The Foe in the Household

CHAPTER XXVII.

MR.BOYD read the telegrams awaiting him in Mr. Elsden’s office.

“Squally,” he said ; and then, with more spirit, “We’ll weather it through though, unless Cook and Thomas go down. In that case I don't know but we shall have to ‘man the life-boat.'" ”

“ They are as good as the government,” said Mr. Elsden ; “ I should almost expect a general suspension of business on top of their suspending.”

But on his way to town —for Christopher left home that same day for the capital—he read in the evening edition of a paper picked up on the train, that Cook and Thomas had suspended. He had merely used the name of this firm to signify to the superintendent the confidence he felt in himself in spite of the threatening aspect of things. And Mr. Elsden, understanding his meaning, had silently commented: “If the worst comes to the worst you are in no danger. There are dozens of employments you could turn your hand to.” In fact. Mr. Elsden felt remarkably easy about Mr. Boyd.

The day after Christopher left home, Max went to Mr. Elsden’s office and asked him whether his brother was in a tight place.

No tighter than common, Mr. Elsden told him. Every business man had felt cramped, he said, since things began to slide as they did six weeks ago. Mr. Elsden could not account for the slide, unless it had been occasioned by over-trading. “Your brother is as safe as anybody is,” he said.

“No safer?” asked Max. That Christopher should “go down,”that he should even stand in jeopardy, was a thing Max did not like to consider.

“ I have been surprised, I confess, to see what houses have stopped payment,” Mr. Elsden answered. “Your brother has his money scattered about a good deal. That may be favorable, or the reverse, it is hard telling which, yet. There is no reason for being scared, though, for if anybody is likely to weather the storm, Christopher Boyd is.”

The next day Maxwell sought Mr. Elsden again. He was on his way to Emerald, and he had passed through his first sleepless night on account of business.

“ We have all these men’s money in the bank,” said he. “ I have been thinking, if we go down, where is the security.”

“There is n’t any,” said Mr. Elsden, with, Max couldn't help thinking, a strange indifference. “ The bank is your brother’s individual concern.”

Max knew that before, but he wanted to talk about it, he wanted counsel; and in spite of the evidence that he should not get what he wanted here, he went on.

“ Did my brother speak about it to you, Mr. Elsden ? ”

“ About what ? ”

“The bank business.”

“No. sir. I presume it was quite crowded out of his mind by weightier matters.”

“ I wish he had thought of it. You will be paying the men off to-morrow night in our bills.”

“They will want their money, and there are no other bills on hand. They will be glad enough to get them, too. Why, man ! haven’t you nerve enough to round the cape on a good stout raft ? If you intend to do business you must not expect that every cloud signifies a tornado.”

“I don’t believe I like business, if this belongs to it,” said Max, to himself, as he went his ways. He had expected something very different from what he had received, of Mr. Elsden, — sympathy for the miners at least, and perhaps a little for his brother.

Mr. Elsden paid off the men at the usual hour in the usual manner. Boyd’s bills never looked more attractive than they did while passing from his hands into those of the laborers. The name of Max was written on each one of them as cashier. “If these bills are not redeemable,” thought he, as he counted the sum Mr. Elsden had ordered, I"1 shall never hold my head up again. It staggers me to think of all Christopher has on his mind.”

John Edgar came to the bank to deposit his money after he had received his payment. Max declined taking it, and John was of course offended, for he at Once supposed that Mr. Maxwell intended this refusal as a personal affront. He had been more suspicious of Max than he liked to own to himself, ever since Max had employed Edna to draw his likeness. The latter saw that he was not understood, and said,— and much it cost him : —

“ I shall not take a dollar of any man’s on deposit, if I can help it, until my brother comes back. That may be a fool’s way of doing business, but suppose everybody fails and we are dragged down too, you would beg harder to get your money out of the bank than you do to put it in. I ’ll not receive it, John. Put it in your pocket-book, and do your own banking.”

“ You ’re a gentleman, any way,” said Edgar, “ but it is a fool’s way of doing business, and I don’t know but it would be better for you if you let us deposit. If the bills ain't worth anything, these fellows who go and spend them far and near will make it all the worse for other folks.”

Max reflected on that. “You are right, said he. “ I will take your money if you wish it. The Boyds will be good lor every dollar in the long run. Christopher is n’t the man I take him for, if he lets a poor fellow lose by him.” And after that he felt easier about that note for six hundred and ninety-five dollars which the doctor had told him belonged to Edna Gell. And so, when the miners came to deposit, he wrote down the amounts in their little bank-books, and charged the bank, and business went on as usual.

“We're going to the devil,” wrote Christopher to Mr. Elsden. “ It looks now like ten cents on a dollar in less than a month’s time. But tell Max we shall work our way out, sure as thunder.”

Maxwell himself received a letter by the same mail from Christopher, in which the elder brother made as explicit a statement of the condition of affairs as was possible at the time. He instructed Max how to proceed, and concluded in the most hopeful strain. The spirit of this man had never fallen down and worshipped the work of his own hands.

Max went at once to the superintendent’s office with his letter, and found Mr. Elsden there alone. That gentleman at once laid before him Christopher’s communication.

“ I expected it,” said Max, when he had read it. “That letter was written after the one which I have just received. I wish Christopher would come home. What will you do, Mr. Elsden ? ”

“Just what he has suggested. The business here is but an item, as I have told you before. It can be managed easily. The men have had one strike since I undertook the charge. They lost more time and money then than it is likely they will do now.”

“ Poor fellows ! they can't afford to lose! I am sure Christopher will be sorry for them. If it was only to be stripped clean of everything, that could be endured, but ten cents on a dollar ! ”

“O, your brother may have overstated it a little ; but debt is a burden. I have carried a load and know. Still, you must keep up a stiff upper lip, as they say. You are young, and your brother has all in him there ever was.”

“You mean he has in him the makeup of a dozen ordinary men,” said Max, brightening a little, at the thought of Christopher.

“You are right,” responded Mr. Elsden. “ I have n't the slightest doubt that Christopher Boyd will come out of this difficulty right side up and right foot foremost.”

But when Mr. Elsden saw John Edgar, he was reminded of other interests, He seized his opportunity at once, and said : “ If we had the money to operate with, there would be no difficulty about beginning on Pit Hole any day ; Mr. Boyd’s business is nearly wound up here, and it would make matters easier if the miners —they are no better than a lot of children — could have their attention turned in a new direction.”

Then was John Edgar led up into the mountain to be tempted there.

Not knowing whither the question might conduct, he asked, “ Will all this property be sold out around here ? ”

“ I don’t see any other way,” he was answered. “ It is a kind of property that is constantly changing hands. Not so wonderful as you seem to think. Mr. Boyd took hold of the mines and gave an impetus to all the interests of all the region by his enterprise, and now it seems as if he had finished his part. Well, that is the way we are retired, when we least expect it, and whether we will or no.”

“ Shall we be likely to go through the same experience ? ”

“ Very likely. Unless we know when we are well off, and go before we are ordered off.”

“ What is to be done about Hook, sir?” asked John, who had his suspicions concerning that mine, — suspicions which the present moment seemed favorable for verifying or for dissipating.

“ Hook is a bad bargain for whoever wants coal,” said Mr. Elsden, unconcernedly.

“ Do you really think so, sir ? ”

“ What have I always said ? ”

“ You have said there was coal enough there, if it was worked the right way.” ~ . “ Are you going to dispute it ? ”

“ No. I believe there is.”

“But it proved a sink for Boyd’s money, because we went to work wrong.”

“ But, Mr. Elsden,” said John, his voice unconsciously taking a lower tone, and apparently not quite certain how the information he conveyed would be received, “ Pit Hole is n’t to be compared with Hook for iron.”

The superintendent looked quietly at John Edgar as he made this statement. His impassive face betrayed nothing. “When did you find that out?” said he; and then, without waiting for answer, he went on : “ If you had the money, John, you might buy Hook yourself. If a miracle happens to hinder, it will not be in the market. Otherwise it will.”

John was as dumb as if he had nothing to say to this proposition.

“ You would n't be required to pay a dollar down within six months,” continued Mr. Elsden ; “ drive business, man, drive ! and within a year your fortune will be made. You may sing a lively tune then for the rest of your life ; take Edna and go abroad ; get a degree of any university before you are thirty ; do what you will.”

“ But,” said John, after a long pause, which Mr. Elsden gave him for reflection,—“but Mr. Boyd sells Hook for coal, if he sells.”

“ Hook will be in the hands of his creditors before you see him back here again. Say he throws coal into the market. ‘What’s in a name?’ buy, and find out you have iron. All the better for you. Must you shut your eyes, because the next man can’t see ? Mr. Boyd’s creditors sell what they consider a worthless mine ; you buy what you know to be a valuable one. Both parties are satisfied. Hook has about as bad a reputation in the market as a mine can have ” ("thanks to me ” he did not add). “ The Ridge will go high even in these times. Mr. Boyd will be able to do much better, very much better, than ten cents on a dollar. I am speaking to you, John, in business language. A man can know nothing of friendship in business transactions. There’s as little romance in business as in mathematics. I am speaking to you as I would to a son. It is a long time since I ceased to think of you as one of the workmen merely.”

That last sentence was well expressed and timely. John felt the force of it. The business aspect of things was different from anything he had supposed ; still, should he assume that his hands were whiter than Mr. Elsden’s ? It was not likely that he would shrink when that gentleman walked forward at his own dignified pace to take the place which was about to be vacated by Mr. Boyd.

“ Business is business,” said Mr. Elsden again, when he fancied he saw something like indecision in John’s face. “The man who neglects to look out for himself, in his fancied obligation to look after everybody else in the world, isn’t a fit person to fill any responsible position. That is all that can be said of him. Self-defence and self-preservation, sir, are among our first duties. A business man has himself to be true to, first of all. He must see to it that society has an efficient man in him. There is no reason why one man should prosper rather than another, except this: he is more efficient. The true philosopher is neither defeated by his failures, nor elated beyond measure by successes. Christopher Boyd cannot really go to the wall, so don’t waste sympathy on him, but look out for yourself, and see if this commotion discloses a foothold for you.”

Afterwards, in thinking of all that had been spoken in this interview, John Edgar’s mind took note of two hints which Mr. Elsden had thrown out, and he determined to profit by them. First, the present was his opportunity ; rightly improved, the path, as the tide, would “ lead on to fame and fortune.” He resolved to seize the golden moment. And second, it was impossible not to understand the hint that Edna’s money, judiciously employed at the present juncture, or in the operations which were presently to be entered upon, would prove the important auxiliary to success.

His imagination, seizing hold of the ideas suggested, became bold, — foreign travel, university honors, wealth, — what! was he to be hindered by a girl’s qualms, or a woman’s reported excellence ? He actually nerved himself to go down and ask of Mrs. Holcombe the information which he began to see Edna would never require in her own behalf. And he thought as he went that it would be a good thing to drop into Detwiler’s office before long, and let him know how his affairs were prospering. But no, the community itself would hasten to inform the doctor when prosperity was once secured.

But when he looked at the bishop’s wife, John found it was impossible for him to claim a right of her; the very, presence of the honesty he had intended to arraign silenced him. He was ashamed even in the presence of himself. He must proceed in some other way. Perhaps, then, Mr. Elsden could show it him. Doubtless Mr. Elsden could.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

MAXWELL BOYD found his way to the bishop’s house more easily, and still not easily. He had conferred with Mr. Elsden on the state of affairs, and his perplexities and anxieties had found no relief. In the discussion of business affairs between them, there was wanting that which would have sufficed him, — given him, if not confidence in the prosperous issue of events, some case of mind, and a strength that would have enabled him to look difficulty in the face without flinching The vision of ruin could not under any circumstances have been agreeable, but it could have been less than terrible, if just now his confidence in Mr. Elsden had not nearly failed him. A simulated friendship will not answer the need of him who is in the fight with foes; the beautiful trumpery in which a selfish spirit may disguise itself is no more than worthless rags to the unsealed eyes of dying hope. Away with it!

Max felt forsaken, and that feeling alone would have led him to Mrs. Holcombe, but he had also another reason for going. He wished to assure her, if any rumor had reached her ears, that all persons holding any claims against his brother at the bank, or elsewhere, would in the long run not be losers. It would relieve him to say this, not only because of Miss Edna’s note, but because he knew that soon the poor miners and farmers round about would be cursing the name of Boyd, and he wanted Mrs. Holcombe to know that Christopher’s failure did not compromise his brother’s honor ; that there was no fraud anywhere ; that it had been brought about solely by an enterprise which everybody had extolled, — an enterprise which impelled Christopher to keep his capital afloat, when he might have secured it for his own personal benefit: if Max could make her see that, he would be satisfied.

He did as he had proposed to himself; he did tell her everything. And he had not been mistaken in Mrs. Holcombe. She knew now, as she had always known, how to sympathize with trouble, perplexity, and sorrow. The impoverished in heart and in fortune found in her always a helper, and a helper Max found her. She felt for the wounded pride, the conscious integrity, which must consent to wear a stain. Christopher Boyd had a pledged friend in Swatara from the moment when Max had told his story, and the bank a creditor in the preacher’s house who would be content to wait until just debts could justly be paid.

“ I see,”she said, as he went from point to point, and ended by saying that his brother would suffer most of all, thinking of the people, because they might be put to temporary loss, for Christopher had himself known what it was to be poor. She did see and understand. What sorrow or anxiety did she not comprehend ?

“ God bless you! ” said Max as he left her; and her face brightened as if the benediction had an untold value.

On his way home from that visit, Max walked with a light step. Now and then he sang a line or two of a gay song. The aspect of affairs had changed to him. The faces of the miners whom he met were no longer dark with threatening frowns.

Walking past the engine-house, he saw John Edgar in the midst of a group of workmen, talking busily. Max beckoned, and said : “Come and dine with me, I am confoundedly lonesome at the house.”

John looked down. He was not willing that Maxwell or any one should see the pleasure this invitation gave him.

“ Come,” said Max, again, “you’re not going to decline. I want to talk, and to hear you talk.”

“Thank you, sir,” said John.

“ You ’re welcome.” Then they both laughed, and they walked away together.

“I want to show you some books,” Max explained, as they took the road leading to Christopher’s house. “The place is as solemn as the grave since my brother went away.We shall have a splendid sunset.” He seemed to be reading a bill of fare to Edgar, seeking to make him see that it was worth his while to go with him.

“I have been to see Mrs. Holcombe,” he continued after a moment, while John was thinking of something to say. “I wanted to tell her how things stood, for she knows everybody, and it’s killing to think of what people will say about Christopher.” It never seemed to enter Maxwell’s head that he was promising perhaps too freely for his brother. His confidence in Christopher’s integrity was without a flaw. He was able to speak after this fashion to John, because Mrs. Holcombe had received his communication in so generous a spirit.

“It’s a thing that’s happening now every day, I'm told,” said John. “They say you can’t take up a newspaper, but you 'll read of a big failure somewhere. And just now there’s appearance of a general smash.”

“It does n’t happen everyday though, that a man like Christopher is washed high and dry.”

You ’re right there. But though failure is ruin for some folks, it is n't for his kind.”

“You are right, John. You always liked Christopher,” said Max, well pleased. “ Debt will be so much stimulus to him. But I don’t like it, I tell you, to see him so bothered.”

“ What did Mrs. Holcombe say ? ”

“ Say ! What would she say. I declare I love that woman. I could go through anything to serve her ! She shall lose nothing by us, — nor any of them. Everybody must know that my brother is a first-class business man,— none of your speculating rogues. He has always done a legitimate business, honorable, outright. If he fails, he'll not keep a dollar to call his own. I remember, John, when I first came here you told me how much you liked Christopher, and that made me like you first.”

John winced, but he answered heartily: " I never saw a man to equal Mr. Boyd, according to my notions.”

He did not return Maxwell’s look though, and so missed the gratitude there was in it.

He seemed to be observing the western sky: and Maxwell’s eyes followed in the same direction.

“ Is n’t that great ?" he exclaimed. A slight mist was rising from the valley; the solemnity of twilight was over the green earth, the purple hills, and the golden sky. “Such a scene as that makes one feel contemptible when one has been worrying all day,” said he. “One can’t worry very well up here, except when one is alone and it rains, as it did last night. I felt as if I never wanted to come back when I left the house this morning. But come in and look at the books and things. Make yourself at home. You 'll find something to amuse you.”

After a moment Max left John alone in the parlor and went to give orders in the stable-yard. John looked around him. He tried to imagine himself at home, — Edna somewhere within call. To secure such a realm, what could he not do and dare !

As he gazed around, the first thing he perceived with any distinctness was the likeness of Rosa Holcombe lying in a costly frame on the centre-table. When Max came in he was walking about the room.

That is one of Barlow’s — you know him ; and you know the point that was taken from, Edgar, don’t you,” said Max, going up to John and taking his arm in a very friendly manner; and so they stood for a moment looking at the picture, and talking about its truthfulness, and the splendor of the coloring.

Then it came about that the portrait of little Rosa was brought under inspection, and Maxwell said : “You have helped Miss Edna a good deal, John, in her drawing.”

To which John answered modestly, “ O, not worth mentioning.”

But Max persisted in thinking that it was worth mentioning, and wanted to know how it came about. John did n’t know ; he had really forgotten.

“ But there must have been a beginning. She must have found out that she wanted to draw.”

Well, as near as I can recollect,” said John, not so awkwardly as ungraciously, for he had not come here to talk about Edna for Mr. Max Boyd’s edification, “she was in the shop one day with some folks, and she saw what I was doing, and told me that she had been trying to copy some things from an old book. I had good pencils, too, and she had none, to speak of. And so things went on till ” — he hesitated, and decided it was best to go on — “ till they came to their present pass between us.”

Max looked around at John quickly, and in great wonder. There was not the least effort to conceal the surprise he felt.

“ It seems as though you must have something more to say after that,” said he. “ I don’t know as there’s anything more to say, but there’s a good deal to do,” answered John.

“Eh? what now?”

“ Marry her, sir, of course. Get ready for it, first.”

“You, Edgar!” But the exclamation had no sooner escaped Max than he added: “ Excuse me, but I never thought of that. I am surprised.”

The surprise was in itselt enough to excite John’s anger.

“ I don’t know as it’s necessary for you to be thinking about it anyway, surprise, or no surprise,” said he. “ It’s my business, you know, not yours.”

“Don’t be foolish,” said Max. “Of course it’s none of my business. I acknowledge it. Only, do you mean when you say that you are going to marry her, that you are engaged, you two ? ”

“Yes, I mean that. I suppose a girl’s consent is all that is necessary when a man has made up his mind that he must have her.”

“ You are a lucky fellow,” said Max. “ She is the finest girl I’ve seen. She will make a splendid woman.”

“Is that why you were so surprised ? ” asked John. He had been looking around for his cap, and now picked it up and put it on.

“Come to dinner and we will talk about it.” said Max ; and he stretched out his arm to possess himself of the cap, but he had seriously offended Edgar.

“ I have some business to attend to; I must go. I don’t know what I was thinking of to come up, ” he said ; “ but I thought you needed me. You don’t, I see. So, good evening.”

Max did not laugh at this. He said : “ Very well, sir, I am sorry. Good night ” ; and he neither dined nor slept that night. Troubled and vexed as he was already, his guest had added tenfold to the vexation and the trouble.

CHAPTER XXIX.

IN a day or two Christopher Boyd came home. Mr. Elsden had told John that before they saw him again the mining property would have been made over to his creditors, and in this he was not mistaken.

The first time John saw the superintendent after Mr. Boyd’s return, that gentleman said to him : “We can buy it we please. I know the men who have Hook. They will turn the property over to me and be glad to get rid of it.”

“But, — ” said John ; this looked so very much like double-dealing that he did not feel equal to it. And yet it was Mr. Elsden, a genuine gentleman, and a skilful business man, who proposed it. Gentleman and business man he had resolved to be; and so, though he said “ but,” he seriously considered the proposal, and expected nothing besides a turning over of the property to Mr. Elsden. The superintendent, perceiving what was passing through his mind, concealed his impatience at the necessity of dwelling on the preliminaries, and said with a rather surprised superiority : “ There are no buts about it. You talk as if this were not legitimate business. That is because you know so little about it. Boyd had completed his arrangements before he came back. He did not consult me. It’s not my business to follow him like a dog and look out that he makes no mistakes. He considers himself abundantly able to transact his own business, and so do I. He is going away from here ; and, as I told you, there is no such thing as putting him down. Learn something from his conduct. He is going into new operations at once, and I have n't a doubt that he will pay all his debts within three years, I shall stay here on account of Pit Hole, and for other reasons. Hook must be worked by somebody. The parties who are going to take hold of the Ridge will superintend for themselves. You see, Edgar, the train is moving on ; I advise you to jump aboard. We shall hear more about that other business in a day or two at furthest, I think.”

There was vigor in Mr. Elsden’s words. His entire aspect seemed to have changed within a few days. His time had come, — that good time which had been so long in coming. All the world was moving on. Would John Edgar move along with it, or would he lag behind ? Be somebody’s man, or his own man, henceforth and forever ?

With such a guide it was impossible that the young man should hesitate long. In that very hour he made his calling and election sure.

Yes, Christopher Boyd had come back, and it was plain to see that he had been off on no pleasure trip. The men who saw him when he stepped from the train at the Emerald station, said that he looked fifty years older than when he went away. He had been working day and night since he went. All Swatara, since the day of the first settler, had not computed so many figures, looked into so many interests, examined so many claims, acknowledged so many responsibilities, faced so many risks, as this man since he left the mountains one week ago. He came back sane, sober, equal to himself, more than a match for fortune ; having not once felt tempted to blow his brains out, run away, or get himself reported drowned. He esteemed himself, though merely one man, more important than a railroad, or a coal-mine, or a bank, or than all three combined. Still, he was made of flesh and blood, and had felt an honorable pride in his successes, and had valued his good name when it was a power ; he told Max when they met that he had been through hell since he went away.

After all he had experienced it would perhaps seem to him a small matter that these miners should lose the sums of money they had deposited in his bank. But it was not so, when he went down among the men and told them that the mining business would now be carried on by a new company, but that the superintendent would remain there as before, and somebody had the courage to ask if it was true that hard-working chaps like them must lose all their earnings, he cried out, “Say that again ! ” as if he had been insulted by a friend.

The man had courage to repeat the question, for he knew when Mr. Boyd spoke that way that he would answer the men as they had a right to expect.

“Did you think, any of you,” said Christopher, “ that I was going away without settling all these matters fair and square ? There is n’t one of you that will lose a dollar by me. You shall have your wages cent for cent, and I ’ll give you my note on that. I am sorry to put you to inconvenience and make you wait; but you must try to be patient, for you see all this came very sudden on me.”

“Be n’t you going to stay here, sir, then.?” asked another of the men, with by no means the voice of an angry creditor.

“ No, my boy, I ’m going out West; but do you stay here, every soul of you, and you shall have your money. I shall keep Mr. Elsden informed where I am. You understand I ’m going to earn the money to pay my honest debts to you, for I’m broke an honest man.

I have n’t laid up any funds for my own use anywhere. But I’ve got as much as any of you have. I have my hands and my feet, and the head on my shoulders which God Almighty put there for me.”

That was all. Christopher had made his farewell address. The men raised a cheer, and they all honored him. He had come into Swatara in a coach and four, as one might say, and was going out of it on foot; but his flag was flying still, and his trumpet sounding. Mr. Elsden, in the rising scale, might even have envied Mr. Boyd.

Christopher had accepted the office of superintendent of a Missouri railroad.

“Will you go with me. Max?” he asked, when they were alone. He dreaded to ask that question ; almost feared to hear the answer. He knew that if power had given him success, success had conferred the power upon him which was felt by men in general For the first time since this storm of fortune his eyes were wet with tears, when Max answered, “To the world’s end, Christopher! ”

it was not loss of money that could impoverish this good man. Maxwell’s love could enrich him. Everything else might go ; Barlow’s pictures, even ; but he had still his young brother’s diploma, and Max himself, to make good all his promises.

Was Max going into exile though, because going from Swatara and from Mrs. Delia Holcombe ?