STANLEY WILBERTON arose and walked to the door. Griscom accompanied him from the room.
Ballantyne began to expostulate, arguing with the Cooper-Lowden man. Lamont Cranston watched them with unchanging expression.
Howard Griscom returned. He looked at George Ballantyne. The secretary of the United Theater Corporation arose and faced the gathering.
“There are two men,” he said, “who hold the key to this merger. I am one. Howard Griscom is the other. We represent United Theaters, and it is we who are threatened.
“I, for one, will not pay tribute! I will fight the racket! While I live, gentlemen, the merger will not go through under such conditions, if I can help it! What do you say, Howard?”
There was a pathetic expression upon Griscom’s face. The man had become older.
He knew that, with Ballantyne, he was the only one who could block the path of the merger. His dreams of many years had seemed on the point of realization. Even now, a word from him, and Ballantyne could be overruled.
But Howard Griscom did not speak that word. Instead, he reached across the table and shook Ballantyne’s hand.
“All right,” the leader of the Cooper-Lowden interests interposed. “I don’t agree with you two, but I admire your stand.
“We’re ready for the merger, and we’re willing to let the public pay for what we may have to hand to racketeers. We’ll go through with it any time you say the word!”