Oh, I've waited a long time for my day--but
now my day has come! And to think how nearly I missed it! I go back
in an hour on the same train that brought you in."
McNabb had listened in silence to the tirade. "But I--I don't
understand it. My options----"
"Your options," interrupted Orcutt, and his voice rasped harsh,
"expired at noon on the first day of July. At one minute past twelve
on that day, the property passed into the hands of the Eureka Paper
Company of which I am president. I signed the contract and paid over
the money myself at Gods Lake Post."
"Was it July?" mumbled McNabb, apparently dazed. "But--there was
Wentworth. He had the papers. Surely he must have known."
Orcutt laughed. "Yes. Wentworth knew. He knew the day you hired him.
And he knew that you thought you had until the first of August. It was
Wentworth that tipped the deal off to me."
"But--why should he have double-crossed me?"
"Mere matter of business," replied Orcutt. "Figure it out for
yourself. If he stayed with you the best he could expect would be a
fair salary. With us he was in position to dictate his own terms.
They were stiff terms, too, for Wentworth is shrewd. But he has been
worth all he cost. He is now secretary of the Eureka, and a very
considerable stockholder."
McNabb was silent for what seemed a long time. When at length he
spoke, it was in a voice that sounded dull and tired.
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