Carmen Ariza Part 184

Then, his head sunk upon his breast, he fell to wondering if he might not secure a mortgage upon the Beaubien cottage, and turn its occupants into the street. Ah, what a power was money! It was the lever by which he moved the world, and clubbed its dull-witted inhabitants into servile obeisance! Who could stand against him--

That girl!

He sprang to his feet and called Hood. That obedient lackey hastened into his master's presence.

"The Ketchim trial?" snarled Ames.

"Called for this week, sir," replied Hood, glad that the announcement could not possibly offend his superior.

"Humph! The--that girl?"

"Brought up from Avon, and lodged in the Tombs, sir."

"You tell Judge Spencer that if he allows her bail I'll see that his federal appointment is killed, understand?"

"You may rely upon him, sir."

Ames regarded the man with a mixture of admiration and utter contempt.

For Hood stood before him a resplendent example of the influence of the most subtle of all poisons, the insidious lure of money. Soul and body he had prost.i.tuted himself and his undoubted talents to it. And now, were he to be turned adrift by Ames, the man must inevitably sink into oblivion, squeezed dry of every element of genuine manhood, and weighted with the unclean lucre for which his bony fingers had always itched.

"Will Ca.s.s defend Ketchim?" the master asked.

"Oh, doubtless. He knows most about the formation of the defunct Simiti company."

"Well, see him and--you say he's young, and got a wife and baby? Offer him twenty-five thousand to quit the case."

"I'm afraid it wouldn't do, sir," returned Hood, shaking his head dubiously. "I've had men talking with him regarding the trial, and he--"

"Then get him over here. I'll see if I can't persuade him," growled Ames in an ugly tone.

Hood bowed and went out. A few minutes later Reverend Darius Borwell was ushered into the financier's private office.

"Mr. Ames," cried that gentleman of the cloth, "it's shocking, terribly so, what those unbridled, unprincipled mill hands have drawn upon themselves down in Avon! Goodness! And four members of the Church of the Social Revolution came to my study last evening and demanded that I let them speak to my congregation on the coming Sabbath!"

"Well?"

"Why, I told them certainly not! My church is G.o.d's house! And I shall have policemen stationed at the doors next Sunday to maintain order!

To think that it has come to this in America! But, Mr. Ames, is your house guarded? I would advise--"

"n.o.body can get within a block of my house, sir, without ringing a series of electric bells," replied Ames evenly. "I have fifty guards and private detectives in attendance in and about my premises all the time. My limousine has been lined with sheet steel. And my every step is protected. I am not afraid for my life. I simply want to keep going until I can carry out a few plans I have in hand." His thought had reverted again to the fair girl in the Tombs.

"But now, Borwell," he continued, "I want to talk with you about another matter. I am drawing up my will, and--"

"Why, my dear Mr. Ames! You are not ill?"

Ames thought of his physician's constantly iterated warning; but shook his head. "I may get caught in this Avon affair," he said evasively.

"And I want to be prepared. The President has sent his message to Congress, as you may be aware. There are unpleasant suggestions in it regarding dispossession in cases like my own. I'm coming back by magnanimously willing to Congress a hundred millions, to stand as a fund for social uplift."

"Ah!" sighed the clergyman. Great was Mammon!

"But the little matter I wish to discuss with you is the sum that I am setting aside for the erection of a new church edifice," continued Ames, eying the minister narrowly.

"You don't mean it!" cried that worthy gentleman, springing up and clasping the financier's hand. "Mr. Ames! So magnanimous! Ah--the amount?"

"Well, will half a million do?" suggested Ames.

The minister reflected a moment. One should not be too precipitate in accepting tentative benefactions. "Ah--we really should have--ah--a trifle more, Mr. Ames. There's the settlement home, and the commons, you know, and--"

"Humph! Well, we'll start with half a million," replied Ames dryly.

"By the way, you know Jurges, eh? Reverend William Jurges? Er--have you any particular influence with him, if I may ask?" His sharp eyes bored straight through the wondering divine.

"Why--yes--yes, I know the gentleman. And, as for influence--well, I may--"

"Yes, just so," put in Ames. "Now there is a trial coming up this week, and Jurges will be called to the stand. I want you to give him the true facts in regard to it. I'll call Hood, and we'll go over them in detail now. Then you see Jurges this afternoon, and--say, he's raising a building fund too, isn't he?"

The magnate summoned Hood again; and for an hour the trio discussed the forthcoming trial of the unfortunate Philip O. Ketchim. Then Ames dismissed the clergyman, and bade his office boy admit the young lawyer, Ca.s.s, who had come in response to Hood's request.

For some moments after Ca.s.s entered the office Ames stood regarding him, studying what manner of man he was, and how best to approach him.

Then he opened the conversation by a casual reference to the unsatisfactory business situation which obtained throughout the country, and expressed wonder that young men just starting in their professions managed to make ends meet.

"But," he concluded with deep significance, "better go hungry than take on any cla.s.s of business which, though promising good money returns, nevertheless might eventually prove suicidal." He looked hard at the young lawyer when he paused.

"I quite agree with you, Mr. Ames," returned Ca.s.s. "But as I am particularly busy this morning, may I ask why you have sent for me?

Have you anything that I can--"

"I have," abruptly interrupted the financier. "We need additions to our legal staff. I thought perhaps you might like to talk over the matter with me, with a view to entering our employ."

"Why, Mr. Ames, I--I have never thought of--" The young man's eyes glistened.

"Well, suppose you think of it now," said Ames, smiling graciously. "I have heard considerable about you of late, and I must say I rather like the way you have been handling your work."

Ca.s.s looked at him with rising wonder. The work which he had been doing of late was most ordinary and routine, and called for no display of legal skill whatever. Suspicions slowly began to rise.

"I'd hate to see you tackle anything at this stage of your career, Mr.

Ca.s.s, that would bring discredit upon you. And I am afraid your a.s.sociation with Ketchim is going to do just that. But possibly you do not intend to handle further business for him?"

Ketchim, though long confined in the Tombs, had at length secured bail, through the not wholly disinterested efforts of his uncle, Stolz, the sworn enemy of Ames. And, because of his loyal efforts in behalf of Ketchim, Stolz had insisted that Ca.s.s be retained as counsel for the latter when his trial should come up.

"I'll tell you what I'll do, Mr. Ca.s.s," said Ames suddenly. "Mr. Hood will take you on at a salary of, say, five thousand to start with.

We'll try you out for a few weeks. Then, if we don't mutually fit, why, we'll quietly separate and say nothing. How about it?"

Ca.s.s thought hard. Half of that salary would have looked large to him then. But--

"May I ask," he slowly said in reply, "what cla.s.s of work Mr. Hood would give me to start with?"

"Why, nothing of great importance, perhaps, while you are getting into the harness. Possibly court work, as a starter. You've had experience in that, eh?"

Ca.s.s reflected again. The temptation was tremendous. That little house which he had pa.s.sed and stopped to look at so wistfully every night on his way home was now within his grasp.