CHAPTER X
REGGIE CONFESSES
Joe resumed his seat, too astounded to know what to do or say under thecircumstances.
"Beg pardon for being so brusque, old fellow," he remarked, "but reallyyou took the ground from under my feet. What on earth led you to giveyour money to a man who is as mad as a March hare?"
"I've asked myself that same question many times since the thinghappened," answered Reggie drearily, "and the only answer I can find isthat I must have been the more insane of the two.
"It's only fair to say, though," he went on, "that at the time I ranacross him there wasn't a trace of insanity about him. He seemed to meto be one of the cleverest men I ever met. Others thought so too, soperhaps I'm not so very much to blame after all."
"Where and when did you first meet him?" asked Joe.
"At the Goldsboro Country Club," answered Reggie. "You know that ourfolks have membership there and I run out very often. I was out thereone day watching a tennis tournament when this Tabbs came strollingalong and spoke to me. There seemed to be something familiar about hisface and yet I couldn't quite place him until he said he had met me onetime at Morgan & Company's in New York. Then I remembered him perfectly.I had gone down to the city on a trip with my father, and as he hadbusiness with the Morgan people, he took me along with him. Tabbs washolding an important position with the firm at the time, and he seemedto take quite a liking to me. Took me out to lunch with him and thenshowed me around the city. That was two or three years ago, and I hadn'tseen him since until he came to me at the Country Club.
"Of course, it was up to me to give him as good a time as I could, inreturn for what he had done for me in New York, and I did. Introducedhim to lots of the best people in Goldsboro, took him home with me andhad him stay with me for a day or two, and whizzed him about the countryin my automobile. To tell the truth, it wasn't hard to entertain him,for he was a bright and amusing talker and seemed in every way to be anall-around good fellow."
"How did he happen to be so far away from New York City and right in thebusy season, too?" asked Joe.
"That struck me as rather queer," replied Reggie, "but he explained bysaying that he was on a secret mission for his firm. Awfully mysteriousand all that, don't you know. Of course, the more mysterious he was themore curious I became. I suppose he figured on that. Anyway, after a lotof hinting and fencing about, he came right out one day and said that hewas going to take me into his confidence, that I was too good a fellowto leave on the outside when I might get in on the ground floor, and alot of rot like that, don't you know."
"I know, all right," said Joe, with a smile. "I've had lots of tipsabout big things that were going to be pulled off and been urged toget aboard while there was time. Ball players are known to get goodsalaries, and they're deluged with circulars and market tips of allkinds. But I never yet tried to beat Wall Street at its own game. Youknow what they say of it, that 'it's a crooked street with a graveyardat one end of it and a river at the other.'"
"I guess that description fits it, all right," agreed his friend, "butof course I thought that Tabbs was different from an ordinary markettipster. I had seen him holding down a big job with Morgan & Company,and I naturally thought he had inside information."
Joe had to admit that this was reasonable.
"He put me under a pledge of secrecy," went on Reggie, "and then heopened up. Said that Morgan & Company had a big scheme for combiningunder one control all the electric light and power companies of theState. Claimed that he already had an agreement with the majority ofthem to come into the deal. The thing was to be kept under cover untileverything was ripe, and then the stock would double and treble invalue, and the lucky holders would make a fortune. Now was the time tobuy before the big news came out."
"Old stuff," thought Joe to himself, although he did not give utteranceto the thought for fear of wounding Reggie, who was sore enough already.
"Of course," went on Reggie, "the first thing I thought of was the tenthousand in stocks that the governor had put in my hands to show whatI could do. Here was the chance to make it twenty or thirty thousandor more, if Tabbs was right. And honest, Joe, that fellow could haveconvinced anybody. He was the most persuasive talker I ever met. Hadfacts and figures at his tongue's end and reeled them off by thethousand. Showed me a chart of his own on which he had marked all themarket fluctuations on leading stocks for ten years back. Had an answerfor every objection. He was a perfect encyclopedia on everything thatconcerned stocks and bonds. If ever any man knew his business, it wasTalham Tabbs."
And Joe, recalling the keen face of the madman, could very wellunderstand how Reggie would be putty in his hands.
"The upshot of it all was," blurted out the dudish young man desperately,"that I put the whole ten thousand in his hands to turn into cashand invest for me in the securities of the different light and powercompanies. He was to do this quietly and secretly as he went from oneplace to another, and then when he had invested it all he was to turnthem over to me to hold them for the rise that would come as soon as thedeal was concluded.
"I didn't do this right off the reel. I felt skittish about putting allmy eggs in one basket. I wanted to put in part of the money only, but helaughed at me. Opportunity only came once to a man, he said, especiallysuch an opportunity as that. I was dazzled by his figures, and when Ithought of the pleasure it would be to prove to my father that I hadmore brains than he gave me credit for and knew how to double and treblemy money in a few months, I gave in and went into the thing, hook, lineand sinker."
"Too bad, old fellow," consoled Joe, who was moved to pity by thedistress that showed in his friend's face. "What happened then?"
"He went away a few days later," continued Reggie. "Had to go toRaleigh, he said, to see some members of the legislature. He wrote tome every few days and told me he was getting along famously. Then hisletters stopped. I didn't think so much of this at first, because I knewhe would be tremendously busy putting through the deal. But when threeweeks passed without hearing from him I got uneasy. I wrote to him tothe address of Morgan & Company, thinking they would of course know hiswhereabouts and forward his mail to him, and you can imagine how I feltwhen I got my letter back marked 'Not here.' I wrote then to the firmdirect, and asked about Talham Tabbs. They wrote back promptly thatTabbs had once been employed by them and that they had valued him as oneof their most competent men, but that a year before he had gone suddenlyinsane and had to be committed to an asylum. They gave me the name ofthe asylum so that I could write there if I wished to learn anythingfurther about his condition, although they had been informed that hiscase was thought to be incurable.
"I tell you what, old man, that knocked me all in a heap. My tenthousand dollars had been put in the care of a crazy man, who, for all Iknew, had turned the securities into cash and by this time might be inCanada, or Europe, or South America, or any old place."
"It must have been a knockout blow," said Joe.
"For a little while I thought I would go crazy myself," continuedReggie. "I couldn't eat or sleep, and the folks saw there was somethingthe matter with me. Mabel was worried out of her head, and tried to getme to tell her what was the trouble."
"Just like Mabel," thought Joe to himself, conscious of a sudden warmthin the region of his heart.
"I think the governor rather suspected that something had gone wrongin a money way," continued Reggie. "But he's a thoroughbred, and sincehe had said he wouldn't ask me about it for a year, he stuck to hispromise."
"Couldn't you pick up any clue as to Tabbs' whereabouts?" queried Joe.
"Not a thing for a long while," was the answer. "Of course, I washandicapped because I had to keep everything under cover. The firstthing I did was to make a trip to the asylum where he had been confined.The superintendent told me that Tabbs had escaped about two monthsbefore. Said he was one of the brightest and ablest men that had everbeen confined there. There would be weeks at a time when he would appearto be as sane as any man. Th
en he would have sudden fits of violencecome upon him, when they couldn't do anything with him and had to trusshim up in a strait-jacket to keep him from harming the other inmates. Isuppose he must have had one of those spells come on him when he carriedoff the baby."
"I suppose so," said Joe with a shudder, as the thought of the narrowescape came up before him.
"The superintendent told me that they had been hunting for him eversince he got away but hadn't got a trace of him. I told him then that Ihad met him and that he was still going by his right name. Naturally Ididn't tell him what a fool Tabbs had made of me. He was delighted toget the information I gave him and said that he would follow up the clueat once. I didn't rely wholly on that, however, and on the quiet I putthe matter in the hands of a detective agency."
"Did that help you out any?" asked Joe.
"Not a bit," replied Reggie disgustedly. "All they sent me was a billfor services rendered, although they kept hinting that they were righton his heels. They must have been a pretty nimble pair of heels,though, because they always got away. Don't talk to me of detectives.'Defectives' would be a better name for them."
"How did you find out then that he might be at Riverside?" asked Joewith lively curiosity.
"By the merest chance in the world," replied Reggie. "I was inWilmington and when I went to the hotel and started to register I turnedover the leaves to see if any of my friends were there and caught sightof Tabbs' name. Of course I made inquiries in a hurry, and the clerktold me that he had left a week before. I went to the station and foundthat a man answering to his description had bought a ticket and hadhis baggage checked through to Riverside. Then I sent the telegram andfollowed it as soon as I could. Now you know the whole story."
"Well," said Joe, drawing a long breath, "it's pretty bad, but it mighthave been worse. Now that we have Tabbs where the dogs can't bite him,you have a chance to get your money back."
"Yes," agreed Reggie, "but after all it's only a chance. No knowing whathe may have done with it by this time."
"Would he have had any trouble in turning the securities into cash?"asked Joe.
"Not the least in the world," was the answer. "They are as easilyhandled almost as if they were United States currency. The merepossession of them is regarded as proof of ownership. He could go to anybank or big brokerage house in the country and turn them into cash atfive minutes' notice."
"Well, even if he did, he may have all, or nearly all, of the moneyleft," said Joe hopefully. "Sol Cramer, the landlord at the hotel, saidthat he had a big roll of bills when he paid for his week's board. Hecan't spend any of it where he is now, at any rate."
They discussed the matter for an hour or more and then Joe insisted thatReggie ought to get to bed.
"You've had a long journey," he remarked, as he rose to show his friendto his room, "and you need a good night's rest so as to be fit when youtackle Talham Tabbs in the morning."
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