"I"ve not heard--yet," he said. "She should be."
"You not have heard--yet?" The challenge was superlatively offensive.
"You a beautiful secretary have. You lose her for weeks--months. Yet you do not know of her return--yet? Sho! You are not the man for this beautiful secretary. She for me is--yes? Hah!"
Peterman smiled as was his duty.
"I shall be glad to get her back," he said quietly. "But I haven"t heard from her at all. And--well, she"s not the sort of woman to bombard with telegrams. She"s out on a difficult job and I felt it best to leave her to it. I shall hear when she"s ready, I guess she"ll be right along in to tell me personally. Maybe--"
He broke off and picked up the telephone whose buzzer was rattling impatiently on the desk.
"Hullo!" he said softly. "Oh, yes. Oh, how are you? So glad you"ve got back. What sort of pa.s.sage did--oh, bad, eh? Well, well; I"m sorry. Oh, you"re a good sailor. That"s fine. Right away? You"ll be over right away? Wouldn"t you like to rest awhile? All right, I see. Yes, surely I"ll be glad. I just thought--oh, not at all. You see, if you were a man I wouldn"t be concerned at all. Yes, come right along whenever you choose. Eh? Successful? You have been? Why, that"s just fine. Well, I"m dying to hear your news. Splendid. I shall be here. G"bye."
Peterman set the "phone down. His smiling eyes challenged those of the man who a moment before had derided him.
"Well?"
h.e.l.lbeam"s impatience was without scruple at any time.
"She"s got back all right, and she"s succeeded far better than you hoped. Better than she hoped herself. But--no better than I expected."
The other"s eyes snapped under the quiet satisfaction of the man"s reply.
"Ah, she has. Does she say--yes?"
Elas shook his dark head.
"No. She"s coming right over to tell me the whole story."
"Now?"
"In a while."
Elas Peterman knew his position to the last fraction when dealing with Nathaniel h.e.l.lbeam. He knew it was for him to obey, almost without question. But somehow, for the moment, his Teutonic self-abnegation had become obscured. He was yielding nothing in the matter of this woman to anyone. Not even to Nathaniel h.e.l.lbeam whom he regarded almost as the master of his destiny.
Perhaps the gross nature of the financier possessed a certain sympathy.
Perhaps even there was a lurking sense of honour in him, where a woman, whom he regarded as another man"s property, was concerned. Again it may simply have been that he understood the other"s reticence, and it suited him for the moment to restrain his grosser inclinations. He laughed. And it was not an hilarious effort.
"Oh, yes," he said. "You will see her first. That is as it should be.
Later, we both will talk with her. Well--good luck my friend."
h.e.l.lbeam thrust his hat on his great head and strutted his way across to the door.
"These people must be bought. Or--" he said, pausing before pa.s.sing out--
"Smashed!"
h.e.l.lbeam nodded.
"It suits me better to--buy."
"Yes. You want to come into touch with--the owner."
"Yes."
The gross figure disappeared through the doorway.
Peterman did not return to his desk. He crossed to the window and stood gazing out of it. His hands were thrust deep into his pockets. And his fingers moved nervously, rattling the contents of them. He was a goodly specimen of manhood. He was tall, and squarely erect, and carried himself with that military bearing which seems to belong to all the races of Teutonic origin. It was only in the study of the man"s face that exception could be taken. Just now there was none to observe and he was free from all restraint.
His dark eyes were smiling, for his thoughts were streaming along the channel that most appealed. He was thinking of the beauty of the girl who was about to return to him, and it seemed to him a pity she was so simply honest, so very young in the world as he understood it. Then her ambition. It was--but he was rather glad of her ambition. Ambition might prove his best friend in the end. In his philosophy an ambitious woman could have no scruple. Anyway it seemed to him that ambition pitted against scruple was an easy winner. He could play on that, and he felt he knew how to play on it, and was in a position to do so. She had come back to him successful. He wondered how successful.
He moved from the window and pa.s.sed over to the desk, where he picked up his "phone and asked for a number.
"Hullo! Oh, that Bennetts? Oh, yes. This is Peterman--Elas Peterman speaking. Did you send that fruit, and the flowers I ordered to the address I gave you? Yes? Oh, you did? They were there before eleven o"clock. Good. Thanks--"
He set the "phone down and turned away. But in a moment he was recalled.
It was a message from downstairs. Nancy McDonald wished to see him.
Peterman was leaning back in his chair. Nancy was occupying the chair beside the desk which had not known her for several months.
It was a moment of stirring emotions. For the girl it was that moment to which she had so long looked forward. To her it seemed she was about to vindicate this man"s confidence in her, and offer him an adequate return such as her grat.i.tude desired to make. And deep down in her heart, where the flame of ambition steadily burned, she felt she had earned the promised reward, all of it.
The man was concerned with none of these things. He was not even concerned for the girl"s completed mission. It was Nancy herself. It was the charming face with its halo of red hair, and the delightful figure so rounded, so full of warmth and charm, which concerned him.
He had no scruple as he feasted his eyes upon her. He did nothing to disguise his admiration, and Nancy, full of her news and the thrilling joy of her success, saw nothing of that which a less absorbed woman, a more experienced woman, must unfailingly have observed.
"You"ve a big story for me," Peterman said, with a light laugh. "Have you completed an option on--Sachigo? You look well. You"re looking fine.
Travelling in Labrador seems to have done you good."
Nancy"s smiling eyes were alight with delight.
"Oh, yes," she said. "It"s done me good. But then I"ve had a success I didn"t reckon on. Maybe it"s made all the difference. It was a real tough journey. I"m not sure you"d have seen me back at all if it hadn"t been for Mr. Sternford."
"How?"
The man"s smiling eyes had changed. Their dark depths were full of sharp enquiry. Nancy read only anxiety.
"Why, we were sitting on deck, and it was storming. It was just terrible. We lurched heavily and shipped a great sea. Our chairs were flung into the scuppers by the rush of water, and I--why, I guess I was beaten unconscious and drowning when he got hold of me. He just fought his way to safety. I didn"t know about it till I was safe down in the saloon. I woke up then, and he was carrying me--"
"Sternford?"
The change in the man"s eyes had deepened. Then his smile came back to them. But that, too, was different. It was curiously fixed and hard.
"You"ve gone a bit too fast for me," he said. "I don"t get things right.
Sternford, the man running Sachigo was with you on the _Myra_? He"s here--in Quebec?"
It was Nancy"s great moment.