Where Two Ways Met (16 page)

The brother sat down, glanced hastily through the pile of mail accumulated, and selected the envelopes bearing the Harris Chalmers return address.

“Yes, here they are,” he said as he laid them on the desk, studying the dates on the postmarks. He knit his brows over them a moment then unlocked a drawer and drew out his brother’s checkbook, turning over the leaves rapidly and suddenly exclaiming, “Yes, here the check is! The date of the first notice and the check, all made out and signed. That must have been the last thing he did. We found him fallen forward on his desk, the pen in his hand, the night he was taken sick. And he was desperately ill from then on until now! None of us thought to look into his private affairs to see if there was anything that needed immediate attention. Joseph was always so methodical, it seemed as if nothing was likely to go wrong.”

Paige looked at the man, bewildered, wondering what should be his procedure now? Would these people want the mortgage foreclosed? Then the other man spoke.

“This check would not be good now, of course, on account of Joe’s death, and the natural process of the law would bring it under the jurisdiction of the managers of the estate. But since that would take some time and you are in haste to return, and since it was our fault, in a way, that this was not paid before, would you be willing to accept my check at once for this whole matter and give me a receipt? Of course, allowing for the interest of the delay? I can give you a certified check.”

“Oh!” gasped Paige. “Would you be willing to do that? I suppose that would be much simpler for us. But it is imposing upon you.”

“Not at all,” said the old man, with a sigh. “Joe and I were very close brothers, and I think he would like me to do this for him. I would not want my sister-in-law to be disturbed by knowing of this, nor to have any idea that her home might have foreclosure proceedings on it. We are trying to have life go on as normally for her sake as possible. She had been through a great deal during the weeks of my brother’s illness, and I’ll be glad to finish this matter up definitely at once, if you are willing to arrange that, and there need be no further question about it in the settlement of affairs.”

Paige breathed a sigh of relief when he received the certified check for the full amount covering the entire remaining mortgage. This was not what he was supposed to have come after, but surely his boss would be more than pleased at the outcome of his mission. So, in a little while he was free to hurry away to his train.

But he grasped the hand of Charles Washburn warmly and thanked him again for all he had done, and more than all for making his presence at that service possible. Then he looked back at the simple white house where he had spent such a strange and unexpected afternoon, and thought he would like to come back there sometime and remember.

It was not according to his custom when riding on railroad trains, but Paige spent a large part of that night in prayer, and it seemed to him that the Lord Jesus Christ had come with him and was very close, ready to help him understand.

This would be something that he would not tell about in his report to Mr. Chalmers. Something all between himself and God. He might not even tell his mother. There was only one person he felt would understand, and that was June Culbertson. She would understand. Strange, and he had known her so short a time! But she had spoken of these same truths that had so stirred him at the funeral service.

J
une’s brief letter was waiting for him the next morning when he got home to breakfast. It lay by his place. He tore it open and was filled with a strange disappointment when he read that she was away. He hadn’t known that he was looking forward to seeing her and talking with her. And suddenly he knew that he had been going to tell her about that afternoon at the funeral. And now she was gone! Perhaps he would never see her again. She did not say how long she was likely to stay.

He turned to the poem and read it through. Almost he could hear her voice saying the words.

Then his mother came in with fresh coffee, and he folded the letter and enclosure and put them in his pocket. Somehow he did not feel ready to part with them yet. He wanted to read them over again. Meantime, he was going to meet his boss, and perhaps they would be a sort of talisman to guard him from making any mistakes. For he felt a misgiving about how his boss would think he had handled this important business.

He swallowed his coffee, gave his mother another brief kiss, and darted out to his car, his hand on the folded letter in his pocket, taking comfort from it. He was cheered by the thought that June had remembered to send the poem. And somehow he felt, even just from the single reading, that it would chime right in with his experiences with his new Lord.

Back in his office he found a pile of mail that had to be attended to at once, and he and his secretary were deep into dictation when there came a call from Mr. Chalmers.

“Madison come yet? Send him in at once!” and the receiver slammed into place. Somehow the very click of the instrument sent a shiver through Paige’s shoulders. How silly, he told himself as he swung out of his chair and went toward the boss’s office.

“Well, Madison, I see you have returned. I hope you had a successful trip.”

“Why, I think so, Mr. Chalmers. I would have been in here with a report before, but I thought you would be busy the first thing in the morning with your mail, so I waited to get a few important letters out of the way.”

“Well, I came down a little early this morning. I was anxious to hear your report. Did you have any trouble? Served all three foreclosures?”

“No,” said Madison, “I only served one. The others both paid up.”

“
Paid up!
” gasped Chalmers, springing up from his chair. “But I thought I gave definite orders that all three
must be foreclosed
! What business did you have to go against my orders?”

“I beg your pardon, Mr. Chalmers. I do not recall your having told me not to receive the money if it was given to me. I supposed, of course, payment was the most desirable.” Paige’s tone had a new dignity, and Mr. Chalmers cooled down and looked at him, realizing that by his blustering he was actually giving away one of the secrets of his business that he had not intended to make known to him at this stage of the game. His intention had been to go cautiously with this young man who was inclined to be so overconscientious, leading him gradually to see the necessity of the more subtle and clever ways of managing business affairs in order to be greatly successful.

Like a balloon that had suddenly been pricked with a pin, he deflated from his blustering.

“Well, yes, of course,” he said with a tone almost mollified. “That is, if they paid enough. But I had no reason to anticipate any such thing as that. Two of those people have been nothing but a nuisance, always having to be nagged. Well, go ahead, young man, and give us your story. I interrupted you.”

Paige gravely told his story, beginning with the people in the brick house where the man drank all the money up and the woman went out to sell a piano she didn’t possess to pay her interest. And he knew how to tell a story, so that in spite of his slightly haughty manner in telling it, he held the interest of his boss, who nodded approval as he finished with the foreclosure.

The boss was frowning when he began on the poor laborer in the road who couldn’t pay, with the pathetic plea of sickness and death, and then the fellow-laborer who went home and got the money to lend to him. Paige told this story so well that the boss actually had tears in his eyes when he had finished, and remarked feelingly, “Now, whaddaya know about that? Not many fellow-laborers would be that generous,” and he took out an expensive handkerchief from his breast pocket and blew his nose hard.

Paige had been rather dreading the story of the dead man, because by this time he had realized that the Chalmers temper would be more roused by the man who had ignored their several notices than by any of the others, but now in view of his seeming interest in the poor laborer, he took heart of hope, drew a deep breath, and prepared for the worst, if necessary.

“Well!” snapped the boss, ashamed now of his emotion. “Go ahead! What about the Washburn case? What possible excuse did he have for ignoring all our notices?”

“He was dead,” said Paige solemnly.

“Dead?” shouted Chalmers. “Well that’s a new one to pull! How do you know he was dead? Who said so?”

“Nobody said so, I went to his funeral.”

“You went to his
funeral
! Are you kidding, Madison?”

“No, I’m not kidding,” said Paige gravely. “It was quite unintentional on my part. I went to the address you gave me and asked to see Mr. Washburn. They motioned me to the door of the next room, and there lay Mr. Washburn in his coffin. I realized suddenly that I was at a funeral. Many people were coming in behind me, and there were some already seated. I backed away and tried to get out of the room, but some kindly person motioned me to a chair, and without making a scene, there seemed no way to get out.

“You can perhaps imagine how I felt, for those first few minutes. After that, the service was so impressive that I completely forgot why I had come.”

“Did they know you were coming? Had you sent word and made an appointment? You’re sure it wasn’t staged for your benefit?”

Paige gave his boss a startled, indignant look then answered solemnly, “No, I had not telephoned. I took the train out there and a taxi to the house. I noticed there were a few other cars parked on the street, and some flowers on the porch, but thought nothing of it until suddenly I was in the room and there was the coffin right before me.”

“Why, how extraordinary!” exclaimed the boss. “And afterward I suppose you got out.”

“No, they gave me a chair, and the room was full. I didn’t want to make a scene. And afterward I was glad. It was a very wonderful service, and it seemed to me as if God were standing there. I was glad to have had the experience.”

Chalmers was deeply embarrassed and looked at his young employee in a kind of wonder, seeing that he had really been deeply affected.

“Well, I’m glad it wasn’t too unpleasant. But afterward, were you able to find out why we hadn’t heard from Mr. Washburn and what we should do to complete this business?”

“Yes, afterward I talked with Mr. Washburn’s brother Charles, and he took me to our Mr. Washburn’s study, found all our notices still unopened among the mail that had accumulated during his illness, and then we looked in his checkbook and found a check made for us at the date of our first notice, covering the entire loan, interest and all. It seems the brothers had talked it over and decided it was best to pay it all now.”

“But that check wouldn’t be good now until the estate is settled, of course.”

“No, and so Mr. Charles Washburn, anxious not to have the widow troubled with the matter, offered to pay the whole check, with interest of course, to get it settled without further trouble for us. It seemed to me that would be what you would think was best, so I accepted it and gave him a receipt. It is a certified check.”

Paige laid the check down on Chalmers’s desk, together with the roll of money the working man had given him.

The boss took up the check, counted the money, cleared his throat, and said, “Well, I guess you have done fairly well with your first commission, Madison. I shall know where to find the right man to send again when I have a difficult commission.”

Paige had risen and was going toward the door, but now he turned back and shook his head.

“No,” he said. “Never again. It is too soul-trying a job for me. I’m not cut out for that.”

“Oh, you’d soon get over that squeamishness.”

“No!” said Paige firmly. “But I’m glad you’re pleased. And now, if you have nothing further, I’ll go back to my desk. There is a big stack of mail over there that needs immediate attention.”

“Of course, Madison. I understand. But perhaps you’ll arrange to take lunch with me. There may be some other questions I’d like to talk over with you.”

Paige assented gravely and went back to his office, wondering what might be coming next and thinking that he ought to decide once and for all what he was going to do. This uncertainty was utterly unfitting him for any kind of work. Well, this was all probably ridiculous. Mr. Chalmers was very nice after he finally understood things. Paige had probably misjudged him and had let his own first unpleasant impressions color every thought connected with his job, and he must stop it. He would just go ahead and do what was required of him. Likely, some things that he was being put through now were just training, so that he might be in touch with every branch of the service. Besides, this was no way to face a new life, finding fault with everything that came his way.

This evening there was a big question he had to consider for the future: how his life was to be different since he had met the Lord. But just now there was his desk full of work, and that must have his undivided attention.

From time to time he remembered the luncheon he was to share with his boss, and wondered again what was coming next. He found himself with a great crying out in his heart for help toward the God who had seemed so near to him since yesterday. When had he ever, since he was a child, felt like crying out for help to God? Even during the war he had felt more or less that his mother’s prayers would cover all the help he would need. And how was it that now, since he had watched that still presence of God standing beside him, he had learned that there was something he needed that even his mother’s prayers could not provide? It must be his own cry for help, a real cry from a recognized need.

But he had no time now to consider that. His heart had sent out his cry, and it would be answered when the need came.

With these resolves made, a great deal of work was accomplished that morning in Madison’s office, and he went with a lighter heart to meet his boss at the appointed place for luncheon.

It proved to be the University Club, where a few choice spirits in the business world were assembled, and after a pleasant, flattering introduction, they sat down to a luxurious lunch.