Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-07-30

talking with excited gesticulations-
a smudged plasterer, tools in hand
clerks. some hatless and with thin
alpaca coastal peering at the voice
less front of the great building. and
all, he imagined, with thriving fear
in their faces. As he watched, a
woman, coarsely dressed, ran across
the street, her handkerchief pressed
to her eyes.
1.-THE notice has gone up on the
door" said the manager. Il sent
word to the police. Crowds are ugly
sometimes"
Valiant drew sudden sharp
breath. The corporation down in the
mire, with crowds at its doors ready
to clamor for money entrusted to it,
the aggregate savings of widow and
orphan, the piteous- boarded sums
earned by labor over which pinched
sickly faces had burned the midnight
oil.
The older man had turned back to
the desk to draw narrow typewrit-
ten slip of paper from pigeon hole.
Here" he said, lis list of the
| bonds of the subsidiary companies
recorded in your name. These are
| all, of course, engulfed in the larger
| failure. You have, however, your
private fortune. If you take my ad-
vice, by the way" he added, signlfi-
cantly, you'll make sure Of keeping
| that"
what do you mean?" John Valiant
faced him quickly.
The other laughed shortly "a word
to the wise" he quoted. "It's very
good living abroad. There's a boat
leaving tomorrow"
A dull red sprang into the younger
face. "You mean"
Look at that crowd down there
you can hear them now. There'll be
legislative investigate of course.
And the devil'll get the hindmost.
He struck the desk-top with his
hand. Have you ever seen the bills
for this furniture? Do you know
what that rug under your feet cost?
Twelve thousand-it's an old Per-
sian. What do you suppose the
papers will do to that? Do you think
such things will seem amusing to
that rabble down there?" His hand
swept toward the window. IT'S been
6OlllB On lOI lOO tHdly years. L tell
you'll And now someone'll pay the
piper The lightning won't strike me
I'm not tall enough. You're vice.
president"
do you imagine that l knew these
| things-that ] have been a party to
what you seem to believe has been
deliberate wrecking?' Valiant
lowered over him, his breath coming
fast, his hands clenched hard.
"You?" The manager laughed again
an unpleasant laugh that scraped
the others quivering nerves like hot
sandpaper. "Oh, lord, no! How
should you? You've been too busy
playing polo and winning bridge
prizes. How many board meetings
have you attended this year? Your
vote is proxied as regular as clock
work. But you're supposed to know.
The people down there in the street
won't ask questions about patent
leather pumps and ponies; they'll
want to hear about such things as
rotten irrigation loans in the Stony
River Valley-to market an alkali
desert that is the personal property
VI lIlt pItSluGll VI llllS COIpOdllOi.
Valiant turned a blank white face.
"Sedgwick?'
Yes You know his principle: It's
all right to be honest, if you're not
too damn honest He owns the Stony
River Valley bag and baggage. 1t
was big gamble and he lost
For moment there was absolute
silence in the room. From outside
came the rising murmur of the crowd
and cutting through it the shill cry of
newsboy calling an evening extra.
Valiant was staring at the other
with a strange look. Emotions to
which in all his self-indulgent life
he had been stranger were run
ming through his mind, and outre
passions had him by the throat.
Fool and doubly blind! A poor pawn,
a catspaw ralSing the chestnuts for
INSCRIPTIONS men whose ignominy ne
was now called on, perforce, to share!
In mis- pitiful egotism he had con-
sented to be a figurehead, and he had
been made a tool. A red rage surged
over him. No one had ever seen on
John Valiant's face such look as
srew on it now.
! He turned, retrieved the Panama,
and without a word opened the door.
The older man took step toward
him-he had sense of dangerous
electric forces in the air-but the
door closed sharply in his face. He
smiled grimly. mot crooked he
said to himself; merely callow. A
well-meaning. manicured young flop
wholly surrounded by men who knew
what they wantedf' He shrugged his
shoulders and went back to his chair.
Valiant plunged down in the
elevator to the street It's single
other passenger had his nose buried
in a newspaper, and over the readers
shoulder he saw the double-leaded
headline: collapse of the Valiant
Corporation
He pushed past the guarded door
and threading the crowd, made to-
ward the curb. where the bulldog,
with a bark of delight, leaped upon
the seat of a FURNISHED car, rumbl-
ing and vibrating with pentup power
There were those in the sullen anxl-
Gus crowd who knew whose was that