A Woman Intervenes by Robert Barr

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'I hardly think he was justified in saying anything quite so definite. I
got from him such particulars as he cared to give. He is not a very
communicative man at the best, but he told me something about it, and I
have been thinking over his proposal. I have now concluded to help you in
this matter, if you care to have my aid. Perhaps, however, things have
got to such a stage that you do not wish any assistance?'

'On the contrary, we have done very little. Mr. Kenyon is just now among
the china manufactories in the North, finding out what demand there will
be in England for this mineral.'

'Ah, I see. Have you had reports from him yet?'

'Nothing further than a letter this morning, which is very satisfactory.'

'There is no question, then, about the mineral being useful in the china
trade?'

'No question whatever.'

'Well, I am glad of that. Now, Mr. Kenyon spoke to me on the steamer of
going in share and share alike; that is, you taking a third, he taking a
third, and I taking a third. We did not go very minutely into
particulars, but I suppose we each share the expense in the same way--the
preliminary expenses, I mean?'

'Yes,' said Wentworth; 'that would be the arrangement, I imagine.'

'Well, have you the authority to deal with me in the matter, or would it
be better for me to wait until Kenyon comes back?'

'We can settle everything here and now.'

'Very good. Would you have any objection to my seeing the papers that
relate to the mine? I should like to get the figures of the output as
nearly as possible, and any other particulars you may have that would
enable me to estimate the value of the property. Also I should like to
see a copy of the option, or the original document by which you hold
the mine.'

'Certainly; I shall be very pleased to give you all the information in
my power.' Wentworth turned to his desk and wrote for a few moments,
then blotted the paper he had been writing, and handed it to Longworth.
'You have no objection, before this is done, to signing this document,
have you?'

Longworth adjusted his one eyeglass and looked at the paper, which read:
'I hereby agree to do my best to form a limited liability company for the
purpose of taking over the Ottawa Mica-mine. I agree to pay my share of
the expenses, and to accept one-third of the profits.'

'No, I don't object to sign this, though I think it should be a little
more definite. I think it should state that the liability I incur is
to be one-third of the whole preliminary expenses, the other
two-thirds to be paid by Kenyon and yourself; and that, in return, I
am to get one-third of the profits, the other two-thirds going to
yourself and Kenyon. I think it should also state the amount of the
capital of the new company; two hundred thousand pounds was suggested,
if I remember rightly.'

'Very well,' answered Wentworth; 'I will rewrite that in accordance with
your wishes.'

This he did, and Longworth, again adjusting his eyeglass, read it.

'Now,' he said, 'as we are so formal about the matter, perhaps it would
be as well for you to give me a note which I can keep, setting forth
these same particulars.'

'Undoubtedly,' said Wentworth, 'I shall do that. Probably it would be
better for you to write the document to suit your own views, and I
will sign it.'

'Oh no, not at all. Write whatever is embodied there, so that you will
have one paper and I the other.'

This was done.

'Now then,' said Longworth, 'when does your option run out?'

Wentworth named the date.

'Who is the owner of the mine?'

'It is owned by the Austrian Mining Company, headquarters at Vienna, and
the option is signed by a Mr. Von Brent, of Ottawa, who is manager of the
mine and one of the owners.'

'You are perfectly certain that he has every right to sell the mine?'

'Yes; Mr. Kenyon's lawyer saw to that while he was in Ottawa.'

'And you are sure, also, that your option is a thoroughly legal
instrument?'

'We are sure of that.'

'Has it been examined by a London solicitor?'

'It has been submitted to a Canadian lawyer. The bargain was made in
Canada, and it will have to be carried out in Canada, under the laws
of Canada.'

'Still, don't you think it would be just as well to get the opinion of an
English lawyer on it?'

'I think that would be an unnecessary expense. However, if you wish to
have that done, we will do it.'

'Yes; I think we shall need to have the opinion of a good lawyer upon it
before we submit it to the stockholders.'

'Very well, I will have it done. Is there anyone whom you wish to give an
opinion on it?'

'Oh, it is a matter of indifference to me; your own solicitor would do as
well as anyone else. Perhaps, however, it will be better to have a legal
adviser for the Mica Mining Company, Limited--we shall have to have one
as we go on--and it might be as well to submit the document to whomever
we are going to place in that position. It will not increase the legal
expenses at all, or at least by only a very trifling amount. Have you
anyone to suggest?'

'I have not thought about the matter,' said Wentworth.

'Suppose you let me look up a firm who will answer our purpose? My uncle
is sure to know the right men, and that will be something towards my
share of forming the company.'

'Very good,' said Wentworth; 'that will be satisfactory to me.'

'Now, there is a good deal to be done in the forming of a company, and it
is going to take three men a good deal of time, besides some expense.
What do you say to letting me look up offices?'

'Do you think it is necessary to have offices?'

'Oh, certainly. A great deal depends, in this sort of thing, on
appearances. We shall need to get offices in a good locality.'

'To tell the truth, Mr. Longworth, Kenyon and I have not very much money,
and we do not want to enter into any expense that is needless.'

'My dear sir, it is not needless. This business is one of those things
into which, if you go boldly, you win; while if you go gingerly, on the
economical plan, you lose everything. Of course, if there is to be a
scarcity of cash, I shall have nothing to do with the scheme, because I
know how these half-economically worked affairs turn out. I have seen too
much of them. We are making a strike for sixty thousand pounds each. That
is a sum worth risking something for, and, if you will believe me, you
will not get it unless you venture something for it.'

'I suppose that is true.'

'Yes, it is very true. Of course I've had more experience in matters of
this kind than either of you, and I know we shall have to get good
offices, with a certain prosperous look about them. People are very much
influenced by appearances. Now, if you like, I will see to getting the
offices and to engaging a solicitor. Every step must be taken under legal
advice, otherwise we may get into a very bad tangle and spend a great
deal more money in the end.'

'Very well,' said Wentworth. 'Is there anything else you can suggest?'

'Not just at present; nothing need be done until Kenyon comes back, and
then we can have a meeting to see what is the best way to proceed.'

Longworth then looked over the papers, took a note of some things
mentioned in the option, and finally said:

'I wish you would get these papers copied for me, I suppose you have
someone in the office who can do it?'

'Yes.'

'Then just have duplicates made of each of them. Good-morning, Mr.
Wentworth.'

Wentworth mused for a few moments over the unexpected turn affairs had
taken. He was very glad to get the assistance of Longworth; the name
itself was a tower of strength in the City. Then, Kenyon's letter from
the North was encouraging. Thinking of the letter brought the writer of
it to his mind, so he took a telegraph-form from his desk, and wrote a
message to the address given on the letter.

'Everything right. Longworth has joined us, and signed papers to assist
in forming company.'

'There,' he said, as he sent the boy out with the message, 'that will
cheer up old John when he gets it.'

CHAPTER XXII.

When John Kenyon returned from the North and entered the office of his
friend Wentworth, he found that gentleman and young Longworth talking in
the outer room.

'There's a letter for you on my desk,' said Wentworth, after shaking
hands with him. 'I'll be there in a minute.'

Kenyon entered the room and found the letter. Then he did a very
unbusinesslike thing. He pressed the writing to his lips and placed the
letter in his pocket-book. This act deserves mention because it is an
unusual thing in the City. As a general rule, City men do not press
business communications to their lips, and the letter John had received
was entirely a business communication, relating only to the mine, and to
William Longworth's proposed connection with it. He wondered whether he
should write an answer to it or not.

He sat down at Wentworth's desk, and came upon an obstacle at the very
beginning. He did not know how to address the young woman. Whether to say
'My dear Miss Longworth,' or 'My dear madam,' or whether to use the
adjective 'dear' at all, was a puzzle to him; and over this he was
meditating when Wentworth came bustling in.

'Well,' said the latter, as John tore into small pieces a sheet of
notepaper and threw the bits into the waste-basket, 'how have you got on?
Your letters were very short indeed, but rather to the point. You seem to
have succeeded.'

'Yes, I have succeeded very well. I have got all the figures and prices
and everything else that it is necessary to have. I succeeded with
everybody except Brand, who wrote that letter to you. I cannot make him
out at all. He would give me no information, and he managed to prevent
everyone else in his works from giving me any. He pooh-poohed the
scheme--in fact, wouldn't listen to it. He said it was not usual for men
to give away information regarding their business, and in that, of
course, he was perfectly justified; but when I tried to argue with him as
to whether this mineral was used in his manufactory or not, he would not
listen. I asked him what he used in place of it, but he would not tell.
All in all, he is a most extraordinary man, and I confess I do not
understand him.'

'Oh, it doesn't matter about him in the least. I was speaking with
Longworth just now about that curious letter of his, and he agrees with
me that it makes no difference. He says, what is quite true, that in
every business you find some man with whom it is difficult to deal.'

'Yes, that is so; but, still, he either uses this substance or he does
not. I can understand a man who says, "We have no need for that,
because we use another material." But that is one of the things Brand
does not say.'

'Well, it is not worth while talking about him. By the way, you have all
your figures and notes with you, I suppose?'

'Yes, I have everything.'

'Very well. Leave them with me, and I will get them into some sort of
shape. Longworth says we shall have to have everything printed relating
to this--your statements and all.'

'That will cost a great deal of money, will it not?'

'Oh, not very much. It is necessary, it seems. We must have printed
matter to give to those who make application for information. It would be
impossible to explain personally to everybody who inquires, and to show
them these documents.'

'Yes, I suppose so.'

'Longworth was just now speaking to me about offices he has seen, and he
is anxious to secure them at once. He is attending to that matter.'

'Do you think we need an office? Why could not the business be transacted
here; or perhaps a room might be had on this floor that would do
perfectly well; then we should be close together, and able to communicate
when necessary.'

'Longworth seems to think differently. He says you must impress the
public, and so he is going in for fine offices.'

'Yes, but who is to pay for them?'

'Why, we must, of course--you and Longworth and myself.'

'Have you the money?'

'I have a certain amount. I think we shall have enough to see it through,
and if not, we can easily get it, and settle up when we finish the
business.'

'Well, you know I have no money to spare.'

'Oh, I know that well enough. Perhaps Longworth will see us through,
for, as he says, this sort of thing can be spoilt by niggardliness. He
has known, and so have I, many a business go to pieces because of
false economy.'

'But it seems to me all this is needless expense. We only want to get a
few moneyed men interested in our project, and if they are sensible men,
they will look to the probability of getting a good dividend, not at
fine offices.'

'Very well, John; you get the men, and I shall be satisfied. I am sure I
am as anxious to do this cheaply as you are. If you think you can go out
and interest a dozen or twenty-four men in the City, and persuade them
to go in for our mine, I will cry "Halt!" on our part until you do it.
Will you try that?'

Kenyon pondered for a few minutes, and then said: 'I suppose that would
be rather a difficult thing to do.'

'Yes, that is the way it strikes me. I do not know to whom I could go.
Longworth is a good man, and we have gone to him. Now it seems to me,
having got his assistance, the least we can do, unless we are prepared to
produce the men ourselves forthwith, is to act as he wishes.'

'Yes, I quite appreciate that, and I also grasp the fact that too close
economy is not the best thing; but, on the other hand, George, how are we
to perform our part with Longworth? His ideas of economy and yours may be
vastly different. What is a mere trifle to him would bankrupt us!'

'I know that. Well, he is coming here this afternoon at three. Suppose
you manage to be in then, and talk with him. Meanwhile, I will go over
the papers and get them into tabulated form.'

'Very well; I shall be here at three o'clock.'

It will hardly be credited that a business man like John Kenyon spent
most of the time between that hour and three o'clock trying to compose a
business letter in answer to the business communication he had received
that morning. Yet such was the astonishing fact, and it showed, perhaps
more than anything else, how utterly unfit Mr. John Kenyon was to join in
a commercial undertaking in a city of hard-headed people. At last,
however, the letter was posted, and Kenyon hurried away to be in time for
his three-o'clock appointment. He found Wentworth and young Mr. Longworth
together, the latter looking more like a young man from the West End
than a typical City business man. His monocle was in his eye, and it
shone on Kenyon as he entered. It was evident something was troubling
Wentworth, and it was equally evident that the something, whatever it
was, was not troubling young Longworth.

'You are late, John,' was Wentworth's greeting.

'A little,' he answered. 'I was detained.'

There was silence for a few moments, and Wentworth appeared to be waiting
for Longworth to speak. At last Longworth said:

'I have succeeded in getting very nice offices indeed, and I was telling
Mr. Wentworth about them. You see, it is not very easy to engage offices
in a good part of the City by the week. They do not care to let them in
that way, because, while a weekly tenant is occupying them, somebody
else, who wants them for a longer time, might have to be sent away.'

'Yes,' said Kenyon in a non-committal manner.

'Well, I have got just the offices we need, and have now set the men at
putting gilt lettering on the windows. I have taken the offices in the
name of "The Canadian Mica Mining Company, Limited," which I shall have
on the plate-glass windows in a very short time. Now, Mr. Wentworth here
seems to think the offices rather expensive. I have told him before what
my ideas are in the matter of expense. Perhaps, before anything more is
said on the subject, we ought to go and look at the rooms.'

'How much are they a week?' asked Kenyon.

Young Mr. Longworth did not answer, because at that moment his monocle
fell out of its place and had to be adjusted again; but Wentworth jerked
out the two words, 'Thirty pounds.'

'A _week_?' cried John.

'Yes,' said Longworth, after having succeeded in replacing the round bit
of glass--'yes; Mr. Wentworth seems to think that is rather high, but I
defy him to get as fine offices in the City for anything less in price.
It is merely ten pounds a week for each of us. However, before you can
judge of their dearness or cheapness, you must see them. If you ask me, I
think they are a bargain.'

'Very well,' said Kenyon. 'Have you the time, George?'

Wentworth, without answering, shoved the papers into his desk and closed
it. The three young men went out together, and after a short walk came to
large plate-glass windows, where a man on a ladder was chalking the words
'The Canadian Mica Mining Company, Limited,' in a semicircle.

'You see,' said Longworth, 'this is one of the very best situations in
the City. As I said before, I doubt if you could get anything like it for
the price.'

They could not deny the excellence of the position, or that the
plate-glass looked very imposing and the gilt letters exceedingly fine;
but the cost of this running on perhaps for two or three months seemed to
appal them.

'Come inside,' said young Longworth suavely; 'I am sure you will be
pleased with the rooms we have. You see,' he said, entering and nodding
to the carpenters who were at work there, 'this will be the front
office, where the public is received. Here you have room for an
accountant or two and your secretary. The back-room, which you see is
also well lighted, is just the spot for our people to meet. We will get
in a large long table here, and a number of chairs, and there we
are--capital directors' room.'

'Does the thirty pounds a week include the furnishing of the place?'
asked Kenyon.

'Oh, bless you, no! You surely couldn't expect that? We shall have to put
in the furniture, of course.'

'And do you intend to put in desks and counter and everything of that
sort here?'

'Of course. Beside that, we will get in a large safe. There is nothing
like a ponderous safe, with the name of the company in gilt letters on
it, for impressing the general public.'

'And how much is the furnishing of this place to cost?'

'Really, I don't know that. The men I have engaged will do it very
reasonably. They have done work for me before. You don't get it done any
cheaper by haggling about the price beforehand--I've found that out.'

'I do not see how we are to pay our share of all this,' said Kenyon.

'Nothing easier, my boy; I've arranged all that. I will pay them my third
in cash when it is finished, and, they have agreed to wait three months
for the remainder. By that time you will have sixty thousand pounds each,
and a little bill like this will be nothing to you.'

Kenyon looked grave.

'It's a little like counting your chickens,' he said.

'Ah, they'll hatch all right,' laughed Longworth. And then his eyeglass
dropped out.

CHAPTER XXIII.

It is never wise to despise an enemy, no matter how humble he may be.
The mouse liberated the enmeshed lion. Jennie Brewster should have been
thankful that circumstances, working in her favour, had rendered her
account of the discoveries she made about the mines unnecessary. She was
saved the bitterness of acknowledged defeat by the cable despatch that
awaited her at Queenstown, telling her not to forward her information.
The letter she received from the editor of the _Argus_ later explained
the cable message. The _Argus_ had obtained from a different source what
purported to be an account of the reports on the mines, and this had
been published. If Jennie's contribution corroborated this article, it
was unnecessary; if it contradicted what had been already published,
then, of course, it was equally unavailable, for the _Argus_ was a paper
that never stultified itself by acknowledging an error. So the editor
sent his correspondent a short cable message to save the expense of a
long and costly despatch that would have been useless when it reached
the _Argus_ office.

Instead, however, of being grateful to the stars that fought so well for
her, Jennie became bitterly resentful against Fleming, and hardly less so
against Miss Longworth. If it had not been for the meddling politician's
interference, Wentworth would never have discovered who she was, and the
whole train of humiliating events that followed would not have taken
place. She would have parted with Wentworth on a friendly basis, at
least. She was forced, reluctantly, to admit to herself that she liked
Wentworth better than any young man she had ever before met; and now that
there was little chance of seeing him again, her regret had become more
and more poignant as time went on. He had told her all his hopes about
the mica-mine before their unfortunate disaster, and had taken her into
his confidence in a way, she felt sure, he had never done with any other
woman. She saw the earnest look in his honest eyes whenever she closed
her own, and this look haunted her day and night, alternating with the
remembrance of that gaze of incredulous reproach with which he regarded
her when he discovered her mission, which was even harder to bear than
the recollection of his confidence and esteem.

And the sting of the situation lay in the fact that it had all been so
useless and unnecessary. She had wounded her friend and humiliated
herself all for nothing! The rapid changes that had taken place in the
newspaper office since she left, had rendered her sacrifices futile, and
while she had buoyed herself up on shipboard by holding that she was
merely doing her duty to her employers, even that consolation had been
made naught by the editor's letter.

Thus it ever is in that kaleidoscopic, gigantic and fascinating lottery,
the modern press. The sensation for which an editor to-day would sell his
soul, is to-morrow worthless. The greatest fool in the office will
sometimes stumble stupidly upon the most important news of the day, while
the cleverest reporter may be baffled in his constant fight against time,
for the paper goes to press at a certain hour, and after that, effort is
useless. The conductor of a great paper is like the driver of a Roman
chariot; he needs a cool head and a strong arm, with a clear eye that
peers into the future, and that pays little heed to the victims of the
whirling scythe-blades at the hub. He may overturn a Government or be
himself thrown, by an unexpected jolt, under the wheels. The fiery steeds
never stop, and when one drops the reins, another grasps them, to be in
turn lost and forgotten in the mad race, wherein never a glance is cast
to the rear. The best brains in the country are called into requisition,
squeezed, and flung aside. With a lavish but indiscriminating hand are
thrown broadcast fame and dishonour, riches and disaster. Unbribable in
the ordinary sense of the word, the press will, for the accumulation of
the smallest coins of the realm, exaggerate a cholera scare and paralyze
the business of a nation; then it will turn on a corrupt Government and
rend it, although millions might be made by taking another course. It is
the terror of scoundrels and the despair of honest men.

Jennie Brewster, in the midst of her unavailing regrets, clenched her
little fist when she thought of Fleming. It is both customary and
consoling to place the blame on other shoulders than our own. Human
nature is such an erring quantity, that usually we can find a scapegoat
among our fellow-beings, who can be made responsible for any misdeeds or
failings which are so much a part of ourselves that they escape
recognition. If Fleming had only attended his own business, as a man
should, Wentworth would never have known that Jennie wrote for the
_Argus_, and Jennie might have had a friend in London who would have
added that spice of interest to her visit which usually accompanies the
friendship of an agreeable young man for a girl so pretty and
fascinating.

Fleming put up at the hotel that Jennie had at first selected, and now
and then she met him in the extensive halls of the great building; but
she invariably passed him with the dignity of an offended queen, although
the unfortunate man always took off his hat, and once or twice paused as
if about to speak with her.

On the last day of her stay at the hotel, she met Fleming oftener than
ever before; but it did not occur to her that the unhappy politician was
lying in wait for her, never being able to muster up enough courage to
address her when his opportunity came. At last a note was brought up to
the room she occupied, from Fleming, in which he said that he would like
to have a few moments' conversation with her, and would wait for a reply.

'Tell him there is no reply,' said the girl to the messenger.

It is sometimes well to know the point of view, even of an enemy, but
Jenny was too angry with him to think of that. However, a politician, to
be successful, must not be easily rebuffed, and as a rule he is not.

Fleming, when he got the curt reply to his note, threw away his cigar,
put on his hat, took the lift, passed through the long corridor, and
knocked at Jennie's door.

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