Part 46 (1/2)

There were signs in the boy's face of a brief struggle between the old pride, inherited from his mother, and the self-respect which Harold Mainwaring's words had but just awakened.

”If it were the other fellow,” he said, slowly, ”the one the old man intended to make his heir, had made me such a proposition, I would tell him to go to the devil; but, by George! if you will stand by me, it's all right, and I'll be man enough anyway that you'll never regret it.”

A few days later, Walter LaGrange, penniless and friendless, had disappeared, whither his former a.s.sociates neither knew nor cared.

In a large banking establishment in one of the princ.i.p.al western cities,--a branch of the firm of Mainwaring & Co.,--a young man, known as the ward of Harold Scott Mainwaring, was entered as an employee, with prospect of advancement should he prove himself worthy of responsibility and trust. But of this, as of many other events just then quietly transpiring behind the scenes, little or nothing was known.

Meanwhile, as the days slipped rapidly away, the party at the Waldorf was not idle. There were conferences, numerous and protracted, behind dosed doors, telegrams and cablegrams in cipher flashed hither and thither in mult.i.tudinous directions, while Mr.

Sutherland seemed fairly ubiquitous. Much of his time, however, was spent in the private parlors of the English party, with frequent journeys to the court-house to ascertain the status of the case.

From one of these trips he returned one evening jubilant.

”Well,” said he, settling himself comfortably, with a sigh of relief, ”the first point in the case is decided in our favor.”

”That is a good omen,” Mr. Barton replied cheerfully; ”but may I inquire to what you refer?”

”I have succeeded in getting the date for the hearing set for the next term of court, which opens early in December.”

”I am glad to hear it; a little time just now is of the utmost importance to our interests. Did you have any difficulty in securing a postponement until the next term?”

”Whitney, of course, opposed it strongly. He said his client wanted the matter settled at the earliest possible moment; but I told him that so long as Ralph Mainwaring persisted in b.u.t.ting against a stone wall, just so long a speedy settlement was out of the question; it was bound to be a hard fight, and would be carried over into the next term in any event. Then I had a private interview with Judge Bingham, and, without giving particulars, told him that new developments had arisen, and, with a little time in which to procure certain evidence, we would have our opponents completely floored,--they would not even have an inch of room left to stand upon,--while under present conditions, Mainwaring, so long as he had a s.h.i.+lling, would, if beaten, move for a new trial, or appeal to a higher court,--anything to keep up the fight. So he will grant us till December, which, I am inclined to think, will be ample time.”

”It looks now,” said Mr. Barton, producing a telegram, ”as though we might succeed in securing that evidence much sooner than we have antic.i.p.ated. What do you think of that?” and he handed the despatch to Mr. Sutherland.

The face of the latter brightened as he glanced rapidly over the yellow sheet.

”The d.i.c.kens! McCabe has left the city!” he exclaimed.

Mr. Barton bowed. ”Which means,” he said in reply, ”that he has evidently struck the scent; and when he once starts on the trail, it is only a question of time--and usually not any great length of time, either--before he runs his game to cover.”

”Well,” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Mr. Sutherland, rubbing his hands together enthusiastically, ”I, for one, want to be 'in at the death' on this, for it will simply be the finest piece of work, the grandest denouement, of any case that has ever come within my twenty years of legal experience!”

Mr. Barton smiled. ”My brother is evidently of the same opinion with yourself,” he said. ”I received a cablegram from him to-day, requesting me to inform him at once of the date set for the hearing, as he stated he would not, for a kingdom, fail of being present at the trial.”

With the announcement that the case of Mainwaring versus Mainwaring had been set for the opening of the December term of court, the public paused to take breath and to wonder at this unlooked-for delay, but preparations for the coming contest were continued with unabated vigor on both sides. Contrary to all expectations, Ralph Mainwaring, so far from objecting to the postponement of the case, took special pains to express his entire satisfaction with this turn of affairs.

”It is an indication of conscious weakness on their part,” he remarked with great complacency, as he and Mr. Whitney were dining at the club on the following day. ”They have evidently discovered some flaw in their defence which it will take some time to repair.

I can afford to wait, however; my attorneys and experts will soon be here, and while our side could easily have been in readiness in a much shorter time, this, of course, will give us an opportunity for still more elaborate preparation, so that we will gain an immense advantage over them.”

”I suppose, Mr. Mainwaring,” said one of his listeners, giving a quick side-glance at his companions, ”I suppose that during this interim a truce will be declared, and for the time being there will be a cessation of hostilities between the parties in interest, will there not?”

”Sir!” roared Ralph Mainwaring, transfixing the speaker with a stare calculated to annihilate him.

”I beg pardon, sir, I intended no offence,” continued the irrepressible young American, ignoring the warning signals from his a.s.sociates; ”it only occurred to me that with such an immense advantage on your side you could afford to be magnanimous and treat your opponent with some consideration.”

”I am not accustomed to showing magnanimity or consideration to any but my own equals,” the other rejoined, with freezing dignity; ”and the fact that my 'opponent,' as you are pleased to designate him, is, for the present, allowed liberty to go and come at his pleasure, although under strict surveillance, is, in this instance, sufficient consideration.”

”Harold Scott Mainwaring under surveillance? Incredible!” exclaimed one of the party in a low tone, while the first speaker remarked, ”I certainly was unaware that the gentleman in question was to be regarded in the light of a suspected criminal!”

”It is to be presumed,” said Ralph Mainwaring, haughtily, stung by the tinge of irony in the other's tone, ”that there are a number of points in this case of which people in general are as yet unaware, but upon which they are likely to become enlightened in the near future, when this person who has a.s.sumed such a variety of roles will be disclosed in his true light,--not that of a suspected criminal merely, but of a condemned criminal, convicted by a chain of evidence every link of which has been forged by himself.”