The Spider's Web

mahogany table. They were talking business. Each man had his own offices and his own businesses, but they frequently and quietly met in this,

through a half-dozen doors guarded by six bowing attendants, and proceeded to his own desk in his own private room, precisely as a small army of other business men were doing at the same time within a radius of half a mile. Each looked like the rest of that army. All three were men of about the average in height, not noticeably either above or below it, and inclined to bulkiness. They had pale faces and clo

ewhat sharper, yet more calm;-and his lips, in addition to closing tightly, were so heavy that the compression of the mouth must have resulted from a habit acquired only by a strong and long effort of the will. He sat with his great hands flat upon the surface of the table, his thick fingers extended, his elbows raised at right angles to his torso

room with its heavy table and arm-chairs, and its one decoration, a rare engraving of George Washington, hung between the two windows that gave the place its only chance for sunlight, he found on his desk,

ster as possible, and succeeded, entered, a sheaf of open let

s voice was quite low; it was thin

ng," said t

in the

t twenty things that need

sault the secretary, but his face was set like a plaster-cast of

ed to this manner of spe

id. He handed the l

erse, sharp sentences, he directed his secretary how to reply to

unications over to Simpson to inv

s,

uests for co

hospital at Akron. The rubber peo

'll give ten thousand if the

well

y telephoned fr

to take breakfast at th

was told to arran

said he'd got

. Wire him: 'Right; but positively no more postponements.' Use the

ou that bill will be reported to-day

he 'phone and say that the bill must be passed before

s,

is not to m

rse not

hing

trying to get you on the long

sure it's the right man you're talking to. Tell him that the New York gentleman he wanted to speak to-just that: the New York ge

s,

ad

ry read fro

ask them if they can find it convenient to come around here to see me for a half-hour. T

s,

Roll

s,

. Rivington arrive, we a

and then came L. Bergen Rivington and George J. Hallett

ton. He had a way of moving his hands nervously

n a white waistcoat, stopp

wn seventy-five per cent. of the p

om unsettling the N. Y. & N. J. interests, because-- Fifty-five of the pre

t to launch a new stock-issue to bridge the river five miles from town and come into New York, an' all without as m

the head of the table a chance to speak, and more often they looked at him to see whether he wanted to

on, "we are not directors

you just say between us we owned all the stock

ght. I am incl

by a handful of dummies when I can sell them up as if I w

inly are im

horseback! Wastin' o

should tell th

nd his brokers, but he spoke as suddenly and with all the authority that he used toward them-"if the M. & N. comes into New York, it will not take one-half of one per cent. of the profits aw

other. The latter took his cigar be

eness that had marked it a moment earlier. The man at the head

he new issue. In five years, then, the minor stockholders will have realized a profit on their investment; so shall we. At that time we could u

's eyes

both ways if we do that. The road wil

of the table did not

, Hallett; but I did think you w

at lengt

ting the bill throug

d the man at the head of the table. "T

t; but Rivington, whom the outside worl

t the expense of th

care of that,"

ost of con

of the table: "'Always supposing the

ect closed, and so, presently, did his companions. Within fi

said, "take

d himself at the fa

. His hands were clasped behind him now, and h

eement to the plan outlined in my personal conversation with you last week. In view of the favors that you have done me in the past, I think it fair to tell you, for your own use only, (Underline that, Rollins), that my friends have decided that they and I o

inclosed, in which they say that the grade I suggested might not wear well. I think their use of the word 'dangerous' is absurdly exaggerated. We have u

kholders. With that in mind, I should state, what you have probably already gathered, that we fe

ary closed

all?" h

employer nodded, and

walk to the ticker; but he paused again, at the second window, to look down on the thoroughfare and buildings below him. From that height the streets of the city seemed to be threads lead