Gray was still staring at the junior Nelson; it was to him more than to the father that he spoke: "Sold out is right! It came high, but I think it was worth the price. We intend to vote our stock."
"By that I infer that you're going to take the bank over—take its management away from Bell and Henry?" Bennett Swope ventured.
"Naturally."
The elder Nelson voiced an unintelligible exclamation.
"That's a pretty rough deal. Bell has put his life into it. It is an—an institution, a credit to the community. It would be a misfortune if it fell into the hands of—into the control of somebody who—" The ranchman hesitated, then blurted forth, angrily: "Well, I don't like the look of this thing. I want to know what it means."
"I'll tell you," Henry cried, unevenly. "I'll tell you what it means. Persecution! Revenge! Hatred! I quarreled with this man, in France. He's vindictive; he followed me here—tried every way to ruin me—cost me thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars. Father and I were—we were pinched. We had to realize some quick money to protect our oil holdings—offsets and the like—and we sold a lot of our stock with the understanding that we could—that we would buy it back at a higher figure. We only borrowed on it, you might say—hypothecated it. We thought we were dealing with friends, but—Friends! My God!" The speaker seized his head.
"The stock was not hypothecated. You sold it," Gray said, quietly, "and we bought it in."
"It is all a personal matter, a grudge."
"Is that true, Mr. Gray?" Swope inquired.
"Substantially. But I'm waiting for Colonel Nelson to tell you more; to tell you the whole story of our antagonism."