Grogan

“ How had Grogan learned Maxwell's wave-band so soon?
What was Grogan doing with a telenizer in the first place, and what was he up to? Just personal revenge against me?
How did I know for sure that it was Grogan?
That question startled me. I opened my eyes and sat up straight. In moving so suddenly, my hand knocked over the defense mech and it thudded to the floor. As I bent quickly to pick it up, it started clicking again.
Several things occurred to me at once, then, and my stomach wadded itself into a tight ball and shot up again to press against my heart. My neck and back muscles tightened. ”

“ At supper he proposed the health of the young pair.
“May they always live happy ever after,” said Grogan, standing up, glass in hand. “May they never have any troubles that they can’t nip in the bud. As their principles demand of ’em to drink this stuff as the pure juice of the grape, may it be blessed to ’em forever and to their descendants.”
Every body laughed and drank. Harry Boland toasted him in return:
“Here’s the health of our very good friend, 340 Mr. Michael Grogan. May all his mornings be golden and all his sunsets clear.” ”

“ McGaw's tempting promise made a deep impression upon Crimmins. He determined then and there to inflict some blow on Tom Grogan from which she could never recover. He was equally determined on one other thing—not to be caught.
Early the next morning Crimmins stationed himself outside O'Leary's where he could get an uninterrupted view of two streets. He stood hunched up against the jamb of O'Leary's door in the attitude of a corner loafer, with three parts of his body touching the wood—hip, shoulder, and cheek. ”

“ Crane, of Crane & Co., coal-dealers.”
“You know Mrs. Grogan, then?” asked Babcock, after the delay in the delivery of the coal had been explained. He had been waiting for some such opportunity to discover more about his stevedore. He never discussed personalities with his men.
“Well, I should say so—known her for years. Best woman on top of Staten Island. Does she work for you?”
“Yes, and has for some years; but I must confess I never knew Grogan was a woman until I found her on the dock a few weeks ago, handling a cargo. She works like a machine. How long has she been a widow?” ”

“ While we were having our coffee and cognac, and discussing things in general, I remarked, to no one in particular:
"Suppose we bang around for a while with our broken wing, and no one appears to take any interest in us,—then unless we find your brig I suppose the whole game's off."
Grogan and Alvarez, who I noticed had been very thick right along, exchanged a cute sort of look which I happened to catch.
"Yes," said Boles, "then the joke's on us."
"Not on yer life," said Grogan; "sure we can take an inthrest in thim." He laughed in a significant sort of a way. ”

“ Boland wants with a bum family like the Welcomes—”
“Just a moment, Mike,” interrupted Harry putting out his hand imperatively. “You’re speaking of the girl I mean to marry.”
Grogan gaped at the young man.
“I am?” he gasped.
“You are,” replied the other. He rose to his feet and turned tranquilly toward Grogan. 148 “Now what are you going to say?” he inquired.
“Nothing,” said Grogan, too surprised to talk.
“All right,” replied Harry pointedly.
“But the old man is no good,” hazarded Grogan. “Tom Welcome is a worthless—”
“He’s dead, Mike,” interrupted Harry. ”

“ He could hardly believe the voice to be Tom's.
The judge looked at her with a quick, penetrating glance, which broadened into an expression of kindly interest when he read her entire honesty in her face. Then he turned to the president of the board.
“When you awarded this contract, whom did you expect to do the work, Mrs. Grogan or her husband?”
“Mrs. Grogan, of course. She has done her own work for years,” answered the president.
The judge tapped the arm of his chair with his pencil. The taps could be heard all over the room. Most men kept quiet in Bowker's presence, even men like Rowan. ”

“ Welcome, flour, corn meal, tomatoes, beans, lard—” and in spite of her protestations he closed the door on her with a parting: “Everything on the first delivery tomorrow morning sure.” Then he added to Grogan, who stood smiling with a look of comprehension on his face, “All right. Ready to go.”
“It’s about time,” commented Grogan as they went toward the wagon. “Don’t think I’m too inquisitive if I ask who are these Welcomes anyhow?”
“People who are having a tough time,” replied Harvey, unhitching his colt. “Tom Welcome used to be quite a man. ”

“ So exasperating did this become at last, with the thought of the man below bleeding to death, if not dead already, that Mr Grogan, who had vainly been endeavouring to bring the guides to a sense of the position, quietly slipped the rope, and, amid a storm of protest from them, traversed out some distance to avoid a patch of loose stones, and descended inwards again, cutting his steps as he went, till he reached a spot immediately below the wounded man. ”

“ He’d spent a lifetime on his machine and just when he was getting it patented, some smart thief in Chicago takes it away from him. That’s what I call tough luck.”
“They’re hard up, you say?” pursued Grogan.
Harvey, unconscious that he had said nothing of the sort, admitted that the Welcomes were in financial straits. “Their mother has to take in washing,” he said, “and both the girls work. It’s too bad, for they ought to be getting an education.”
The roan colt came to an abrupt stop. They were in front of a small cottage. Grogan surveyed the place for a moment and then turned to his jehu. ”

“ It was plainly the driver's duty, Quigg urged, to give up his job until Tom Grogan could be compelled to hire him back at advanced wages. During this enforced idleness the Union would pay the driver fifty cents a day. Here Quigg pounded his chest, clenched his fists, and said solemnly, “If capital once downs the lab'rin' man, we'll all be slaves.” ”

“ Grogan broke off abruptly. “Say, didn’t that fat fellow who was going to be a detective, the fellow who nearly killed me riding on his grocery wagon, didn’t he know anything?”
“He’s left Millville, too.”
“What!” exclaimed Grogan incredulously. “Do you mean to say a bunch like that can drop out of a town like Millville without anyone knowing where they’ve gone?”
“I’m not telling you. The facts speak for themselves,” said Harry.
Both men were silent.
“Mike,” said young Boland suddenly.
“Yes,” responded Grogan. ”

“ Then it suddenly occurred to Babcock that, so far as he could remember, he had never seen Mr. Thomas Grogan, his stevedore. He knew Grogan's name, of course, and would have recognized his signature affixed to the little cramped notes with which his orders were always acknowledged, but the man himself might have passed unnoticed within three feet of him. This is not unusual where the work of a contractor lies in scattered places, and he must often depend on strangers in the several localities. ”

“ The brewery employed a larger number of men than any other concern in Rockville, so trouble with its employees meant serious trouble for half the village if Schwartz defied the Union and selected a non-union woman to do the work. They knew, too, something of the indomitable pluck and endurance of Tom Grogan. ”

“ From the opposite side of the entrance Grogan sprang forward, gun in hand. But Wentworth had dropped the small revolver and had jerked two heavy pistols from the pockets of his long, yellow coat. Faced by the tan man with two guns, Grogan let his own weapon crash upon the floor.
Banister dropped the liqueur glass and grabbed a pistol from the drawer of his table with unexpected quickness for such an elderly man. ”

“ Thomas Grogan?” called the president again, in a louder voice.
“I can,” said the man with the heavy tread, who proved to be the foreman at the brewery. “She won't live till mornin'; one of her horses kicked her and broke her skull, so McGaw told me.”
“Broke her skull! My God! man, how do you know?” demanded the president, his voice trembling with excitement.
Every man's face was now turned toward the new-comer; a momentary thrill of horror ran through the assemblage. ”

“ Rowan opened the case, the judge listening attentively, looking over his glasses. Rowan recounted the details of the advertisement, the opening of the bids, the award of the contract, the signing of “Thomas Grogan” in the presence of the full board, and the discovery by his “honored client that no such man existed, had not existed for years, and did not now exist.” ”

“ He had hardly reached the street when he was back again, followed closely by Dempsey, Quigg, Crimmins, Justice Rowan, and, last of all, fumbling with his fur cap, deathly pale, and entirely sober—Dan McGaw.
“There's no use of my going,” said the courier trustee, taking his seat. “Grogan won't live an hour, if she ain't dead now. She had a sick horse that wanted looking after, and she went into the stable without a light, and he let drive, and broke her skull. ”

“ GROGAN, CORNELIUS (1738?–1798) , United Irishman, born about 1738, was eldest son of John Grogan of Johnstown Castle, Wexford, by his wife Catherine, daughter and heiress of Major Andrew Knox of Rathmacknee. His father, a protestant landlord, was a member of the Irish parliament. Grogan succeeded to the family estates, was high sheriff of Wexford, and was from 1783 to 1790 M.P. for Enniscorthy in the Irish parliament. On the outbreak of the Irish rebellion in 1798 Grogan joined the insurgents, and became commissary-general in their army. ”

“ Pop filled up the proposal in his round, clear hand, and Tom signed it, “Thomas Grogan, Rockville, Staten Island.” Then Pop witnessed it, and Mr. Crane, a few days later, duly inscribed the firm's name under the clause reserved for bondsmen. After that Tom brought the bid home, and laid it on the shelf over her bed.
Everything was now ready for the fight.
The bids were to be opened at noon in the office of the brewery.
By eleven o'clock the hangers-on and idlers began to lounge into the big yard paved with cobblestones. At half past eleven McGaw got out of a buggy, accompanied by Quigg. ”

“ Dempsey caught up his hat and hurriedly left the room, followed by Quigg and Crimmins. McGaw, he said to himself, as he ran downstairs, must be blind drunk, not to come to the meeting, “—— him! What if he gives everything away!” he added aloud.
“This news is awful,” said the president. “I am very sorry for Mrs. Grogan and her children—she was a fine woman. It is a serious matter, too, for the village. The highway work ought to commence at once; the roads need it. We may now have to advertise again. ”

“ I think, however, that if your honorable boord will go on with the other business before you, Mr. McGaw will be on hand in half an hour himself. In the meantime I will hunt him up.”
“I move,” said the Scotch surgeon, in a voice that showed how deeply he had been affected, “that the whole matter be laid on the table for a week, until we know for certain whether poor Mrs. Grogan is killed or not. I can hardly credit it. It is very seldom that a horse kicks a woman.” ”

“ He sat down again shamefacedly. “I don’t want Mary Randall to write to me,” he admitted dolefully.
“What’s come over you, Grogan?” inquired John Boland sharply.
“A blue envelope—a sheet of blue paper with words on it, and—I’ve got a pain in the back of my neck.” Grogan brought forth the blue letter again and gazed at it gloomily.
“You’re crazy,” John Boland informed him curtly. Then he turned to Harry. “Look here, my boy,” he said, “don’t be a fool—”
“He’s your son,” interrupted Grogan chuckling. 153
“Keep quiet, Mike. ”

“ Doran, she’d burn the house over me head.”
[Pg 54]
“Mr. Grogan is well,” replied the visitor; “a little stiff in the joints now; but he is a rich man, and rides in his carriage.”
“Great fathers! to think of that now. Faix, ’tis no wonder as all the Grogans have gone afther him to America! And Miss Nora was the darlin’ girl. Is she changed?”
“Yes. Who would not be in thirty years? She is grey and wrinkled, but I think her heart is young still. And now I see the rain has stopped, and I must be going.”
“But won’t ye condescend to a cup of tea, ma’am? Mary will wet it in a brace of shakes. ”

“ At this Boles pretended to be very much excited and alarmed.
"Vamos! vamos! vamos!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, jumping up and down on the deck and flourishing both hands over his head. Then suddenly he dove into the companionway and hauled out a rifle, which he aimed at the boat.
"Stand by now, you chaps," he said. "If they persist in coming after this they're our meat. Look at that junk, will you—she's scuppers under."
Grogan was swearing away to himself and muttering nervously, "Ah-h, the dir-rty blaygards, th' theevin' divils." ”

“ The Scotchman, practical, sober-minded, sensible man as he was, had old-fashioned ideas of honesty and fair play. He had liked Tom from the first time he saw her,—he had looked after her stables professionally,—and he did not intend to see her, dead or alive, thrown out, without making a fight for her.
“I move,” said he, “that the president appoint a committee of this board to jump into the nearest wagon, drive to Mrs. Grogan's, and find out whether she is still alive. If she's dead, that settles it ”

“ Grogan's domicile, and drew back quite pale. "Adelaide," she said, "the room literally swarmed with babies; that woman cannot have so many all of the same age." Inquiry of Mrs. Halsey enlightened them. Mrs. Grogan was a "baby-farmer," and boarded these children, making a good income thereby, as their mothers were servants in good families. On the next floor a family of eight were working in a hall-bedroom, at rolling cigars. The large rooms were occupied by some Chinese. Mrs. Halsey thought that they used them as [Pg 68] an opium den. ”