“I’m no bigger than you are, Brent. Your trouble was that you rushed me with your eyes shut. Just took a long chance that maybe, somehow, your blow would land. That’s probably what ails you, all along the line. You close your eyes and whang away, hoping you’ll strike something by accident … That afterthought of yours about the gun … you’d be in a nice mess by now if I had let you shoot me … Some little gambler, you are!”
“I’d rather take a chance on the chair than the pen!”
“That proves what I’m saying … And—speaking of chairs and pens, crawl over there to your desk and sit down. I’m going to have you write something for me.”
“If you think you’re going to extort a confession from me, Merrick, you’ve another think coming.”
“Confession? Nonsense! I’ve enough evidence in my pocket to send you up for twenty years … I want you to write a letter to your cousin. I’ll dictate it. Don’t make any mistakes in it, for I’m going to mail it myself.”
Brent slumped off the table and sweeping the desk clear of its litter took up a pen.
“Begin with her address and your customary salutation. Continue as follows: In view of the uncertainty of your income from your Northwestern Copper stock, I have disposed of it—”
Flinging the pen down, Brent shouted, “Do you realize you’re forcing me to write this letter?”
“Oh, rather! That’s why you’re writing it! Proceed, please.”
“Do you know what that is? … compelling me to write this?”
“What is it?”
“Why—it’s—it’s—”
“You think up the name for it after I’m gone … Pick up that pen! … You’ve got that about your disposal of her Northwestern Copper? Now—go on … I have taken its equivalent for you in Axion Motor Corporation, preferred—”
Brent hesitated and glanced up mystifiedly.
“I don’t understand!”
“That’s unimportant,” said Merrick crisply. “It’s none of your business, in fact. You’re just acting as my clerk for the moment. You have nothing further to do in your cousin’s business affairs after writing this note:—‘Axion Motor Corporation, preferred; five hundred shares listed today at two hundred and twenty-six. This stock is held by the Trust Department of the Fourth National Bank of Detroit from where your dividends will hereafter be remitted to you regularly.’ ”
“How do I know that’s true?” growled Brent.
“You don’t; but—as I said—it’s no affair of yours. Have you written it? Now—one more paragraph:—I find that an important business errand requires me to go immediately to Buenos Aires—”
“But—I’m not going to Buenos Aires!”
“Oh, yes, you are! … Sailing on Saturday … You’re just packing up, now, to leave for Washington to get the passport I’ve arranged for you. From there you go to New York where you sail on the Vigo … Get on now with your correspondence:—‘I do not know how long I shall be away; so I am transferring my entire responsibility for your business to the Trust Department of the Fourth National Bank of Detroit. Mr. T. P. Randall will verify this and give you a clear statement of your affairs in a short time …’ Now add whatever pleasant amenities you may have the crust to write to a woman you have robbed, and sign your name to it … and address an envelope.”
While he wrote, Merrick took out his wallet, extracted a steamship ticket, and counted two thousand dollars in bills of large denomination.
“There.” He pointed to it, as Brent finished. “That is for you. Take it—and be off! And if you’re in the market for any advice, I’d suggest that you quit trying to be a sport, which you most certainly aren’t; make some new connections; find a few honest friends; get yourself a respectable job; buck up—and be a man!”
His face distorted, Brent fumbled with the money, and blindly groped out with his hand. Merrick ignored the gesture. He was not fond of the movies.
“You can get out of the country, can’t you? … I’ve fixed things for you so you’ll have no trouble about the passport, unless you’re wanted for some other crime … Sure you’ll not be stopped? … Haven’t been robbing anybody else besides your little cousin, have you?”
“No! No! … God—but I’ve been a rotter!” Collapsing in his chair, Monty buried his tousled head in his arms.
“You don’t have to remain a rotter, Brent … Start fresh! … Go straight! … You can do it! … I’m going now. If you have any trouble getting off, wire me. There’s my card. And I presume I needn’t tell you that Mrs. Hudson is never to know anything about this little transaction of ours.”
“You mean,” said Brent, looking up perplexed, “that she’s not going to know you’ve given her all this money? What do you expect to get out of it?”
“That’s my business! … No—I think I’ll tell you … just to clear your mind of any nasty suspicion that my obligation to her may be somehow to her discredit … Do you recall the story of her husband’s death?”
Brent nodded.
“Do you remember that a young man was resuscitated, while Doctor Hudson was drowning?”
“Yeah—I remember … some rich guy … By God—it was you?”
“Yes! My life was saved, that day, by a machine which might have brought Doctor Hudson around, if he’d had a chance at it … Had Hudson lived, you would not have squandered Mrs. Hudson’s money … Do you understand now?”
“Was that why you became a doctor too?” inquired Brent, wide-eyed.
“That would be a good enough reason … but—no matter about that … I just wanted you to know the nature of my interest in your cousin … I don’t give a damn what you think about me, but I’d prefer you’d think straight about her!”
“So—you figured he had handed your life back to you—sort of—and you had to make good with it; is that it?”
“Something like that.”
For a long time Brent sat staring up glassily, and when he spoke his voice came from a distance.
“God!—I never heard of such a thing! … And here you’ve just handed my life back to me! … If I were the kind of a person you are, I
