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"I have four drafts for two hundred and fifty thousand pounds each, in my pocket-book at the present moment," Mr. Beldeman declared. "They are payable to your order. You can accept my offer and pay them into your private banking account or the banking account of any one of your Trades' Unions. There is not the slightest doubt but that they will be met."
"Including the railways," Mr. Beldeman assented. Maraton smiled quietly. "I do not ask you," he said, "what country you represent. I think that it is not necessary. You have come to me rather as though I were a dictator. There are others besides myself with whom influence rests." "It is you only who count," Mr. Beldeman declared.
"Strangers personally. No thinking man to-day is a stranger to Mr. Maraton in any other way." "You are very kind," Maraton replied. "What can I do for you?" Beldeman glanced towards the door so as to be sure that it was closed. "Mr. Maraton," he enquired, "are you a bad-tempered man?" "At times," Maraton admitted.
I shan't change a thing." Mr. Beldeman entered the room, carrying his hat in his hand, unruffled by his long wait, to all appearance wearing the same clothes, the same smile, as on his visit to the hotel in Manchester. Maraton greeted him good-humouredly. "Well, Mr.
We shall have it for a year or two, and that year or two will mean a good many millions to us." Maraton's eyes began to twinkle. "The matter," he remarked, "becomes clearer to me. You are either the most ingenuous person I ever met, or the most subtle. Tell me, is it a personal bribe you have brought?" "It is not," Mr. Beldeman replied.
I believe that a week ago I should have considered it very seriously indeed. Its acceptance would have been in accordance with my beliefs. And yet, since you have made it, you have made me wonder more than ever whether I have been right. I find a revulsion of feeling in considering it, which I cannot understand." "I may approach you again," Mr. Beldeman asked, "if circumstances should change?
"Are there any terms at all connected with this little subscription?" "None," Beldeman replied. "And your object," Maraton added, "is to benefit through our loss of trade?" "Entirely," Mr. Beldeman assented, without a quiver upon his face. Maraton was silent for a moment. "I do not see my way absolutely clear," he announced, "to recommending a railway strike at the present moment.
I refer, of course, to the universal strike." "It was my great theory," Maraton admitted, suddenly grave. "I will not say even now that I have abandoned it. It is in abeyance." "My principals," Mr. Beldeman remarked slowly, "would like it to take place." Maraton smiled.
"My own ideas," Maraton replied, "are in a state of transition. However, your offer is declined." "Declined without conditions?" Mr. Beldeman enquired, taking up his hat. "For the present it is declined without conditions. I will be quite frank with you. Your offer doesn't shock me as it might do if I were a right-feeling Imperialist of the proper Jingo type.
Beldeman. He came to see you in Manchester." "Beldeman!" Maraton repeated the name. Then he smiled. "A very sensational gentleman," he observed. "Came to offer me but never mind, I told you about that. Yes, you're right, Aaron. He is always interesting. Take your sister away for a few minutes. You can be getting ready. When I've finished with Mr. Beldeman, we'll start out.
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