"Oh, yes," he said. "I would have bought. It would bring me to meet this man. It is that I ask. That only. My hands would close upon him. And I would see the blood sweat of his heart ooze under them."
h.e.l.lbeam had finished. Peterman understood that. The pa.s.sion had pa.s.sed out of his eyes and the veins of his forehead were no longer distended.
He remained gazing at the window.
For some moments the younger man made no attempt to intrude further. He had little desire to, anyway. Without scruple himself, he still found little pleasure in probing the heart of this man, who was so powerful in his own destiny. That which he had witnessed had served only to show him the delicacy of his own position. He knew that the story had been told for one reason only. It was to convince him, for the sake of his own wellbeing in the Skandinavia, that he must make no mistake in the warfare he must wage against the people of Sachigo. It was for him to wage the battle with every faculty that was in him; and any failure of his would mean disaster for himself. This was no commercial warfare. It was the insane purpose of a monomaniac.
In those silent moments Elas Peterman thought with a rapidity inspired by the urgency he felt to be driving him. And the fertility of his imagination served him unfailingly. Oh yes. Necessity was driving. But so, too, was his own personal feelings. He saw in the position that this man had revealed an advantage to himself he had never looked for. With the necessary money forthcoming, and no directors to concern himself with, literally a free hand, he could employ a power which, in these days of unrest and hatred between capital and labour, would be well-nigh overwhelming. The morality of it, the ultimate consequence of it mattered nothing. The smashing of Sachigo would mean the smashing of Bull Sternford. And he saw a way whereby the smashing of Bull Sternford could be achieved through--
His mind focused itself, as it was bound to do, upon this thing as it affected his own desires. He, too, was a pa.s.sionate hater, for all h.e.l.lbeam"s denial. His thought leapt at once to Nancy McDonald and the man who had thrust himself between him and his desires. Whatever insane hatred lay behind h.e.l.lbeam"s purpose, it was not one whit more insensate than Elas Peterman"s feelings against the man who had come down from Sachigo at Nancy"s bidding.
Suddenly he looked up and glanced at the man occupying the chair that was his. h.e.l.lbeam was still gazing at the window, pre-occupied with his own thoughts.
"You can leave this thing in my hands, sir," he said. "Our organisation has been working steadily to undermine the Sachigo people for months past. That has always been part of our policy. I"d say the whole thing"s going to fit very well. You say, if necessary, you"ll find half a million dollars for the business. We shan"t need a t.i.the of that.
However, it"s well to know it. And none of it needs to worry our directors. I"ll set about it right away--in my own fashion--and I"ll promise you a quick result. We"ll smash these folk all right. But how it"s to hand you the man you need I"m not wise--"
"No." h.e.l.lbeam"s eyes were certainly derisive as they turned back from the window. "This man, Martin, will show himself when he sees the--destruction. My people will do the rest."
"Unless he leaves it--to Sternford. They tell us this man would as soon fight as laugh. That"s how Miss McDonald said the missionary, Father Adam, told her."
"Father Adam?" The derision in the financier"s eyes had deepened.
"That"s the man that other fool talks of."
Peterman shrugged. The sting in the financier"s words stirred him to resentment.
"I don"t know about that. Anyway--"
"How is it you say? Get busy. Yes."
h.e.l.lbeam rose stiffly from his seat and picked up his hat. He was quite untouched by the other"s change of tone.
"Do it how you please. Break that mill. I care nothing for the means.
Smash "em, and leave the rest to me. And when you that have done you can do the thing you please. You will have my good will. I say that. Now I go."
Peterman picked up the "phone the moment the door had closed behind the one man in all the world he really feared, and at the other end of it Nancy took the message summoning her to his presence. The man spoke with unusual urgency. But his tone was pleasant, and more than conciliatory.
He wanted her at once. She could leave her reports. She could leave everything. He had some news for her of the pleasantest nature. Oh, yes.
He had determined big things for her. She had earned them all. But a thing had happened whereby there need be no limit to her advancement if she would take the chance of a big work offered her. Would she kindly come up right away.
Nancy listened to this message with a stirring of heart. What was the great work that was to place no limit on her advancement? It was a feeling rather than a thought. For a moment she stood in her gla.s.s-part.i.tioned office after she had received the message and a smile of great happiness lit her eyes.
She was desperately earnest with a singleness of purpose which had in it something of the recklessness of the father before her. She was a child in all else. A wide vision of achievement was spread out before her. She could see nothing beyond. She could see nothing to give her pause, nothing even to bestir a belated caution. So she left her office for the interview Peterman had demanded without suspicion, and with a heart and mind ready to plunge her headlong into any labours which the Skandinavia demanded of her.
She had completely forgotten, in that moment of exultation, the squarely military figure that had pa.s.sed down the dining-room of the Chateau, and the coldly unsmiling eyes with which it had regarded her as she sat with her companion over their memorable meal.
CHAPTER XV
THE SAILING OF THE _Empress_
Bull Sternford was reading over the telegram he had just written. Its phraseology was curious. But it expressed the things he wanted to say, and he knew it would be understood by the man to whom it was addressed.
"HARKER, SACHIGO, LABRADOR.
"Sailing to-morrow. War. Pa.s.s mill through hair sieve. Clear all refuse. Watch fireguard. Look around. Plums otherwise ripe.
Return earliest date.
"BULL."
He smiled as he looked up from his reading. An acquaintance pa.s.sed through the hall of the hotel. He nodded to him. Then the smile died out of his eyes, and it was like the pa.s.sing of a gleam of sunshine. He pa.s.sed the message across the counter to the attendant and paid for it.
War! It was only an added development in the course of the ceaseless work of life. The thought of it disturbed him not one whit. It was the element in which he thrived. But for all that his mood had lost much of its usual equanimity.
For two weeks he had applied himself a.s.siduously to the work upon which he was engaged. He had travelled hundreds of miles to the other capital cities of the country in pursuit of his affairs. He had worked in that express fashion which was characteristic of him. But under it all, through it all, a depressing disappointment hung like a shadow over every successful effort he put forth. The memory of an evening at the Chateau haunted him. The vision of smiling hazel eyes and a radiant crowning of vivid hair filled every moment of his waking dreaming. He had not seen or heard of Nancy McDonald since that first night in Quebec.
To-morrow he sailed for England. The thought of it afforded him none of the satisfaction with which he had always looked forward to that journey. Yet it meant no less to him now. On the contrary. It really meant more. It meant that his work was marching forward to the great completion which was to crown his labours, and the work of those others who had conceived the task.
It should have been a wonderful moment for him. The house of Leader and Company of London had thrown its doors open to him in welcome. Sir Frank Leader with his millions, his shipping, his great power, and the confidence which his name inspired in British commercial circles, would not fail. The prospect lying ahead, for all the threatened war, should have stirred him to a keen enthusiasm that achievement was within his grasp. But none of these emotions were stirring.
He felt if he could only see Nancy McDonald, that perfect creature with her amazing beauty and splendid courage, just to exchange a few words, just to receive her smiling "bon voyage," and even to hear her laughing declaration of her frank enmity, why--it would--But there was no chance now--none at all. He sailed to-morrow.
He had dreamed a wonderful dream since first he had beheld the charming fur-clad figure enter his office at Sachigo. He had realised, even in those first moments, the impish act of Fate. Nancy McDonald was the one woman in the world who could mean life--real life to him, and they were definitely arrayed against each other in the battle for commercial supremacy in which they were both engaged.
But Fate"s act had only added to his desire. The whole thing had appealed to his combative instinct. It had left him feeling there was not alone the storming of the Skandinavia"s stronghold to be achieved.
There was also a captive, a fair, innocent captive held bound and prisoned within the citadel for him to set free. He wanted Nancy as he wanted nothing else in the world. Sachigo? Canada for the Canadians?
These things were cold, meaningless words. He only thought of the dawning of the day that should see Nancy his wife, his everything in life.
He betook himself out on to the Terraces overlooking the slowly freezing waterway of the great St. Lawrence river. It was keenly cold, and the white carpet of winter"s first snow remained unmelted on the ground. But the sun was shining, and the crisp air was sparkling, and the terraces were filled with fur-clad folk who, like himself, had found leisure for a half hour of one of the finest views in the world.
He paced leisurely down the great promenade towards the old Citadel with all its memories of great men, and the old time Buccaneers who had made history about its walls. He gazed upon it and wondered. Were they such bad old days? Were the men who lived in those times great men? Were they scoundrelly Buccaneers? Were their scruples and morals any more lax than those of to-day? Were they any different from those who walked under the shadow of the old walls? They were the questions doubtless asked a thousand times in as many minutes by those who paused to think as they contemplated this fine old landmark.
Bull found his own prompt answers. There was no difference, he told himself. The men and women of to-day were doing the same things, enduring the same emotions, fighting the same battles, living and loving, and hating and dying, just as life had ordained from the beginning of time. And as he stood there he wondered how long this round of human effort and pa.s.sion must continue. How long this--
"Why, I hadn"t an idea you were so interested in our old history as to be wasting precious time out here in the snow, Mr. Sternford."
The challenge was full of pleasant, even delighted greeting. And Bull s.n.a.t.c.hed his cigar from his lips and bared his head.
It was the voice he had longed to hear for many days. And it rang with an added charm in his delighted ears. He had turned on the instant, and stood smiling down into eyes that had never ceased from their haunting.
He shook his head.
"If you"ll believe me I wasn"t wasting time," he said. "I came out here for a very definite purpose. I"ve done the thing I hoped. Do you know I guessed I"d have to sail to-morrow without seeing you again?"
Nancy"s eyes sobered. And without their smile Bull thought he detected a cloud of trouble in them.