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He was hurrying back, exhilarated with success, to the presence of a woman whose smile was finer exhilaration than any number of votes of confidence, passed unanimously by any number of conclaves of overjoyed Directors, and signed by Brummage after Brummage, with the signature of a capitalist in a flurry of delight at a ten per cent dividend.
The blank check shook its blandishments before their eyes. "We take him," they said, and Richard Wade was the new Superintendent unanimously. "He shall be at Dunderbunk to take hold to-morrow morning," said Churm, and went off to notify him. Upon this, Consternation sailed out of the hearts of Brummage and associates.
Jubilation now, instead of Consternation, in the office of Mr. Benjamin Brummage in Wall Street. President Brummage had convoked his Directors to hear the First Semi-Annual Report of the new Superintendent and Dictator of Dunderbunk. And there they sat around the green table, no longer forlorn and dreading a, failure, but all chuckling with satisfaction over their prosperity.
Distinctly through the gathering mists of years do his face and form rise up before the mind's eye: an image of manly self-reliance, of frank courage, of generous impulse; a frank friend, an open enemy; a man whom many misunderstood, but whom no one could understand without honoring and loving. Consternation! Consternation in the back office of Benjamin Brummage, Esq., banker in Wall Street.
Orrderr!" said the President, severely, rapping with a paper-cutter. "We must have a Man, not a Whiffler!" Churm continued. "And I have one in my eye." Everybody examined his eye. "Would you be so good as to name him?" said Old Brummage, timidly. He wanted to see a Man, but feared the strange creature might be dangerous. "Richard Wade," says Churm. They did not know him. The name sounded forcible.
Wade in by acclamation," cried the Directors. "But, gentlemen," Churm interposed, "if I give him my blank check, he must have carte blanche, and no one to interfere in his management." Every Director, from President Brummage down, drew a long face at this condition. It was one of their great privileges to potter in the Dunderbunk affairs and propose ludicrous impossibilities.
He came into Dunderbunk recently as executor of his friend Damer, a year ago bored to death by a silly wife. Churm's bristly aspect and incisive manner made him a sharp contrast to Brummage. The latter personage was flabby in flesh, and the oppressively civil counter-jumper style of his youth had grown naturally into a deportment of most imposing pomposity.
First, it was not pleasant to lose their investment. Second, one important failure might betray Credit to Crisis with Panic at its heels, whereupon every investment would be in danger. Third, what would become of their Directorial reputations? From President Brummage down, each of these gentlemen was one of the pockets to be picked in a great many companies.
In short, they behaved as Directors do when all is serene. Churm and Wade had a hearty laugh over the absurdities of the Board and all their vague propositions. "Dunderbunk," said Churm, "was a company started on a sentimental basis, as many others are." "Mr. Brummage fell in love with pig-iron?" "Precisely. He had been a dry-goods jobber, risen from a retailer somewhere in the country.
Yesterday down came Mr. Superintendent Whiffler, from Dunderbunk, up the North River, to say, that, "unless something be done, at once, the Dunderbunk Foundry and Iron-Works must wind up." President Brummage forthwith convoked his Directors. And here they sat around the green table, forlorn as the guests at a Barmecide feast. Well they might be forlorn!
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