They Found Him Dead Read Online Free PDF Page A

shall be amply repaid for the initial capital outlay."
    "Yes?" said Silas, putting his fingertips together. "You may be right, Joe, but I cannot say that Roberts' scheme attracts me."
    "Clement is in favour of it," offered Joe Mansell.
    "Possibly," said Silas rather ironically. "But I'm thinking that it is not Clement who would have to bear the brunt of that capital outlay you mentioned. I'm sorry to go against you, Joe, but I don't see my way."
    Joe Mansell looked at him resentfully, thinking that it was easy for an old bachelor with no one dependent on him to sit tight on his moneybags and say that it was not the time to be launching out into speculative ventures. He was mean; that was what was wrong with Silas. Always had been, and his father and grandfather before him. Not but what old Matthew Kane had never been afraid to spend money if he saw a good return, judging from the fortune he'd left. He'd made money hand over fist, had Matthew, the founder of the business.
    It made Joe Mansell feel more resentful than ever when he looked about him, as now, at the evidence of Kane wealth and thought of the Kane holding in the business, comparing it with his own share. And now, when there was a chance to expand, he'd have to watch some other firm seize the opportunity, just because Silas was too conservative to consider new ideas and too well off to think it worth while tapping a fresh market. He'd listen to all the arguments with that damned polite smile of his; he'd agree that there might be something in the scheme; he'd say it was very interesting, no doubt; but when you got down to brass tacks with him, and it came to talking of the capital he'd have to advance to start the show, you'd find yourself up against a brick wall.
    But Silas, watching Joe with veiled eyes, was thinking that it had always been the same tale with him.
    He'd no judgment: he rushed into things. It was just like him to allow himself to be talked over by a plausible fellow with an American accent. He was lavish with other men's money, was Joe. Clement, too, of whom he'd thought better, lacked judgment. All he cared for was to make more money to spend on that flimsy wife of his. Well, those weren't the methods by which the firm had been built up. He said as much, but with his usual civility.
    "One must move with the times," Joe repeated. "I believe you'd get a good return on your money."
    "Perhaps, perhaps," Silas agreed. "But I'm not as young as I was. I doubt whether I should live to enjoy any return."
    Now he's getting on to his weak heart , thought Joe. It's my belief he'll live for ever.
    "Well, I won't disguise from you, Silas, that I'm strongly in favour of the plan—strongly in favour of it! As a matter of fact, things aren't too easy for me about now, what with reduced dividends and having to help Clive tide over a bad patch. Not to mention Paul's troubles."
    "Indeed! I'm sorry to hear that," Silas said, wondering what concern of his were Joe's bad investments, or Joe's son-in-law's financial embarrassments, or the alimony his son's wife had to be paid.
    "I wish you could see your way to it."
    "Yes, I wish I could, since you're so much in favour of it," said Silas.
    That was the sort of remark that made one want to brain Silas. Joe Mansell controlled his temper with an effort and heaved himself up out of his chair. "Well, I hope you'll think it over carefully before you finally turn it down," he said. "Roberts gets back from London tonight and will be wanting your decision. Paul's in favour of it, too, you know; and though I say it of my own son, I'm bound to admit he's got a shrewd head on his shoulders. He was sorry, by the way, not to be able to be here tonight."
    "Indeed yes, we were sorry too," said Silas mendaciously.
    He disliked Paul Mansell, whose shrewdness verged on sharpness, and who had been divorced from his wife. A flashy fellow, with his oiled hair, and his waisted coats, and his habit of running after Patricia Allison. No doubt he