The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1927-12-02
CHAPTER VII.

The mans reputation sat oddly
upon his narrow shoulders. He
was short and thin and his face
was sharp beneath straggly hair
which was never quite smoothly
brushed. He appeared to be a
clerk land only in that capacity
not out of place in the luxuriously
furnished office on the door of
which was the single word-Pri-
yate.
Yet this was John Carmody's Of
flee, and Carmody was the sharp
faced man at the desk who DELHI
Grated with punctilious care be-
tween two brands OF perfumed Gig
arets. He was dressed with plain
ness amounting to severity.
His private Office occupied cor
ner of the fourteenth floor OF the
First National Bank building and
between it and the hall were other
Offices: those of hireling lawyers
who attended to routine work for
him, and of law clerks and many
stenographers and typists and filing
clerks. One did not gain an aud
fence with John Carmody easily
and never unless he desired it.
There were many who tried to
blast through-and always without
success. There was rigid austerity
for the timid and, if necessary,
brute force for any who might har-
Dor deep personal luminosity
against the acrid man in the cor
ner room.
John Carmody had enemies: pow
erful ones, for to be an enemy of
CarmOdy one must be powerful.
Ostensibly the man was merely an
amazingly successful practitioner in
the field of criminal law; actually
he was an omniscient power in city,
county and state politics with a fins
ger firm on the pulse of the under
world and the proletariat.
Personally, he cared nothing for
the political limelight He never
sought office and would have refus-
ed it had it been thrust upon him.
But it pleased him-and was of in
estimable personal benefit-to con
troll those who did hold Office 1t
is difficult to oVerestimate the value
OF knowing in advance just who will
be on the jury in a vitally impor
tant case; it is of absorbing inter
est to criminal lawyer to know
exactly who the real criminals are
$50 that at times these men sought
his services defensively, merely to
close lips that might otherwise be
used to assist the district attorney.
That was John Carmody: rapier
brain behind innocuous mask of
bland friendliness; a master player
moving his chessmen about the vast
board of the state; person who
knew to tbs .t1iest fractional part
of an inch what he could and should
do-and what had best be left I'M
done. 1t pleased him to earn the
Worship of the criminal world. It's
citizens furnished him with an ade-
quate practice, but more particular
ly they held tiny bits OF informa-
ton which could be woven prettily
into the warp and wool of Informal
tion texture which enabled him to
invest his personal fortune sound
ly and successfully.
Only the very honest dared ex-
press hatred of John Carmody. If
they snubbed him, that was their
business. and immensely amusing to
him. They did not have the power
to blacklist him from the city's ex-
elusive clubs, nor to debar him from
the best social circles. Socially, he
was considerable of lion. Men
responded in spite of themselves,
to the sheer power of the man, and
women
Only one or two of Carmody's
most intimate friends land none OF
lis enemies-k knew of the chink in
the mans armor. They regarded
him as inhuman, bereft of any dis
tinctly masculine emotion; yet be-
meath the retiring exterior were
veins in which red blood coursed
hotly-so holly, indeed, that on
more than one occasion it had come
near to betraying the man. Where
women were concerned he was not
always bland and suave-and never
negative. 1t was that which had
sent Todd Shannon to Jail. Car
mody could have picked his own
jury in that trial, and would have
had it not been that he learned of
Kathleen's intention to come into
his employ. With Kathleen as his
private secretary, he considered il
more profitable to his own interests
for Todd to be in prison And so
to prison Todd went-he and his
niece filled with admiration for the
heroic efforts of this great man on
Todd's behalf-and Carmody was
left with free hand to do as best
he could with the girl.
For years she had baffied him.
He knew that she worshiped his
power and his ability. Her admi- |
ration of his accomplishments
showed in every look and gesture
Yet in all the years of office init |
macy he had never pierced the veil
of personal reserve. He was fur
ther away from the girl now Than
he had been when Todd Shannon
first went to prison, and he had
been too adroit, too much the mas
ter strategist, to risk disaster by
one grand false move. He had new
Ell succeeded in convincing her that
he was a mortal man and not
demigod, and f1esh-and-blo women
do not fall in love with gods.
The door opened and a man en-
tered. He was tremendous fig
ure, oddly picturesque. Officially