FullReads

“But if we were going to do it at actual cost of manufacture,” said the young man, “and somebody else underbids us, isn’t somebody else losing money on the job?”

“That’s no sort of satisfaction to our men,” retorted Mr. Wheatcroft, cooking himself before the fire. “Somebody else–confound him!–will be able to keep his men together and to give them the wages we want for our men. Do you think somebody else is the Tuxedo Company again?”

“What of it?” asked Mr. Whittier. “Surely you don’t suppose—-“

“Yes, I do,” interrupted Mr. Wheatcroft, swiftly. “I do, indeed. I haven’t been in this business thirty years for nothing. I know how hungry we get at all times for a big, fat contract; and I know we would any of us give a hundred dollars to the man who could tell us what our chief rival has bid. It would be the cheapest purchase of the year, too.”

“Come, come, Wheatcroft,” said the elder Whittier; “you know we’ve never done anything of that sort yet, and I think you and I are too old to be tempted now.”

“Nothing of the sort,” snorted the fiery little man; “I’m open to temptation this very moment. If I could know what the Tuxedo people are going to bid on the new steel rails of the Springfield and Athens, I’d give a thousand dollars.”

“If I understand you, Mr. Wheatcroft,” Paul Whittier asked, “you are suggesting that there has been something done that is not fair?”

“That’s just what I mean,” Mr. Wheatcroft declared, vehemently.

“Do you mean to say that the Tuxedo people have somehow been made acquainted with our bids?” asked the young man.

“That’s what I’m thinking now,” was the sharp answer. “I can’t think of anything else. For two months we haven’t been successful in getting a single one of the big contracts. We’ve had our share of the little things, of course, but they don’t amount to much. The big things that we really wanted have slipped through our fingers. We’ve lost them by the skin of our teeth every time. That isn’t accident, is it? Of course not! Then there’s only one explanation–there’s a leak in this office somewhere.”

“You don’t suspect any of the clerks, do you, Mr. Wheatcroft?” asked the elder Whittier, sadly.

“I don’t suspect anybody in particular,” returned the junior partner, brushing his hair up the wrong way; “and I suspect everybody in general. I haven’t an idea who it is, but it’s somebody! It must be somebody–and if it is somebody, I’ll do my best to get that somebody into the clutches of the law.”

“Who makes up the bids on these important contracts?” asked Paul.

“Wheatcroft and I,” answered his father. “The specifications are forwarded to the works, and the engineers make their estimates of the actual cost of labor and material. These estimates are sent to us here, and we add whatever we think best for interest, and for expenses, for wear and tear, and for profit.”

“Who writes the letters making the offer–the one with actual figures I mean?” the son continued.

“I do,” the elder Whittier explained; “I have always done it.”

“You don’t dictate them to a typewriter?” Paul pursued.

“Certainly not,” the father responded; “I write them with my own hand, and, what’s more, I take the press-copy myself, and there is a special letter-book for such things. This letter-book is always kept in the safe in this office; in fact, I can say that this particular letter-book never leaves my hands except to go into that safe. And, as you know, nobody has access to that safe except Wheatcroft and me.”

“And the Major,” corrected the junior partner.

“No,” Mr. Whittier explained, “Van Zandt has no need to go there now.”

“But he used to,” Mr. Wheatcroft persisted.

“He did once,” the senior partner returned; “but when we bought those new safes outside there in the main office, there was no longer any need for the chief book-keeper to go to this smaller safe; and so, last month–it was while you were away, Wheatcroft–Van Zandt came in here one afternoon, and said that, as he never had occasion to go to this safe, he would rather not have the responsibility of knowing the combination. I told him we had perfect confidence in him.”