AN EVENING WITH DROOM
Several weeks later Eddie Deever announced, quite breathlessly,
to Rigby that he was going over to visit Droom in his Wells Street
rooms. The two had found a joint affinity in Napoleon, although
it became necessary for the law student to sit up late at night,
neglecting other literature, in order to establish anything like
an adequate acquaintance with the lamented Corsican.
Rigby was now morally certain that James Bansemer was all that
Harbert had painted. To his surprise, however, the man was not
openly suspected by other members of the bar. He had been accepted as
a man of power and ability. Certainly he was too clever to expose
himself and too wary to leave peepholes for others engaged in that
business. Rigby was debating the wisdom of going to Bansemer with
his accusations and the secret advice to leave the city before
anything happened that might throw shame upon Graydon. The courage
to do the thing alone was lacking.
Graydon was full of his happiness. He had asked Rigby to act as
his "best man" in September, and Bobby had promised. On occasions
when the two young men discussed the coming event with Jane and
Miss Clegg, Rigby's preoccupied air was strangely in contrast with
the animation of the others. Graydon accused his liver and advised
him to go to French Lick. Far from that, the old quarterback was
gradually preparing himself to go to James Bansemer. To himself he
was saying, as he put off the disagreeable task from day to day:
"He'll kick me out of the office and that's all the reward I'll
get for my pains. Graydon will hate me in the end."
James Bansemer had proposed a trip to Europe as a wedding journey,
a present from himself, but Graydon declined. He would not take
an extensive leave of absence from the office of Clegg, Groll &
Davidson at this stage of his career.
The morning after his visit to the abode of Elias Droom, Eddie
Deever strolled into the office of Bobby Rigby. He looked as though
he had spent a sleepless night. Mr. Rigby was out, but Miss Keating
was "at home." She was scathingly polite to her delinquent admirer.
Eddie's visits of late to the office had not been of a social
character. He devoted much of his time to low-toned conversations
with Rigby; few were the occasions when he lounged affably upon
her typewriting desk as of yore.
"You look as if you'd had a night of it," remarked Rosie. Eddie yawned
obligingly. "Don't sit on my desk. Can't you see those letters?"
"Gee, you're getting touchy of late. I'll move the letters."
"No, you won't," she objected. "Besides, it doesn't look well. What
if someone should come in--suddenly?"
"Well, it wouldn't be the first time I got out suddenly, would it?"
He retained his seat on the desk. "Say, where's Rigby?"
"You mean MR. Rigby? He's out."
"Gee, you're also snippy. Well, give him my regards. So long."
He was unwinding his long legs preparatory to a descent from his
perch.
"Don't rush," she said quickly. He rewound his legs and yawned.
"Goodness, you're not affected with insomnia, are you?"
"I've got it the worst way. I got awake at eight o'clock this
morning and I couldn't go to sleep again to save my soul. It's an
awful disease. Will Rigby be back soon?"
"It won't matter. He's engaged," she snapped, cracking away at her
machine.
"I've heard there was some prospect. She's a fine looker."
"Rubber-neck!"
"Say, Rosie, I'm going to ask a girl to go to the theatre with me,"
said Eddie complacently.
"Indeed! Well, ask her. I don't care."
"To-morrow night. Will you go?"
"Who? Me?"
"Sure. I--I wouldn't take anybody else, you know."
"What theatre?" she asked with her rarest smile.
At that instant Rigby came in. Without a word Eddie popped up, a
bit red in the face, and followed the lawyer into the private room,
closing the door behind him. Rosie's ears went very pink and she
pounded the keys so viciously that the machine trembled on the
verge of collapse.
"Gee, Mr. Rigby, that old Droom's a holy terror. He kept me there
till after one o'clock. But I'm going back again soon some night.
He's got an awful joint. But that isn't what I wanted to see you
about. I ran across May Rosabel, that chorus girl I was telling
you about. Saw her downtown in a restaurant at one this morning.
She wanted to buy the drinks and said she had more money than a
rabbit. There was a gang with her. I got her to one side and she
said an uncle had just died and left her a fortune. She wouldn't
say how much, but it must have been quite a bunch. I know all of
her uncles. She's got three. They work out at Pullman, Mr. Rigby,
and they couldn't leave thirty cents between them if they all died
at once."
After hearing this, Rigby decided to confront Bansemer at once. It
did not occur to him until later that the easiest and most effective
way to drive Bansemer from Chicago without scandal was through
Elias Droom. When the thought came to him, however, he rejoiced. The
new plan was to sow the seeds of apprehension with Droom; Bansemer
would not be long in reaping their harvest--of dismay. Ten apparently
innocent words from Eddie Deever would open Droom's eyes to the
dangers ahead.
Young Mr. Deever met with harsh disappointment when he came forth
to renew his conversation with Rosie Keating. She was chatting at
the telephone, her face wreathed in smiles.
"Thank you," she was saying, "it will be so nice. I was afraid
I had an engagement for to-morrow night, but I haven't. Everybody
says it's a perfectly lovely play. I'm crazy to see it. What? About
seven-thirty. It takes nearly half an hour down on the Clark Street
cable. Slowest old thing ever. All right. Good-bye." Then she hung
up the receiver and turned upon Eddie, who stood aghast near the
desk. "Oh, I thought you'd gone."
"Say, what was that you were saying over the 'phone? Didn't I ask
you--"
"I'm going to the theatre with Mr. Kempshall. Why?"
"WHY? Why, you know I asked you to--"
"You didn't specify, Eddie, that's all. I'll go some other night
with you. Good-bye." Clackety-clack went the machine, throwing
insult into his very face as it were. He tramped out of the office
in high dudgeon.
"Confound this detective business, anyhow," he might have been
heard to remark. Three nights later, however, he took Rosie to the
play, and on the fourth night he was Droom's guest again in the
rooms across the river. He was well prepared to begin the campaign
of insinuation which was to affect Bansemer in the end. Sitting
stiff and uncomfortable in the dingy living-room overlooking Wells
Street, he watched with awe the master of the place at work on the
finishing touches of a new "invention," the uses of which he did
not offer to explain.
He was without a coat and his shirt sleeves were rolled far above
the elbows, displaying long, sinewy arms, hairy and not unlike
those of the orang-outang Eddie had seen in Lincoln Park.
"I've got a new way of inflicting the death penalty," the gaunt
old man said, slipping into a heavy, quilted dressing-gown. "These
rascals don't mind hanging or the penitentiary. But if they thought
their bodies would be everlastingly destroyed by quicklime, they'd
hesitate before killing their fellow-men."
"But they already bury them in quicklime in England," said Eddie
loftily.
"Yes, but not until after they're dead," said Droom with a cackle.
He grinned broadly at the sight of the youth's horror-struck face.
"Go ahead and smoke, my boy. I'll light my pipe. Make yourself at
home. I keep the window closed to keep out the sound of those Wells
Street cars. It's good of you to come over here and cheer up an old
man's evenings. I'm--I'm not used to it," he said with a wistful
touch which was lost to Eddie.
"You ought to have a wife and a lot of children, Mr. Droom," said
Eddie with characteristic thoughtlessness. Droom stirred the fire
and scowled. "Were you ever married?"
"No. I don't believe in marriage," said Droom sullenly.
"Gee! Why not?"
"Why should I? It's the way I was brought up."
"You don't mean it!"
"Yes. My father was a Catholic priest."
"But, Great Scott, Catholics believe in marriage."
"They don't believe in their priests marrying."
"Well, they DON'T marry, do they?"
"No, they don't," answered Droom with a laugh that sounded like a
snarl. It took Eddie two days to comprehend. "I saw the girl to-day
that young Graydon Bansemer is to marry--Miss Cable."
"Say, she's swell, isn't she?" said Eddie. The old man slunk into
his chair.
"She's very pretty. Mr. Graydon introduced me to her."
"Gee!" was all Eddie could say.
"They were crossing Wells Street down below here on the way home
from a nickel-plater's in Indiana Street. I saw her years ago, but
she didn't remember me. I didn't expect it, however."
"I--how could she have forgotten you?"
"Oh, she'd have forgotten her mother at that age. She was but
three months old. I don't think she liked me to-day. I'm not what
you call a ladies' man," grinned Elias, puffing at his pipe as
he picked up the volumes on Napoleon. Eddie laughed politely but
uncomfortably.
"How old are you, Mr. Droom?"
"I'm as old as Methuselah."
"Aw, go 'way!"
"When he was a boy," laughed Elias, enjoying his quip immensely.
"Miss Cable seems to be very fond of Graydon. That will last for
a couple of years and then she'll probably be like two-thirds of
the rest of 'em. Other men will be paying attention to her and she
looking for admiration everywhere. You'd be surprised to know how
much of that is going on in Chicago. Women can't seem to be satisfied
with one husband. They must have another one or two--usually somebody
else's."
"You talk like a society man, Mr. Droom." "Well, I've met a few
society men--professionally. And women, too, for that matter. Look
out for a sensational divorce case within the next few weeks. It's
bound to come unless things change. Terribly nasty affair."
"Is Mr. Bansemer interested?" asked Eddie, holding tight to his
chair.
"Oh, no. We don't go in for that sort of thing." "I wonder if Mr.
Bansemer knows about the mistake that came near happening to him a
week or two ago. I got hold of it through a boy that works in the
United States Marshal's office," said Eddie, cold as ice now that
he was making the test. Droom turned upon him quickly.
"What mistake? What do you mean?" "It would have been a rich joke
on Mr. Bansemer. Seems that some lawyer is likely to be charged
with blackmail, and they got Mr. Bansemer's name mixed up in it
some way. Of course, nothing came of it, but--I just wondered if
anybody had told him of the close call he'd had."
Droom stared straight beyond the young liar and was silent for a
full minute. Then he deliberately opened the book on his knee and
began to turn the pages.
"That WOULD have been a joke on Mr. Bansemer," he said indifferently.
"I don't think he would have enjoyed it, do you?"
"No one enjoys jokes from the United States Marshal's office,"
said Droom grimly. "By the way, who is the lawyer that really was
wanted?"
"I never heard. I believe it was dropped. The young fellow I know
said he couldn't talk about it, so I didn't ask. Say, who was that
swell woman I saw coming out of your office to-day? I was up at
Mr. Hornbrook's."
Droom hesitated a moment. He seemed to be weighing everything he
said.
"I suspect it was young Bansemer's future mother-in-law," he said.
"Mrs. David Cable was there this afternoon about three."
"Gee," laughed Eddie. "Does she need a lawyer?"
"Mr. Bansemer transacted business for her some time ago. A very
small matter, if I remember correctly. Here, listen to this. Now
here's a little incident I found this evening that interests me
immensely. It proves to my mind one of two points I hold in regard
to Marshal Ney. Listen," and he read at length from his book, a dry,
sepulchral monotone that grated on the ear until it became almost
unendurable.
The little clock on the mantelpiece clanged ten before they laid
aside Napoleon and began to talk about something that interested
Eddie Deever far more than all else--Elias Droom himself and such
of his experiences as he cared to relate. The rid man told stories
about the dark sides of New York life, tales of murder, thievery,
rascality high and low, and he told them with blood-curdling
directness. The Walker wife-murder; the inside facts of the De
Pugh divorce scandal; the Harvey family's skeleton--all food for
the dime-novel producer. Eddie revelled in these recitals even
while he shuddered at the way in which the old man gave them.
"Ah, this is a wicked old world," said Droom, refilling his pipe and
showing his teeth as he puffed. "That's why I have those pictures
of the Madonna on the wall--to keep me from forgetting that there
are beautiful things in the world in spite of its ugliness and
hypocrisy. I haven't much---"
He stopped short and listened intently. The sounds of footsteps
on the stairs outside came to his ears. They clumped upward, paused
for a moment down the little hall and then approached Droom's
doorway. Host and guest looked at the clock instinctively. Eddie
heard Droom's breath as it came faster between puffs at his pipe.
Then there was a resounding rap at the panel of the door. Eddie
Deever never forgot the look that swept over the old man's face--the
look of wonder, dread, desperation. It passed in an instant, and he
arose unsteadily, undecidedly, to admit the late caller. His long
frame seemed to shake like a reed as he stood cautiously inside
the bolted door and called out:
"Who's there?"
"Messenger," was the muffled response. Droom hesitated a moment,
looking first at Eddie and then toward the window. Slowly he unbolted
the door. A small A. D. T. boy stood beyond.
"What is it?" almost gasped Elias Droom, drawing the boy into the
room.
"Mr. Droom? No answer, sir. Sign here." The boy, snow-covered, drew
a letter from his pocket and handed it to Droom.
"Where from?" demanded the old clerk, the paper rattling in his
fingers.
"I don't know. I'm from Chicago Avenue," said the boy, with proper
impudence. He took one look at Droom's face as the man handed the
slip back to him and then hurried downstairs, far less impudent at
heart than he had been.
Droom recognised the handwriting on the envelope as James Bansemer's.
It was the first time his employer had communicated with him in
this manner. He tore open the envelope and anxiously read the brief
missive.
"I've got to go to the office," he said, surprise still lingering
in his face. "It's important business--a consultation with--er--with
an Eastern client."
"Gee, it's tough to turn out this kind of a night. I'm going your
way, Mr. Droom. Come on, I'll take the car down with you."
"I--I won't be ready for some time."
"Oh, well, I'll say good-night, then."
Eddie Deever departed, chuckling to himself as he made his way
to the U---- Building, determined to learn what he could of this
unusual summons.
But Droom was too crafty. Bansemer's letter had asked him to come
to Rector's restaurant and not to the U---- Building. The command
was imperative.
Bansemer had been spending the evening at the home of David Cable.