power-of-attorney which authorized him to vote a large block of stock
belonging to a personal friend who had invested heavily in Lawson's
company--Bradford, the arctic explorer, who had gone into the
hinterland on a Government expedition, and who was not expected to get
into communication with civilization again for about two years.
Bradford had left everything in connection with his investment in his
friend Lawson's hands. While the status of this stock on the books of
the Interprovincial was unquestioned, the power-of-attorney had been
given to Lawson personally and had not been placed officially in the
hands of the secretary with instructions.

Herein lay the quandary. For when at the annual meeting in question
Nat Lawson had tried to vote the stock in the usual way, he was asked
for the power-of-attorney by some of the new shareholders and could not
produce it. Proxies which Nickleby had manipulated then were thrown on
the scale and when the meeting was over, the Interprovincial had a new
president by the name of J. Cuthbert Nickleby. In making the
announcement, the newspapers had quite a story about "Old Nat" and his
career; they printed in full the account which was handed to them
regarding the presentation of a gold-headed cane, suitably engraved,
and an illuminated address which marked the esteem in which the
directors held the retiring president and founder.

Convinced though he was that the power-of-attorney had been stolen
deliberately and that the whole thing was a cunning frame-up to get him
out of the way in order that certain transactions of which he never
would have approved might go through--although convinced that this was
the truth of the matter, Nat Lawson had no evidence to prove a case
against Nickleby or any of his associates. It would have been a
dangerous procedure to give publicity to his suspicions, or to attempt
legal action without definite proof of his charges, as this could
result only in destroying public confidence in the institution itself
without in the least altering the situation. At the worst, the reign
of the Nickleby faction could be but temporary, as the situation would
adjust itself with the return of the explorer who owned the stock. But
it was exceedingly humiliating, and there was always the possibility
that those now in control of the Interprovincial meanwhile would
undermine the whole financial fabric by loose policies of
administration, or even by questionable pr