The Recording Angel; A Novel (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1905 edition. Excerpt: ... of a single holiday or any increase in wages--and that there can in reality never be any offset or recompense for such things. Then suppose that such a secret as has been confided to me were confided to him and I ask you--what have you a right to expect?" Mr. Craggie made no reply, and after a few moments Chambers continued: "You know very well what you would have done under the circumstances. Now, see what I did. Mr. Craggie, I did just what you would have done: I became possessor of that secret--and at a terrible price; the price of being looked upon as an accomplice in the dirtiest piece of rascality known to the world: blackmail. What do I want with so dangerous a secret? The same thing that you are working for: Power. I hold a secret that makes the most powerful man in the United States tremble--but not I alone, and therein lies my safety." "What do you propose to do with your power, Sir," demanded Mr. Craggie. "I propose, in the first place, to talk to you as an equal and without reservation until we arrive at Clyde. I have been with you for over fifteen years. I've never been spared--day or night--in all that time. After you have dictated until exhausted you go to bed and I work until the letters are ready for the next mail, no matter what time in the morning that may be. I've been your slave. I have done two men's work and have received slightly more than the market price for a stenographer of my ability." "You never asked for an increase of salary." "That is perfectly correct, I never did. And therein, and in all other respects, I am totally different from our suppositious man. I have been amply compensated--though, perhaps, in ways you have not contemplated and cannot imagine. Let us...