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What you need is something or somebody to pull you into the whirl." "I suppose that is so," agreed the girl, "but where am I to find it or him? I don't know anybody who is in. Of course I have Uncle Silas's letter to Mr. Wintermuth, but I didn't really know whether I'd have the courage to use it or not." "Who may Mr. Wintermuth be?" demanded her aunt.
And I think they must have an agency, because once or twice I've noticed their name signed to policies they've sent me." "Who are they?" another director asked. "Perhaps Mr. Wintermuth or Mr. Smith may know them." "Evans and Jones," replied Mr. Whitehill. The President and his young subordinate looked at one another. Even Mr.
"Thank you, sir," said his subordinate, rising; "and I think that at least one person present will approve a little more elastic financial policy for the Guardian." "Mr. Richard Smith?" inquired the President. "Oh, yes. But I was thinking of Mr. Griswold." "Well, we shall see," rejoined Mr. Wintermuth; and the conversation concluded. The year 1914 dawned clear and cold.
For by the cold light in the eyes of the Vice-President he knew that course useless. "I remember the risk," he said, addressing himself to Mr. Wintermuth. "It was a direct line of our local agents, and they were very anxious to have us take a small amount. It was accepted as an accommodation, and I reinsured one half, as you see, sir. Is it a bad loss?"
Gunterson had, it was true, been suggested as a possibility, but through an outside source which Mr. Wintermuth felt sure was most unlikely to have been stimulated to the suggestion by the person most interested. The President was in a mood of despondency, incidental to the painful discovery of how frail a tissue of truth most of the recommendations of his applicants' supporters usually possessed.
Eleven directors in all, including the President, were in attendance; and although no one except Mr. Wintermuth knew why they had been called together, there was an undercurrent of concern among those present. This was soon crystallized, for Mr. Wintermuth's opening words wakened the active interest and lively perturbation of every man.
But in less than a week from the time of this conversation Mr. Cuyler again sought the President, and the expression of his face could not have been misinterpreted. "Well, what's the matter now?" Mr. Wintermuth inquired, as the local underwriter seated himself. "Who do you think is gone now?" said Cuyler, abruptly. "Who?" demanded his superior officer. "Jenkinson and Hammond, Dow, and Company."
In short, silence was their only possible attitude, for the contingency which now confronted them was one which took them wholly by surprise. "To sum up the situation," Mr. Wintermuth concluded, "there is only one man now in the employ of the company who is qualified to fill the vice-presidency, and that is Richard Smith, our present General Agent." He hesitated.
If he had any doubts, however, no one else confessed to any. Mr. Wintermuth frankly gave to his young underwriter the proper share of credit for the results that had been brought about. All this was pleasant, but it was also earned. In these months of activity, activity unusual even for Smith, who was customarily a busy man, there had been for him only one personal diversion.
At once the appointment was made public, and newspapers and individuals alike refrained from expressing what the better informed among them feared and expected. Mr. Wintermuth heard nothing on every hand but flattering comments on his own acumen, and praises of the sterling qualities and experience of his new appointee. In fact, the insurance press as a whole spoke of Mr.
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