New York - The Novel

him?”
    “Know the name,” said Frank Master, cautiously.
    “He belongs in jail,” said Tom firmly. “But your railroad operation doesn’t sound like that. Effectively, you’d have cornered the market in the shares, and you may profit accordingly. So long as there’s nothing else going on.”
    “So you think it’s all right?”
    “I’d be happy to handle the business for you, if you like.”
    “That’s kind of you, Tom, but I think I can take care of it.”
    “As you wish. If you get wind of anything that might be improper, you’ve a very simple option, you know. Just hold on to your shares. Don’t sell them, or at least wait a while, till the whole thing’s blown over. The stock may stay at the higher price, and you could lighten your holding then, and take some profit. That’d be all right.”
    “Thank you, Tom.”
    “My pleasure. You don’t want to tell me what this railroad is?”
    “Not just now.”
    “Well, good luck. Just remember one thing. Stay away from Gabriel Love.”
    “Thanks,” said Frank. “I’ll remember that.”

    The second dinner at Delmonico’s took place that Friday. It was just the three of them again: Frank, Sean O’Donnell and Gabriel Love. As before, Gabriel Love lowered his great frame slowly into his chair, and gazed benignly over his white beard at them both. And Sean smiled at Frank reassuringly, as if to say: “Ain’t he a character?”
    Master had prepared himself carefully for this meeting. So, as soon as they’d ordered drinks, he came straight to the point.
    “Mr. Love,” he said, “I’d like you to go over the precise details of this transaction one more time.” He smiled. “Just so that I know what I’m getting myself into.”
    As they had before, the pale blue eyes gazed out of their watery domain. But did Frank detect, in their benevolence, a hint of impatience?
    “The business, my friends,” said Mr. Love, in a voice of great gentleness, “is simplicity itself. And your role in it requires only that you should absent yourself from the city for a day or two—that you should take a small rest, away from the cares of business, in a place where you cannot be reached by the telegraph. Nothing more.” He smiled in a kindly way. “In short, a vacation, free from all care.” He turned to Sean. “Isn’t that right?”
    “That’s it,” said Sean. “Upriver.”
    “Tomorrow is Saturday,” Gabriel Love continued. “The markets are open in the morning, before closing for the rest of the weekend. And tomorrow morning, just before the market closes, I am going to purchase, in the name of several third parties, some blocks of shares totaling one half of one percent of the Hudson Ohio Railroad. I know that I can secure them, because they are already in the hands of my agents, who will obligingly sell them to me. Those transactions won’t cause any stir, but the activity will be noted by the market.
    “Mr. Cyrus MacDuff is in Boston. He is attending his granddaughter’s wedding tomorrow. In the unlikely event that his agent informs him of the share activity by telegraph, it is possible that he might try to send a cable to you. If he does, you will not respond. More likely, however, he will know nothing of this activity.
    “On Sunday evening, a certain judge of my acquaintance is dining with Mr. MacDuff. He will inform MacDuff that he has heard I have secretly purchased over thirty-six percent of his railroad, and that my agents are rumored to have purchased some more on Saturday morning. Meanwhile, I shall see to it that the rumor is circulated widely in New York.” He nodded sagely. “And that, my friends, is where the evil nature of Cyrus MacDuff will get the better of him. The devil will have that man in his grip.
    “He will attempt to make contact with you, so that you can assure him you are not selling your ten percent. Or that you will sell it to him, and not to me. He will first try to cable you. He may even try to take a train to New York, if he can find one so late. But he will be unable to reach you, because you will have departed. All attempts to reach you will fail. He will not know if you are holding or selling. He will be in a state of great anxiety. And why? All because he hates me, and does not want me to have any part in his railroad. There will be wailing, gentlemen, and gnashing of teeth.
    “On Monday morning, Cyrus MacDuff or his agents will be trying tobuy shares in the Hudson Ohio Railroad. They will be urgent.