Works of Robert W Chambers

by Robert W. Chambers

  “What do you want?” he inquired briefly.

  “I want to ask you a question or two,” said Duane, shocked at the change in Dysart’s face. Haggard, thin, snow-white at the temples with the light in his eyes almost extinct, the very precision and freshness of linen and clothing brutally accentuated the ravaged features.

  “What questions?” demanded Dysart, still standing, and without any emotion whatever in either voice or manner.

  “The first is this: are you in communication with my father concerning mining stock known as Yo Espero?”

  “I am.”

  “Is my father involved in any business transactions in which you figure, or have figured?”

  “There are some. Yes.”

  “Is the Cascade Development and Securities Co. one of them?”

  “Yes, it is.”

  Duane’s lips were dry with fear; he swallowed, controlled the rising anger that began to twitch at his throat, and went on in a low, quiet voice:

  “Is this man — Moebus — connected with any of these transactions in which you and — and my father are interested?”

  “Yes.”

  “Is Klawber?”

  “Max Moebus, Emanuel Klawber, James Skelton, and Amos Flack are interested. Is that what you want to know?”

  Duane looked at him, stunned. Dysart stepped nearer, speaking almost in a whisper:

  “Well, what about it? Once I warned you to keep your damned nose out of my personal affairs — —”

  “I make some of them mine!” said Duane sharply; “when crooks get hold of an honest man, every citizen is a policeman!”

  Dysart, face convulsed with fury, seized his arm in a vicelike grip:

  “Will you keep your cursed mouth shut!” he breathed. “My father is in the next room. Do you want to kill him?”

  At the same moment there came a stir from the room beyond, the tap-tap of a cane and shuffling steps across the polished parquet. Dysart’s grip relaxed, his hand fell away, and he made a ghastly grimace as a little old gentleman came half-trotting, half-shambling to the doorway. He was small and dapper and pink-skinned under his wig; the pink was paint; his lips and eyes peered and simpered; from one bird-claw hand dangled a monocle.

  Jack Dysart made a ghastly and supreme effort:

  “I was just saying to Duane, father, that all this financial agitation is bound to blow over by December — Duane Mallett, father!” — as the old man raised his eye-glass and peeped up at the young fellow— “you know his father, Colonel Mallett.”

  “Yes, to be sure, yes, to be sure!” piped the old beau. “How-de-do! How-de-do-o-o! My son Jack and I motor every morning at this hour. It is becoming a custom — he! he! — every day from ten to eleven — then a biscuit and a glass of sherry — then a nap — te-he! Oh, yes, every day, Mr. Mallett, rain or fair — then luncheon at one, and the cigarette — te-he! — and a little sleep — and the drive at five! Yes, Mr. Mallett, it is the routine of a very old man who knew your grandfather — and all his set — when the town was gay below Bleecker Street! Yes, yes — te-he-he!”

  Nervous spasms which passed as smiles distorted the younger Dysart’s visage; the aged beau offered his hand to Duane, who took it in silence, his eyes fixed on the shrivelled, painted face:

  “Your grandfather was a very fine man,” he piped; “very fine! ve-ery fine! And so I perceive is his grandson — te-he! — and I flatter myself that my boy Jack is not unadmired — te-he-he! — no, no — not precisely unnoticed in New York — the town whose history is the history of his own race, Mr. Mallett — he is a good son to me — yes, yes, a good son. It is gratifying to me to know that you are his friend. He is a good friend to have, Mr. Mallett, a good friend and a good son.”

  Duane bent gently over the shrivelled hand.

  “I won’t detain you from your drive, Mr. Dysart. I hope you will have a pleasant one. It is a pleasure to know my grandfather’s old friends. Good-bye.”

  And, erect, he hesitated a moment, then, for an old man’s sake he held out his hand to Jack Dysart, bidding him good-bye in a pleasant voice pitched clear and decided, so that deaf ears might corroborate what half-blind and peering eyes so dimly beheld.

  Dysart walked to the door with him, waved the servant aside, and, laying a shaking hand on the bronze knob, opened the door for his unbidden guest.

  As Duane passed him he said:

  “Thank you, Mallett,” in a voice so low that Duane was half-way to his cab before he understood.

  That day, and the next, and all that week he worked in his pitlike studio. Through the high sky-window a cloudless zenith brooded; the heat became terrific; except for the inevitable crush of the morning and evening migration south and north, the streets were almost empty under a blazing sun.

  His father seemed to be physically better. Although he offered no confidences, it appeared to the son that there was something a little more cheerful in his voice and manner. It may have been only the anticipation of departure; for he was going West in a day or two, and it came out that Wilton was going with him.

  The day he left, Duane drove him to the station. There was a private car, the “Cyane,” attached to the long train. Wilton met them, spoke pleasantly to Duane; but Colonel Mallett did not invite his son to enter the car, and adieux were said where they stood.

  As the young fellow turned and passed beneath the car-windows, he caught a glimpse above him of a heavy-jowled, red face into which a cigar was stuck — a perfectly enormous expanse of face with two little piglike eyes almost buried in the mottled fat.

  “That’s Max Moebus,” observed a train hand respectfully, as Duane passed close to him; “I guess there’s more billions into that there private car than old Pip’s crowd can dig out of their pants pockets on pay day.”

  A little, dry-faced, chin-whiskered man with a loose pot-belly and thin legs came waddling along, followed by two red-capped negroes with his luggage. He climbed up the steps of the “Cyane”; the train man winked at Duane, who had turned to watch him.

  “Amos Flack,” he said. “He’s their ‘lobbygow.’” With which contemptuous information he spat upon the air-brakes and, shoving both hands into his pockets, meditatively jingled a bunch of keys.

  The club was absolutely deserted that night; Duane dined there alone, then wandered into the great empty room facing Fifth Avenue, his steps echoing sharply across the carpetless floor. The big windows were open; there was thunder in the air — the sonorous stillness in which voices and footsteps in the street ring out ominously.

  He smoked and watched the dim forms of those whom the heat drove forth into the night, men with coats over their arms and straw hats in their hands, young girls thinly clad in white, bare-headed, moving two and two with dragging steps and scarcely spirit left even for common coquetry or any response to the jesting oafs who passed.

  Here and there a cruising street-dryad threaded the by-paths of the metropolitan jungle; here and there a policeman, gray helmet in hand, stood mopping his face, night-club tucked up snugly under one arm. Few cabs were moving; at intervals a creaking, groaning omnibus rolled past, its hurricane deck white with the fluttering gowns of women and young girls.

  Somebody came into the room behind him; Duane turned, but could not distinguish who it was in the dusk. A little while later the man came over to where he sat, and he looked up; and it was Dysart.

  There was silence for a full minute; Dysart stood by the window looking out; Duane paid him no further attention until he wheeled slowly and said:

  “Do you mind if I have a word with you, Mallett?”

  “Not if it is necessary.”

  “I don’t know whether it is necessary.”

  “Don’t bother about it if you are in the slightest doubt.”

  Dysart waited a moment, perhaps for some unpleasant emotion to subside; then:

  “I’ll sit down a moment, if you permit.”

  He dropped into one of the big, deep, leather chairs and touched the bell. A se
rvant came; he looked across at Duane, hesitated to speak:

  “Thank you,” said Duane curtly. “I’ve cut it out.”

  “Scotch. Bring the decanter,” murmured Dysart to the servant.

  When it was served he drained the glass, refilled it, and turned in the rest of the mineral water. Before he spoke he emptied the glass again and rang for more mineral water. Then he looked at Duane and said in a low voice:

  “I thought you were worried the other day when I saw you at my house.”

  “What is that to you?”

  Dysart said: “You were very kind — under provocation.”

  “I was not kind on your account.”

  “I understand. But I don’t forget such things.”

  Duane glanced at him in profound contempt. Here was the stereotyped scoundrel with the classical saving trait — the one conventionally inevitable impulse for good shining like a diamond on a muck-heap — his apparently disinterested affection for his father.

  “You were very decent to me that day,” Dysart said. “You had something to say to me — but were good enough not to. I came over to-night to give you a chance to curse me out. It’s the square thing to do.”

  “What do you know about square dealing?”

  “Go on.”

  “I have nothing to add.”

  “Then I have if you’ll let me.” He paused; the other remained silent. “I’ve this to say: you are worried sick; I saw that. What worries you concerns your father. You were merciful to mine. I’ll do what I can for you.”

  He swallowed half of what remained in his iced glass, set it back on the table with fastidious precision:

  “The worst that can happen to your father is to lose control of the Yo Espero property. I think he is going to lose it. They’ve crowded me out. If I could have endured the strain I’d have stood by your father — for what you did for mine.... But I couldn’t, Mallett.”

  He moistened his lips again; leaned forward:

  “I think I know one thing about you, anyway; and I’m not afraid you’d ever use any words of mine against me — —”

  “Don’t say them!” retorted Duane sharply.

  But Dysart went on:

  “You have no respect for me. You found out one thing about me that settled me in your opinion. Outside of that, however, you never liked me.”

  “That is perfectly true.”

  “I know it. And I want to say now that it was smouldering irritation from that source — wounded vanity, perhaps — coupled with worry and increasing cares, that led to that outburst of mine. I never really believed that my wife needed any protection from the sort of man you are. You are not that kind.”

  “That also is true.”

  “And I know it. And now I’ve cleared up these matters; and there’s another.” He bit his lip, thought a moment, then with a deep, long breath:

  “When you struck me that night I — deserved it. I was half crazy, I think — with what I had done — with a more material but quite as ruinous situation developing here in town — with domestic complications — never mind where all the fault lay — it was demoralising me. Do you think that I am not perfectly aware that I stand very much alone among men? Do you suppose that I am not aware of my personal unpopularity as far as men are concerned? I have never had an intimate friend — except Delancy Grandcourt. And I’ve treated him like a beast. There’s something wrong about me; there always has been.”

  He slaked his thirst again; his hand shook so that he nearly dropped the glass:

  “Which is preliminary,” he went on, “to saying to you that no matter what I said in access of rage, I never doubted that your encounter with — Miss Quest — was an accident. I never doubted that your motive in coming to me was generous. God knows why I said what I did say. You struck me; and you were justified.... And that clears up that!”

  “Dysart,” said the other, “you don’t have to tell me these things.”

  “Would you rather not have heard them?”

  Duane thought a moment.

  “I would rather have heard them, I believe.”

  “Then may I go on?”

  “Is there anything more to explain between us?”

  “No.... But I would like to say something — in my own behalf. Not that it matters to you — or to any man, perhaps, except my father. I would like to say it, Mallett.”

  “Very well.”

  “Then; I prefer that you should believe I am not a crook. Not that it matters to you; but I prefer that you do not believe it.... You have read enough in the papers to know what I mean. I’m telling you now what I have never uttered to any man; and I haven’t the slightest fear you will repeat it or use it in any manner to my undoing. It is this:

  “The men with whom I was unwise enough to become partially identified are marked for destruction by the Clearing House Committee and by the Federal Government. I know it; others know it. Which means the ruthless elimination of anything doubtful which in future might possibly compromise the financial stability of this city.

  “It is a brutal programme; the policy they are pursuing is bitterly unjust. Innocent and guilty alike are going to suffer; I never in all my life consciously did a crooked thing in business; and yet I say to you now that these people are bent on my destruction; that they mean to force us to close the doors of the Algonquin; that they are planning the ruin of every corporation, every company, every bank, every enterprise with which I am connected, merely because they have decreed the financial death of Moebus and Klawber!”

  He made a trembling gesture with clenched hand, and leaned farther forward:

  “Mallett! There is not one man to-day in Wall Street who has not done, and who is not doing daily, the very things for which the government officials and the Clearing House authorities are attempting to get rid of me. Their attacks on my securities will ultimately ruin me; but such attacks would ruin any financier, any bank in the United States, if continued long enough.

  “Doesn’t anybody know that when the government conspires with the Clearing House officials any security can be kicked out of the market? Don’t they know that when bank examiners class any securities as undesirable, and bank officials throw them out from the loans of such institutions, that they’re not worth the match struck to burn them into nothing?

  “If they mean to close my companies and bring charges against me, I’ll tell you now, Mallett, any official of any bank which to-day is in operation, can be indicted!”

  He sat breathing fast, hands clasped nervously between his knees. Duane, painfully impressed, waited. And after a moment Dysart spoke again:

  “They mean my ruin. There is a bank examiner at work — this very moment while we’re sitting here — on the Collect Pond Bank — which is mine. The Federal inquisitors went through it once; now a new one is back again. They found nothing with which to file an adverse report the first time. Why did they come back?

  “And I’ll tell you another thing, Mallett, which may seem a slight reason for my sullenness and quick temper; they’ve had secret-service men following me ever since I returned from Roya-Neh. They are into everything that I’ve ever been connected with; there is no institution, no security in which I am interested, that they have not investigated.

  “And I tell you also, incredible as it may sound, that there is no security in which I am interested which is not now being attacked by government officials, and which, as a result of such attacks, is not depreciating daily. I tell you they’ve even approached the United States Court for its consent to a ruinous disposal of certain corporation notes in which I am interested! Will you tell me what you think of that, Mallett?”

  Duane said: “I don’t know, Dysart. I know almost nothing about such matters. And — I am sorry that you are in trouble.”

  The silence remained unbroken for some time; then Dysart stood up:

  “I don’t offer you my hand. You took it once for my father’s sake. That was manly of you, Mallett.... I thought perhaps I might ligh
ten your anxiety about your father. I hope I have.... And I must ask your pardon for pressing my private affairs upon you” — he laughed mirthlessly— “merely because I’d rather you didn’t think me a crook — for my father’s sake.... Good-night.”

  “Dysart,” he said, “why in God’s name have you behaved as you have to — that girl?”

  Dysart stood perfectly motionless, then in a voice under fair control:

  “I understand you. You don’t intend that as impertinence; you’re a square man, Mallett — a man who suffers under the evil in others. And your question to me meant that you thought me not entirely hopeless; that there was enough of decency in me to arouse your interest. Isn’t that what you meant?”

  “Yes, I think so.”

  “Well, then, I’ll answer you. There isn’t much left of me; there’ll be less left of my fortune before long. I’ve made a failure of everything, fortune, friendship, position, happiness. My wife and I are separated; it is club gossip, I believe. She will probably sue for divorce and get it. And I ask you, because I don’t know, can any amends be made to — the person you mentioned — by my offering her the sort and condition of man I now am?”

  “You’ve got to, haven’t you?” asked Duane.

  “Oh! Is that it? A sort of moral formality?”

  “It’s conventional; yes. It’s expected.”

  “By whom?”

  “All the mess that goes to make up this compost heap we call society.... I think she also would expect it.”

  Dysart nodded.

  “If you could make her happy it would square a great many things, Dysart.”

  The other looked up: “You?”

  “I — don’t know. Yes, in many ways; in that way at all events — if you made her happy.”

  Dysart stepped forward: “Would you be nice to her if I did? No other soul in the world knows except you. Other people would be nice to her. Would you? And would you have the woman you marry receive her?”

  “Yes.”

  “That is square of you, Mallett.... I meant to do it, anyway.... Thank you.... Good-night.”

  “Good-night,” said Duane in a low voice.

  He returned to the house late that night, and found a letter from Geraldine awaiting him; the first in three days. Seated at the library table he opened the letter and saw at once that the red-pencilled cross at the top was missing.