money or not. If
she had known certainly, she would have told us. But she suspects that
he got it and used it, or at least a part of it. There are only two who
do know surely, Mellin and Elijah. Mellin has a strong hold on Elijah,
or he couldn't have got that note from him. Elijah drew the money,
converted it to his own use, and Mellin knows it and is making Elijah
pay him to keep quiet."
"Well!" Uncle Sid stopped abruptly and thrust his walking stick into the
sand. "Well!" he repeated, "what are you going to do about it?"
"I'm going to hunt Mellin down and make him give up." Winston's jaws
set.
Uncle Sid smiled grimly.
"Well, young man, I'm all-fired rejoiced that you ain't a-huntin' me.
I'm goin' a-huntin' too."
At the Rio Vista they parted. Uncle Sid stumped up to the hotel office.
"Say, senner," he was addressing the clerk, "Mrs. MacGregor ain't been
sighted yet, has she?"
The clerk smiled affably.
"Not yet, Captain. Expect her to make port today. Any messages?"
"Yes, plenty, but I'll deliver 'em myself."
Mrs. MacGregor made port promptly and as promptly Uncle Sid began to
deliver his message.
"Well, Eunice, it seems you've finally settled to the conviction that
there's more money in a servant o' the Lord than in folks that's got
handles to their names."
"What do you mean, Sidney?"
"What do you mean, Eunice, takin' your ward's money an' puttin' it into
this wild-cat business?"
"I'm not aware that I have told you or any one else what I have done
with Alice's money."
"I'm perfectly aware o' you, Eunice, an' I have been for a good many
years. You ain't got a cent o' your own an' you've been spungin' off
from Alice. She didn't seem to mind, so I didn't interfere; but this is
different. You just back right out now or I'll make you." Uncle Sid's
face was not pleasant to contemplate.
Mrs. MacGregor smiled complacently.
"It seems to me that you are very suddenly and deeply interested in my
doings."
"I am!" Uncle Sid snapped out. "An' for two reasons. In the first place
you are swindling Alice out o' her money, an' in the second, the good
name o' the Harwoods is in danger. Either one is enough to rile my
fightin' blood, an' take 'em both together, I'm fifty years younger'n my
birthday calls for."
Mrs. MacGregor spoke coldly.
"You are very much mistaken, Sidney, if you think you are frightening
me."
"I am mistaken. I never thought you a fool, I declare if I did! Not this
kind. Accordin' to my notion, you've tried on a powerful lot o'
different kinds o' fool, but I never thought you'd settle down to this."
Mrs. MacGregor vouchsafed no reply. She went to her closet, and began
sorting various articles of clothing and laying them out on the bed.
"What are you up to now?"
"I'm going East on business."
Uncle Sid rose to his feet and walked to Mrs. MacGregor. Laying his
hands on her shoulders, he turned her sharply till her eyes met his. The
eyes that looked coldly into his had a well-bred, unruffled stare,
exasperatingly insolent, exasperating, because they gave no open ground
for resentment.
"Eunice, I'm going to make a fool of myself. I've got two hundred
thousand laid up in the best kind o' securities. They bring me in ten
thousand a year. You just get back that girl's money, an' I'll give you
this so long as I live. If I go first, an' it's likely I will, I'll fix
it so you'll get it so long's you live."
Mrs. MacGregor spoke calmly.
"Why didn't you say this to me before?"
"Because there's been no especial reason for my making a fool o' myself
before."
Mrs. MacGregor, still looking into her brother's eyes, thought rapidly.
Her regret that Uncle Sid had not spoken before was sincere. She would
accept now if she could. She thought of accepting Uncle Sid's offer and
then trying to free herself; but if she should fail, she knew that Uncle
Sid would not hesitate to cut her off instantly, and without mercy. She
was convinced that there was no way out of it. Elijah would fight
against it, Mellin would oppose everything before he would let go his
hold. More sincerely than she had ever regretted anything in her life,
she regretted her inability to accept her brother's offer. There was
only one way open--to go on. Her calm, cynical smile was more
exasperating than her stare.
"Alice will be down from San Francisco in about two weeks. I want you to
take care of her while I am East."
Uncle Sid was answered. He thrust his sister from him so violently, that
she staggered to regain her balance, but the calm, insolent smile never
left her face.
"I'll take care of her. I'll take care o' her, an' you too, an' that
servant o' the Lord."
Uncle Sid stamped from the room. Mrs. MacGregor summoned a messenger
from the office. He was instructed to secure a ticket that evening for
the overland express. Then she resumed her preparations for departure.
She had arranged all details with Elijah. The Palm Wells company had
been fully organized, its officers chosen. To Mrs. MacGregor was
entrusted the task of raising the necessary funds--for what? Both Mrs.
MacGregor and Elijah had avoided these details.
Mrs. MacGregor was promptly on hand for the overland express, and it was
with a great and growing sense of satisfaction and importance that she
settled herself in her sleeper. Her journey to the East was not so
pleasant as she had anticipated; but her hand was turned to her
voluntary task, and she could not now go back if she would. She put
aside disagreeable impossibilities and gave her thoughts to her future,
the raising of money to further her schemes and Elijah's.
Uncle Sid had at once divined that his sister's first field of
operations would be their native town and Elijah's. He accordingly took
prompt measures to block her plans. He at once wrote to his banker, an
old and trusted friend, giving him an outline of the situation and
advising him against co-operation with Mrs. MacGregor. The keen business
acumen which had enabled him to accumulate two hundred thousand in
first-class securities, pointed his written utterances in keen-edged
words which never missed their mark, and invariably carried conviction
with them.
Many a mickle makes a muckle, and the seafaring mickles of Mrs.
MacGregor's native town which had been so painfully accumulated through
many years of toil, and towards which that astute lady had turned
expectant and longing eyes, were now plunging her into the depths of
despair.
The denizens of Fall Brook turned greedy eyes to the golden promises she
offered them, their ears were always open, but the end was ever the
same. The knots in the stockings were only tied the tighter because of
their canny greed and because of her words which threatened to despoil
them. Finally the promises of Mrs. MacGregor, made to a scant but
influential few, of stock in the Palm Wells tract, as a bonus for
persuading their fellows to invest, added zealous recruits to her cause.
These, however, not only failed in positive results, but defeated her
every hope of success. In a land where the equality of individuals was
the breath of life, the arbitrary choice of the few to be the leaders of
the many was an insult which no self-respecting New Englander could fail
to resent.
The gray-haired banker was Mrs. MacGregor's last resort. Urged by
messages from Elijah, at first urgent, then importunate, Mrs. MacGregor
turned to the banker. He was tarred with the same stick as were his
fellow citizens; moreover, he was in receipt of an extra stick from
Uncle Sid. The letter that had traveled eastward with Mrs. MacGregor had
received due consideration, and its contents had been judiciously
distributed. With the same measure, with which for years she had
measured her fellow townsmen, Mrs. MacGregor was being measured. Wounded
pride, bitter, burning resentment, accompanied her on her return trip to
California.