al disk, could call up any other, subscriber; there would be no
central operator, no listening, no tapping of wires; the number of
calls would be unlimited. As a proof of the confidence of these Eastern
gentlemen in our city, they were willing to spend five millions, and
present more than six hundred telephones free to the city departments!
What was fairer, more generous than this! There could be no doubt that
popular enthusiasm was enlisted in behalf of the "Eastern Capitalists,"
who were made to appear in the light of Crusaders ready to rescue a
groaning people from the thrall of monopoly. The excitement approached
that of a presidential election, and became the dominant topic at
quick-lunch counters and in street-cars. Cheap and efficient service!
Down with the Bastille of monopoly!

As counsel for the Ashuela, Mr. Ogilvy sent for me, and by certain
secret conduits of information at my disposal I was not long in
discovering the disquieting fact that a Mr. Orthwein, who was described
as a gentleman with fat fingers and a plausible manner, had been in town
for a week and had been twice seen entering and emerging from Monahan's
saloon. In short, Mr. Jason had already been "seen." Nevertheless I
went to him myself, to find him for the first time in my experience
absolutely non-committal.

"What's the Ashuela willing to do?" he demanded.

I mentioned a sum, and he shook his head. I mentioned another, and still
he shook his head.

"Come 'round again," he said...

I was compelled to report this alarming situation to Ogilvy and
Dickinson and a few chosen members of a panicky board of directors.

"It's that damned Grannis crowd," said Dickinson, mentioning an
aggressive gentleman who had migrated from Chicago to Wall Street some
five years before in a pink collar.

"But what's to be done?" demanded Ogilvy, playing nervously with a gold
pencil on the polished table. He was one of those Americans who in a
commercial atmosphere become prematurely white, and today his boyish,
smooth-shaven face was almost as devoid of colour as his hair. Even
Leonard Dickinson showed anxiety, which was unusual for him.

"You've got to fix it, Hugh," he said.

I did not see my way, but I had long ago learned to assume the unruffled
air and judicial manner of speaking that inspires the layman with almost
superstitious confidence in the lawyer....

"We'll find a way out," I said.

Mr. Jason, of course, held the key to the situation, and