O, a ship she was rigged and ready for sea,
And all of her sailors were fishes to be!
Windy-y-weather,
Stormy-y-weather!
When the wind blows we're all together!
--The Fishes.
Fletcher Fogg, suave, dignified, radiating business importance,
freshened by a barber's ministrations, walked into the Franklin
law-offices the next morning at nine-thirty.
He announced himself to a girl typist, and she referred him to a young
man who came forth from a private room.
"I have power of attorney from Mr. Franklin to transact his routine
business," explained the young man. "Of course, if it's a new case or a
question of law--"
"Neither, neither, my dear sir! Simply a matter of routine. But," he
leaned close to the young man's ear, "strictly private."
Mr. Fogg himself closed the door of the inner office when the two had
retired there.
"One of your matters to-day, I believe, is the annual meeting of the
Vose line. I am a stockholder."
Fogg produced a packet of certificates and laid them on the desk.
"Are there to be any officers or other stockholders present?" he asked,
showing just a bit of solicitude, in spite of himself.
"I think not," returned the young man. "Nothing has been said about it.
The proxies and instructions have been sent in, as usual, by registered
mail." He indicated documents stacked on the desk. "I was just about to
begin on the matter."
"I suppose our proxies run to the clerk of the corporation, as usual,
with full power of substitution, clerk to follow instructions," said
Mr. Fogg, a bit pompously, using his complete knowledge of corporation
routine.
"Yes, sir. We handle most of the corporation meetings that way when it's
all cut and dried. In this case, it's simply a re-election of the old
officers."
"Exactly!"
Mr. Fogg pulled his chair closer, dabbed his purple handkerchief on
each side of his nose, and inquired, kindly and confidentially: "My son,
what's your name?"
"David Boyne."
"Law student here--secretary, eh?"
"Yes, sir."
"Exactly--and a long, hard pull ahead of you. It's too bad you're not in
New York, where a young man doesn't have to travel the whole way around,
but can cut a corner or two. I could give you a lot of examples of
bright young chaps who have grabbed in when the grabbing was good.
"But I haven't the time. You take my word for it. I'm a plain, outspoken
business man, and I'm in with the biggest financial interests in New
York. And I'm going to offer you the grandest opportunity of your life
right now, David."