After the hot night in town, with its unrefreshing sleep, and the untasted breakfast which followed, Ralph sat in his office listless and limp, with nothing to brace him but that hateful sherry in the dressing-room. It was ten o'clock. The train from St. Euphrase must have arrived, but his son had not yet appeared, when Jordan hurried in, closing the door behind him, and fastening it.
"You were not on the train this morning, Herkimer. Were you trying to give a man the slip?--and unload before any one else knew?"
"Unload? Slip? I remained in town last night. What do you mean? Is anything wrong?"
"Podevin tells me he heard some of the men, who were drinking in his bar, talking. They were telling each other that our lode was no true vein, that every bit of metal would be out in three months' time, and they would all be thrown idle. They were the only people in the place at the time; Podevin took them in hand, and made them promise to hold their tongues; but it's all coming out, can only be a question of a day or two. He came to me in a d--l of a funk--says he will be ruined, as everything he has is in it. To tell you the truth, I shall be hard hit myself--have never sold a share, and I have been buying. I do think you might have given me a hint."
"My dear sir, I am a heavier holder than you and Podevin both put together. The price has been going up so steadily I did not care to sell; it might have injured the property for the rest of you; and this is the first I have heard of a threatening collapse. We must sell at once, that is all."
"Too late, I fear, though I am now on my way to my broker. You will be selling, too? Wish I had known enough to hold my tongue till after I had unloaded," he added with a nervous pretence of hilarity. "Well! I'm off."
"Don't be a fool, Jordan. Of course I don't blame you for wishing to save yourself, I do the same; but perhaps it is just as well you came in and told me first. I mean those shares to go higher yet before I sell. I have all along known there was a possibility of what you tell me coming to pass, though I had hoped to get shut of the thing before it took place, and I would have preferred to slip out quietly. There will be a row, now, perhaps; but what of that? If it must be, we can weather it, so long as we save our money. It was to provide against such a contingency that I had that fence built round the operations, to keep prying fools on the outside; and you know how well that has answered. I see by the Journal they have been finding indications of silver; if we inclose another hundred acres it will be taken to indicate gold and diamonds. But no, that would be too slow, and some one would blab in the meantime. I must telegraph the superintendent to work over-time, and contrive that the men do not go into the village. I shall telegraph to the directors, too, and hold a board meeting. It is handy having men so easily within call, and yet so innocent of business. You had better be present as solicitor, and convince yourself that we are not stealing a march. And then----"
"You wish me, then, not to offer my stock to-day?" said Jordan dubiously. The saw tells us there is honour among thieves, and perhaps there sometimes is, but there is seldom confidence among the over-sharp.
"As to that," cried Ralph scornfully, "you can please yourself. Go to your brokers, by all means, if you think well. Or, if you would like to save brokerage, you can just speak to Stinson as you go out. Tell him what you want to sell, and I shall buy at yesterday's quotation;" and he lay back in his chair with a cheerful smile, and twiddled his gold chain exactly like the prosperous millionaire his neighbours thought him.
Jordan looked and hesitated, and bit his nails, and then his brow cleared, and he drew a long sigh of supreme relief. "Well!" he said, smiling effusively, "you know more about it than I do. I'll trust your advice, and hold on till to-morrow."