“Well, Rankin couldn’t have done anything with our company, because the element of premeditation is assumed if death by suicide occurs within two years from the time the policy is issued. After that the manner of death cuts no figure, for the courts have held that an insurance company takes a risk on the mind as well as the body of a policy-holder, and, anyway, competition has cut out the old suicide restrictions. But there are companies that issue policies incontestable after the date of issue. Suppose Rankin, when he found his affairs in such shape that he no longer dared to face the world, had gone to one or more of these companies. A hundred thousand dollars—very likely less—would have protected his bank and provided for his family. He had already decided to kill himself, for his operations had been such that he could not hope to escape the penitentiary when discovery came, but he was ostensibly still a prosperous man. Many men of his standing insure themselves for extraordinarily large sums, to protect legitimately their business interests as well as their families.
“Not so very long ago we issued a paid-up policy for fifty thousand dollars on the life of one man, who died within three years, and we thought nothing of it. He was taking a risk on his own life then, for he thought he was going to live long enough to make a paid-up policy cheaper than the aggregate of annual payments, whereas there would have been a saving to his estate of a good many thousands of dollars if he had followed the other plan. However, that has nothing to do with this case; I mention it only to show that a man of Rankin’s apparent standing could have got insurance to any amount without creating comment. And, with an incontestable-after-date-of-issue policy, he could have protected his business associates and his family by the very culmination of his overwhelming disgrace. Why, a defaulter could use part of his stolen money in this way to provide for his family when the moment of discovery and death shall come, or a dishonest business man, facing ruin, could use his creditors’ money to make such provision, for insurance money is something sacred, that can not be reached like the rest of an estate. Oh, there are great dramatic possibilities in this business, Lake—tragedies and comedies and dramas of which the public knows nothing.”
“How does that help me?” demanded Lake gloomily, and the question brought Murray back to the realities of the moment.
“It doesn’t help you,” Murray replied, “but it’s an intensely interesting subject to one who gives it a little time and thought.”
Yet it did help Lake, although not at that moment. It was a new field, and Lake liked to explore new fields. A novelty that taxed his ingenuity appealed to him especially. True, he had enough to occupy his mind without entering upon idle speculation, but, when every other avenue to success seemed closed, his thoughts would revert to insurance.
“If it holds out such opportunities for others, why not for me?” he asked. “If others have entirely overlooked the possibilities, why may not I be doing the same thing?”
He met the colonel on the street occasionally, and the way the colonel smiled at him was maddening. There could be no doubt that the colonel considered the game won, but he was not a man to take chances: he had Lake watched, and the latter’s every move was reported to him. Even when Lake made another trip to Bington and endeavored to arrange a shrewd deal with some of the majority stock-holders, the colonel promptly heard of it.
“Accept my notes in payment for the stock,” Lake urged on that occasion, “and I’ll let you in on the profits of the deal. The traction company has got to get this road, but you can’t hold it up for a big price, because you were foolish enough to give it a second option. I can do it, however. Let me have the stock, and you can divide up among yourselves half of all I get in excess of the option price. My notes will be paid, and you will have a bonus of twelve or fifteen thousand dollars.”
But the stock-holders were conservative and cautious men, and the very fact that Lake could not command the money that he needed made them suspicious. As matters stood, they were sure of getting out of a losing venture with a small profit—at least, so it seemed to them—and they preferred that to the risk of losing everything in an effort to secure a larger profit. Furthermore, they were now on the side of the colonel, for his option was at a larger price. And the colonel was very confident—so confident that work was being rushed on details that would prove valueless without the Bington road. This was what made Lake desperately angry; it was humiliating to be treated as a helpless weakling.
As valuable time passed, his mind reverted again to the insurance field. His opportunity—the opportunity of a lifetime—was almost lost. The colonel, wishing to lose no time, had arranged for a meeting with certain of the majority stock-holders the day the first option expired. The option expired at noon, and the colonel would be ready to take over what stock he needed at one minute after the noon hour. This would not be very much, in view of the minority stock he already held, but the sanguine stock-holders did not know this: they expected him to take all of it.