It was
our first misfortune, and it was a big one. It was about the first
matter that I brought up after I had shaken hands with Brokaw."
Philip's face was set and white as he stood in the middle of the
room looking at Gregson.
"And what do you think was his reply, Greggy? He looked at me for
a moment, a peculiar twitching around the corners of his mouth,
and then said, 'Don't allow a trivial matter like that to worry
you, Philip. Why--we've already cleaned up a million on this
little fish deal!'"
Gregson sat up with a jerk.
"A million! Great Scott--"
"Yes, a million, Greggy," said Philip, softly, with his old
fighting smile. "There was a hundred thousand dollars to my credit
in a First National Bank. Pleasant surprise, eh?"
Gregson had dropped his cigarette. His slim hands gripped the
edges of the table. He made no reply as he waited for Whittemore
to continue.
III
For a full minute Philip paced back and forth without speaking.
Then he stopped, and faced Gregson, who was staring at him.
"A million, Greggy," he repeated, in the same soft voice. "A
hundred thousand dollars to my credit--in a First National Bank!
While I was up here hustling to get affairs on a working basis,
eager to show the government and the people what we could do and
would do, triumphing in our victory over the trust, and figuring
each day on my scheme of making this big, rich north deal a
staggering blow to those accursed combinations down there, they
were at work, too.
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