The Best Policy

“I’ll let you have my option for the two thousand you offered a month ago,” said Lake in desperation.

“It’s not worth that to us now.”

“One thousand dollars.”

“Why, frankly, Mr. Lake,” said the colonel still pleasantly, “we men of some experience and standing in the business world don’t like to have half-baked financiers interfering with our plans, and we aim to discourage them as effectually as possible whenever possible.” Then, with a sudden change of tone: “We won’t give you a damn cent for your option. You were too greedy.”

“Of course, you men of money and high finance are not greedy at all,” retorted Lake sarcastically.

Lake was too depressed to see it at the moment, but later it began to dawn on him that the colonel, usually astute, had made a grievous mistake. In his anxiety to impress upon the young man the futility of his avaricious schemes, in the face of such wise and resourceful opposition, he had mentioned the fact that the minority stock had been brought within their reach. Had they already bought it, or had they only secured options on it? If already purchased, the purchase price would prove a dead loss, unless they were able to get enough more to secure control. To parallel the road would be to kill a company in which they were financially interested, in addition to incurring the considerable expense necessary for a new connecting link.

Lake went to Bington that afternoon, and returned the following morning. The game was his, if he could raise the money; they had bought most of the minority stock outright, being unable to get options on it. He was sure of victory now, if he could raise the money. He no longer wished to turn the deal over to any one else on any terms: he wished to carry it to the conclusion himself. But the money, the money!

He tried Belden again, but Belden still considered the security utterly inadequate for a loan of twenty thousand dollars. In truth, although Belden considered the outlook a little more promising now, he doubted the young man’s ability to handle such a deal, and it would take very little to upset all calculations. The company’s investment was not sufficient to prevent the abandonment of the road in some very possible circumstances, although it was ample evidence of a present plan to use it. Murray took the same view of the situation.

“It begins to look like a good speculation,” said Murray, “but I haven’t the money to invest in it, and I never was much of a speculator, anyway. I have discovered that, as a general thing, when the possible profit begins to climb very much over the legal rate of interest, the probability of loss increases with it. However, if you want to take the risk, that’s your affair, provided you have the money.”

“But I haven’t,” complained Lake; “that’s the trouble.”

“Too bad you’re not carrying enough insurance to be of some use,” remarked Murray.

“What good would that do?” asked Lake.

“Why, then you’d only have to convince your wife that you have a safe investment, and it’s always easier to convince your wife than it is to convince some coldblooded capitalist. Insurance ranks high as security, but of course the beneficiary has to consent to its use.”

“I never had thought of insurance as a factor in financiering,” said Lake. “I had regarded it more as a family matter.”

“It plays an important part in the business world,” explained Murray, “and it might even play a part in speculation. There is partnership insurance, you know.”

“I may have heard of it, but I never gave it any consideration.”

“It’s not a speculation, but a business precaution,” said Murray. “The partners are insured in favor of the firm. If one of them dies, it gives the firm the ready cash to buy his interest from the widow, without infringing on the business capital. Partnership insurance may sometimes prevent a failure; it may prevent several. Many interests may depend temporarily upon the operation of one man, and his sudden death might spell ruin for a number of people, unless they were protected by insurance. The policy is playing a more important part in the business world every day. There are lots of strange things that can be done when you fully understand it.”

“But that doesn’t help me,” asserted Lake impatiently.

“No,” returned Murray, “I don’t see how insurance could help you just now, unless you were to die. A policy won’t be accepted as security for a sum in excess of the premiums paid, for you might default.”

“I’m not the kind of man who dies to win,” said Lake rather sharply.

“Of course not,” replied Murray. “I was merely considering the financial possibilities of policies.” All insurance questions being of absorbing interest to Murray, he straightway forgot all about Lake’s predicament, and busied his mind with his own speculations. “There is so much that can be done with insurance,” he went on, “but I guess it’s just as well the public doesn’t know it all. Do you remember the case of Rankin, the banker who committed suicide?”

“Yes.”

“Well, Rankin couldn’t have done anything with our company, because the element of premeditation is assumed if death by suicide occurs within two years from the time the policy is issued. After that the manner of death cuts no figure, for the courts have held that an insurance company takes a risk on the mind as well as the body of a policy-holder, and, anyway, competition has cut out the old suicide restrictions. But there are companies that issue policies incontestable after the date of issue. Suppose Rankin, when he found his affairs in such shape that he no longer dared to face the world, had gone to one or more of these companies. A hundred thousand dollars – very likely less – would have protected his bank and provided for his family. He had already decided to kill himself, for his operations had been such that he could not hope to escape the penitentiary when discovery came, but he was ostensibly still a prosperous man. Many men of his standing insure themselves for extraordinarily large sums, to protect legitimately their business interests as well as their families.

“Not so very long ago we issued a paid-up policy for fifty thousand dollars on the life of one man, who died within three years, and we thought nothing of it. He was taking a risk on his own life then, for he thought he was going to live long enough to make a paid-up policy cheaper than the aggregate of annual payments, whereas there would have been a saving to his estate of a good many thousands of dollars if he had followed the other plan. However, that has nothing to do with this case; I mention it only to show that a man of Rankin’s apparent standing could have got insurance to any amount without creating comment. And, with an incontestable-after-date-of-issue policy, he could have protected his business associates and his family by the very culmination of his overwhelming disgrace. Why, a defaulter could use part of his stolen money in this way to provide for his family when the moment of discovery and death shall come, or a dishonest business man, facing ruin, could use his creditors’ money to make such provision, for insurance money is something sacred, that can not be reached like the rest of an estate. Oh, there are great dramatic possibilities in this business, Lake – tragedies and comedies and dramas of which the public knows nothing.”

“How does that help me?” demanded Lake gloomily, and the question brought Murray back to the realities of the moment.

“It doesn’t help you,” Murray replied, “but it’s an intensely interesting subject to one who gives it a little time and thought.”

Yet it did help Lake, although not at that moment. It was a new field, and Lake liked to explore new fields. A novelty that taxed his ingenuity appealed to him especially. True, he had enough to occupy his mind without entering upon idle speculation, but, when every other avenue to success seemed closed, his thoughts would revert to insurance.

“If it holds out such opportunities for others, why not for me?” he asked. “If others have entirely overlooked the possibilities, why may not I be doing the same thing?”

He met the colonel on the street occasionally, and the way the colonel smiled at him was maddening. There could be no doubt that the colonel considered the game won, but he was not a man to take chances: he had Lake watched, and the latter’s every move was reported to him. Even when Lake made another trip to Bington and endeavored to arrange a shrewd deal with some of the majority stock-holders, the colonel promptly heard of it.

“Accept my notes in payment for the stock,” Lake urged on that occasion, “and I’ll let you in on the profits of the deal. The traction company has got to get this road, but you can’t hold it up for a big price, because you were foolish enough to give it a second option. I can do it, however. Let me have the stock, and you can divide up among yourselves half of all I get in excess of the option price. My notes will be paid, and you will have a bonus of twelve or fifteen thousand dollars.”

But the stock-holders were conservative and cautious men, and the very fact that Lake could not command the money that he needed made them suspicious. As matters stood, they were sure of getting out of a losing venture with a small profit – at least, so it seemed to them – and they preferred that to the risk of losing everything in an effort to secure a larger profit. Furthermore, they were now on the side of the colonel, for his option was at a larger price. And the colonel was very confident – so confident that work was being rushed on details that would prove valueless without the Bington road. This was what made Lake desperately angry; it was humiliating to be treated as a helpless weakling.

As valuable time passed, his mind reverted again to the insurance field. His opportunity – the opportunity of a lifetime – was almost lost. The colonel, wishing to lose no time, had arranged for a meeting with certain of the majority stock-holders the day the first option expired. The option expired at noon, and the colonel would be ready to take over what stock he needed at one minute after the noon hour. This would not be very much, in view of the minority stock he already held, but the sanguine stock-holders did not know this: they expected him to take all of it.

“Some of them are going to find they’re tricked, just as I am,” Lake grumbled. “If I could only convince Belden of the ultimate absolute security of a loan! He wants to help me; he’s ready to be convinced; but – ”

People passing saw this moody, depressed young man stop short in the street and his eye light with sudden hope.

“By thunder!” he exclaimed. “Of course, I can protect him against unforeseen disaster, if he has confidence in my integrity!”

He was almost jubilant when he entered Belden’s office.

“Got the money?” asked Belden.

“No; but I know how to get it,” replied Lake. “You believe in my honesty, don’t you?”

“Implicitly.”

“You merely doubt my ability?”

“Your financial ability,” explained Belden. “You will do what you agree to do – if you can. I have no earthly doubt of your willingness, even anxiety, to repay every obligation you may incur, but, added to other risks, there is the possibility of accident.”

“If I eliminate that?”

“You may have the money.”

“On long time?”

“The time and the terms are immaterial.”

“I’ll come for it later,” announced Lake, and he departed, leaving Belden puzzled and curious.

Once outside, Lake stopped to do a little mental figuring before taking up the other details of his plan.

“I advanced five hundred to bind the option,” he reflected. “That leaves nineteen thousand five hundred necessary to put the deal through. Twenty thousand from Belden will give me just the margin I need.”

Murray was as much puzzled and surprised by the change in the man as Belden had been, and Murray, like Belden, was anxious to help him in any reasonably safe way.

“Am I good for five hundred for thirty days, if I give you my positive assurance that I know exactly how I am going to pay it in that time?” asked Lake.

“Why, yes,” replied Murray. “On short-time figuring you’re a pretty safe man.”

“Draw me a check for it, and I’ll give you my thirty-day note,” said Lake, “and my verbal assurance that it’s a cinch.”

Murray noted the confidence of Lake’s tone and manner, and drew the check.

“What are you going to do with it?” he asked.

“Pay a life insurance premium,” laughed Lake. “Give me an application blank and round up a medical examiner. I want a twenty-year endowment policy for twenty thousand dollars, and I want it put through like a limited express that’s trying to make up time.”

“I suppose you know what you’re doing,” said Murray doubtfully.

“You bet I do!” Lake spoke confidently.

“Oh, very well,” remarked Murray. “I don’t see how I can refuse business for the company, even if I stand to lose.”

“You won’t lose,” declared Lake with joyous enthusiasm. “I’m going to show you a new trick in the line of insurance financiering.”

After that, Lake haunted Murray’s office, and grew daily more anxious. He was a good risk, but certain formalities were necessary, and these took time, although Murray did his utmost to shorten the routine. Lake’s nervousness increased; he had Murray telegraph the home office; he grew haggard, for he had not counted on this delay; but finally, in the moment of almost utter despair, the policy was delivered to him. An hour later he was in Belden’s office.

“I want twenty thousand at four per cent., payable at the rate of one thousand a year, with interest!” he cried. “I’ll pay it, to a certainty, within sixty days, but I’m trying to make it look more reasonable, to satisfy you. You believe I can pay one thousand a year, don’t you?”

“If you live.”

“If I don’t,” exclaimed Lake, “there is insurance for twenty thousand in my wife’s favor, and duly assigned to you,” and he banged the policy down on the desk in front of the astonished Belden. “You can trust me to take care of the premiums, can’t you?”

“Your integrity I never doubted,” replied Belden, “and that obligation should be within your means.”

“My rule of life shall be: the premiums first, the payments on the note next,” declared Lake. “If I fall behind in the latter, the security will still be good. I only ask that anything in excess of what may be due you, in case of my death, shall go to my wife, and she, of course, becomes the sole beneficiary the moment you are paid. But, for the love of heaven, hurry!”

Instead of hurrying, Belden leaned back in his chair and looked at the young man with bewildered admiration.

“Such ingenuity,” he said at last, “ought not to go unrewarded. As a strict business proposition, your plan would hardly find favor with a conservative banker, but, as a matter of friendship and confidence – ” He reached for his check-book. “Such a head as yours is worth a risk,” he added a moment later.

Lake reached the office of the Bington road at 11:30 on the day his option expired. The colonel was already there, waiting. So were some of the majority stock-holders. The colonel was confident and unusually loquacious.

“Now that the matter is practically settled,” he remarked with the cheerful frankness of a man who has won, “I may admit that the young man had us up a tree. He succeeded in putting the other route through Bington practically beyond our reach, and forced us to take the risk of doing business with the minority stock-holders at a possible dead loss. But we knew he didn’t have the money, so we went ahead with our plans and our work without delay. A little ready cash – ”

It was then that Lake entered and deposited a small satchel on the long table.

“I will take the stock under my option,” he announced briefly to such of the majority stock-holders as were present. “I think I have got all I need, with the exception of what is represented by you gentlemen. It has been a pretty busy morning for me.” He emptied the stock certificates already acquired and some bundles of bank-notes on the table. “Colonel,” he said with a joyous and triumphant laugh, “you’d better sit up and begin to take notice.”

The colonel’s attitude and air of easy confidence already had changed, and his look of amazement and dismay was almost laughable.

“Quick, gentlemen,” cautioned Lake, with a glance at the clock. “I’ve tendered the money in time, but I’ll feel a little more comfortable when I have the rest of the needed stock.”

Like one in a dream the colonel leaned over the table and watched the transaction.

“Do – do you want to sell some of that stock?” he asked at last.

“No,” replied Lake; “I don’t want to sell some of it; I want to sell all of it.”

“We don’t need all of it,” said the colonel.

“Well, I’ll tell you what I’ll do,” returned Lake magnanimously. “I’ll sell you all or any part of it for fifty thousand dollars.”

“On the basis of fifty thousand for your entire holdings?” asked the colonel.

“No; at the set price of fifty thousand for whatever you take.”

“Too much,” said the colonel.

“As you please,” said Lake carelessly. “The price of the control of the Bington road goes up one thousand dollars a day. It’s dirt cheap at fifty thousand now, but, of course, if you don’t need it, Colonel, the bargain price doesn’t interest you.”

The colonel did need it; in fact, the company, in its sublime confidence, had put itself in a position where failure to get it meant a considerable loss.

“On second thought,” remarked Lake, “I’ll have to add a thousand to compensate me for the indignity of being called a half-baked financier. Do you remember that, Colonel?”

“We’ll take it,” said the colonel resignedly. Then he added reflectively: “You’ve made a pretty good thing out of this, Lake.”

“Fair, fair,” replied Lake. “After I’ve repaid the twenty thousand five hundred that I borrowed, I’ll have thirty thousand five hundred left, not to mention an insurance policy for twenty thousand in favor of my wife, with the first premium paid. You ought to study the insurance question, Colonel. There are wonderful financial possibilities in it, and some day, perhaps, you will wake up to the fact that insurance beat you in this deal.”

AN INCIDENTAL FAVOR

On the same day two women called to see Dave Murray in regard to the same matter, and that was the beginning of the trouble.

The first was Mrs. Albert Vincent. The obituary columns of the morning papers had given a few lines to the death of Albert Vincent, but Murray had not expected to hear from his widow so promptly, and she was a little too businesslike to meet his idea as to the proprieties of the occasion. In fact, there was no indication of either outward mourning or inward grief.

“Perhaps you will recall,” she said, without the slightest trace of emotion, “that I wrote to you some time ago to ask if the premiums on my husband’s insurance had been fully paid.”

“I recall it,” replied Murray.

“And you answered that they had been paid.”

“I recall that also,” said Murray.

“Well, he died last night,” explained the widow, “and I would like to know when I can get the insurance money.”

Murray looked at her in amazement. He had had to deal with many people whom necessity made importunate, but never before had he met such cold-bloodedness as this woman displayed in tone and manner. Apparently, it was no more to her than a business investment, upon which she was now about to realize.

“There are certain formalities necessary,” he said, “but there will be little delay after proper proof of death has been filed. You will, of course, have the attending physician – ”

“I don’t know who he is,” interrupted the woman.

“You don’t know who he is!” repeated Murray in astonishment.

“No. But I will find out and see him at once. It is important that there shall be as little delay as possible.”

Previous experiences made Murray quick at jumping to conclusions in such cases, and he now thought he had the explanation of this unusually prompt call. The woman was stylishly dressed, but that was no proof that she had the ready cash essential at such a time.

“I think I understand,” said Murray delicately. “You can not meet the expenses incident to – ”

“I have nothing to do with any expenses,” the woman again interrupted coldly. “She looked after him in life, and she can look after him now.”

“She!” exclaimed Murray. “Who?”

“The nurse,” replied the woman scornfully. “But she can’t have the insurance – not a cent of it. And that’s what she has been after.”

“Let me understand this,” said Murray thoughtfully. “You and your husband have not been living together?”

“Not for five years.”

“And this other woman?”

“She was an old flame, and she went to him when he became ill.”

“Did he send for you?”

“No. He knew better than to do that. But the insurance is in my name, and I’m going to have it – all of it. That’s my right, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” replied Murray slowly; “I’m sorry to say that is your absolute right.” The supreme selfishness and heartlessness of the woman were revolting to Murray. “The policy names you as beneficiary, and when it is presented, with proof of death, the money will have to be paid to you.”

“How am I to get the policy?” asked the woman. “He had it put away somewhere.”

“That is a matter upon which I can not undertake to advise you,” replied Murray.

“Anyhow,” declared the woman defiantly, for Murray’s words and expression showed his disapprobation, “I want to serve notice on you that not one cent of the money is to be paid to any one else. It would be just like that nurse to try to get it.”

“You shall have every cent to which you are entitled,” replied Murray with frigid courtesy, “but nothing is to be gained by further discussion.”

“I suppose,” exclaimed the woman with sharp resentfulness, “that your sympathies are with that shameless nurse.”

“I don’t know,” returned Murray quietly. “I’m not at all sure that your husband was not the one who was most entitled to sympathy.”

It was unlike Murray to speak thus brutally, but the woman irritated him. Many were the examples of selfishness that had come to his notice, but this seemed to him a little worse than any of the others. That she had been living apart from her husband might be due to no fault of hers, but she impressed him as being a vain, vindictive, mercenary woman, with no thought above the rather gaudy clothes she wore – just the kind to demand everything and give nothing. Certainly her actions showed that she lacked all the finer sensibilities that one naturally associates with true women. No matter what might lie back of it all, common decency should have prevented her from making such a display of her own small soul at such a time. At least, so Murray thought.

“She is the kind of woman who marries a man’s bank account,” he mused, “and considers the inability to supply her with all the money she wants as the first evidence of incompatibility of temper. Some women think they want a husband when they really only want an accommodating banker.”

Murray was still musing in this strain when the second woman called. Unlike the first, this woman gave some evidence of grief and mourning: her eyes showed that she had been weeping, and her attire, although not the regulation mourning, was as near to it as a scanty wardrobe would permit on short notice. But she was self-possessed, and spoke with patient resignation.

“Necessity,” she explained, “has compelled me to come to see you at this time about Albert Vincent’s life insurance policy.”

“Oh!” exclaimed Murray thoughtlessly, “you are the nurse!”

“Yes,” she replied quietly, after one startled look, “I am the nurse. I infer that Mrs. Vincent has been here.”

“She has just left,” said Murray.

“Her attentions,” said the nurse bitterly, “have been confined to an effort to get prompt news of her husband’s death.”

Murray knew instinctively that a little drama of life was opening before him, but his duty was clear.

“Nevertheless,” he said, “the policy is in her name.”

“In her name!” cried the nurse. “Why, he told me – ” Then she stopped short. She would not betray his perfidy, even if he had been false to her.

“What did he tell you?” asked Murray kindly.

“No matter,” answered the nurse. “I – I only wanted enough to defray the – the necessary expenses. That’s why I came. There isn’t a cent – not a cent. Even the little money I had has been used, and there are debts – But she’ll pay, of course.”