Henry C. Rowland

“ Paul knew his own health to be precarious, and the thought of what must happen to his little ones in the event of his collapse, drove him to desperation.
He felt that he had no time to lose. The bitter irony of the situation lay in the fact that the man he most hated of all men should be the only one whom he had been able to inspire with confidence in himself and his process. ”

“ A sudden gleam shone from David's eves. His big head thrust forward a little between the gaunt shoulders.
“Huh!” he grunted. “So the worm has turned!”
“Yes,” said Paul. “I'll take back calling you a liar. I believe you're right. I've got an account to settle with your brother.”
David gave him a sardonic grin. “So John's life's in danger!” said he mockingly, and then quoted with a sneer: “Beware the fury of a maddened sheep.”
“John's life is not in danger,” said Paul, as he perched his frail body on the corner of the desk; “but his chance of making a great fortune is.” ”

“ Moreover an honest man was indispensable to them as the custodian of such valuable chemicals as the laboratory contained.
Paul roused himself presently at the sound of harsh voices strident with anger. The shower had passed, and the rain stopped so suddenly that the furious wrangling clove the still air as though it were just outside his window. Very evidently a furious quarrel was in progress. Paul could picture David's rage on learning for a certainty that John proposed to withdraw his capital from the plant. ”

“ It did not help him much to know that John hated David, and David hated John, almost as bitterly as he, Reveur, hated them both. But all three of them were bound together by mutual interest. The partners needed each other for their joint gain, and Paul was quite aware that they were perhaps the only two men in the world to appreciate his own unusual talents and who would be willing to pay him even a quarter of what he was actually worth as an expert chemist. ”

“ Half an hour before he had been at the end of his resources, the little profit to accrue to him from his invention so far in the remote perspective as scarcely to be visible at all. And now through skillfully playing on the passions of hatred and avarice and revenge, and the secret respect which David Force held for his brother's business intelligence, Paul found himself refusing one hundred and fifty thousand dollars and offered two hundred thousand—enough to insure the future well-being of his children in perpetuity. ”

“ Paul thrust the contract into his pocket, limped out of the laboratory and across to the private office. The door was open, and through it he saw David sitting at his desk, staring straight ahead of him with an expression of such impotent fury on his face that few men would have dared intrude upon his savage meditations. ”

“ The stage was all set for strong action when one sultry June night at about eight o'clock Paul went down to his laboratory in the plant to complete some work in connection with his duties as chemist; he had no fixed hours, these being dependent on the nature of his research in refining processes. The watchman let him in, and as he limped across the yard, with a gait rendered awkward by one foot planted direct and the other turned outward at an angle of eighty degrees, the warm rain began to splash down in huge drops like a tropic shower. ”

“ Paul shifted himself from the desk, leaned back in the chair and looked thoughtfully at David.
“You are a pretty good business man, Mr. Force,” said he, “but if you will stop a moment to think, you must admit that your brother John is a better one. The proof is that although you are his senior, he is today the head of this plant. He spends more money than you do, but he is a richer man. The reason of this is that John not only knows a good thing when he sees it, but has the nerve to back his judgment. ”

“ David gave an inarticulate grunt.
“What I now propose,” said Paul, “is to put the skids under John. We can do this if you are man enough to admit that his business vision is better than your own and take advantage of it You know that he is no plunger, no sanguine speculator. Your knowledge of his methods must tell you that he's got to be dead sure before signing such a big contract as he has with me, and one which will make us both millionaires. What I now propose is that you take this chance to profit by John's work and expense of the past few months. ”

“ Any chemical engineer of average intelligence would find no difficulty in following his detailed course of procedure. Yet such an individual would probably demand twice the salary which Paul might consent to accept, and this would always be an item with John Force. But the capitalist had taken pains to assure himself that Paul would not be indispensable to him. And even if the inventor had been crafty enough to leave some hiatus which might render him so, it is probable that John's experts would have discovered it. ”

“ Moreover he saw through David's design. But aside from all the rest, he did not greatly care what Florence did. The children were the tenants of all his heart. So now he answered with a contempt quite equal to that of David:
“If you don't know your brother any better than that, then you're the fool,” he answered. “Can you see John Force risking a lot of money for any woman?”
The effect of this retort was a little surprising even to Paul. David's forbidding face darkened with anger. but he made no hostile gesture toward the chemist. Instead he appeared for a moment to reflect. ”

“ Knowing that Paul had not the strength to fight, and that he was not in a position to refuse whatever might be offered him John had drawn up a hard contract with his employee, by the terms of which Paul could hope only to receive a small royalty which did not begin until the net profits exceeded a certain amount which the inventor doubted they would reach for some years. ”

“ The longest-living author of this work died in 1933, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 90 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. ”