“The ball first,” she decreed. “I’ll see to the cards at once, and in a day or two I’ll have a list ready for your gracious approval. And what have you done?”
“Pettingill has some great ideas for doing over Sherry’s. Harrison is in communication with the manager of that Hungarian orchestra you spoke of, and he finds the men quite ready for a little jaunt across the water. We have that military band—I’ve forgotten the number of its regiment—for the promenade music, and the new Paris sensation, the contralto, is coming over with her primo tenore for some special numbers.”
“You were certainly cut out for an executive, Monty,” said Mrs. Dan. “But with the music and the decorations arranged, you’ve only begun. The favors are the real thing, and if you say the word, we’ll surprise them a little. Don’t worry about it, Monty. It’s a go already. We’ll pull it off together.”
“You are a thoroughbred, Mrs. Dan,” he exclaimed. “You do help a fellow at a pinch.”
“That’s all right, Monty,” she answered; “give me until after Christmas and I’ll have the finest favors ever seen. Other people may have their paper hats and pink ribbons, but you can show them how the thing ought to be done.”
Her reference to Christmas haunted Brewster, as he drove down Fifth Avenue, with the dread of a new disaster. Never before had he looked upon presents as a calamity; but this year it was different. Immediately he began to plan a bombardment of his friends with costly trinkets, when he grew suddenly doubtful of the opinion of his uncle’s executor upon this move. But in response to a telegram, Swearengen Jones, with pleasing irascibility, informed him that “anyone with a drop of human kindness in his body would consider it his duty to give Christmas presents to those who deserved them.” Monty’s way was now clear. If his friends meant to handicap him with gifts, he knew a way to get even. For two weeks his mornings were spent at Tiffany’s, and the afternoons brought joy to the heart of every dealer in antiquities in Fourth and Fifth Avenues. He gave much thought to the matter in the effort to secure many small articles which elaborately concealed their value. And he had taste. The result of his endeavor was that many friends who would not have thought of remembering Monty with even a card were pleasantly surprised on Christmas Eve.
As it turned out, he fared very well in the matter of gifts, and for some days much of his time was spent in reading notes of profuse thanks, which were yet vaguely apologetic. The Grays and Mrs. Dan had remembered him with an agreeable lack of ostentation, and some of the “Little Sons of the Rich,” who had kept one evening a fortnight open for the purpose of “using up their meal-tickets” at Monty’s, were only too generously grateful. Miss Drew had forgotten him, and when they met after the holiday her recognition was of the coldest. He had thought that, under the circumstances, he could send her a gift of value, but the beautiful pearls with which he asked for a reconciliation were returned with “Miss Drew’s thanks.” He loved Barbara sincerely, and it cut. Peggy Gray was taken into his confidence and he was comforted by her encouragement. It was a bit difficult for her to advise him to try again, but his happiness was a thing she had at heart.
“It’s beastly unfair, Peggy,” he said. “I’ve really been white to her. I believe I’ll chuck the whole business and leave New York.”
“You’re going away?” and there was just a suggestion of a catch in her breath.
“I’m going to charter a yacht and sail away from this place for three or four months.” Peggy fairly gasped. “What do you think of the scheme?” he added, noticing the alarm and incredulity in her eyes.
“I think you’ll end in the poor-house, Montgomery Brewster,” she said, with a laugh.
CHAPTER XIII
A FRIEND IN NEED
It was while Brewster was in the depths of despair that his financial affairs had a windfall. One of the banks in which his money was deposited failed and his balance of over $100,000 was wiped out. Mismanagement was the cause and the collapse came on Friday, the thirteenth day of the month. Needless to say, it destroyed every vestige of the superstition he may have had regarding Friday and the number thirteen.
Brewster had money deposited in five banks, a transaction inspired by the wild hope that one of them might some day suspend operations and thereby prove a legitimate benefit to him. There seemed no prospect that the bank could resume operations, and if the depositors in the end realized twenty cents on the dollar they would be fortunate. Notwithstanding the fact that everybody had considered the institution substantial there were not a few wiseacres who called Brewster a fool and were so unreasonable as to say that he did not know how to handle money. He heard that Miss Drew, in particular, was bitterly sarcastic in referring to his stupidity.
This failure caused a tremendous flurry in banking circles. It was but natural that questions concerning the stability of other banks should be asked, and it was not long before many wild, disquieting reports were afloat. Anxious depositors rushed into the big banking institutions and then rushed out again, partially assured that there was no danger. The newspapers sought to allay the fears of the people, but there were many to whom fear became panic. There were short, wild runs on some of the smaller banks, but all were in a fair way to restore confidence when out came the rumor that the Bank of Manhattan Island was in trouble. Colonel Prentiss Drew, railroad magnate, was the president of this bank.
When the bank opened for business on the Tuesday following the failure, there was a stampede of frightened depositors. Before eleven o’clock the run had assumed ugly proportions and no amount of argument could stay the onslaught. Colonel Drew and the directors, at first mildly distressed, and then seeing that the affair had become serious, grew more alarmed than they could afford to let the public see. The loans of all the banks were unusually large. Incipient runs on some had put all of them in an attitude of caution, and there was a natural reluctance to expose their own interests to jeopardy by coming to the relief of the Bank of Manhattan Island.
Monty Brewster had something like $200,000 in Colonel Drew’s bank. He would not have regretted on his own account the collapse of this institution, but he realized what it meant to the hundreds of other depositors, and for the first time he appreciated what his money could accomplish. Thinking that his presence might give confidence to the other depositors and stop the run he went over to the bank with Harrison and Bragdon. The tellers were handing out thousands of dollars to the eager depositors. His friends advised him strongly to withdraw before it was too late, but Monty was obdurate. They set it down to his desire to help Barbara’s father and admired his nerve.
“I understand, Monty,” said Bragdon, and both he and Harrison went among the people carelessly asking one another if Brewster had come to withdraw his money. “No, he has over $200,000, and he’s going to leave it,” the other would say.
Each excited group was visited in turn by the two men, but their assurance seemed to accomplish but little. These men and women were there to save their fortunes; the situation was desperate.
Colonel Drew, outwardly calm and serene, but inwardly perturbed, finally saw Brewster and his companions. He sent a messenger over with the request that Monty come to the president’s private office at once.
“He wants to help you to save your money,” cried Bragdon in low tones. “That shows it’s all up.”
“Get out every dollar of it, Monty, and don’t waste a minute. It’s a smash as sure as fate,” urged Harrison, a feverish expression in his eyes.
Brewster was admitted to the Colonel’s private office. Drew was alone and was pacing the floor like a caged animal.
“Sit down, Brewster, and don’t mind if I seem nervous. Of course we can hold out, but it is terrible—terrible. They think we are trying to rob them. They’re mad—utterly mad.”
“I never saw anything like it, Colonel. Are you sure you can meet all the demands?” asked Brewster, thoroughly excited. The Colonel’s face was white and he chewed his cigar nervously.
“We can hold out unl
ess some of our heaviest depositors get the fever and swoop down upon us. I appreciate your feelings in an affair of this kind, coming so swiftly upon the heels of the other, but I want to give you my personal assurance that the money you have here is safe. I called you in to impress you with the security of the bank. You ought to know the truth, however, and I will tell you in confidence that another check like Austin’s, which we paid a few minutes ago, would cause us serious, though temporary, embarrassment.”
“I came to assure you that I have not thought of withdrawing my deposits from this bank, Colonel. You need have no uneasiness—”
The door opened suddenly and one of the officials of the bank bolted inside, his face as white as death. He started to speak before he saw Brewster, and then closed his lips despairingly.
“What is it, Mr. Moore?” asked Drew, as calmly as possible. “Don’t mind Mr. Brewster.”
“Oglethorp wants to draw two hundred and fifty thousand dollars,” said Moore in strained tones.
“Well, he can have it, can’t he?” asked the Colonel quietly. Moore looked helplessly at the president of the bank, and his silence spoke more plainly than words.
“Brewster, it looks bad,” said the Colonel, turning abruptly to the young man. “The other banks are afraid of a run and we can’t count on much help from them. Some of them have helped us and others have refused. Now, I not only ask you to refrain from drawing out your deposit, but I want you to help us in this crucial moment.” The Colonel looked twenty years older and his voice shook perceptibly. Brewster’s pity went out to him in a flash.
“What can I do, Colonel Drew?” he cried. “I’ll not take my money out, but I don’t know how I can be of further assistance to you. Command me, sir.”
“You can restore absolute confidence, Monty, my dear boy, by increasing your deposits in our bank,” said the Colonel slowly, and as if dreading the fate of the suggestion.
“You mean, sir, that I can save the bank by drawing my money from other banks and putting it here?” asked Monty, slowly. He was thinking harder and faster than he had ever thought in his life. Could he afford to risk the loss of his entire fortune on the fate of this bank? What would Swearengen Jones say if he deliberately deposited a vast amount of money in a tottering institution like the Bank of Manhattan Island? It would be the maddest folly on his part if the bank went down. There could be no mitigating circumstances in the eyes of either Jones or the world, if he swamped all of his money in this crisis.
“I beg of you, Monty, help us.” The Colonel’s pride was gone. “It means disgrace if we close our doors even for an hour; it means a stain that only years can remove. You can restore confidence by a dozen strokes of your pen, and you can save us.”
He was Barbara’s father. The proud old man was before him as a suppliant, no longer the cold man of the world. Back to Brewster’s mind came the thought of his quarrel with Barbara and of her heartlessness. A scratch of the pen, one way or the other, could change the life of Barbara Drew. The two bankers stood by scarcely breathing. From the outside came the shuffle of many feet and the muffled roll of voices. Again the door to the private office opened and a clerk excitedly motioned for Mr. Moore to hurry to the front of the bank. Moore paused irresolutely, his eyes on Brewster’s face. The young man knew the time had come when he must help or deny them.
Like a flash the situation was made clear to him and his duty was plain. He remembered that the Bank of Manhattan Island held every dollar that Mrs. Gray and Peggy possessed; their meager fortune had been entrusted to the care of Prentiss Drew and his associates, and it was in danger.
“I will do all I can, Colonel,” said Monty, “but upon one condition.”
“That is?”
“Barbara must never know of this.” The Colonel’s gasp of astonishment was cut short as Monty continued. “Promise that she shall never know.”
“I don’t understand, but if it is your wish I promise.”
Inside of half an hour’s time several hundred thousand came to the relief of the struggling bank, and the man who had come to watch the run with curious eyes turned out to be its savior. His money won the day for the Bank of Manhattan Island. When the happy president and directors offered to pay him an astonishingly high rate of interest for the use of the money he proudly declined.
The next day Miss Drew issued invitations for a cotillon. Mr. Montgomery Brewster was not asked to attend.
CHAPTER XIV
MRS. DE MILLE ENTERTAINS
Miss Drew’s cotillon was not graced by the presence of Montgomery Brewster. It is true he received an eleventh-hour invitation and a very cold and difficult little note of apology, but he maintained heroically the air of disdain that had succeeded the first sharp pangs of disappointment. Colonel Drew, in whose good graces Monty had firmly established himself, was not quite guiltless of usurping the role of dictator in the effort to patch up a truce. A few nights before the cotillon, when Barbara told him that Herbert Ailing was to lead, he explosively expressed surprise. “Why not Monty Brewster, Babs?” he demanded.
“Mr. Brewster is not coming,” she responded, calmly.
“Going to be out of town?”
“I’m sure I do not know,” stiffly.
“What’s this?”
“He has not been asked, father.” Miss Drew was not in good humor.
“Not asked?” said the Colonel in amazement. “It’s ridiculous, Babs, send him an invitation at once.”
“This is my dance, father, and I don’t want to ask Mr. Brewster.”
The Colonel sank back in his chair and struggled to overcome his anger. He knew that Barbara had inherited his willfulness, and had long since discovered that it was best to treat her with tact.
“I thought you and he were—” but the Colonel’s supply of tact was exhausted.
“We were”—in a moment of absent mindedness. “But it’s all over,” said Barbara.
“Why, child, there wouldn’t have been a cotillon if it hadn’t been for—” but the Colonel remembered his promise to Monty and checked himself just in time. “I—I mean there will not be any party, if Montgomery Brewster is not asked. That is all I care to say on the subject,” and he stamped out of the room.
Barbara wept copiously after her father had gone, but she realized that his will was law and that Monty must be invited. “I will send an invitation,” she said to herself, “but if Mr. Brewster comes after he has read it, I shall be surprised.”
Montgomery, however, did not receive the note in the spirit in which it had been sent. He only saw in it a ray of hope that Barbara was relenting and was jubilant at the prospect of a reconciliation. The next Sunday he sought an interview with Miss Drew, but she received him with icy reserve. If he had thought to punish her by staying away, it was evident that she felt equally responsible for a great deal of misery on his part. Both had been more or less unhappy, and both were resentfully obstinate. Brewster felt hurt and insulted, while she felt that he had imposed upon her disgracefully. He was now ready to cry quits and it surprised him to find her obdurate. If he had expected to dictate the terms of peace he was woefully disappointed when she treated his advances with cool contempt.
“Barbara, you know I care very much for you,” he was pleading, fairly on the road to submission. “I am sure you are not quite indifferent to me. This foolish misunderstanding must really be as disagreeable to you as it is to me.”
“Indeed,” she replied, lifting her brows disdainfully. “You are assuming a good deal, Mr. Brewster.”
“I am merely recalling the fact that you once told me you cared. You would not promise anything, I know, but it meant much that you cared. A little difference could not have changed your feeling completely.”
“When you are ready to treat me with respect I may listen to your petition,” she said, rising haughtily.
“My petition?” He did not like the word and his tact quite deserted him. “It’s as much yours as mine. Don’t throw the burden of responsib
ility on me, Miss Drew.”
“Have I suggested going back to the old relations? You will pardon me if I remind you of the fact that you came today on your own initiative and certainly without my solicitation.”
“Now, look here, Barbara—” he began, dimly realizing that it was going to be hard, very hard, to reason.
“I am very sorry, Mr. Brewster, but you will have to excuse me. I am going out.”
“I regret exceedingly that I should have disturbed you today, Miss Drew,” he said, swallowing his pride. “Perhaps I may have the pleasure of seeing you again.”
As he was leaving the house, deep anger in his soul, he encountered the Colonel. There was something about Monty’s greeting, cordial as it was, that gave the older man a hint as to the situation.
“Won’t you stop for dinner, Monty?” he asked, in the hope that his suspicion was groundless.
“Thank you, Colonel, not tonight,” and he was off before the Colonel could hold him.
Barbara was tearfully angry when her father came into the room, but as he began to remonstrate with her the tears disappeared and left her at white heat.
“Frankly, father, you don’t understand matters,” she said with slow emphasis; “I wish you to know now that if Montgomery Brewster calls again, I shall not see him.”
“If that is your point of view, Barbara, I wish you to know mine.” The Colonel rose and stood over her, everything forgotten but the rage that went so deep that it left the surface calm. Throwing aside his promise to Brewster, he told Barbara with dramatic simplicity the story of the rescue of the bank. “You see,” he added, “if it had not been for that open-hearted boy we would now be ruined. Instead of giving cotillons, you might be giving music lessons. Montgomery Brewster will always be welcome in this house and you will see that my wishes are respected. Do you understand?”
“Perfectly,” Barbara answered in a still voice. “As your friend I shall try to be civil to him.”
The Colonel was not satisfied with so cold-blooded an acquiescence, but he wisely retired from the field. He left the girl silent and crushed, but with a gleam in her eyes that was not altogether to be concealed. The story had touched her more deeply than she would willingly confess. It was something to know that Monty Brewster could do a thing like that, and would do it for her. The exultant smile which it brought to her lips could only be made to disappear by reminding herself sharply of his recent arrogance. Her anger, she found, was a plant which needed careful cultivation.
The George Barr McCutcheon Megapack: 25 Classic Novels and Stories Page 8