"Ain"t there any way of your making that infernal old tin soldier up at the State House lay his paws off our paving crew?" asked the superintendent.
"Hush, Baldwin!" chided the mayor, unruffled, speaking indulgently. "We seem to have a new war on the board! Have you forgotten, after all that has been happening in this world, that in time of war we must sacrifice public improvements and private enterprises? Go on and do your best with the paving."
"h.e.l.l is paved with good intentions, but I can"t put "em down on McNamee Avenue."
"Of course not, Baldwin! That would be using war material that will be urgently needed, if I"m any judge of these times."
"How"s that, Mister Mayor?"
"Why, the h.e.l.l architects seem to be planning an extension of the premises," drawled Morrison.
III
THE MORRISON a.s.sUMES SOME CONTRACTS
In the past, each day after lunch, Mac Tavish had been enabled to get back to the sanity of a well-conducted woolen-mill business; in the peace that descended on the office afternoons he put out of his mind the nightmare of the forenoons and tried not to think too much of what the morrows promised.
Stewart Morrison had caused it to be known in Marion that he reserved afternoons for the desk affairs of St. Ronan"s mill.
Mac Tavish always brought his lunch; he cooked it himself in his bachelor apartment and warmed it up in the office over a gas-burner at high noon.
While he was brushing the crumbs of an oaten cake off his desk, six men filed in. He knew them well. They were from the Marion Chamber of Commerce; they made up the Industrial Development Committee.
"I"m afraid we"re a bit too early to see the mayor," suggested Chairman Despeaux.
"Ye are! Nigh twenty-two hours too early to see the mayor!"
"But we "phoned the house and were told he had left to come to the office!"
"The mayor--mind ye, the _mayor_--he cooms frae the mill at--"
Mac Tavish remembered the crashing blow to his proud p.r.o.nunciamiento that forenoon, and his natural caution regarding statements caused him to hesitate. "He is supposed to coom frae the mill at ten o"clock, antemeridian! Postmeridian, Master Morrison, of St. Ronan"s--not the mayor--he cooms to his desk yon--well, when he cooms isna the concern o"
those who are speirin for a mayor."
The gentlemen of the committee exchanged wise grins, suggestively sardonic grins, and sat down.
Mac Tavish, bristling in silence over his figures, was comforted by the ever-springing hope that this intrusion might serve as the last straw on the overloaded Morrison endurance.
He perked up expectantly when Stewart came striding in. Then he wilted despondently, because Morrison greeted the gentlemen with breezy hospitality, led them beyond the rail, and gave them chairs near his desk.
"Command me! I am at your service!"
"We"re on our way to Senator Corson"s. We have been invited to meet Mr.
Daunt at lunch," said Despeaux; a thin veneer of suavity suited his thin lips.
"Fine!"
"I"m glad to hear you say so. We felt that we"d like your opinion of him and his plans before we commit ourselves."
"I like his personality," stated Stewart, heartily. "But I have only a general notion of his plans."
"Same here," admitted the chairman, though not in a tone of convincing sincerity. "The Senator brought him into my office for a minute or so before they started up-river. Told me to get the boys together and come for lunch. But if it"s to put the water-power of this state on a bigger and broader basis, you and the storage commission are with us, aren"t you?" Despeaux demanded rather than queried; his air was a bit offensive.
"I"m a citizen of Marion and a native of this state, body and soul for all the good that can come to us, by our own efforts or through the aid of outsiders," declared Morrison, s.p.a.cking his palm upon the arm of his chair.
"Well, I guess we don"t need any better promise than that, for a starter, at any rate. Of course, we knew it--but there"s nothing like having a right-out word of mouth." Despeaux rose and pulled out his watch. "We"d better move on toward the eats, boys!"
"Just a moment, however, Despeaux! My father was a Morrison and my mother a Mac Dougal. I can"t help what"s in me!"
"What is it that"s in you?" inquired Despeaux, pausing in the act of putting back his watch.
"Scotch cautiousness!"
"You don"t suspect that a man like the big Silas Daunt, of Daunt and Cropley--"
"I don"t suspect. I haven"t got as far as that! But I want to know exactly what he means by coming into this state. I have a man out getting me some facts about what kind of a devil"s mess is being stirred up all of a sudden to-day in politics. Suppose you get under Daunt"s hide and find out whether he wants to _do_ us or do _for_ us, on the water-power matter."
An observant bystander would have perceived a queer sort of crispness in Morrison"s manner from the outset of the interview; the same perspicacity would have detected something hard under the smooth surface of Despeaux"s early politeness. Mr. Despeaux was not so elaborately polite when he retorted that he did not propose to play the spy on a guest while eating a host"s victuals.
Mr. Morrison promptly put more of a snap into his crispness.
"Having balanced to partners, for politeness"s sake, Despeaux, we"ll take hold of hands and swing, with both feet on the floor. That was a good job you did in the legislative lobby two years ago for the crowd that called itself "The Consolidated Development Company." You"re a smart lawyer and we had hard work beating you."
"I"ll tell you what you franchise-owners did, Morrison! You beat a grand and comprehensive plan that was going to take in the whole state."
"It did take in a lot of folks for a time, but, thank G.o.d, it didn"t take in a few of us who were wise to the scheme. I know why you have called on me to-day. But you haven"t put me on record. Let no man of you think I have made a pledge or have committed myself till I know what"s what!"
"You"re Scotch, all right, Morrison. You"re canny! You"re for yourself and the main chance. Now let me tell you! You caught us foul two years ago because you jumped the newspapers into coming out with broadsides about a thing they didn"t understand. Their half-baked scare stuff made the state think somebody was trying to steal the whole water-power."
"According to that general franchise bill, as it was framed, somebody was!"
"Morrison, in the last two years the people have been educated to understand that broad-gaged consolidation of water-power is what we must have."
"You have put out good propaganda. That fellow you have hired is a mighty fine press-agent," admitted Morrison, smiling ingenuously.
"And the men who get in the way and try to trig development this year will be ticketed before an understanding public for what they are," declared Despeaux.
"Try me as a part of the public, and see whether I"ll understand! Ticketed as what, Brother Despeaux?"
"As profiting dogs in the manger of manufacturing, sir!"
There were expostulatory murmurs in the group.
"We"re rather non-committal as a body on this matter, Despeaux," protested a committeeman. "We"re waiting to be shown. In the mean time, we don"t like to have a man like Morrison here called any hard names."