CHAPTER XX
A YOUNG MAN NOT FOR SALE
Philip Lambert was rather taken by surprise when Harrison Cressy appearedat the store one day late in August, announcing that he had come to talkbusiness and practically commanding the young man to lunch with him thatnoon. It was Saturday and Phil had little time for idle conjecture, buthe did wonder every now and then that morning what business Carlotta'sfather could possibly have with himself, and if by any chance Carlottahad sent him.
Later, seated in the dining-room of the Eagle Hotel, Dunbury's onehostelry, it seemed to Phil that his host was distinctly nervous, withconsiderably less than his usual brusque, dogmatic poise of manner.
Having left soup the waiter shuffled away with the congenital air ofdiscouragement which belongs to his class, and Harrison Cressy got downto business in regard both to the soup and his mission in Dunbury. He wasstarting a branch brokerage concern in a small city just out of Boston.He needed a smart young man to put at the head of it. The smart young manwould get a salary of five thousand a year, plus his commissions to startwith. If he made good the salary would go up in proportion. In fact thesky would be the limit. He offered the post to Philip Lambert.
Phil laid down his soup spoon and stared at his companion. After a momenthe remarked that it was rather unusual, to say the least, to offer asalary like that to an utter greenhorn in a business as technical asbrokerage, and that he was afraid he was not in the least fitted for theposition in question.
"That is my look out," snapped Mr. Cressy. "Do I look like a born fool,Philip Lambert? You don't suppose I am jumping in the dark do you? I havegone to some pains to look up your record in college. I found out youmade good no matter what you attempted, on the gridiron, in theclassroom, everywhere else. I've been picking men for years and I've goneon the principle that a man who makes good in one place will make good inanother if he has sufficient incentive."
"I suppose the five thousand is to be considered in the light of anincentive," said Phil.
"It is five times the incentive and more than I had when I started out,"grunted his host. "What more do you want?"
"Nothing. I don't want so much. I couldn't earn it. And in any case Icannot consider any change at present. I have gone in with my father."
"So I understood. But that is not a hard and fast arrangement. A youngman like you has to look ahead. Your father won't stand in the way ofyour bettering yourself." Harrison Cressy spoke with conviction. Well hemight. Though Philip had not known it his companion had spent an hour inearnest conversation with his father that morning. Harrison Cressy knewhis ground there.
"Go ahead, Mr. Cressy," Stewart Lambert had said at the close of theinterview. "You have my full permission to offer the position to theboy and he has my full permission to accept it. He is free to gotomorrow if he cares to. If it is for his happiness it is what hismother and I want."
But the younger Lambert was yet to be reckoned with.
"It is a hard and fast arrangement so far as I am concerned," he saidquietly now. "Dad can fire me. I shan't fire myself."
Mr. Cressy made a savage lunge at a fly that had ventured to light on thesugar bowl, not knowing it was for the time being Millionaire Cressy'ssugar bowl. He hated being balked, even temporarily. He had supposed thehardest sledding would be over when he had won the father's consent. Hehad authentic inside information that the son had stakes other thanfinancial. He counted on youth's imperious urge to happiness. The lad haddone without Carlotta for two months now. It had seemed probable he wouldbe more amenable to reason in August than he had been in June. But it didnot look like it just now.
"You are a darn fool, my young man," he gnarled.
"Very likely," said Phil Lambert, with the same quietness which hadmarked his father's speech earlier in the day. "If you had a son, Mr.Cressy, wouldn't you want him to be the same kind of a darn fool? Wouldyou expect him to take French leave the first time somebody offered himmore money?"
Harrison Cressy snorted, beckoned to the waiter his face purple withrage. Why in blankety blank blank et cetera, et cetera, didn't he bringthe fish? Did he think they were there for the season? Philip did notknow he had probed an old wound. The one great disappointment of HarrisonCressy's career was the fact that he had no son, or had had one for sucha brief space of hours that he scarcely counted except as a patheticmight-have-been And even as Phil had said, so he would have wanted hisson to behave. The boy was a man, every inch of him, just such a man asHarrison Gressy had coveted for his own.
"Hang the money part." he snapped back at Phil, after the interlude withthe harrassed waiter. "Let's drop it."
"With all my heart," agreed Phil. "Considering the money part hanged whatis left to the offer? Carlotta?"
Mr. Cressy dropped his fork with a resounding clatter to the floor andswore muttered monotonous oaths at the waiter for not beinginstantaneously on the spot to replace the implement.
"Young man," he said to Phil. "You are too devilish smart. Carlotta--iswhy I am here."
"So I imagined. Did she send you?"
"Great Scott, no! My life wouldn't be worth a brass nickel if she knew Iwas here."
"I am glad she didn't. I wouldn't like Carlotta to think I couldbe--bribed."
"She didn't. Carlotta has perfectly clear impressions as to where youstand. She gives you entire credit for being the blind, stubborn,pigheaded jack-ass that you are."
Phil grinned faintly at this accumulation of epithets, but his blue eyeshad no mirth in them. The interview was beginning to be something of astrain. He wished it were over.
"That's good," he said. "Apparently we all know where we all stand. Ihave no illusions about Carlotta's view-point either. There is no reasonI should have. I got it first hand."
"Don't be an idiot," ordered Mr. Cressy. "A woman can have as manyview-points as there are days in the year, counting Sundays double. Youhave no more idea this minute where Carlotta stands than--than I have,"he finished ignominiously, wiping his perspiring forehead with animported linen handkerchief.
"Do you mind telling me just why you are here, if Carlotta didn't sendyou? I don't flatter myself you automatically selected me for your newpost without some rather definite reason behind it."
"I came because I had a notion you were the best man for another job--ajob that makes the whole brokerage business look like a game ofjack-straws--the job of marrying my daughter Carlotta."
Phil stared. He had not expected Mr. Cressy to take this position. He hadbeen ready enough to believe Carlotta's prophecy that her parent wouldraise a merry little row if she announced to him her intention ofmarrying that obscure individual, Philip Lambert, of Dunbury,Massachusetts. He thought that particular way of behavior on the parent'spart not only probable but more or less justifiable, all thingsconsidered. He saw no reason now why Mr. Cressy should feel otherwise.
Harrison Cressy drained a deep draught of water, once more wiped hishighly shining brow and leaned forward over the table toward hispuzzled guest.
"You see, Philip," he went on using the young man's first name for thefirst time. "Carlotta is in love with you."
Philip flushed and his frank eyes betrayed that this, though not entirelynew news, was not unwelcome to hear.
"In fact," continued Carlotta's father grimly, "she is so much in lovewith you she is going to marry another man."
The light went out of Phil's eyes at that, but he said nothing to thisany more than he had to the preceding statement. He waited for the otherman to get at what he wanted to say.
"I can't stand Carlotta's being miserable. I never could. It is why I amhere, to see if I can't fix up a deal with you to straighten things out.I am in your hands, boy, at your mercy. I have the reputation of beinghard as shingle nails. I'm soft as putty where the girl is concerned. Itkills me by inches to have her unhappy."
"Is she--very unhappy?" Phil's voice was sober. He thought that he toowas soft as putty, or softer where Carlotta was concerned. It made himsick all over to think of her b
eing unhappy.
"She is--damnably unhappy." Harrison Cressy blew his nose with a sound asof a trumpet. "Here you," he bellowed at the waiter who was timidlyapproaching. "Is that our steak at last? Bring it here, quick and don'tjibber. Are you deaf and dumb as well as paralyzed?"
The host attacked the steak with ferocity, slammed a generous section ona plate and fairly threw it at the young man opposite. Phil wasn'tinterested in steak. He scarcely looked at it. His eyes were on Mr.Cressy, his thoughts were on that gentleman's only daughter.
"I am sorry she is unhappy," he said. "I don't know how much you knowabout it all; but since you know so much I assume you also know that Icare for Carlotta just as much as she cares for me, possibly more. Iwould marry her tomorrow if I could."
"For the Lord Harry's sake, do it then. I'll put up the money."
Phil's face hardened.
"That is precisely the rock that Carlotta and I split on, Mr. Cressy. Shewanted to have you put up the money. I love Carlotta but I don't love herenough to let her or you--buy me."
The old man and the young faced each other across the table. There was adeadlock between them and both knew it.
"But this offer I've made you is a bona fide one. You'll make good. Youwill be worth the five thousand and more in no time. I know your kind. Itold you I was a good picker. It isn't a question of buying. Can themovie stuff. It's a fair give and take."
"I have refused your offer, Mr. Cressy."
"You refused it before you knew Carlotta was eating her heart out foryou. Doesn't that make any difference to you, my lad? You said you lovedher," reproachfully.
A huge blue-bottle fly buzzed past the table, passed on to the windowwhere it fluttered about aimlessly, bumping itself against the pane hereand there. Mechanically Phil watched its gyrations. It was one of thehardest moments of his life.
"In one way it makes a great difference, Mr. Cressy," he answered slowly."It breaks my heart to have her unhappy. But it wouldn't make her happyto have me do something I know isn't right or fair or wise. I knowCarlotta. Maybe I know her better than you do; I know she doesn't want methat way."
"But you can't expect her to live in a hole like this, on a yearlyincome that is probably less than she spends in one month just fornothing much."
"I don't expect it," explained Phil patiently. "I've never blamedCarlotta for deciding against it. But there is no use going over it all.She and I had it out together. It is our affair, not yours, Mr. Cressy."
"Philip Lambert, did you ever see Carlotta cry?"
Phil winced. The shot went home.
"No. I'd hate to," he admitted.
"You would," seconded Harrison Cressy. "I hated it like the devil myself.She cried all over my new dress suit the other night."
Phil's heart was one gigantic ache. The thought of Carlotta in tears wasalmost unbearable. Carlotta--his Carlotta--was all sunshine and laughter.
"It was like this," went on Carlotta's parent. "Her aunt told me she wasgoing to marry young Lathrop--old skin-flint tea-and-coffee Lathrop'sson. I couldn't quite stomach it. The fellow's an ass, an unobjectionableass, it is true, but with all the ear marks. I tackled Carlotta about it.She said she wasn't engaged but might be any minute. I said some foolthing about wanting her to be happy, and the next thing I knew she was inmy arms crying like anything. I haven't seen her cry since she was alittle tot. She has laughed her way through life always up to now. Icouldn't bear it. I can't bear it now, even remembering it. I squeezedthe story out of her, drop at a time, till I got pretty much the wholebucket full. I tell you, Phil Lambert, you've got to give in. I can'thave her heart broken. You can't have her heart broken. God, man, it'syour funeral too."
Phil felt very much as if it were his own funeral. But he did not speak.He couldn't. The other forged on, his big, mumbling bass mingled with thebuzz of the blue-bottle in the window.
"I made up my mind something had to be done and done quick. I wasn'tgoing to have my little girl run her head into the noose by marryingLathrop when it was you she loved. I got busy, made inquiries about youas I said. I had to before I offered you the job naturally, but it wasmore than that. I had to find out whether you were the kind of man Iwanted my Carlotta to marry. I found out, and came up here to put theproposition to you. I talked to your father first, by the way, and gothis consent to go ahead with my plans."
"You went to my father!" There was concern and a trace of indignation inPhil's voice.
"Naturally I was playing to win. I had to hold all the trumps. I wantedyour father on my side--had to have him in fact. He came without amurmur. He is a good sport. Said all he wanted was your happiness, sameas all I wanted was Carlotta's. We quite understood each other."
Phil sat silent with down cast eyes on his almost untasted salad. Hecouldn't bear to think of his father's being attacked like that, hit witha lightning bolt out of a clear sky. The more he thought about it themore he resented it. Of course Dad would agree. He was a good sport asMr. Cressy said. Rut that didn't make the thing any easier or morejustifiable.
"Your father is willing. I want it. Carlotta wants it. You want it,yourself. Lord, boy, be honest. You know you do. You'll never regretgiving in. Remember it is for Carlotta's happiness we are both lookingfor." There was an almost pleading note in Harrison Cressy's voice--anote few men had heard. He was more used to command than to sue for whathe desired.
Phil rose from the table. His face was a little white as he stood there,tall, quiet, perfectly master of himself and the situation. Even beforethe young man spoke Harrison Cressy knew he had failed.
"I am sorry, Mr. Cressy. If Carlotta wants happiness with me I am afraidshe will have to come to Dunbury."
"You won't reconsider?"
"There is nothing to reconsider. There never was any question. I am sorryyou even raised one in Dad's mind. You shouldn't have gone to him in thefirst place. You should have come to me. It was for me to settle."
"Highty, tighty!" fumed the exasperated magnate. "People don't tell mewhat I should and should not do. They do what I tell 'em."
"I don't," said Philip Lambert in much the same tone he had once said toCarlotta, "You can't have this." "I am sorry, Mr. Cressy. I don't want tobe rude, or unkind or obstinate; but there are some things no man candecide for me. And there are some things I won't do even to winCarlotta."
Harrison Cressy's head drooped for a moment. He was beaten foronce--beaten by a lad of twenty-three whose will was quite as strong ashis own. The worst of it was he had never liked any young man in hislife so well as he liked Philip Lambert at this minute, never so covetedany thing for his daughter Carlotta as he coveted her marriage withPhilip Lambert.
"That is final, I suppose," he asked after a moment, looking up at theyoung man.
"Absolutely, Mr. Cressy. I am sorry."
Harrison Cressy lumbered to his feet.
"I am sorry too," he said, "damnably sorry for Carlotta and formyself. Will you shake hands with me, Philip? It is good to meet a mannow and then."