There followed a few moments of uncomfortable silence while the bank's attorney ran through the by-laws. It seemed to those waiting that it was a long time before he frowned and shook his head.
"I—ah—I can find nothing against it. It seems I have nothing to do except transfer the shares."
"Then there won't be any meeting!" Bell loudly declared.
The three directors greeted this remark with exclamations of genuine relief. "Sure! Let's adjourn—put it over until—" one of them began, but the bank's president was bellowing in rising fury at the interlopers:
"Get out! Get out of my office, d'you hear? Get out—"
"Looks to me like it's my office," Gus Briskow said, quietly, "or it will be, directly. You, Bell, put on the muffler! I came a long ways to attend this meetin'. It's the first one I ever been to, an' it's goin' to happen. Shut up your fuss! I want you to hear what Mr. Gray's got to say."
"To hell with him, and you, too!" stormed the financier. "Hold the meeting, eh? Hold it if you dare! I defy you. Steal my bank, double-cross me—We'll see about that. Come along, Henry."
"You're in," Gray said, menacingly; "you'd better stay and vote your stock or you may never get back again." But neither father nor son heeded him. When they had gone he frowned. "I'm sorry. Really I am. I hoped I could force—"
"I think we'd better go, too," some one said. "This is too extraordinary—We're in no frame of mind to go ahead—"
"I must insist that you remain long enough to hear me out. You have no right to refuse. There is something you must be told."