AUCTION SALE.BY ORDER OF THE BANKRUPTCY COURT,that desirable property known as Anson’s Mill, fully equipped with machinery, in condition for immediate use, with never-failing water power, which at slight expense may be enormously increased; together with ten acres of freehold land; without reserve to the highest bidder; on the Seventeenth of November!
BY ORDER OF THE BANKRUPTCY COURT,
that desirable property known as Anson’s Mill, fully equipped with machinery, in condition for immediate use, with never-failing water power, which at slight expense may be enormously increased; together with ten acres of freehold land; without reserve to the highest bidder; on the Seventeenth of November!
“A desirable property,” said Challis, sadly, “which nobody desires except the Trust, and probablyitcares nothing about it now.”
“You forget that it is desired by Stanmore Anson.”
“I am afraid that even he is tired of it by this time. I am sorry, but I feared it was inevitable.”
Stranleigh looked up at him.
“Could you make this factory pay, if it were given into your charge?”
“Not in its present condition.”
“I mean, of course, with your recommendations carried out. If the mill, free from all encumbrances, filled with modern machinery, rightly placed, were put under your management, could you make it pay?”
Challis did not answer for some moments. His brow was wrinkled in thought, and he seemed making some mental calculations.
“There would need to be a suitable amount of working capital——”
“Yes, yes; all that is understood. Could you make it pay?”
“I am almost sure I could, but there is that incalculable factor, the opposition of the Trust.”
“Damn the Trust!” cried Stranleigh. “I beg your pardon; I should have said, blow the Trust! I thought I had lost the power of becoming excited, not to say profane. It must be the exhilarating air of America. The sale is a good way off yet, and I think it will be further off before I get through with it. If you will accept the management, andyour father-in-law proves at all reasonable, I guarantee to find the necessary money.”
“You mean that, Mr. Ponderby——”
“Exactly. I am his chief business adviser, as well as his only chauffeur. But we are forgetting the matter in hand. We must rescue the wardrobe of Mrs. Challis. Drive on to the mansion. You know the way, and I don’t.”
“I’m a warned-off trespasser, but here goes.”
“You won’t be called on to trespass very much. You’re my chauffeur,pro tem. Perhaps you won’t need to enter the house at all. I shall see Mrs. Anson before I meet her husband, if possible, and will try to persuade her to give me the wardrobe.”
“She would not have the courage to do that without her husband’s permission, and he will never give it.”
“We’ll see about that. Ah, the mill is not the only piece of property to be sold!”
They had turned into a well-shaded avenue, to the massive stone gate-pillars of which were attached posters similar to those at the mill, only in this caseit was “This valuable, desirable and palatial residence,” with the hundreds of acres of land attached, that were to be knocked down by the auctioneer’s hammer.
“I might have known,” commented Stranleigh, “that if Mr. Anson was bankrupt at his mill, he was also bankrupt at his house.”
They drew up at the entrance. Stranleigh stepped down, and rang the bell, Challis remaining in the car. Shown into the drawing-room, the visitor was greeted by a sad-looking, elderly woman.
“Mrs. Anson,” said the young man, very deferentially, “I expect your forgiveness for this intrusion on my part when I say that I am here in some sense as an ambassador from your daughter.”
“From my daughter!” gasped the old lady in astonishment. “Is she well, and where is she?”
“She is very well, I am glad to say, and is living with her husband over in the village.”
“In her last letter she said her husband was takingher to New York. There had been a—misunderstanding.” The old lady hesitated for a moment before using that mild term. “On the day her letter was received, I went to the hotel at which they were stopping, and was told by the landlord they had gone, he did not know where. Do you tell me they have been living in Altonville all the time?”
“I think so, but cannot be sure. I met Mr. and Mrs. Challis for the first time only a week ago.”
“I hope she is happy.”
“She is,” said Stranleigh confidently, “and before the day is done her mother will be happy also.”
Mrs. Anson shook her head. She was on the verge of tears, which Stranleigh saw and dreaded. So he said hurriedly:
“You will select me what you think she should have at once, and I will take the box or parcel to Altonville in my car.”
“When at last her father saw that everything we possessed must be sold,” rejoined Mrs. Anson, “he packed up in trunks what belonged to Gertrude,and as we could not learn where to send them, Mr. Asa Perkins, a friend of ours, who lives in Boston, lent us a room in which to store the things, and they are there now.”
“How odd!” exclaimed Stranleigh. “I met Mr. Perkins just before he left his summer residence, and took the place furnished, acting for the present tenant. It is much too large for him, and some of the rooms are locked. Do you happen to have the key?”
“No; it is in the possession of the housekeeper. She is there still, is she not?”
“Yes; I took the house as it stood, servants and all.”
“I’ll write a note to the housekeeper, then. What name shall I say?”
“Please write it in the name of Mr. Challis. He’s outside now, in my car.”
“May I bring him in?” she asked, eagerly.
“Certainly,” said Stranleigh, with a smile. “It’s your house, you know.”
“Not for long,” she sighed.
“Ah,——” drawled Stranleigh, “Mr. Challis andI propose that this sale shall not take place. If I may have a short conversation with your husband, I think we shall come to terms.”
An expression of anxiety overspread her face.
“Perhaps I had better not ask Jim to come in,” she hesitated.
“Your husband does not know him, and I would rather you did not tell him who is with me. Just say that Henry Johnson and a friend wish to negotiate about the factory.”
Stanmore Anson proved to be a person of the hale old English yeoman type, as portrayed by illustrators, although his ancestors originally came from Sweden. His face was determined, his lips firm, and despite his defeats, the lurking sparkle of combat still animated his eyes.
“Before we begin any conversation regarding a sale,” he said, “you must answer this question, Mr. Johnson. Are you connected in any way, directly or indirectly, with the G.K.R. Trust?”
“I am not connected with it, directly or indirectly.”
“You state that on your honour as a man?”
“No; I simply state it.”
“You wouldn’t swear it?”
“Not unless compelled by force of law.”
“Then I have nothing further to say to you, sir.”
The old man seemed about to withdraw, then hesitated, remembering he was in his own house. Stranleigh sat there unperturbed.
“You have nothing further to say, Mr. Anson, because two thoughts are sure to occur to you. First, a man whose word you would not accept cannot be believed, either on his honour or his oath. Second, the Trust doesn’t need to send an emissary to you; it has only to wait until November, and acquire your factory at its own figure. No one except myself would bid against the Trust.”
“That’s quite true,” agreed Anson. “I beg your pardon. What have you to propose?”
“I wish to know the sum that will see you clear and enable you to tear down those white posters at the gates, and those on the mill.”
Stanmore Anson drew a sheet of paper from his pocket, glanced over it, then named the amount.
“Very good,” said Stranleigh, decisively. “I’ll pay that for the mill and the ten acres.”
“They are not worth it,” said Anson. “Wait till November, and even though you outbid the Trust, you’ll get it at a lower figure.”
“We’ll make the mill worth it. You may retain the residence and the rest of the property.”
“There is but one proviso,” said the old man. “I wish to name the manager.”
“I regret I cannot agree to that, Mr. Anson, I have already chosen the manager, and guarantee that he will prove efficient.”
“I’ll forego your generous offer of the house and property if you will allow me to appoint the manager.”
“I am sorry, Mr. Anson, but you touch the only point on which I cannot give way.”
“Very well,” cried Anson, angrily, his eyes ablaze. “The arrangement is off.”
Both young men saw that Stanmore Anson was indeed difficult to deal with, as his ancestors had been in many a hard-fought battle.
“Wait a moment! Wait a moment!” exclaimed Challis. “This will never do. It is absurdto wreck everything on a point so trivial. I am the man whom Mr. Johnson wishes to make manager. I now refuse to accept the position, but if the bargain is completed, I’ll give Mr. Anson and his manager all the assistance and advice they care to receive from me, and that without salary.”
“Be quiet, Challis!” cried Stranleigh.
“Challis! Challis!” interrupted the old man, gazing fiercely at his junior. “Is your name Challis?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You’re not my son-in-law?”
“I am, sir.”
“I did you a great injustice,” admitted Anson. “No man has a right to deprive another of his livelihood. I have bitterly regretted it. It is you I wish appointed manager.”
“Challis,” said Stranleigh, “take the car, and bring your wife. Say her father wishes to see her.”
Challis disappeared, and in an incredibly short space of time, during which Anson and Stranleigh chatted together, the door opened, and Gertrude Challis came in.
“Father,” she cried, “Jim says he’s going to scrap all the machinery in the factory. Shall we throw our differences on that scrap-heap?”
The old man gathered her to his breast, and kissed her again and again. He could not trust his voice.
“‘Shall we throw our differences on that scrap-heap?’”“‘Shall we throw our differences on that scrap-heap?’”
Lord Stranleigh Abroad][Page124.
“Would you like to meet the most beautiful woman in America?” asked Edward Trenton of his guest.
Lord Stranleigh drew a whiff or two from the favourite pipe he was smoking, and the faint suggestion of a smile played about his lips.
“The question seems to hint that I have not already met her,” he said at last.
“Have you?”
“Of course.”
“Where?”
“In every town of any size I ever visited.”
“Oh, I daresay you have met many pretty girls, but only one of them is the most beautiful in America.”
Again Stranleigh smiled, but this time removed his pipe, which had gone out, and gently tapped it on the ash tray.
“My dear Ned,” he said at last, “on almost any other subject I should hesitate to venture an opinion that ran counter to your own experience, yet in this instance I think you wrong the great Republic. I am not very good at statistics, but if you will tell me how many of your fellow-countrymen are this moment in love, I’ll make a very accurate estimate regarding the number of most beautiful women there are in the United States.”
“Like yourself, Stranleigh, I always defer to the man of experience, and am glad to have hit on one subject in which you are qualified to be my teacher.”
“I like that! Ned Trenton depreciating his own conquests is a popular actor in a newrôle. But you are evading the point. I was merely trying in my awkward way to show that every woman is the most beautiful in the world to the man in love with her.”
“Very well; I’ll frame my question differently.Would you like to meet one of the most cultured of her sex?”
“Bless you, my boy, of course not! Why, I’m afraid of her already. It is embarrassing enough to meet a bright, alert man, but in the presence of a clever woman, I become so painfully stupid that she thinks I’m putting it on.”
“Then let me place the case before you in still another form. Would your highness like to meet the richest woman in Pennsylvania?”
“Certainly I should,” cried Stranleigh, eagerly.
Trenton looked at him with a shade of disapproval on his brow.
“I thought wealth was the very last qualification a man in your position would care for in a woman, yet hardly have I finished the sentence, than you jump at the chance I offer.”
“And why not? A lady beautiful and talented would likely strike me dumb, but if she is hideously rich, I may be certain of one thing, that I shall not be asked to invest money in some hare-brained scheme or other.”
“You are quite safe from that danger, or indeed from any other danger, so far as Miss Maturin is concerned. Nevertheless, it is but just that you should understand the situation, so that if you scent danger of any kind, you may escape while there is yet time.”
“Unobservant though I am,” remarked Stranleigh, “certain signs have not escaped my notice. This commodious and delightful mansion is being prepared for a house-party. I know the symptoms, for I have several country places of my own. If, as I begin to suspect, I am in the way here, just whisper the word and I’ll take myself off in all good humour, hoping to receive an invitation for some future time.”
“If that’s your notion of American hospitality, Stranleigh, you’ve got another guess coming. You’re a very patient man; will you listen to a little family history? Taking your consent for granted, I plunge. My father possessed a good deal of landed property in Pennsylvania. This house is the old homestead, as they would call it in a heart-throb drama. My father died a very wealthy man, andleft his property conjointly to my sister and myself. He knew we wouldn’t quarrel over the division, and we haven’t. My activity has been mainly concentrated in coal mines and in the railways which they feed, and financially I have been very fortunate. I had intended to devote a good deal of attention to this estate along certain lines which my father had suggested, but I have never been able to do so, living, as I did, mostly in Philadelphia, absorbed in my own business. My sister, however, has in a measure carried out my father’s plans, aided and abetted by her friend, Miss Constance Maturin. My sister married a man quite as wealthy as herself, a dreamy, impractical, scholarly person who once represented his country as Minister to Italy, in Rome. She enjoyed her Italian life very much, and studied with great interest the progress North Italy was making in utilising the water-power coming from the Alps. In this she was ably seconded by Miss Maturin, who is owner of forests and farms and factories further down the river which flows past our house. Her property, indeed, adjoins our own, but she does not possess that unlimited powerover it which Sis and I have over this estate, for her father, having no faith in the business capacity of woman, formed his undertakings into a limited liability company where, although he owned the majority of stock during his life, he did not leave his daughter with untrammelled control. Had the old man known what trouble he was bequeathing to his sole heir, I imagine he would have arranged things a little differently. Miss Maturin has had to endure several expensive law-suits, which still further restricted her power and lessened her income. So she has ceased to take much interest in her own belongings, and has constituted herself adviser-in-chief to my dear sister, who has blown in a good deal of money on this estate in undertakings that, however profitable they may be in the future, are unproductive up to date. I am not criticising Sis at all, and have never objected to what she has done, although I found myself involved in a very serious action for damages, which I had the chagrin of losing, and which ran me into a lot of expense, covering me with injunctions and things of that sort. No rogue e’er felt the halter draw, with a goodopinion of the law, and perhaps my own detestation of the law arises from my having frequently broken it. If this long diatribe bores you, just say so, and I’ll cut it short.”
“On the contrary,” said Stranleigh, with evident honesty, “I’m very much interested. These two ladies, as I understand the case, have been unsuccessful in law——”
“Completely so.”
“And unsuccessful in the projects they have undertaken?”
“From my point of view, yes. That is to say, they are sinking pots of money, and I don’t see where any of it is coming back.”
“Of what do these enterprises consist?”
“Do you know anything about the conservation controversy now going on in this country?”
“I fear I do not. I am a woefully ignorant person.”
“My father had ideas about conservation long before the United States took it up. It is on these ideas that Sis has been working. You preservewater in times of flood and freshet to be used for power or for irrigation throughout the year. Her first idea was to make a huge lake, extending several miles up the valley of this river. That’s where I got into my law-suit. The commercial interests down below held that we had no right to put a huge concrete dam across this river.”
“Couldn’t you put a dam on your own property?”
“It seems not. If the river ran entirely through my own property, I could. Had I paid more attention to what was being done, I might perhaps have succeeded, by getting a bill through the Legislature. When I tried that, I was too late. The interests below had already applied to the courts for an injunction, which, quite rightly, they received. Attempting to legalise the action, not only did I find the Legislature hostile, but my clever opponents got up a muck-raking crusade against me, and I was held up by the Press of this State as a soulless monopolist, anxious to increase my already great wealth by grabbing what should belong to the wholepeople. The campaign of personal calumny was splendidly engineered, and, by Jupiter! they convinced me that I was unfit for human intercourse. Tables of statistics were published to prove how through railway and coal-mine manipulation I had robbed everybody, and they made me out about a hundred times richer than I am, although I have never been able to get any of the excess cash. Sermons were preached against me, the Pulpit joining the Press in denunciation. I had no friends, and not being handy with my pen, I made no attempt at defence. I got together a lot of dynamite, blew up the partially-constructed dam, and the river still flows serenely on.”
“But surely,” said Stranleigh, “I saw an immense dam on this very river, when you met me at Powerville railway station the other day?”
Trenton laughed.
“Yes; that was Miss Maturin’s dam.”
“Miss Maturin’s!” cried Stranleigh in astonishment.
“It was built years ago by her father, who went the right way about it, having obtained in a quiet,effective way, the sanction of legislature. Of course, when I say it belongs to Miss Maturin, I mean that it is part of the estate left by her father, and the odd combination of circumstances brought it about that she was one of my opponents in the action-at-law, whereas in strict justice, she should have been a defendant instead of a plaintiff. The poor girl was horrified to learn her position in the matter, and my sister was dumbfounded to find in what a dilemma she had placed me. Of course, the two girls should have secured the advice of some capable, practical lawyer in the first place, but they were very self-confident in those days, and Sis knew it was no use consulting her husband, while her brother was too deeply immersed in his own affairs to be much aid as a counsellor.
“Well, they kept on with their conservation scheme after a time, and both on this property and on Miss Maturin’s, dams have been erected on all the streams that empty into the river; streams on either side that take their rise from outlying parts of the estate. They have built roads through theforest, and have caused to be formed innumerable lakes, all connected by a serviceable highway that constitutes one of the most interesting automobile drives there is in all the United States; a drive smooth as a floor, running for miles through private property, and therefore overshadowed by no speed limit.”
“By Jove, Ned,” exclaimed Stranleigh, “you must take me over that course.”
“I’ll do better than that, my boy. Constance Maturin is one of the best automobilists I know, and she will be your guide, for these dams are of the most modern construction, each with some little kink of its own that no one understands better than she does. There is a caretaker living in a picturesque little cottage at the outlet of every lake, and in each cottage hangs a telephone, so that no matter how far you penetrate into the wilderness, you are in touch with civilisation. From this house I could call up any one of these water-wardens, or send out a general alarm, bringing every man of the corps to the ’phone, and the instructions given from here would be heard simultaneously by the wholeforce. I think the organisation is admirable, but it runs into a lot of money.”
“‘But what good came of it at last,Quoth little Peterkin,’”
“‘But what good came of it at last,Quoth little Peterkin,’”
asked Stranleigh. “Do these artificial lakes run any dynamos, or turn any spindles? Now tell me all about the war, and what they dammed each streamlet for.”
“Ah, you have me there! The ladies have not taken me into their counsel: I’ve got troubles enough of my own. One phase of the subject especially gratifies me: their activities have in no instance despoiled the landscape; rather the contrary. These lakes, wooded to their brims, are altogether delightful, and well stocked with fish. A great many of them overflow, causing admirable little cascades, which, although not quite so impressive as Niagara, are most refreshing on a hot day, while the cadence of falling waters serves as an acoustic background to the songs of the birds; a musical accompaniment, as one might call it.”
“Bravo, Ned; I call that quite poetical, coming as it does from a successful man of business. I find myself eager for that automobile ride through this forest lakeland. When do you say Miss Maturin will arrive?”
“I don’t know. I expect my sister will call me up by telephone. Sis regards this house as her own. She is fond of leaving the giddy whirl of society, and settling down here in the solitude of the woods. I clear out or I stay in obedience to her commands. You spoke of a house-party a while ago. There is to be no house-party, but merely my sister and her husband, with Miss Maturin as their guest. If you would rather not meet any strangers, I suggest that we plunge further into the wilderness. At the most remote lake on this property, about seven miles away, quite a commodious keeper’s lodge has been built, with room for, say, half a dozen men who are not too slavishly addicted to the resources of civilisation. Yet life there is not altogether pioneering. We could take an automobile with us, and thetelephone would keep us in touch with the outside world. Fond of fishing?”
“Very.”
“Then that’s all right. I can offer you plenty of trout, either in pond or stream, while in a large natural lake, only a short distance away, is excellent black bass. I think you’ll enjoy yourself up there.”
Stranleigh laughed.
“You quite overlook the fact that I am not going. Unless ejected by force, I stay here to meet your sister and Miss Maturin.”
For a moment Trenton seemed taken aback. He had lost the drift of things in his enthusiasm over the lakes.
“Oh, yes; I remember,” he said at last. “You objected to meet anyone who might wish you to invest good money in wild-cat schemes. Well, you’re quite safe as far as those two ladies are concerned, as I think I assured you.”
Ned was interrupted, and seemed somewhat startled by a sound of murmured conversation ending in a subdued peal of musical laughter.
“Why, there’s Sis now,” he said, “I can tell her laugh anywhere.”
As he rose from his chair, the door opened, and there entered a most comely young woman in automobile garb, noticeably younger than Trenton, but bearing an unmistakable likeness to him.
“Hello, Ned!” she cried. “I thought I’d find you here,” then seeing his visitor, who had risen, she paused.
“Lord Stranleigh,” said Trenton. “My sister, Mrs. Vanderveldt.”
“I am very glad to meet you, Lord Stranleigh,” she said, advancing from the door and shaking hands with him.
“Why didn’t you telephone?” asked her brother.
His sister laughed merrily.
“I came down like a wolf on the fold, didn’t I? Why didn’t I telephone? Strategy, my dear boy, strategy. This is a surprise attack, and I’d no wish that the garrison, forewarned, should escape. I am sure, Lord Stranleigh, that he has beendescanting on the distraction of the woods and the camp, or perhaps the metropolitan dissipation of Philadelphia, depending on whether the yearning for sport, or his business in town was uppermost in his mind.”
“My dear Sis,” cried Ned with indignation, “that is a libellous statement. I never so much as mentioned Philadelphia, did I, Stranleigh? You can corroborate what I say.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” said Stranleigh, lightly. “Your attempt to drag me into your family differences at this point of the game is futile. I’m going to lie low, and say nothing, as Brer Rabbit did, until I learn which of you two is the real ruler of this house. I shall then boldly announce myself on the side of the leader. My position here is much too comfortable to be jeopardised by an injudicious partisanship.”
“As for who’s boss,” growled Ned, “I cravenly admit at once that Sis here is monarch of all she surveys.”
“In that case,” rejoined Stranleigh, heaving a deep sigh of apparent relief, “I’m on the side ofthe angels. Mrs. Vanderveldt, he did mention Philadelphia and his office there, speaking much about business interests, coal-mines, and what not, during which recital I nearly went to sleep, for I’m no business man. He also descanted on the lakes and the waterfalls and the fishing, and on trout and black bass, and would doubtless have gone on to whales and sea-serpents had you not come in at the opportune moment. Please accept me as your devoted champion, Mrs. Vanderveldt.”
“I do, I do, with appreciation and gratitude,” cried the lady merrily. “I’ve long wished to meet you, Lord Stranleigh, for I heard such glowing accounts of you from my brother here, with most fascinating descriptions of your estates in England, and the happy hours he spent upon them while he was your guest in the old country. I hope we may be able to make some slight return for your kindness to this frowning man. He is always on nettles when I am talking; so different from my husband in that respect.”
“Poor man, he never has a chance to get a wordin edgewise,” growled Ned. “My soul is my own, I’m happy to say.”
“Ah, yes,” laughed the lady, “pro tem. But although I am saying so much for myself, I speak with equal authority for my friend Constance Maturin.”
“Did you bring her with you, or is she coming later?” asked Trenton with some anxiety.
“She is here, dear brother, but I could not induce her to enter this room with me. Doubtless she wishes to meet you alone. She is a dear girl, Lord Stranleigh, and it will be my greatest joy to welcome her as a sister-in-law.”
A warm flush was added to the frown on her brother’s brow, but he made no remark.
“Gracious me!” cried the lady, laughing again “have I once more put my foot in it? Why Ned, what a fine confidential friend you are. If I were a young man, and so sweet a girl had promised to marry me, I should proclaim the fact from the house-tops.”
“You wouldn’t need to,” groaned Ned, “if you had a sister.”
“Never mind him,” said Stranleigh, “you have betrayed no secret, Mrs. Vanderveldt. His own confused utterances when referring to the young lady, rendered any verbal confession unnecessary. I suspected how the land lay at a very early stage of our conversation.”
“Well, I think he may congratulate himself that you do not enter the lists against him. You possess some tact, which poor Ned has never acquired, and now I’ll make him sit up by informing him that Connie Maturin took a special trip over to England recently, in order to meet you.”
“To meet me?” cried Stranleigh in astonishment.
“Yes, indeed, and an amazed girl she was to learn that you had sailed for America. She came right back by the next boat. She has a great plan in her mind which requires heavy financing. My brother here isn’t rich enough, and I, of course, am much poorer than he is, so she thought if she could interest you, as the leading capitalist of England——”
“Good heavens, girl,” interrupted Ned, the perspiration standing out on his brow, “do showsome consideration for what you are saying! Why, you rattle on without a thought to your words. Lord Stranleigh just made it a proviso that——. Oh, hang it all, Sis; you’ve put your foot in it this time, sure enough.”
The lady turned on him now with no laughter on her lips, or merriment in her tone.
“Why, Ned, you’re actually scolding me. I promised Connie Maturin to help her, and my way of accomplishing anything is to go directly for it.”
“Oh, heaven help me,” murmured Ned, “the law courts have already taught me that.”
“Mrs. Vanderveldt,” said the Earl of Stranleigh, very quietly, “please turn to your champion, and ignore this wretched man, whose unnecessary reticence is finding him out.”
The only person to be embarrassed by this tangle of concealments and revelations was Constance Maturin, who had indulged in neither the one nor the other. The Earl of Stranleigh found it difficult to become acquainted with her. She seemed always on her guard, and never even approached the subjectwhich he had been given to understand chiefly occupied her thoughts.
On the day set for their automobile ride, Miss Maturin appeared at the wheel of the very latest thing in runabouts; a six-cylindered machine of extraordinary power, that ran as silently and smoothly as an American watch, and all merely for the purpose of carrying two persons. Stranleigh ran his eye over the graceful proportions of the new car with an expert’s keen appreciation, walking round it slowly and critically, quite forgetting the girl who regarded him with an expression of amusement. Looking up at last, he saw a smile playing about her pretty lips.
“I beg your pardon,” he said.
“I’m not sure that I shall grant it,” she replied, laughing. “To be ignored in this callous fashion for even the latest project of engineering, is not in the least flattering.”
“Not ignored, Miss Maturin,” said Stranleigh, “for I was thinking of you, although I may have appeared absorbed in the machine.”
“Thinking of me!” she cried. “You surelycan’t expect me to believe that! The gaze of a man fascinated by a piece of machinery is quite different from that of a man fascinated by a woman. I know, because I have seen both.”
“I am sure you have seen the latter, Miss Maturin. But what I have just been regarding is an omen.”
“Really? How mysterious! I thought you saw only an automobile.”
“No, I was looking through the automobile, and beyond, if I may put it that way. I am quite familiar with the plan of this car, although this is the first specimen that I have examined. The car is yours by purchase, I suppose, but it is mine by manufacture. Your money bought it, but mine made it, in conjunction with the genius of a young engineer in whom I became interested. Perhaps you begin to see the omen. Some time ago I was fortunate enough to be of assistance to a young man, and the result has been an unqualified success. To-day perhaps I may be permitted to aid a young woman with a success that will be equally gratifying.”
Stranleigh gazed steadily into the clear, honesteyes of the girl, who returned his look with a half-amused smile. Now she seemed suddenly covered with confusion, and flushing slightly, turned her attention to the forest that surrounded them. Presently she said—
“Do you men worship only the god of success? You have used the word three or four times.”
“Most men wish to be successful, I suppose, but we all worship a goddess, too.”
“I’m sorry,” said Miss Maturin, “that Mrs. Vanderveldt mentioned my search for a capitalist. I have abandoned the quest. I am now merely your guide to the lakes. Please take a seat in this automobile of yours, Lord Stranleigh, and I will be your conductor.”
The young man stepped in beside her, and a few moments later they were gliding, rather than running over a perfect road, under the trees, in a machine as noiseless as the forest. The Earl of Stranleigh had seen many beautiful regions of this world, but never any landscape just like this. Its artificiality and its lack of artificiality interested him. Nothing could be more businesslike than theconstruction of the stout dams, and nothing more gently rural than the limpid lakes, with the grand old forest trees marshalled round their margins like a veteran army that had marched down to drink, only to be stricken motionless at the water’s edge.
It seemed that the silence of the motor-car had enchanted into silence its occupants. The girl devoted her whole attention to the machine and its management. Stranleigh sat dumb, and gave himself up to the full enjoyment of the Vallombrosic tour.
For more than half an hour no word had been spoken; finally the competent chauffeur brought the auto to a standstill at a view-point near the head of the valley, which offered a prospect of the brawling main stream.
“We have now reached the last of the lakes in this direction,” she said quietly. “I think your automobile is admirable, Lord Stranleigh.”
The young man indulged in a deep sigh of satisfaction.
“As a landscape gardener on a marvellous scale, you are without a competitor, Miss Maturin.”
The girl laughed very sweetly.
“That is a compliment to nature rather than to me. I have merely let the wilderness alone, so far as road-making and dam-building would allow me.”
“In that very moderation lies genius—the leaving alone. Will you forgive the inquisitiveness of a mere man whom you suspected at our outset of success-worship, if he asks what practical object you have in view?”
“Oh, I should have thought that was self-evident to an observant person like yourself,” she said airily. “These lakes conserve the water, storing it in time of flood for use in time of scarcity. By means of sluices we obtain partial control of the main stream.”
“You flatter me by saying I am observant. I fear that I am rather the reverse, except where my interest is aroused, as is the case this morning. Is conservation your sole object, then?”
“Is not that enough?”
“I suppose it is. I know little of civil engineering, absorbing craft though it is. I have seen its marvels along your own lines in America, Egypt, India, and elsewhere. As we progressed I could not help noticing that the dams built to restrain these lakes seemed unnecessarily strong.”
A slight shadow of annoyance flitted across the expressive countenance of Constance Maturin, but was gone before he saw it.
“You are shrewder than you admit, Lord Stranleigh, but you forget what I said about freshets. The lakes are placid enough now, but you should see them after a cloud-burst back in the mountains.”
“Nevertheless, the dams look bulky enough to hold back the Nile.”
“Appearances are often deceitful. They are simply strong enough for the work they have to do. American engineering practice does not go in for useless encumbrance. Each dam serves two purposes. It holds back the water and it contains a power-house. In some of these power-housesturbines and dynamoes are already placed.”
“Ah, now I understand. You must perceive that I am a very stupid individual.”
“You are a very persistent person,” said the young woman decisively.
Stranleigh laughed.
“Allow me to take advantage of that reputation by asking you what you intend to do with the electricity when you have produced it?”
“We have no plans.”
“Oh, I say!”
“Whatdo you say?”
“That was merely an Anglicised expression of astonishment.”
“Don’t you believe me?”
“No.”
They were sitting together on the automobile seat, deep in the shade of the foliage above them, but when he caught sight of the indignant face which she turned towards him, it almost appeared as if the sun shone upon it. She seemed about to speak, thought better of it, and reached forwardto the little lever that controlled the self-starting apparatus. She found his hand there before she could carry out her intention.
“I am returning, Lord Stranleigh,” she said icily.
“Not yet.”
She leaned back in the seat.
“Mr. Trenton told me that you were the most polite man he had ever met. I have seldom found him so mistaken in an impression.”
“Was it a polite man you set out to find in your recent trip to Europe?”
As the girl made no reply, Stranleigh went on—
“My politeness is something like the dams we have been considering. It contains more than appears on the surface. There is concealed power within it. You may meet myriads of men well qualified to teach me courtesy, but when this veneer of social observance is broken, you come to pretty much the same material underneath. I seldom permit myself the luxury of an escape from the conventions, but on rare occasions I break through. For that I ask your pardon. Impressedby your sincerity, I forgot for the moment everything but your own need in the present crisis.”
“What crisis?” she asked indignantly.
“The financial crisis caused by your spending every available resource on this so-called conservation policy. To all intents and purposes you are now a bankrupt. Mrs. Vanderveldt has contributed all she can, and both you and she are afraid to tell her brother the true state of the case. You fear you will get little sympathy from him, for he is absorbed in coal-mines and railways, and both of you have already felt his annoyance at the law-suit in which you have involved him. Hence your desperate need of a capitalist. A really polite man would be a more pleasant companion than I, but he is not worth that, Miss Maturin!”
Stranleigh removed his hand from the lever long enough to snap fingers and thumb, but he instantly replaced it when he saw her determination to start the machine.
“The man of the moment, Miss Maturin, is a large and reckless capitalist. I am that capitalist.”
He released his hold of the lever, and sat upright. The sternness of his face relaxed.
“Now, Miss Maturin, turn on the power; take me where you like; dump me into any of those lakes you choose; the water is crystal clear, and I’m a good swimmer,” and with this Stranleigh indulged in a hearty laugh, his own genial self once more.
“You are laughing at me,” she said resentfully.
“Indeed I am not. Another contradiction, you see! I am laughing at myself. There’s nothing I loathe so much as strenuousness, and here I have fallen into the vice. It is the influence of that brawling river below us, I think. But the river becomes still enough, and useful enough, when it reaches the great lake at Powerville, which is big enough to swallow all these little ponds.”
The girl made no motion towards the lever, but sat very still, lost in thought. When she spoke, her voice was exceedingly quiet.
“You complimented Nature a while ago, intending, as I suppose, to compliment me, but I think afterall the greater compliment is your straight talk, which I admire, although I received it so petulantly. I shall make no apology, beyond saying that my mind is very much perturbed. Your surmise is absolutely correct. It isn’t that I’ve spent the whole of my fortune and my friend’s fortune in this conservation scheme. It is because I have built a model city on the heights above Powerville. I was promised assistance from the banks, which is now withheld, largely, I suspect, through the opposition of John L. Boscombe, a reputed millionaire. To all intents and purposes Boscombe and I are the owners of Powerville and the mills there, but although this place was founded and built up by my father, I am a minority stock-holder, and powerless. Boscombe exercises control. Any suggestions or protests of mine are ignored, for Boscombe, like my father, has little faith—no faith at all, in fact—in the business capacity of a woman.
“I have tried, as I hinted, to enlist the co-operation of other capitalists, but experience has taught me that any appeal is futile that does not impingedirectly upon cupidity. If there is the least hint of philanthropy in the project, every man of money fights shy of it.”
“I am an exception,” said Stranleigh, eagerly. “Philanthropy used to be a strong point with me, though I confess I was never very successful in its exercise. What humanitarian scheme is in your mind, Miss Maturin?”
Again she sat silent for some moments, indecision and doubt on her fair brow. Presently she said, as if pulling herself together—
“I will not tell you, Lord Stranleigh. You yourself have just admitted disbelief, and my plan is so fantastic that I dare not submit it to criticism.”
“I suppose your new city is in opposition to the old town down in the valley? You alone are going to compete with Boscombe and yourself.”
“That is one way of putting it.”
“Very well, I am with you. Blow Boscombe! say I. I’ve no head for business, so I sha’n’t need to take any advice. I shall do exactly what you tell me. What is the first move?”
“The first move is to set your brokers in New York at work, and buy a block of Powerville stock.”
“I see; so that you and I together have control, instead of Boscombe?”
“Yes.”
“That shall be done as quick as telegraph can give instructions. What next?”
“There will be required a large sum of money to liquidate the claims upon me incurred through the building of the city.”
“Very good. That money shall be at your disposal within two or three days.”
“As for security, I regret——”
“Don’t mention it. My security is my great faith in Ned Trenton, also in yourself. Say no more about it.”
“You are very kind, Lord Stranleigh, but there is one thing I must say. This may involve you in a law-suit so serious that the litigation of which Ned complains will appear a mere amicable arrangement by comparison.”
“That’s all right and doesn’t disturb me in the least. I love a legal contest, because I havenothing to do but place it in the hands of competent lawyers. No personal activity is required of me, and I am an indolent man.”
The second part of the programme was accomplished even sooner than Stranleigh had promised, but the first part hung fire. The brokers in New York could not acquire any Powerville stock, as was shown by their application to Miss Maturin herself, neither had their efforts been executed with that secrecy which Stranleigh had enjoined. He realised this when John L. Boscombe called upon him. He went directly to the point.
“I am happy to meet you, Lord Stranleigh, and if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to say that you are more greatly in need of advice at this moment than any man in America.”
“You are perfectly right, Mr. Boscombe. I am always in need of good advice, and I appreciate it.”
“An application was made to me from New York for a block of stock. That stock is not for sale, but I dallied with the brokers, made investigations, and traced the inquiry to you.”
“Very clever of you, Mr. Boscombe.”
“I learn that you propose to finance Miss Constance Maturin, who is a junior partner in my business.”
“I should not think of contradicting so shrewd a man as yourself, Mr. Boscombe. What do you advise in the premises?”
“I advise you to get out, and quick, too.”
“If I don’t, what are you going to do to me?”
“Oh, I shall do nothing. She will do all that is necessary. That woman is stark mad, Lord Stranleigh. Her own father recognised it when he bereft her of all power in the great business he founded. If she had her way, she’d ruin the company inside a year with her hare-brained schemes; love of the dear people, and that sort of guff.”
“I am sorry to hear that. I noticed no dementia on the part of Miss Maturin, who seemed to me a most cultivated and very charming young lady. You will permit me, I hope, to thank you for your warning, and will not be surprised that I can give you no decision on the spur of the moment. I am a slow-minded person, and need time to think over things.”
“Certainly, certainly; personally I come to sudden conclusions, and once I make up my mind, I never change it.”
“A most admirable gift. I wish I possessed it.”
Lord Stranleigh said nothing of this interview to Constance Maturin, beyond telling her that the acquisition of stock appeared to be hopeless, as indeed proved to be the case.
“Boscombe must be a stubborn person,” he said.
“Oh, he’s all that,” the girl replied, with a sigh. “He cares for one thing only, the making of money, and in that I must admit he has been very successful.”
“Well, we’ve got a little cash of our own,” said Stranleigh, with a laugh.
Miss Maturin and Mrs. Vanderveldt celebrated a national holiday by the greatest entertainment ever given in that district. The mills had been shut down for a week, and every man, woman and child in the valley city had been invited up to the new town on the heights. There was a brass band, and a sumptuous spread of refreshments, all free to the immense crowd. The ladies, for days before, visited everyonein the valley, and got a promise of attendance, but to make assurance doubly sure, an amazing corps of men was organised, equipped with motor cars, which scoured the valley from Powerville downwards, gathering in such remnants of humanity as for any reason had neglected to attend the show. Miss Maturin said she was resolved this entertainment should be a feature unique in the history of the State.
The shutting down of the mills had caused the water in the immense dam to rise, so that now the sluices at the top added to the picturesqueness of the scene by supplying waterfalls more than sixty feet high, a splendid view of which was obtainable from the new city on the heights. Suddenly it was noticed that these waterfalls increased in power, until their roar filled the valley. At last the whole lip of the immense dam began to trickle, and an ever augmenting Niagara of waters poured over.
“Great heavens!” cried Boscombe, who was present to sneer at these activities, “there must have been a cloud-burst in the mountains!”
He shouted for the foreman.
“Where are the tenders of the dam?” he cried. “Send them to lower those sluices, and let more water out.”
“Wait a moment,” said Constance Maturin, who had just come out of the main telephone building. “There can be no danger, Mr. Boscombe. You always said that dam was strong enough, when I protested it wasn’t.”
“So it is strong enough, but not——”
“Look!” she cried, pointing over the surface of the lake. “See that wave!”
“Suffering Noah and the Flood!” exclaimed Boscombe.
As he spoke, the wave burst against the dam, and now they had Niagara in reality. There was a crash, and what seemed to be a series of explosions, then the whole structure dissolved away, and before the appalled eyes of the sight-seers, the valley town crumpled up like a pack of cards, and even the tall mills themselves, that staggered at the impact of the flood, slowly settled down, and were engulfed in the seething turmoil of maddened waters.