re reputation and millions were in the balance. I knew as well as
though I had seen the message telegraphed across his mind that he had
said to himself, "It didn't work, I must round to," but I knew my man
well enough to realize that a false move now would tip victory back into
defeat. I halted. As naturally as though there had been no calculation
in the tone of resigned despair which tinged my voice, I said:

"Mr. Rogers, don't let us prolong this talk. You well know what this
decision of yours means to me, so let me go where I can think it to a
finish."

In an instant Henry H. Rogers was again his virile and commanding self.
He jumped to his feet. His words came round and tense, passionately
convincing and persuasive.

"Lawson, are you crazy? Would you go back to Boston and smash this
business that we have spent years on? Would you sacrifice the millions
that are in your grasp? Would you? Would you, I say? You know I would
not threaten you, but I ask, would you do this, and at a time when you
are all tied and tangled up with us in such a way that you would be
bankrupt, literally be a pauper, and all because I insist upon things
that conditions over which I have no control compel me to demand?"

Whether he intended to halt or not I never knew, for I let him have my
pent-up feelings in eleven words that gave me as much relief as any
thousand I could have selected had I a day to do it in:

"As true as there is a God above us, I would!"

CHAPTER XXII

THE RESPONSIBILITY FASTENED

Life's alternatives are seldom labelled. Right is not always white, nor
wrong, black. The parting of the ways is oftentimes to the eye no more
than the forking of main-travelled roads, and good intentions are no
sure guide to the straight path. This, however, was one of those rare
crossings at which Fate's red light swung full in view, and in its
warning glow I seemed to read the sign:

"Settle Right or Forever Regret."

Well it was for me and for those thousands who were victimized and
robbed later that I heeded the monition, for if in the interests of
peace I had allowed myself to be overwhelmed by the imperious will of
Henry H. Rogers, I should to-day be as helpless as those others who,
coming forward to accuse, are met with "Standard Oil's" crushing
rejoinder, "It's a lie--you can't prove it." I have wondered since if
the master of "Standard Oil" also saw the red signal or interpreted its
prophetic message. His eyes still