"But I do."
"And pray, Mr. Jordan, what of that? You are not a director of this company--only the solicitor, its paid professional adviser. Send in your bill, it will be filed with the rest of the claims, and rank as the law prescribes when we go into liquidation."
"Good God! Ralph. It will ruin me!" Jordan had grown all white now, and beads of moisture were standing on his forehead. "We must stave off this argument in court. The shares will be unsaleable at a cent in the dollar. As it is, my brokers have been able to get off none for three days back--some inkling of this, no doubt. But if I can stave off the argument in court for a fortnight, there will be time for us to circulate encouraging rumours."
"Us? What have I to do with it? I will have no hand in circulating false reports. Understand that clearly, Mr. Jordan. I wonder what I can have done"--turning to Stinson, who stood by the door enjoying the comedy--"to give any one the right to approach me with such a proposal," and he blew his nose loudly, grinning the while under cover of his pocket-handkerchief.
"Do you want to ruin me, Herkimer? I have all the shares I ever took up still on my hands, not only those I subscribed for, but all Rouget's, and I was to have given him up his mortgage in payment of them; but I had already realized that, and bought more of your infernal shares with the money; and now, the fat's in the fire! If I can't unload I am a ruined and a dishonoured man. Everything I have will go, and then the Law Society will come down on me for irregularities, when I have lost the ability to square the benchers, and I shall be disbarred. Ralph!" and he clasped his hands, "I shall be ruined if you do not help me at this pinch. You must!"
"I don't seem to see it. I fear it is impossible. Unfortunate, of course; but just what happens constantly, when a man leaves the groove of his own profession, and ventures into fields of enterprise he does not understand, and has no experience in. You lawyers are so very superior to the rest of us. You go into court and talk so glibly of our affairs, and so much more knowingly than we can do ourselves, that by-and-by you persuade yourselves that you really understand them. Then you try a hand at them yourselves, and then you cut your fingers. It is droll, my dear fellow. Forgive my saying so, but as a man of the world you must see it yourself; and if only it had been some one else you would have appreciated the humour of the situation thoroughly."
"Keep your jesting, Mr. Herkimer, for a more seemly opportunity," cried Jordan, rallying into something like manhood under the sting of the other's gibes. "It will prove no very amusing jest for yourself if I am ruined. Your son's inheritance is involved with my fortune, and both must sink or swim together. Remember that! I have something in my power, too, so beware!"
"I know. You seem to have forgotten our conversation this morning very quickly. You then defined your position with a frankness which left nothing more to say. You made it perfectly clear that you would never leave hold on my uncle's fortune till we compelled you, and we cannot do that at present. If you saved your money at the present pinch, you would lose it again next opportunity; or, at least, you would make sure that we should not get at it. No! Mr. Jordan. I shall put in no rejoinder, or whatever may be the proper name for it. Mr. Webb may have his order, and welcome, for any obstruction from me. In fact, as I am taking my wife on a tour through the White Mountains, it would be inconvenient for me to be detained watching a lawsuit. If I might suggest, change of scene will be beneficial to your own health, as a relief from the worries of share-jobbing. Meanwhile, let me wish you good-bye. No saying how long it may be before we meet again. Stinson! Let's get on with those papers. I think I may be able to get away to the White Mountains to-morrow."
The very next morning Martha, escorted by Ralph, set out on a journey of pleasure through the White Mountains; and a day or two later, Amelia Jordan, tantalized out of patience by her husband's continued procrastination as to their summer holiday, went off to Long Branch alone, and it was not many days later that Jordan himself did not appear at his office, though where he had gone nobody knew. Some said he had followed his wife to the fashionable seaside resort, others, that he had joined Herkimer in his travels. The latter view became the popular one; it kept the two names conjoined, which seemed best, they came up together so often now in the talk on 'Change; for the great house in the Rue des Borgnes--Ralph Herkimer & Son--had come down, and great was the fall of it, the Banque Sangsue Prêteuse was involved in the ruin, so was the Mining Association of St. Euphrase, and so were other important concerns. They had all tumbled together in one confusion of ruin which set the ears of the public ringing, and filled their eyes with so much dust that they could see nothing clearly; but Jordan having been heard to anathematize "that fellow Webb," it was universally held during the worst days of the excitement that he had originated or precipitated the calamity for his own base ends. In truth, Webb was one of the severest sufferers, his fellow-directors having taken the hint to save themselves in time, and even to make money out of it; while he, good man, found all his savings and all his ready money evaporated in smoke or converted into scrip fit for nothing but pipe-lights, with impending possibilities of litigation, should any victimized shareholder be tempted to throw good money after bad and relieve his indignation with a lawsuit. But then he had the high moral satisfaction of having vindicated his superior probity in his own eyes--the world's, I fear, were so busy with its own affairs that they took no heed. He lay down at night with an easy conscience and a light pocket, if sometimes a heavy heart, for it must be confessed that his neighbours' non-appreciation of his virtuous conduct was afflicting. But he was young still, and strong, and sanguine, and his farm and stock were fairly good. He would make money yet, he vowed, if only Providence would spare him in the land of the living; and that--money-making, I mean--is, as all the world knows, the whole duty of man.
Webb realized, however, that he must now have a woman in his household, to help him to make it quickly; not a hireling, as heretofore, in his days of bachelorhood and prosperity, to be courted and considered at every turn, lest she should go off and leave him, but a lawful wife; tied to his homestead by the institutions of God and man, to churn his butter, fatten his poultry, and look after his comfort; and do it, too, for life, without other wage than her keep, and the dignity of being a married woman.