"Substantially. But I"m waiting for Colonel Nelson to tell you more; to tell you the whole story of our antagonism."
Martin Murphy, who had been a silent onlooker up to this point, made himself heard. "Mr. Gray, I don"t like the look of this any better than Swope does. Your quarrel with Henry is wholly your and his affair, but the welfare of the Security National is partly ours. Banks are not toys, to be juggled and played with in mischief or in spite. You say you paid high for your stock; do you intend to wreck the inst.i.tution, lose a fortune--?"
"By no means."
"That"s precisely what you will succeed in doing."
"I had ventured to hope that you three gentlemen would remain on the board."
"Am I dreaming?" Bell Nelson"s collar appeared to be choking him, and with clumsy fingers he tugged at it. "Going to kick Henry and me off the board, eh? Rob us? Well, I"m d.a.m.ned if you do! You"ll not kick us off--"
"He doesn"t want the bank," the son exclaimed, hoa.r.s.ely. "That"s all a bluff. He wants blackmail. That"s the kind of man he is. He wants his price. I know him. How much, Gray? What"ll it cost us?"
"I"ll tell you what it will cost--"
"Ha! Didn"t I say so?"
"Oh, there is a price for everything! Mine will surprise you, however, it is so low. Can"t you guess what it is?" The speaker"s intent gaze had never left Henry Nelson"s face; it was fixed there now, as cold, as relentless as the stare of a python.
Bell Nelson leaned forward, his lips parted, a new eagerness came into his purple countenance. "Well, well! What is it?" he demanded, querulously.
"Vindication!"
There was a moment of silence. "What is he talking about, Henry?"
Bell"s eyes were strained toward his son.
"I don"t know," the latter said, in a thin voice. "He"s crazy--always was."
"I"m giving you a chance, Colonel. You"d better take it. Think carefully." When there came no response to this warning, Gray shrugged.
"Very well! There is nothing further, except to complete the transfer and proceed with the business of the meeting. Mr. Briskow will be the next president, and I shall occupy the position of vice-president and treasurer now held by you--"
The effect of this declaration was electric. With a cry the younger Nelson lunged forward. Confusion followed. It was of short duration, however, for Henry found himself locked in the arms of the Briskow giant. Others lent Buddy their a.s.sistance, and, in spite of his struggles, the vice-president was flung backward upon a deep leather divan. He rose unsteadily, but, meeting Buddy"s threatening gaze and realizing the impossibility of getting past him, he cried: "Let me out of here! Let me out, d.a.m.n you! I--I"ll get you for this, Gray. Let me out, I tell you!"
"Buddy!" Gray jerked his head in the direction of the door to one of the adjoining offices. "He keeps a gun in his desk--top drawer. Get it before me makes a fool of himself." Young Briskow stepped out of the room. Gray continued, speaking to the others, "I have something to say to you gentlemen before we go on with the meeting, and I wish to say it in the presence of Colonel Nelson and his--"
"You"ll not keep me here. I refuse to stay," Henry shouted, and he pushed past Swope toward the door.
"Wait!" It was the elder Nelson speaking, and in his voice was a new note--a note of triumph. "Stock can"t be transferred at an annual meeting. It has to be done in advance--ten days, I think it is. Am I right, Senator?"
"That is the usual procedure," Senator Lowe agreed.
"Better look it up and make sure," Gray directed.
There followed a few moments of uncomfortable silence while the bank"s attorney ran through the by-laws. It seemed to those waiting that it was a long time before he frowned and shook his head.
"I--ah--I can find nothing against it. It seems I have nothing to do except transfer the shares."
"Then there won"t be any meeting!" Bell loudly declared.
The three directors greeted this remark with exclamations of genuine relief. "Sure! Let"s adjourn--put it over until--" one of them began, but the bank"s president was bellowing in rising fury at the interlopers:
"Get out! Get out of my office, d"you hear? Get out--"
"Looks to me like it"s _my_ office," Gus Briskow said, quietly, "or it will be, directly. You, Bell, put on the m.u.f.fler! I came a long ways to attend this meetin". It"s the first one I ever been to, an" it"s goin"
to happen. Shut up your fuss! I want you to hear what Mr. Gray"s got to say."
"To h.e.l.l with him, and you, too!" stormed the financier. "Hold the meeting, eh? Hold it if you dare! I defy you. Steal my bank, double-cross me--We"ll see about that. Come along, Henry."
"You"re in," Gray said, menacingly; "you"d better stay and vote your stock or you may never get back again." But neither father nor son heeded him. When they had gone he frowned. "I"m sorry. Really I am. I hoped I could force--"
"I think we"d better go, too," some one said. "This is too extraordinary--We"re in no frame of mind to go ahead--"
"I must insist that you remain long enough to hear me out. You have no right to refuse. There is something you _must_ be told."
"I"ll admit I"m curious to know what the devil it all means," Murphy, the lumberman, confessed; "but I don"t know that I should accept an explanation from you. Not after Henry"s accusations. I"ve known him and Bell for years--"
"I respect your friendship for them, and I sha"n"t expect you to put trust in my words. It seems to me, however, that you owe it to that friendship to hear me. This incident has taken a turn wholly unexpected, and, I must confess, disappointing. I looked for a different outcome--hoped I"d be able to force an explanation--" The speaker shook his head and frowned again, perplexedly. When, after a moment of indecisive murmuring, the three directors seated themselves, Gray thanked them with a bow. "I"ll be as brief as possible, and if you don"t mind I"ll stand as I talk. I"m in no mood to sit. I"ll have to go back a bit--" It was several seconds before he resumed.
"When it became evident that the United States was going to war, I managed to get in at Plattsburg and took the officers" training course.
It was easy for me to complete that course, because I had served in the Spanish War and had kept up my interest in military affairs. Something convinced those who ought to know that I possessed qualifications of unusual value to the country--a wide business experience at home and abroad, a knowledge of languages perhaps--anyhow, I was called to Washington. There I met Henry Nelson--a valuable man, too, in his way.
We were commissioned at the same time and sent overseas on the same ship to engage in the same work--military intelligence. I didn"t like the job, but it was considered important, and naturally I couldn"t pick and choose. Of course it was secret, confidential work. No need of going into that here.
"Nelson"s and my duties were identical, our authority was equal; we were ordered to work hand in hand, and although we were commissioned together, technically, he outranked me owing to the fact that he was given his commission a moment before I got mine.
"That"s where the trouble started. We clashed, even on shipboard. He proved himself to be authoritative, overbearing; he immediately a.s.sumed the position of my superior officer. I"m not a mild-tempered man, but I put up with it, figuring that our paths would soon separate. But they didn"t. When we arrived in France I tackled my job with all the energy in me; I tried for results. Nelson, I discovered in time, was concerned only in taking entire credit for all that he and I and the whole organization under us accomplished and in advancing himself. I worked; he played politics.
"You are not military men, so I sha"n"t bore you with army terms or technical details, but--by one means or another he managed to intrench himself in a position of actual authority over me not at all in accord with our purpose or our instructions. I swallowed my resentment, for it seemed rather petty, rather selfish, in a time like that, to divert my attention from the important work in hand to quarrel with him. You understand? Then, too, he was not making good and I was, and I thought time would surely cure the trouble. He must have appreciated my feelings--nevertheless, he persisted in abusing his powers; he began finally to really interfere with me, to call me off of important tasks and humiliate me with futile a.s.signments, and I realized that I was threatened with failure through his meddling. This may sound trivial to you"--the speaker raised his eyes to his audience--"but, take my word for it, there were many instances of the kind over there. Jealousy, intrigue, malevolence, petty spite, drove more than one earnest, patriotic officer to rebellion and--ruined many a career.
"I rebelled. I had to, or be made ridiculous. I warned him, privately, as man to man. He ignored the warning. Then I prepared a complete report showing by the copies of his orders, by the records of our respective accomplishments, by our correspondence, how he had systematically and maliciously endeavored to nullify my work and--and the like. It was not a pretty report to read. I turned it in to him for submission higher up.
"Then it was that he outgeneraled me. He was furious, of course, but he apologized--abjectly. He admitted that he had been wrong; that he had imposed upon me. He promised to play fair if I"d permit him to withhold the report, and--I was deceived. No man likes to be thought a cry-baby.
Those were eventful times; personal complaints were not welcomed in any quarter--not with the world rocking on its foundations. I was glad to accept his promises.
"For a while we worked in harmony. I became engaged in an intricate case, having to do with a leak concerning transport sailings and routes--a matter involving the lives of thousands of our boys, millions of dollars in supplies, and I went to Brest, under cover. It had to be handled with extreme care--some danger about it, too. A very interesting case, I a.s.sure you. I lived in a house with some of the people under surveillance. One of them was a woman, extremely attractive--thoroughly unscrupulous. My avenue of approach was through her. Nelson, of course, knew what I was doing; he was about the only one who did.
"I worked a long while and I was upon the verge of success--it would have been a real accomplishment, too--when, without apparent cause, the gang took warning, scattered, the whole thing blew up. Months of work for nothing! I had made worse than a failure this time."
"You mean to accuse Henry of--of treachery of that sort?" Swope inquired.
"I do. And that"s not all. Out of a clear sky charges were preferred against me. Outrageous charges in which that woman figured." Up to this point Gray had spoken smoothly, rapidly, but now his tone changed, his words became hesitant, jerky. "I was amazed! Joke, I called it at first. Sort of a blanket indictment, it was, charging me with inefficiency, negligence, exceeding my authority, dishonesty--and things even worse. Those were some of the least serious, the least--nasty. It was all too absurd! Being peculiarly vain and sensitive, my impulse was to shoot Henry Nelson. But I couldn"t believe the charges would be taken seriously.
"Well, there was an investigation. I was court-martialed. I disproved a good deal; I think I"d have exonerated myself on every count only for the woman--that one I spoke about. She turned the trick. I was found guilty, disgraced, sent back. Even though you are not military men, you can appreciate the extent of my dishonor.
"There, gentlemen, you have in a few words an unconvincing summary of a long and complicated story--one that I detest telling. However, I could not permit you to sit with me at the directors" table of this bank without knowing who I am, what I am, and why I have run that rat into his hole. Colonel Nelson spoke the truth when he said this was purely a personal matter between us. It is so purely personal that I was willing to spare humiliation to his father--leave Old Bell in control of his bank and end our fight--if he"d right that old wrong. But you heard him refuse. So they must both fall. He said I"ve been persecuting him--"
Gray smiled grimly. "Let me tell you how. That disgrace cost me my friends, and what money I had, for I tried long and earnestly to get back, to get a rehearing, to enter the navy--anything to re-establish myself. Failing that, I came to Texas. I came without a dollar, without an acquaintance, and--began my "persecution" of Henry Nelson. I began it by coming here to the bank and telling him what I was up to. I put him on guard, and we engaged each other, as the French would say, "to the death." I--won. That"s all there is to the story."
"Well, I"ll be d.a.m.ned!" Martin Murphy exclaimed.