writing intellectual poetry, espousing theoretical political views predicated upon limited experience and less knowledge; and she's now just at the point of corning to grips with herself.'
'Well,' Della Street asked, 'what should you do? Tell her the truth?'
Mason said after a moment's thought, 'I am not my client's conscience-only his lawyer.'
Chapter Three
It was the next morning when Della Street handed Mason the folded newspaper as he entered the office.
'What's this?' Mason asked. 'The financial page?'
'Right.'
'What's the trouble?'
'Read it,' she said. 'Unless I'm mistaken, there's plenty of trouble.'
Mason read the paragraph she indicated.
It was announced last night that Steer Ridge Oil amp; Refining Company had brought in a gusher proving up an entirely new territory in the Crystal Dome area. Market value of the company stock had been steadily declining and according to Jarvis Reader, president of the company, the news of this strike will reverse the downward trend. The new gusher is reported in an entirely new field which had previously been abandoned by one of the major oil companies as nonproductive.
Mason gave a low whistle. 'Better get our client, Kerry Dutton, on the phone, Della.'
She nodded. 'I looked up his number. I felt perhaps you'd want to call him.'
She picked up the instrument, said, 'Give me an outside line, Gertie.' And then her fingers flew over the dial.
She held the phone for several seconds, then her eyebrows raised. She made a little gesture to Mason but she continued holding on for another ten seconds.
At the end of that time, she dropped the telephone back into place.
'No answer?' Mason asked.
'No answer.'
Mason said, 'Ring up my broker, Della. Tell him I want fifty shares of Steer Ridge Oil and Refining.'
Della Street put through the call, transmitted the order, then said, 'He wants to talk with you personally, Chief.'
Mason nodded. 'Put him on.'
The lawyer picked up the telephone on his desk and said, 'Yes, Steve, what is it?'
'You know something in particular or are you just playing a hunch on that paragraph in the paper this morning?'
'Well, it's a little of both,' Mason said. 'Why?'
'I don't know about that Steer Ridge stock,' the broker said. 'It's skyrocketed. Somebody apparently has been snapping up stock for the last few days and the thing has climbed sky high. It had been down to almost nothing.'
'What do you know about the company?' Mason asked.
'Nothing much. It got along pretty well for a while; then the stockholders were reported to •be fighting among themselves. There may be a proxy battle. A fellow by the name of Jarvis Reader is president. He's a queer sort of a duck, apparently a wild-eyed gambler who committed the company to taking up all sorts of leases on territory that had lots of acreage and not very much else. Under his management the stock has been steadily declining for some time. Recently someone started trying to get proxies.
'Now, whenever that happens in a low-priced stock the management tries to counter with news that will put the stock up in price. Hence a good reason for this paragraph in the paper; or they may really have a new field and the insiders have kept the news from the public so as to buy up stock; or it may be just a rumor.
'I was wondering if you have any inside information.'
'Not me,' Mason said. 'I was hoping you had some.'
'I've told you mine.'
'Okay,' Mason said, 'buy me fifty shares at the market, regardless of what it costs. I want to be a stockholder in the company.'
'Okay, if you say so,' the broker said. 'But I'd advise you not to go overboard simply on the strength of that newspaper report. That security has been a dog. A lot of people who had held it for years have sold out during the last year and some of them have taken quite a loss.'
'Keep your eye on it,' Mason said. 'If there should be any really startling developments, let me know.'
The lawyer hung up the telephone, glanced at Della Street, and said, 'I wonder how our client is feeling about now?'
'That,' Della Street said, 'is a good question. Of course, he said he had the power to buy and sell, but the beneficiary thinks she has a block of that stock and that it's skyrocketing. On the strength of that feeling, she may be committing herself to all sorts of beatnik endowments.'
The telephone on Della Street 's desk rang.
Della Street picked it up, said, 'Yes, Gertie?' Then after a few moments, said, 'Just a minute. Have him wait on the line.'
She turned to Perry Mason and said, 'Fred Hedley is calling. He says that it's on a matter of the greatest importance and that he knows you will want to talk with him. He has some important information for you.'
Mason hesitated a moment, then nodded and picked up his phone.
Della Street threw the switch which put both phones on the same line.
Mason said, 'Hello. Perry Mason speaking.'
Fred Hedley's voice was so excited that the words were all but telescoped together.
'Mr. Mason. Mr. Mason. I've got some wonderful news. This is really something! Have you seen the financial page of the morning paper?'
'What about it?' Mason asked.
'They've struck it rich. Steer Ridge Oil and Refining has proved up a new territory and brought in a big gusher.'
Mason said, 'This is Fred Hedley talking?'
'That's right, Mr. Mason. You remember me. I was in your office with my mother and Desere Ellis. I'm the one that's establishing the foundation.'
'Oh, yes,' Mason said. 'What does the Steer Ridge Oil and Refining Company have to do with your foundation, Mr. Hedley?'
'Everything in the world,' Hedley said. 'Some of the stock that's held in the trust for Desere Ellis is a big block of the Steer Ridge Oil and Refining. It's going up in value like a skyrocket.'
'Well, that's interesting,' Mason said. 'How do you know it's still in the trust?'
'It has to be. That was the stock that Desere's father wanted Dutton to hang on to and sell only as a last resort.'
'Was it a condition of the trust?'
'I don't know,' Hedley said with a trace of irritation in his voice. 'You should know. You're representing the guy.'
'I am not familiar with the terms of the trust as far as all of the securities are concerned,' Mason said. 'I gathered from what you have told me that you were, and I was just asking the question. You folks told me he had distributed all but about fifteen thousand dollars. That means he must have had to sell some of the securities.'
'Not the Steer Ridge,' Hedley said confidently. 'There's some sort of a proxy fight on, and a man called on Desere just a couple of weeks ago to get her proxies. She sent him to Dutton.
'That stock is going up like a rocket. It'll be worth thousands, hundreds of thousands!'
Mason said, 'I fail to see just what difference all this makes-to you.'
'This simply means there will now be adequate funds for us to carry out the work we want. Desere can give
