He realized at once that the shot had been badly fired, and that he had thrown away ammunition which at a fitter season might have satisfied his thirst for vengeance; but Colonel Craighill had grown calm under his son’s outburst. He had a reputation for tactful negotiation. There was something that he wished to get from his son, and while the temptation to inveigh against Wayne’s unfilial conduct in disposing of the Mexican securities without notice was strong, Colonel Craighill waited a moment to mark a change of subject and when he spoke his tone was amiable.
“I’m sorry you have so much feeling about the matter. I’m a little surprised, that’s all, that you should have left the Mexican venture without telling me; but it’s not of the slightest consequence. But while we’re speaking of such things—your holdings in companies that I’m connected with—I just heard that you’ve acquired the forty shares of Sand Creek stock that were owned by the Moore estate. Is that correct?”
“Yes; I have them,” and Wayne’s anger burned hot again as he remembered the spirit in which he had acquired the shares and the chiding he had received from his father for overdrawing his account to buy them.
“I’m going to ask you, as a special favour, to let me buy them of you, Wayne,” Colonel Craighill went on calmly. He laughed lightly to minimize the importance of the favour he asked. He knew perfectly how to manage such things, for whatever he lacked in other particulars Colonel Craighill was skilled in the arts of business diplomacy. He created an atmosphere of amity, and Wayne was angry because he felt the spell of it. Colonel Craighill continued as though he were in the daily habit of exchanging courtesies with his son, to emphasize more and more the fact that this was a favour he asked. Wayne knew that he had blundered. If his father asked for the Sand Creek shares in this spirit he could only save his own dignity by relinquishing them.
“You see the Hercules National people helped me finance the Sand Creek deal, and they got their friends interested. Moore was one of our friends and it was assumed, of course, that we’d get those shares from his estate. I’ll go a bit further with you, Wayne. The Hercules is carrying my paper for a large amount and they were very decent in October when the pinch came; and until I can make a turn or two in other directions I’m not in a position to displease them. I should take it as a great favour if you would let me have those shares—at your own price.”
Colonel Craighill smiled into his son’s eyes.
“Certainly, father, you shall have them at the price I paid. I’ll get them from the vault immediately.”
A few minutes later he closed his desk with a slam and prepared to leave. He had weakly yielded to his father’s easy, conciliatory speech and the thought of his supineness sharpened his hatred of his father to its keenest edge; but the blade in his hand was an incompetent, worthless thing. He was as weak as Hamlet before the gates of opportunity. He was out of patience with himself; he had boasted a moment before that he was no fool, but without turning a hand his father had tamed him to do his bidding. He felt depression seizing him; the fierce thirst cried in his blood, and there was only one cure for that.
The telephone tinkled and he snatched the receiver impatiently. Paddock spoke to him from the parish house at Ironstead. Joe Denny, the chauffeur, was there, very ill, and had asked for Wayne. The current of his thought immediately changed; he had utterly forgotten Joe, and he at once took the trolley for Ironstead.