Kitabı oku: «Jacob's Ladder», sayfa 4
CHAPTER VII
Jacob found life, for the next few months, an easy and a pleasant thing. He took a prolonged summer holiday and made many acquaintances at a fashionable French watering place, where he devoted more time to golf than gambling, but made something of a reputation at both pursuits. He came back to London bronzed and in excellent health, but always with a curious sense of something wanting in his life, an emptiness of purpose, which he could never altogether shake off. He was a liberal patron of the theatres, but he had no inclinations towards theatrical society, or the easy Bohemian circles amongst which he would have been such a welcome disciple. He was brought into contact with a certain number of wealthy men in the city, who occasionally asked him to their homes, but here again he was conscious of disappointment. He enjoyed wine, cigars and good food, but he required with them the leaven of good company and good fellowship, which somehow or other seemed to evade him. Dauncey remained his chief and most acceptable companion, a rejuvenated Dauncey, who had developed a dry fund of humour, a brightness of eye and speech wholly transforming. There were many others who offered him friendship, but Jacob’s natural shrewdness seemed only to have increased with his access of prosperity, and he became almost morbidly conscious of the attractions to others of his ever-growing wealth. He had joined a club of moderate standing, where he met a certain number of men with whom he was at times content to exchange amenities. He had a very comfortable flat in the Milan Court, a country cottage at Marlingden, now his own property, with a largely increased rose garden, and half an acre of forcing houses, over which domain Mr. and Mrs. Harris reigned supreme. He possessed a two-seater Rolls-Royce, which was the envy of all his acquaintances, and a closed car of the same make. He belonged to a very good golf club near London, where he usually spent his week-ends, and his handicap was rapidly diminishing. And he had managed to preserve entirely his bland simplicity of manner. Not a soul amongst his acquaintance, unless specially informed, would have singled him out as a millionaire.
It was about six months after his first visit from Mr. Dane Montague, when Dauncey one morning brought in a card to his chief. Jacob was no longer under the necessity of resorting to imaginary labours on such occasions. There were tiers of black boxes around the room, reaching to the ceiling, on which were painted in white letters —The Cropstone Wood Estates Company, Limited. There were two clerks in the outside office, in addition to an office boy.
“Young lady to see you,” Dauncey announced quietly.
Jacob glanced at the card and forgot all about the Cropstone Wood Estates Company, Limited. His fingers shook, and he looked anxiously at his secretary.
“Did she ask for me by name?”
“No. She asked for the Chairman of the Company.”
“You don’t think she knows who I am, then?”
“From her manner, I should imagine not,” Dauncey replied. “As a matter of fact, she asked first to whom she should apply for information respecting the Company. I thought you might like to see her yourself, so I told her the Chairman.”
“Quite right,” Jacob approved. “Show her in and be careful not to mention my name.”
Jacob’s precaution was obviously a wise one. The young lady who was presently ushered into the office paused abruptly as she recognised him. Her expression was first incredulous, then angry. She turned as though to leave.
“Miss Bultiwell,” Jacob said calmly, as he rose to his feet, “I understand that you desire information respecting the Cropstone Wood Estates. I am Chairman of the Company and entirely at your service.”
She hesitated for a moment, then shrugged her shoulders, swung across the room, and threw herself into the client’s chair with a touch of that insolent grace which he had always so greatly admired.
“I had no idea whom I was coming to see,” she told him.
“Or you would not have come?”
“I most certainly should not.”
The light died from his eyes. He felt the chill of her cold, contemptuous tone.
“Can you not remember,” he suggested, “that you are here to see an official connected with the Cropstone Wood Estates Company and forget the other association?”
“I shall try,” she agreed. “If I had not made up my mind to do that, I should have walked straight out of your office directly I recognised you.”
“You will pardon my saying,” he ventured, “that I consider your attitude unnecessarily censorious.”
She ignored his remark and turned to the business in hand.
“My mother and I,” she said, “have of course left the Manor House. We are in lodgings now and looking for a permanent abode near London. The idea of a residence at Cropstone Wood appeals to my mother. She has friends in the neighborhood.”
Jacob inclined his head.
“I assure you the Estate is everything that we claim for it.”
“Most of the enquiries I have made have been satisfactorily answered,” she admitted. “I have found only one person who has had any criticism to make. He says that, before buying property there, one ought to have definite information about the water and lighting.”
“He is a very sensible man,” Jacob agreed.
“I have come here to ask about them.”
“The water and lighting,” Jacob announced, “will be undertaken by the Cropstone Wood, Water and Electric Light Company, a private enterprise close at hand. The charges will be normal and the supply adequate.”
“Thank you,” the girl said. “If you are sure of that it is all I came to ascertain.”
She rose to her feet. Jacob was desperately unwilling to let her go.
“Any direct transactions, of course, are undertaken with the city office,” he explained, “but if you will accept a letter from me to the manager, he will see that your application is promptly dealt with, and that you have all the choice of site that is possible. There is, as you may know, a great demand for the land.”
“Thank you,” she replied, “I will not trouble you.”
“Then again,” he went on, “there is the question of whether you want simply to buy the land and employ your own builder, or place the contract with Littleham, who has an office on the Estate. My advice to you would be to go to Littleham. He can show you a dozen plans of various sized residences, he has a stock of material close at hand – ”
“I am very much obliged,” she interrupted. “My mother and I have already decided upon one of Mr. Littleham’s cottages. It was simply because we found his answers as regards the water and electric lighting a little indefinite, that I decided to come to you.”
“Indefinite?” Jacob murmured.
“Yes. He told us that the water and lighting were to be supplied by the private company you spoke of, but he seemed to have no idea as to what price they would be likely to charge.”
Jacob inclined his head thoughtfully.
“I think you may rest assured,” he told her, “that the charge will be normal.”
She turned away.
“You have given me the information I require,” she said. “Thank you once more, and good morning.”
Jacob lost his head for a moment. It was impossible to let her drift away like this.
“Miss Bultiwell,” he protested, “you are very hard on me. I wish you would allow me a few words of explanation. Will you – will you lunch with me?”
She looked him up and down, and not even the consciousness of those well-chosen and suitable clothes, of his very handsome bachelor flat at the Milan, his wonderful Rolls-Royce, and his summer retreat at Marlingden, with its acre of roses, helped him to retain an atom of self-confidence. He was no longer the man to whom the finger of envy pointed. The glance withered him as though he had indeed been a criminal.
“Certainly not,” she answered.
She made her way towards the door, and Jacob watched her helplessly. In her plain tweed coat and skirt, her sensible but homely shoes, her cheap little grey tam-o’-shanter hat, with its single yellow quill, she was just as attractive as she had been in the days when the first modiste in London had taken a pride in dressing her. She reached the door and passed out before Jacob had been able to make up his mind to step forward and open it for her. He gazed at the spot where she had disappeared, with blank face and unseeing eyes. Suddenly the door was reopened and closed again. She came towards him very deliberately.
“Mr. Pratt,” she said, “I am a very selfish and a very greedy person. I have lunched most days, for the last three months, at an A. B. C. shop opposite the office where I am working, and I hate the food and everything about that sort of place. If I accept your invitation, will you allow me to order exactly what I please, and remember that it is sheer greed which induces me even to sit down in the same room with you?”
Jacob sighed as he rose and stretched out his hand for his hat.
“Come on any terms you please,” he answered, with eager humility.
CHAPTER VIII
Miss Sybil Bultiwell showed that she had a very pretty taste in food even if her weaknesses in other directions were undiscoverable. Seated at a table for two in Jacob’s favourite corner at the Ritz grill-room, she ordered langouste with mayonnaise, a French chicken with salad, an artichoke, a vanilla ice, and some wonderful forced strawberries. She drank a cocktail and shared to a moderate extent the bottle of very excellent dry champagne which her companion insisted upon. The aloofness of her general attitude was naturally modified a little, in deference to appearances, but at no time did she give Jacob the slightest hope of breaking down the barrier of icy reserve with which she had chosen to surround herself. He made one great effort about midway through the meal.
“Miss Bultiwell,” he said, “when I visited once at the Manor House – the first time it was, I think – you were very kind to me.”
“I have forgotten the circumstance.”
“I have not. I never could. I remember that I arrived on a bicycle, very hot and somewhat – er – inappropriately dressed. Your father, who had invited me over because at that time I was a useful business connection, took no particular pains to set me at my ease. I was very uncomfortable. You were exceedingly kind to me that evening.”
“Was I?” she asked indifferently.
Jacob took a sip of champagne and went on valiantly.
“I had never met any one like you before. I have never met any one like you since. Why should you treat me as though I were something entirely contemptible, because I refused to accept your father’s fraudulent balance sheet and put money into a ruined business?”
Sybil’s blue eyes, which, as he knew, alas! too well, were capable of holding such sweet and tender lights, flashed upon him with a single moment’s anger.
“I had hoped,” she said severely, “that you would have had the good taste to avoid this subject. Since you have opened it, however, let me remind you that I am a woman, and that feelings count for far more with me than arguments. You may have been perfectly justified in what you did. At the same time, you were the immediate cause of the tragedy surrounding my father’s death. For that I shall never forgive you.”
“It doesn’t seem quite fair, does it?” he complained, with a strange little quiver of his underlip.
“Women seldom are fair in their likes and dislikes,” she pronounced. “I hope you will not pursue the subject.”
“Is it permitted to ask you any questions with regard to your present avocation?” he ventured, a few minutes later.
“I have no objection to telling you what I am doing,” she replied. “I am taking a course of shorthand and typewriting at an office in Fleet Street.”
The horror of it chilled Jacob to the very soul. He had only that morning received a cheque from his brother for an unexpected bonus, which amounted to more than she would ever be able to earn in the whole course of her life.
“Is that absolutely necessary?” he asked.
“We have two hundred a year between us, my mother and I,” she answered drily. “Perhaps you can understand that an extra two or three pounds a week is desirable.”
“Damn!” Jacob muttered, under his breath.
“I really don’t see why you should be profane,” she remonstrated.
“It’s too absurd, your going out to work,” he insisted. “I had business connections in the old days with the house of Bultiwell, by which I profited. Why cannot I be allowed, out of the money I can’t ever dream of spending, to settle – ”
“If you are going to be impertinent,” she interrupted coolly, “I shall get up and go out.”
Jacob groaned and cast about in his mind for a less intimate topic of conversation. The subject of theatre-going naturally presented itself. A momentary gleam of regret passed across her face as she answered his questions.
“Yes, I remember telling you how fond I always was of first nights,” she admitted. “Nowadays, naturally, we do not go to the theatre at all. My mother and I live very quietly.”
Jacob cleared his throat.
“If,” he suggested, “a box at the theatre could be accepted on the same terms as this luncheon – for your mother and you, I mean,” he went on hastily, “I am always having them given me. I’d keep out of the way. Or we might have a little dinner first. Your mother – ”
“Absolutely impossible!” she interrupted ruthlessly. “I really feel quite ashamed enough of myself, as it is. I know that I have not the slightest right to accept your very delicious luncheon.”
“You could pay for anything in the world I could give you, with a single kind word,” he ventured.
She sighed as she drew on her gloves.
“I have no feeling of kindness towards you, Mr. Pratt,” she said, “and I hate hypocrisy. I thank you very much for your luncheon. You will forgive my shaking hands, won’t you? It was scarcely in the bargain. And I must say good-by now. I am due back at the office at half-past two.”
So Jacob derived very little real pleasure from this trip into an imaginary Paradise, although many a time he went over their conversation in his mind, trying to find the slenderest peg on which he could hang a few threads of hope. He rang up the city office and made sure that Miss Bultiwell should be offered the most desirable plot of land left, at the most reasonable price, after which he invited Dauncey, who was waiting impatiently for an interview, to take an easy-chair, and passed him his favourite box of cigars.
“What is it, Dick?” he demanded. “Why bring thunderclouds into my sunny presence?”
“Not quite so sunny as usual, is it?” Dauncey remarked sympathetically. “How is Miss Bultiwell?”
“She is taking a course of shorthand and typing,” Jacob groaned.
“That seems harmless enough. Why shouldn’t she?”
“Don’t be a fool,” Jacob answered crossly. “Do you realise that my income is nearly fifty thousand a year, and she has to grind in a miserable office, in order to be able to earn two or three pounds a week to provide her mother with small luxuries?”
“From what I remember of Miss Bultiwell, I don’t think it will do her any harm,” Dauncey remarked doggedly.
“You’re an unfeeling brute,” Jacob declared.
Dauncey shrugged his shoulders.
“Perhaps so,” he agreed. “I don’t suppose I should like her any better if she came and ate out of your hand.”
“You must admit that she shows a fine, independent spirit,” Jacob insisted.
“Bultiwell obstinacy, I call it!”
Jacob knocked the ash from his cigar.
“Dick,” he asked quietly, “is there any sense in two men arguing about a girl, when one is in love with her and the other isn’t?”
“None at all,” Dauncey agreed.
“Then shut up and tell me what horrible tragedy you’ve stumbled upon. You’ve something to say to me, haven’t you?”
Dauncey nodded.
“It’s about Montague and Littleham. I have discovered the fly in the ointment. I thought those two would never be content with a reasonable land speculation.”
“Proceed,” Jacob said encouragingly.
“Most of the idiots who bought these plots of land,” Dauncey continued, “were content to know that the Cropstone Wood, Water and Electric Light Company was in existence and had commenced the work of connecting them up. Not one of them had the sense to find out what they were going to pay for their water and lighting.”
“Ah!”
“I’ve just discovered,” Dauncey continued, “that Dane Montague and Littleham have an option on the Water and Electric Light Company. I don’t suppose they said a word to you about that. You found the money to buy the land, all right, but they’re going to make the bulk of the profit out of the water and lighting. That young lawyer at Cropstone gave us a word of warning, you remember, the day we were over there.”
“So he did,” Jacob murmured reflectively. “I was a mug.”
“Not only that,” Dauncey reminded him, “but some of the people who’ve bought the land are your friends, aren’t they? What about Miss Bultiwell?”
Jacob knitted his brows.
“I don’t fancy the company will be able to charge whatever they like,” he argued. “There are some restrictions – ”
“They’ve got an old charter which has another fourteen years to run,” Dauncey interrupted. “As they’ve made a loss ever since they’ve been in business, there’s nothing to prevent their recouping themselves now, on paper, by charging practically whatever they like. I warned you not to have anything to do with those fellows.”
“I was an ass,” Jacob admitted.
The critical note vanished from Dauncey’s tone. He laid his hand upon his friend’s shoulder.
“It wasn’t your fault, Jacob,” he said. “We shall prove that you were never interested in the option and knew nothing about it. As for Miss Bultiwell, it won’t hurt you if you have to take that bit of land off her hands.”
Jacob shook his friend’s hand.
“Thank you, Dick.”
“And I should tackle those fellows at once, if I were you,” Dauncey added. “No good letting the matter drag on. Ask them what they’re going to charge. Say that one or two of the tenants have been making enquiries.”
“I will.”
“It’s a dirty business all round,” Dauncey declared. “They made you advance the whole of the money to buy the land, and they saved their bit for the waterworks and lighting company. It’s as plain as a pikestaff why they didn’t let you in on that. They knew perfectly well that you’d never be a party to such a low-down scheme as they had in view.”
Jacob swung round to his desk with an air of determination.
“I’ll tackle them within the next few days,” he promised.
CHAPTER IX
The opportunity for an explanation between Jacob and his fellow speculators speedily presented itself. Amongst his letters, on the following morning, Jacob found a somewhat pompous little note from Dane Montague, inviting him to lunch at the Milan at half-past one. Littleham, supremely uncomfortable in a new suit of clothes, was the other guest, and champagne was served before the three men had well taken their places.
“A celebration, eh?” Jacob observed, as he bowed to his two hosts.
Mr. Montague cleared his throat.
“Our meeting might almost be considered in that light,” he admitted. “Yesterday afternoon we sold the last plot of land on the Cropstone Wood Estate.”
“Capital!” Jacob exclaimed. “Full price?”
“Sixpence a yard over.”
Jacob nodded approval.
“By the bye,” he said, “I see that the Water Company is getting on very well with its connections. They must have several hundred men at work there.”
Mr. Montague appeared a little startled.
“Well, well! At any rate we shall be able to keep our word. Electric light and water will be ready for every house as it is built.”
“That reminds me of a question I was going to ask you,” Jacob went on. “What price are we going to charge for the electric light?”
“What price?” Montague murmured, balancing a knife upon his forefinger and watching it meditatively.
“The Company’ll have to fix that amongst themselves,” Littleham declared brusquely.
“One or two of the people who’ve bought plots have made enquiries,” Jacob continued, without noticing the last speaker. “I think they’ve begun to realise that they’re pretty well at our mercy – or rather at the mercy of the Company.”
“Well, that’s not our business, anyway,” Montague replied evasively. “I dare say it will be rather an expensive affair, connecting them all up.”
Jacob smiled knowingly.
“No need for us to bluff one another,” he remarked, dropping his voice a little. “We all three know what’s in front of those unfortunate tenants. Serves ’em right for trying to buy the land too cheap. By the bye, Montague, there’s no mistake about that option?”
Mr. Montague coughed.
“None at all,” he answered.
“When do you want my share of the purchase money?”
Mr. Dane Montague and his friend exchanged surreptitious glances.
“Presently … presently,” the former replied. “The option doesn’t expire for two months yet. But there is another little matter concerning which Littleham and I have a proposition to make to you.”
“Go ahead,” Jacob invited.
“Every plot of land on the Cropstone Wood Estate has now been sold,” Montague continued. “The purchase price provided by you was twenty thousand pounds. The land has been sold for thirty-five thousand, of which sum twenty per cent has been received.”
“Precisely,” Jacob agreed. “We have fifteen thousand pounds, less expenses and interest, to divide between the three of us as the money comes in.”
“In the ordinary course of events,” Mr. Montague proceeded, “it will no doubt be a year at least before the depositors will have paid up in full and a correct balance can be arrived at. Now Littleham and I are scarcely in your position. We need to turn our money over quickly. We therefore make to you the following proposition. Let the accounts be made out at once, allow six per cent interest upon all sums still owing from depositors, give us a cheque for the whole amount of our shares on that basis, and Littleham and I are willing to pay you five hundred pounds each for the accommodation.”
“A dissolution of partnership, in fact?”
“Precisely,” Montague assented.
“There’s the taking over of the Electric Light and Water Company,” Jacob remarked reflectively. “I suppose you want that kept entirely separate.”
Montague coughed.
“Entirely,” he agreed.
“Supposing some of the purchasers should fail to make good their deposits?”
“Then the deposit would belong to you,” Montague pointed out, “and the land could be resold elsewhere.”
“Plenty of applicants for the land still,” Littleham interposed gruffly.
Jacob sipped his champagne and found it excellent.
“Very well,” he assented, “make it fifteen hundred between you and I’ll take the whole thing over.”…
Mr. Montague and his companion sat for an hour over another bottle of wine after their guest had departed. The faces of both were flushed and their voices were a little husky, but they were filled with the complacency of men who have come out on the right side of a deal. Only Mr. Montague, every now and then, gave voice to some faint regret.
“He’s such a prize mug, James,” he said. “It seems a shame we couldn’t have handled him for something bigger.”
“What are you grumbling at?” Mr. Littleham replied, letting loose another button of his waistcoat. “We’re getting four thou apiece profit on the sale of the land, and he’s standing the racket for all of ’em who don’t pay up, and there’ll be a good few more of them than he fancies. Then by this time next week we can take up our option on the Cropstone Wood, Water and Electric Light Company, and if Mr. Jacob Pratt thinks he’s in on that deal, he’s making the mistake of his life. I ain’t surprised so much at the land purchasers,” the builder went on reflectively. “They’re all the same. They buy a plot of land, and they think the Lord will send them gas and water and that sort of thing, and that the price is fixed by Act of Parliament and they can’t be diddled. But a man like Pratt, laying out the money he has, and simply knowing that there was a water and electric light plant on which you and I had an option, and imagining we should take him in without an agreement or even a letter – take him in on a proposition likely to pay at least thirty per cent – well, it’s a fair knockout!”
“We ought to have made our fortunes out of a jay like that,” Mr. Montague agreed, with a shade of sadness in his tone.
About a fortnight later, two very agitated looking visitors burst precipitately into Jacob’s outer office. Mr. Montague’s complexion was of that pasty hue described as chalky white. He was breathing heavily, and he had lost all that nice precision of speech intended to convey the suggestion that in his leisure hours he was a man of culture. Mr. Littleham was still more out of breath. His necktie had disappeared around his neck, and beads of perspiration were standing out upon his forehead.
“Where’s the guv’nor?” Mr. Montague almost shouted.
“Boss in?” Mr. Littleham demanded simultaneously.
Dauncey rose from his seat and eyed the visitors coldly.
“Have you an appointment with Mr. Pratt?” he asked.
“Appointment be damned!” the builder began. “We want – ”
“Look here,” Mr. Montague interrupted, the methods of his race asserting themselves in his persuasive tone, “it is most important that we should see Mr. Pratt at once.”
“Nothing wrong Cropstone way, is there?” Dauncey enquired. “I thought you were out of that now.”
“Is the guv’nor in or isn’t he?” Littleham demanded, mopping his forehead.
Dauncey spoke through an office telephone, and after a very brief delay threw open the door of the private office and ushered in the two callers. Jacob looked up from some papers as they entered and stared at them a little blankly.
“Good morning, gentlemen,” he said. “I thought we’d parted company for a time.”
Littleham, usually the silent partner, asserted himself then. He pushed the trembling Montague to one side and stood squarely before the desk.
“Look here, Pratt,” he demanded, “have you bought the Cropstone Wood, Water and Electric Light Company?”
“Certainly I have,” Jacob replied. “What about it?”
“When?”
“Oh, within a few days of your first coming to me.”
“Within a few days?” Mr. Montague almost shrieked.
Jacob leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs, and glanced with a momentary satisfaction at his well-polished brown shoes and white gaiters.
“My good friends,” he said, “you could scarcely expect me to put down twenty thousand pounds for land, without making arrangements for the water supply and lighting? I went into the matter with a local solicitor and found that, as the Company was practically moribund, the best way was to buy it outright. I am going to incorporate it with the Cropstone Wood Estates and make one concern.”
“You bought the Water Company behind our backs and never said a word about it?” Montague demanded thickly.
“Why on earth should I say anything to you?” Jacob retorted.
“We had an option ourselves!” Littleham thundered, striking the desk with his clenched fist.
“I remember your telling me so,” Jacob observed. “I also remember your telling me that it had another two months to run, whereas it expires to-morrow. What I don’t seem to remember, though, is your asking me for my share of the contributing money.”
Jacob had never appeared more guileless. The two men became speechless in the face of his bland equanimity. Then Montague cleared his throat.
“Come, come,” he remonstrated, “no need for any of us to lose our tempers. Let us sit down and discuss this little matter like gentlemen. I am quite sure Mr. Pratt will do the square thing. I propose that we adjourn to the Milan. A bottle of the old sort, eh, Pratt?”
Jacob leaned back in his chair, his finger tips pressed together, and shook his head sorrowfully.
“I do not think,” he said, “that I shall ever drink with either of you again. You entered into a conspiracy behind my back to keep the Cropstone Wood, Water and Electric Light Company in your joint possession, your scheme being to make use of the old charter the company possessed and to charge outrageous prices for the water and lighting. With that in view, you relieved yourselves of your interest in the land at some sacrifice, expecting to land me with the whole estate, and leaving me to bear the whole brunt of the complaints and the failure of the depositors to carry out their purchases. That, I believe, is a fair outline of your scheme, Messrs. Montague and Littleham – elaborated, mark you, after you had mentioned the matter of the water and the lighting to me, on your first visit, and pointed out the additional source of profit. You relied, I presume, either on my blind confidence in you or my bad memory.”
“I can assure you, Pratt,” Mr. Montague began piteously, —
“Damn!” his confederate ejaculated with fervour.
“Fortunately,” Jacob continued, “I am not quite such a mug as I must have seemed to you. Before I parted with the money for the land, I paid a visit to the offices of the Cropstone Wood, Water and Electric Light Company, examined your option, and finding it illegal, as it was signed only by the Chairman of the company, without notice to the shareholders, I obtained one in my own name, which I exercised within a few hours. I am now the sole owner of the Cropstone Wood, Water and Electric Light Company and the Cropstone Wood Estates. Also of this office, gentlemen, from which I beg that you will depart as quickly as possible.”
“I’m damned if I stir a foot!” Littleham declared furiously. “We’ve been swindled!”
Jacob struck his bell, and Dauncey came in with a very grim look upon his face. Mr. Dane Montague caught up his hat and plucked at the sleeve of his companion.
“You shall hear from our solicitors,” he spluttered.
“Delighted!” Jacob replied. “I should keep the six-and-eightpence, though, if I were you.”
Two very angry men were escorted off the premises. Then Dauncey returned with a grin upon his face.
“I beg your pardon, Jacob,” he said humbly. “I never dreamed that you had them pickled. Tell me about it?”
“It was really very simple,” Jacob explained. “They came to me with two schemes, one legitimate, the other illegitimate. The legitimate one appealed to me. I found the money, bought the estate, and saw that they had a decent profit. As regards the illegitimate one, I met them on their own ground. I got that young fellow whom we came across down at Cropstone to look into the affairs of the Water and Lighting Company, found that they were an absolutely moribund concern, bought them out for cash, with the sole condition of secrecy, and sat tight. If Montague and Littleham had kept their bargain – that is to say if they had let me into their scheme for purchasing the Company – I should have told them the truth, a few plain words would have passed, and I should have compensated them for their disappointment. As it was, they tried to be too clever. They tried to land me with the remainder of the property, after they had made their profit, and with the money I paid them they were going to take over what they imagined to be the more profitable side of the deal, the Water and Lighting Company, and leave me out of it. That’s the long and short of it, Dick.”
