The three maintained a silence for several minutes, uncomfortable for at least two of them. Grimes did not seem to mind it
‘There,’ he said at last. ‘That’s better. Now keep your shirt on and listen to me. Jimmie is a nice kid, and he has never done anything to you. And he has behaved himself while he’s been here. You’ve got no right to be rude to him, no matter who he works for. Matter of fact, you owe him an apology.
‘Oh, really now, Doc,’ Stevens protested. ‘I’m afraid I have been here somewhat under false colours. I’m sorry, Mr Jones. I didn’t intend it to be that way. I tried to explain when we arrived.
Waldo’s face was hard to read. He was evidently trying hard to control himself. ‘Not at all, Mr Stevens. I am sorry that I showed temper. It is perfectly true that I should not transfer to you any animus I feel for your employers though God knows I bear no love for them.’ ‘I know it. Nevertheless, I am sorry to hear you say it.
‘I was cheated, do you understand? Cheated – by as rotten a piece of quasi-legal chicanery as has ever-
‘Easy, Waldo!
‘Sorry, Uncle Gus.’ He continued, his voice less shrill. ‘You know of the so-called Hathaway patents?
‘Yes, of course.
‘“So-called” is putting it mildly. The man was a mere machinist. Those patents are mine
Waldo’s version, as he proceeded to give it, was reasonably factual, Stevens felt, but quite biased and unreasonable. Perhaps Hathaway had been working, as Waldo alleged, simply as a servant – a hired artisan, but there was nothing to prove it, no contract, no papers of any sort. The man had filed certain patents, the only ones he had ever filed and admittedly Waldo-ish in their cleverness. Hathaway had then promptly died, and his heirs, through their attorneys, had sold the patents to a firm which had been dickering with Hathaway
Waldo alleged that this firm had put Hathaway up to stealing from him, had caused him to hire himself out to Waldo for that purpose. But the firm was defunct; its assets had been sold to North American Power-Air. NAPA had offered a settlement; Waldo had chosen to sue. The suit went against him
Even if Waldo were right, Stevens could not see any means by which the directors of NAPA could, legally, grant him any relief. The officers of a corporation are trustees for other people’s money; if the directors of NAPA should attempt to give away property which had been adjudicated as belonging to the corporation, any stockholder could enjoin them before the act or recover from them personally after the act
At least so Stevens thought. But he was no lawyer, he admitted to himself. The important point was that he needed Waldo’s services, whereas Waldo held a bitter grudge against the firm he worked for
He was forced to admit that it did not look as if Doc Grimes’s presence was enough to turn the trick. ‘All that happened before my time,’ he began, ‘and naturally I know very little about it. I’m awfully sorry it happened. It’s pretty uncomfortable for me, for right now I find myself in a position where I need your services very badly indeed.
Waldo did not seem displeased with the idea. ‘So? How does this come about?
Stevens explained to him in some detail the trouble they had been having with the deKalb receptors. Waldo listened attentively. When Stevens had concluded he said, ‘Yes, that is much the same story your Mr Gleason had to tell. Of course, as a technical man you have given a much more coherent picture than that money manipulator was capable of giving. But why do you come to me? I do not specialize in radiation engineering, nor do I have any degrees from fancy institutions.~ ‘I come to you,’ Stevens said seriously, ‘for the same reason everybody else comes to you when they are really stuck with an engineering problem. So far as I know, you have an unbroken record of solving any problem you cared to tackle. Your record reminds me of another man-
‘Who?’ Waldo’s tone was suddenly sharp