"Good enough to make me forget the sort of thing I was doing. Good enough to blind me as to how things might come out. But I see now! And I"m through with it all!"
The chubby little man"s eyes were on fire. But he was too experienced in his trade to allow much liberty to anger.
"And that"s final--that"s where you stand?" he asked with comparative calm.
"That"s where I stand!" cried Blake. "I may have got started crooked, but I"m through with this kind of business now! I"m going back to clean ways! And you, Mr. Brown, you might as well say good-by!"
But Mr. Brown was an old campaigner. He never abandoned a battle merely because it apparently seemed lost. He now leaned back in his chair, slowly crossed his short legs, and thoughtfully regarded Blake"s excited features. His own countenance had changed its aspect; it had shed its recent hardness, and had not resumed its original cheeriness. It was eminently a reasonable face.
"Come, let"s talk this whole matter over in a calm manner," he began in a rather soothing tone. "Neither of us wants to be too hasty. There are a few points I"d like to call your attention to, if you"ll let me."
"Go ahead with your points," said Blake. "But they won"t change my decision."
"First, let"s talk about the company," Mr. Brown went on in his mild, persuasive manner. "Frankly, you"ve put the company in a hole.
Believing that you would keep your end of the bargain, the company has invested a lot of money and started a lot of projects. We bought up practically all the stock of the Westville street car lines, when that munic.i.p.al ownership talk drove the price so low, because we expected to get a new franchise through your smashing this munic.i.p.al ownership fallacy. We have counted on big things from the water-works when you got hold of it for us. And we have plans on foot in several other cities of the state, and we"ve been counting on the failure of munic.i.p.al ownership in Westville to have a big influence on those cities and to help us in getting what we want. In one way and another this deal here means an awful lot to the company. Your failing us at the last moment means to the company----"
"I understand all that," interrupted Blake.
"Here"s a point for you to consider then: Since the company has banked so much upon your promise, since it will lose so heavily if you repudiate your word, are you not bound in honour to stand by your agreement?"
Blake opened his lips, but Mr. Brown raised a hand.
"Don"t answer now. I just leave that for you to think upon. So much for the company. Now for yourself. We promised you if you carried this deal through--and you know how able we are to keep our promise!--we promised you Grayson"s seat in the Senate. And after that, with your ability and our support, who knows where you"d stop?" Mr. Brown"s voice became yet more soft and persuasive. "Isn"t that a lot to throw overboard because of a scruple?"
"I can win all that, or part of it, by being loyal to the people,"
Blake replied doggedly, but in a rather unsteady tone.
"Come, come, Mr. Blake," said Brown reprovingly, "you know you"re not talking sense. You know that the only quick and sure way of getting the big offices is by the help of the corporations. So you realize what you"re losing."
Blake"s face had become drawn and pale. He closed his eyes, as though to shut out the visions of the kingdoms Mr. Brown had conjured up.
"I"m ready to lose it!" he cried.
"All right, then," Mr. Brown went mildly on. "So much for what we lose, and what you lose. Now for the next point, the action you intend to take regarding Doctor West. Do you mind telling me just how you propose to undo what you have done so far?"
"I haven"t thought it out yet. But I can do it."
"Of course," pursued Mr. Brown blandly, "you propose to do it so that you will appear in no way to be involved?"
Blake was thinking of Katherine"s accusation. "Of course."
"Just suppose you think about that point for a minute or two."
There was a brief silence. When Mr. Brown next spoke he spoke very slowly and accompanied each word with a gentle tap of his forefinger on the desk.
"Can you think of a single way to clear Doctor West without incriminating yourself?"
Blake gave a start.
"What"s that?"
"Can you get Doctor West out of his trouble without showing who got him into his trouble? Just think that over."
During the moment of silence Blake grew yet more pale.
"I"ll kill the case somehow!" he breathed.
"But the case looks very strong against Doctor West. Everybody believes him guilty. Do you think you can suddenly, within twenty-four hours, reverse the whole situation, and not run some risk of having suspicion shift around to you?"
Blake"s eyes fell to his desk, and he sat staring whitely at it.
"And there"s still another matter," pursued the gentle voice of Mr.
Brown, now grown apologetic. "I wouldn"t think of mentioning it, but I want you to have every consideration before you. I believe I never told you that the National Electric & Water Company own the majority stock of the Acme Filter Company."
"No, I didn"t know that."
"It was because of that mutual relationship that I was able to help out your little plan by getting Marcy to do what he did. Now if some of our directors should feel sore at the way you"ve thrown us down, they might take it into their minds to make things unpleasant for you."
"Unpleasant? How?"
Mr. Brown"s fatherly smile had now come back. It was full of concern for Blake.
"Well, I"d hate, for instance, to see them use their pressure to drive Mr. Marcy to make a statement."
"Mr. Marcy? A statement?"
"Because," continued Mr. Brown in his tone of fatherly concern, "after Mr. Marcy had stated what he knows about this case, I"m afraid there wouldn"t be much chance for you to win any high places by being loyal to the people."
For a moment after this velvet threat Blake held upon Mr. Brown an open-lipped, ashen face. Then, without a word, he leaned his elbows upon his desk and buried his face in his hands. For a long s.p.a.ce there was silence in the room. Mr. Brown"s eyes, kind no longer, but keenest of the keen, watched the form before him, timing the right second to strike again.
At length he recrossed his legs.
"Of course it"s up to you to decide, and what you say goes," he went on in his amiable voice. "But speaking impartially, and as a friend, it strikes me that you"ve gone too far in this matter to draw back. It strikes me that the best and only thing is to go straight ahead."
Blake"s head remained bowed in his hands, and he did not speak.
"And, of course," pursued Mr. Brown, "if you should decide in favour of the original agreement, our promise still stands good--Senate and all."
Mr. Brown said no more, but sat watching his man. Again there was a long silence. Then Blake raised his face--and a changed face it was indeed from that which had fallen into his hands. It bore the marks of a mighty struggle, but it was hard and resolute--the face of a man who has cast all hesitancy behind.
"The agreement still stands," he said.
"Then you"re ready to go ahead?"
"To the very end," said Blake.
Mr. Brown nodded. "I was sure you"d decide that way," said he.
"I want to thank you for what you"ve said to bring me around," Blake continued in his new incisive tone. "But it is only fair to tell you that this was only a spell--not the first one, in fact--and that I would have come to my senses anyhow."