“By gad, sir, you shall have our proxies,” said Mr. Weddell, at length.
“It would be well not to let Mr. Greener suspect this,” added Rock. And the banker agreed with him.
Weddell, Hopkins & Co. held 14,000 shares of Iowa Midland stock, and on the next day Rock received their proxies. Coming from so well-known, so notoriously anti-Greener a house, they served as credentials to him, and he was able to convince many doubting Thomases. He secured proxies from practically all the anti-Greener stock held in the city, as well as in Philadelphia and Boston.
His day-long absences from the office aroused no suspicions there, since everybody thought he was working in the interest of Brown & Greener, including Messrs. Brown & Greener. All told, the proxies he had secured from Mr. Greener’s friends and from his foes amounted to 61,830 shares. It was really a remarkable performance. He felt very proud of it. As to consequences, he had carefully weighed them. He was working for Frederick Rock. He was bound to succeed, on whichever side the coin came down.
Mr. Greener called him into the private office.
“Mr. Rock, how about those Iowa Midland proxies?”
“I have them safe,” answered the clerk, a bit defiantly.
“How many?”
Rock pulled out a piece of paper, though he knew the figures by heart. He said, in a tone he endeavored to make nonchalant: “I have exactly 61,830 shares.”
“What? What?” The Napoleon’s voice overflowed with astonishment.