The Main Chance
Page 25
CHAPTER XXV
JAMES WHEATON DECLINES AN OFFER
Margrave hung up the receiver of his desk telephone with a slam, andrang a bell for the office boy.
"Call the Clarkson National, and tell Mr. Wheaton to come over,--rightaway."
It was late in the afternoon. Wheaton had been unusually busy withroutine work and the directors had taken an hour of his time. He hadturned away from Fenton to answer Margrave's message, and went towardthe Transcontinental office with a feeling of foreboding. He rememberedthe place very well; it had hardly changed since the days of his ownbrief service there. As he crossed the threshold of the private office,the sight of Margrave's fat bulk squeezed into a chair that was toosmall for him, impressed him unpleasantly; he had come with mixedfeelings, not knowing whether his friendly relations with the railroaderwere to be further emphasized, or whether Margrave was about to makesome demand of him. His doubts were quickly dispelled by Margrave, whoturned around fiercely as the door closed.
"Sit down, Wheaton," he said, indicating a chair by his desk. His facewas very red and his stubby mustache seemed stiffer and more wire-likethan ever. He was breathing in the difficult choked manner of fat menin their rage.
"Now, I want you to tell me something; I want you to answer up fair andsquare. I've got to come right down to brass tacks with you and I wantyou to tell me the God's truth. How much Traction has Billy Porter got?"
Wheaton grew white, and the lids closed over his eyes sleepily.
"Come out with it," puffed Margrave. "If you've been making a fool of meI want to know it."
"I don't know what right you've got to ask me such a question," Wheatonanswered coldly.
"No right,--no right!" Margrave panted. "You damned miserable fool, whatdo you know or mean by right or wrong either? I can take my medicine aswell as the next man, but when a friend does me up, then I throw up myhands. Why did you tell me you knew what Porter was doing, and lead meto think--"
"Mr. Margrave," said Wheaton, "I didn't come here to be abused by you.If I've done you any injury, I'm not aware of it."
"I guess that's right," said Margrave ironically. "What I want to knowis what you let me think Porter wasn't taking hold of Traction for? Youknew I was going into it. I told you that with the fool idea that youwere a friend of mine. You told me the old man had stopped buying--"
"And when I did I betrayed a confidence," said Wheaton, virtuously. "Ihad no business telling you anything of the kind."
"When you told me that," Margrave went on in bitter derision, shakinghis finger in Wheaton's face,--"when you told me that you told me adamned lie, that's what you did, Jim Wheaton."
"You can't talk to me that way," said Wheaton, sitting up in his chairresentfully. "When I told you that, I believed it," and he added, with asecond's hesitation, "I still believe it."
"Don't lie any more to me about it. I can take my medicine as well asthe next man, but--" swaying his big head back and forth on his fatshoulders,--"when a man plays a dirty trick on Tim Margrave, I want himto know when Margrave finds it out. I never thought it of you, Jim. I'vealways treated you as white as I knew how; I've been glad to see you inmy house,--"
"I don't know what you're driving at, but I want you to stop abusingme," said Wheaton, with more vigor of tone than he had yet manifested."I never said a word to you about Mr. Porter in connection with Tractionthat I didn't think true. The only mistake I made was in saying anythingto you at all; but I thought you were a friend of mine. If anybody'sbeen deceived, I'm the one."
Margrave watched him contemptuously.
"Let me ask you something, Jim," he said, dropping his blustering tone."Haven't you known all these weeks when I've been seeing you every fewdays at the club, and at my own house several times,"--he dwelt on thesecond clause as if the breach of hospitality on Wheaton's part had beenthe grievous offense,--"haven't you known that the old man was chasingover the country in his carpet slippers buying all that stock he couldlay his hands on?"
"On my sacred honor, I have not. When we talked of it I knew he hadbeen buying some, but I thought he'd stopped, as I let you understand.I'm sorry if you were misled by anything I said."
"Well, that's all over now," said Margrave, in a conciliatory tone. "I'min the devil's own hole, Jim. I've been relying on your information; infact, I've had it in mind to make you treasurer of the company when weget reorganized. That ought to show you what a lot of confidence I'vebeen putting in you all this time that you've been watching me run intothe soup clear up to my chin."
"I'm honestly sorry,"--began Wheaton. "I had no idea you were dependingon me. You ought to have known that I couldn't betray Mr. Porter."
"You ought to be sorry," said Margrave dolefully. "But, look here, Jim,I don't believe you're going to do me up on this."
"I'm not going to do anybody up; but I don't see what I can do to helpyou."
"Well, I do. You gave me to understand that you were buying this stuffyourself. You still got what you had?"
Margrave knew from the secretary of the company that Wheaton owned onehundred shares. He thrust his hands into his pockets and looked atWheaton appealingly.
"Yes," Wheaton answered reluctantly. He knew now why he had beensummoned.
"Now, how many shares have you, Jim?" with increasing amiability of toneand manner.
"Just what I bought in the beginning; one hundred shares."
Margrave took a pad from his desk and added one hundred to a shortcolumn of figures. He made the footing and regarded the total withcareless interest before looking up.
"How much do you want for that, Jim?"
"To tell the truth, Mr. Margrave, I don't know that I want to sell it."
"Now, Jim, you ain't going to hold me up on this? You've got me into apretty mess, and I hope you're not going to keep on pushing me in."
Wheaton crossed and recrossed his legs. There was Porter and there wasMargrave. To whom did he owe allegiance? He resented the way in whichMargrave had taken him to task; he could not see that he had beenculpable, unless as against Porter. Yet Porter had told him nothing; ifPorter had treated him with a little more frankness, he certainly wouldnever have mentioned Traction to Margrave.
"What I have wouldn't do you any good," he said finally.
"But it might do me some harm! Now, you don't want these shares, Jim.You're entitled to a profit, and I'll pay you a fair price."
"I can't do anything to hurt Mr. Porter," said Wheaton. He rememberedjust how the drawing-room at the Porters' looked, and the kindness andfrankness of Evelyn Porter's eyes.
"Yes, but you've got a duty to me," he stormed, getting red in the faceagain. "You can bet your life that if it hadn't been for you, I'd neverhave been in this pickle. Come along now, Jim, I've got a lot of ourrailroad people to go in on this. They depend absolutely on my judgment.I'm a ruined man if I fail to show up at the meeting to-morrow with amajority of these shares. It won't make any difference to Billy Porterwhether he wins out or not. He's got plenty of irons in the fire. Idon't know as a matter of fact that I need these shares; but I want tobe on the safe side. Does Porter know what you've got?"
Wheaton shook his head.
"Then what's the harm in selling them where you've got a chance, even ifyou wasn't under any obligations to me? If you didn't know until I toldyou that the old man was still on the hunt for this stuff, I don't seethat you're bound to wait for him to come around and ask you to sell tohim. How much shall I make it for?" He opened a drawer and pulled outhis check-book.
"They tell me Porter's pretty sick," Margrave continued, running thestubs of the check-book through his thick thumb and forefinger. "Billyisn't as young as he used to be. Very likely he'll never know you hadany Traction stock," he added significantly. "How much shall I make itfor, Jim?"
Wheaton walked over to the window and looked down into the street, whileMargrave watched him with pen in hand.
"How much shall I make it for?" he asked more sharply.
"You can't make it f
or anything, Mr. Margrave, and I want to say thatI'm very much disappointed in the way you've tried to get it from me."
Margrave swung around on him with an oath. But Wheaton went on,speaking carefully.
"I can't imagine that the few shares of stock I hold can be of realimportance in deciding the control of this company. I don't say I won'tgive you these shares, but I can't do it now."
Margrave's face grew red and purple as Wheaton walked toward the door.
"Maybe you think you can wring more out of Porter than you can out ofme. But, by God, I'll take this out of you and out of him, too, if I gobroke doing it."