"A fine socialistic theory!" they said. "Mac, how much of a soviet retainer are you handling? Where'd you pick up this radical, anyhow?"
Macgowan did not laugh; he merely argued, on the basis of Armstrong's detailed plan of operations. When Lawrence Macgowan argued, the gods were themselves confounded. In this instance, Macgowan flung himself into the fight whole-heartedly, with amazing vigor and energy. One would have said that he fought for himself, rather than for Armstrong. Or, perhaps, he fought for Armstrong's ideal, which he was making his own.
At all events, Macgowan won the fight. Consolidated went through, and Armstrong found himself secure in the control of this holding company, free to embark upon the larger dream. Nor was he blind to the danger that now threatened. Macgowan had once or twice warned him that Findlater had scented blood, that the other directors were sniffing uneasily; all except old Judge Holcomb, who was true as steel. Jimmy Wren had perceived it, too.
Small good it would do them! Armstrong's control was secure. The Armstrong Company, the selling organization through which he reached out to those thousands of investors, was devoted to him, was his alone. Jimmy Wren, its manager, held for Armstrong a dog-like trust and affection. The investors themselves were his; a supremely important fact, this! It was not the organization but Reese Armstrong whom they trusted.
Macgowan held a block of stock in Consolidated, and was content; he drew fees only for his services as Armstrong's personal attorney. In all the months of their close fellowship, Armstrong had never known his friend to ask an unworthy favor. There were no relatives to be given soft jobs. There were no hangers-on to be handed sinecures. Mac stood four-square.
A few short weeks before his marriage, when first arose this suspicion of loot-madness on the part of Findlater and his friends, Armstrong instructed Macgowan to handle the matter. He himself would be busy, would be away; he had more implicit confidence in Macgowan's ability to handle things smoothly than in his own.
"I'll take care of it," said the attorney. "But time has run along since we mapped out Consolidated's scheme of operations. That voting trust, for example."
Armstrong reflected briefly. At the formation of the selling company, the Armstrong Company, he had placed most of his common or voting stock of Consolidated Securities in a voting trust. Macgowan, Findlater and Jimmy Wren, who was secretary of consolidated as well as manager of the Armstrong Company, controlled this trust, all shares being pooled. Since Macgowan and Jimmy Wren were unalterably Armstrong's spokesmen, this let him control Consolidated without figuring too prominently in that control.
Now, as he stared into the log fire and remembered these things, Armstrong recalled verbatim that short conversation with Lawrence Macgowan.
"Then the trust has expired, Mac?"