Part 14 (2/2)
”I have been amply repaid for all I have done,” said Murray.
”How?” she asked in surprise.
”I have had the royal satisfaction,” he answered, ”of compelling an unscrupulous man and a selfish woman to do a fairly creditable thing; I have had the joy of showing my contempt for them in my very method of doing this.”
She did not quite understand, her grat.i.tude making her blind to all else at the moment.
”And also,” added Murray to himself, when she had gone, ”the great satisfaction of saving a devoted woman from the consequences of at least one of her acts of devotion. Forgery is a serious matter, regardless of the circ.u.mstances.”
AN INCIDENTAL ERROR
”It's mighty awkward,” said Owen Ross, the insurance solicitor.
”It is,” admitted Dave Murray.
”I've been after him for over six months,” persisted Ross, ”and now, after urging him persistently to take out a policy, I have got to tell him that we won't give him one. That would be hard enough if he had sought us out, and it's ten times as hard when we have sought him. Why, it looks as if we were playing a heartless practical joke on him.”
”But it can't be helped,” said Murray. ”It's one of the disagreeable features of the business. We convince a man that it's to his interest to carry life insurance, and then we tell him he can't have any. Naturally, from his prejudiced viewpoint, we seem to be contemptibly insincere and deceitful.”
”Of course, we are in no sense shortening his life,” remarked Ross, ”but it seems like p.r.o.nouncing a sentence of death, just the same. He is sure to make an awful row about it.”
”One man,” said Murray reminiscently, ”fell dead in this office when his application was refused. The shock killed him, but there was no way to avoid giving him the shock. However, that was an exceptional case: I never knew of another to succ.u.mb, although it must be admitted that the news that one is destined not to live long is distressing and depressing.”
”What's the reason for refusing Tucker?” asked Ross.
”There are several reasons,” replied Murray. ”The physician reports heart murmur, which indicates some latent trouble that is almost certain to develop into a serious affection.”
”May not the physician be wrong?”
”He is paid to be right, but, of course, we are all liable to make mistakes, and it can't be denied that heart murmur is deceptive. I've known men to be the subject of unfavorable reports at one hour of the day and most favorable ones at another. The occupation immediately preceding the examination may develop symptoms that are normally absent.
However, I would not feel justified in accepting this application, even if the report were favorable.”
”Why not?” demanded Ross.
”The amount of insurance he wishes to carry would make him worth more dead than alive, which is a condition of affairs that an insurance company dislikes.” Murray became reminiscent again. ”I recall one such risk,” he went on. ”The man found the premiums a greater burden than he could carry, so he died.”
”Suicide!” exclaimed Ross.
”Oh, no,” replied Murray, with a peculiar smile; ”merely a mistake. But, if you will put yourself in that man's place, you will see how the mistake could happen. He was carrying twenty-five thousand dollars of insurance, and he wasn't worth twenty-five cents at the time, owing to some recent reverses. He was ill, but was not considered dangerously ill. Still, he was depressed, believing apparently that he would not recover and knowing that he had not the money for the next premium. If he died before a certain date there would be twenty-five thousand dollars for his wife and children; if he died after that date there would be comparatively little. Now, in imagination, just a.s.sume the problem that confronted that man on a certain night: twenty-four hours of life for him meant a future of privation for his wife, if he did not recover and prosper, while immediate death for him meant comfort for those he loved. Picture yourself contemplating that prospect while lying weak and discouraged in the sick-room, with various bottles-one labeled 'Poison'-within reach. A poison may have medicinal value when properly used, you know, but what more natural than that you should make a mistake in the gloom of the night while the tired nurse is dozing? It is so easy to get the wrong bottle-to take the poison instead of the tonic-and it solves a most distressing problem. A drop of the poison is beneficial; a teaspoonful is death; and the tonic is to be taken in large doses.” Murray paused a moment to let the terrible nature of the situation impress itself on Ross. Then he added quietly: ”We paid the insurance, although the timeliness of the accident did not escape comment. The same mistake twenty-four hours later would not have had the same financial result. Now, do you understand why I would not care to put fifty thousand dollars on the life of Tucker, even if he were physically satisfactory? Unexpected reverses may make any man worth more dead than alive, but we seldom contribute knowingly to such a condition of affairs. It isn't prudent. While the average man is not disposed to shorten his life to beat an insurance company, it isn't wise to put the temptation in his way unless you are very sure of your man.”
”Well, we needn't explain that to Tucker,” said Ross.
”No,” returned Murray. ”We can put the whole thing on the basis of the physician's report.”
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