"But, Bangs," said Minor, laughing, "what I can"t understand is why you want to bother with the check for eleven hundred and odd--whatever it is. Why not take the whole amount in cash and be done with it?"
Galusha shook his head. "I prefer it the--ah--other way. If you don"t mind," he added, politely.
"Oh, we don"t mind. But--well, it seems rather funny, that"s all. Ha, ha!"
"Does it? Yes, I--ah--dare say it does."
"Ha, ha! Yes, rather. Of course, it is your business, you know, but--"
He laughed again. The hara.s.sed Galusha waited until the laugh was over.
Then he said, gently, "Yes, I was under that impression."
"Eh? What impression?"
"That it was, as you say, my--ah--business."
"Yes. Why... Eh? Oh!... Humph!... Why, yes, surely, certainly. Here,"
turning briskly to the clerk, "give Mr. Bangs what he wishes at once."
He walked away, pulling thoughtfully at his mustache. Galusha, rubbing his chin, looked gravely after him. The clerk began making out the check. This done and the check entrusted to a messenger to be taken to the private office for signing, the next business was the counting of the money.
"Eighty-two hundred, you said?" asked the clerk.
"Eighty-two hundred--ah--yes," said Galusha.
Eight thousand was, of course, the price at par of Jethro Hallett"s four hundred shares of Wellmouth Development stock. The additional two hundred was a premium paid, so to speak, to the departed spirit of the late Mrs. Jethro Hallett. She, by or through the Chinese control of Miss Marietta Hoag, had notified her husband that he was destined to sell his Development shares at a profit, a small profit perhaps, but a profit, nevertheless.
So, when at that point of their conversation in the lantern room of the Gould"s Bluffs light, Galusha, recognizing his helpless position and the alternative of buying the Hallett holdings or being exposed to Cousin Gussie as a sentimental and idiotic spendthrift and to Martha Phipps as a liar and criminal--when Galusha, facing this alternative, stammered a willingness to go to Boston and see if he could not dispose of Jethro"s stock as he had Martha"s, the captain added an additional clause.
"I won"t sell for par," he declared stubbornly. "Julia revealed to me that I wouldn"t, and so I sha"n"t. I"ll sell for fifty cents a share extry, but I won"t sell for twenty flat. Rather than do that I"ll go to them Cabot folks myself and see if I can"t find out who"s buyin" and why. Then I"ll go to the real buyers and make the best trade I can with them. If they really want to get hold of that stock, fifty cents a share won"t stand in their way, I"ll bet you."
It did not stand in Galusha"s way, either. In his desperate position he would have paid any amount obtainable rather than have the light keeper go to Boston on such an errand.
Leaving the clerk"s window with his pocket bulging with bank notes, Mr.
Bangs proceeded sadly, but with determination, to the private office of Mr. Barbour, his cousin"s "second secretary." There, producing from another pocket a huge envelope, portentously daubed and sealed with red wax, he handed it to Barbour. It contained the two stock certificates, each signed in blank, Martha"s for two hundred and fifty shares, Captain Jethro"s for four hundred. The envelope and the wax he had procured at a stationer"s near the South Station. The obliging salesman had permitted him to do the sealing on the premises.
"Mr. Barbour," he faltered, "I should like to leave this with you, if--if quite convenient, that is to say."
Barbour turned the big envelope over.
"Yes, Mr. Bangs, surely," he said, but he looked puzzled. "What is it?"
Galusha blushed and stammered. "Why--why--" he began; "I--ah--you see--it is--ah--something of mine."
"Something you wish me to take care of?" asked Barbour, still looking at the envelope.
His caller grasped at the straw.
"Yes--yes, that is it," he said, eagerly. "Dear me, yes. If you will be so kind."
"Yes, indeed, Mr. Bangs. No trouble at all. I"ll put it--"
But the little man stopped the sentence in the middle.
"If--if you please," he protested. "Ah--please don"t. I don"t wish to know where you put it. Really, I don"t, not in the least. I very much prefer not to know where it is.... Ah--good-day, Mr. Barbour. Thank you very much."
The general opinion in the office of Cabot, Bancroft and Cabot concerning the senior partner"s queer cousin was strengthened by this visit. The surmise that Galusha Bangs was a "nut" became a conviction.
But, for the "nut" himself, life during the coming weeks and months became a much less worrisome struggle. Returning to East Wellmouth, for the second time laden with legal tender, he delivered his burden to Captain Jethro, who, in return, promised faithfully never to reveal a word concerning the sale of his Development stock or drop a hint which might help to locate its purchasers.
"Course I won"t say nothin"," vowed the captain. "I realize that business men don"t want their business talked about. And if them Cabot, Bancroft and Cabot folks are tryin" to buy in the stock, whether it"s for themselves or somebody else, they"ll want it kept dark. No, I ain"t told a soul on this earth and I WON"T tell one. That is satisfactory, ain"t it?"
The shadow of a smile pa.s.sed across Galusha"s face. "Quite, quite," he replied. "Nothing could be more so unless--"
"Well, unless what?"
"Oh, nothing, nothing. Thank you--ah--thank you very much."
It had occurred to him that, considering the light keeper"s peculiarities, the promise not to tell a soul on earth might be stretched to include those elsewhere; but he kept the thought to himself. Captain Jethro did not press his question. The shrewd old captain was so thoroughly delighted at having sold, and at the prophesied profit, his troublesome holdings in the Wellmouth Development Company, that his mood was neither combative nor inquisitive.
Galusha did not tell Miss Phipps of his business deal with the light keeper. In the first place, his telling her would involve more deception and, also, might lead to more possibilities of discovery. The average, well-meaning person, having been driven by relentless fate to the committing of murder, could scarcely have felt more conscience-stricken and depraved than did little Galusha Bangs at having lied to Martha Phipps. Of course, the lies and deceit had resulted in a distinct benefit to her and had been perpetrated solely with that idea, but this fact he ignored entirely. And no murderer could have been more anxious to hide his guilty secret than was he. So, for the first few days after his return with the light keeper"s money, he was inclined to be thoughtful and nervous, to fall into troubled trances at table or in the middle of a conversation, and to start rather violently when aroused from those trances. Primmie was disposed to attribute these lapses to disease. She confided her fears to her employer.
"You know what I think "tis makes him act so, Miss Martha?" she asked, on one occasion.
"Makes who act how?"
"Makes Mr. Bangs set there and go moonin" off and not pay no attention and then jump when you wake him up as if you"d stuck a pin in him. You know what I think "tis? I think maybe it"s dropsy."
"WHAT?"
"Um-hm. I had a great-aunt once; had a slew of "em, fur"s that goes, "cause my grandmother on the starboard side--"
"WHAT side?"
"Eh! Oh, that"s what pa used to call his side of the family, the starboard side. All ma"s folks was port side, "cordin" to his tell.
He"d worked aboard vessels, pa had; that is, as much as he ever worked anywheres. Well, anyhow, his grandmother she had eight sisters and three brothers, so I had great-aunts thicker"n miskeeters in a swamp hole--my savin" soul, yes! Well, anyhow, one of "em, Aunt Lucifer "twas--"
"PRIMMIE! WHAT was her name?"
"Lucifer. Ma and us children always called her Aunt Lucy, though; she liked it better."
"Heavens and earth! I should think she might. WHAT possessed anybody to name a child Lucifer? And a girl-child at that!"
"Does sound kind of funny, don"t it? Folks "most always used to laugh when they heard what her name was. That is, fust along they did; but they never laughed but once when she was around. Talk about makin"
anybody mad! And temper--my Lord of Isrul! Why, if they laughed at her name she was li"ble to grab hold of the fust thing come to hand, flatiron or frying pan or chunk of stove wood or anything, and let "em have it rattlety-bang-jing. _I_ never seen her do it, of course--all that was afore MY time--but pa used to say it never made no difference whether "twas the man come tryin" to collect the store bill or the minister or anybody, she"d up and flatten him just the same. Course pa said "twas a whole lot more li"ble to be the bill man than the minister "cause there was precious few ministers ever--"
"There, there, Primmie! I can"t stop to listen any longer, I"m busy. But do tell me why they named the poor thing Lucifer? How did they ever hear the name, anyway; way over in those Mashpaug woods?"
"Oh, there was a story about that, kind of a pretty story "twas, too. "Cordin" to pa"s tell, the fust time Aunt Lucy"s ma--my great grandmother, and the land knows what HER name was, _I_ don"t--the fust time she went out after the baby was born she went to camp meetin". And one of the ministers there he talked some consider"ble about a critter name of Lucifer that was a fallen-down angel, whatever that is. Well, my great-grandmother she didn"t understand much about what he was talkin"