He's the kind that got Uncle Bernie into Wall Street in the first place. If you do, I won't be there to watch your interests. Your stock won't be worth bupkas again."
She stared at him for a moment.
"Is that true?"
He could see the calculating machine in her head spinning.
"Every last word of it."
She took a deep breath.
"So come," she said. "I'll sign for you the proxies." She turned and waddled to a cabinet. "Your uncle, olev a'sholem, always said I should listen to you when I wanted advice.
That David, he said, has a good head on his shoulders."
He watched her take some papers from the cabinet. She walked over to a desk, picked up a pen and signed them.
He took them and put them in his jacket pocket.
"Thanks, Aunt May."
She smiled up at him.
He was surprised when she reached out her hand and patted his arm almost timidly.
"Your uncle and me, we were never blessed with children," she said in a tremulous voice. "He really thought of you like his own son." She blinked her eyes rapidly. "You don't know how proud he was, even after he retired from the company, when he read about you in the trade papers."
He felt a knot of pity for the lonely old woman gather in his throat.
"I know, Aunt May."
She tried to smile.
"And such a pretty wife you got," she said.
"Don't be a stranger. Why don't you sometime bring her here to have tea with me?"
He put his arms around the old woman suddenly and kissed her cheek.
"I will, Aunt May," he said. "Soon."
Rosa was waiting in his office when he got back to the studio.
"When Miss Wilson called and told me you'd be late, I thought it would be nice if I came down and we had dinner out."
"Good," he said, kissing her cheek.
"Well?"
He sat down heavily behind his desk.
"Aunt May gave me her proxies."
"That means you've got nineteen per cent to vote."
He looked at her. "It won't do much good if Jonas doesn't back me up.
Irving told me he'd have to sell the stock to Sheffield if Cord wouldn't pick it up."
She got to her feet.
"Well, you've done all you could," she said in a practical voice. "Now let's go to dinner."
His secretary came in just as David got to his feet.
"There's a cablegram from London, Mr. Woolf."
He took the envelope and opened it.
SET PRODUCTION DATE SINNER MARCH 1. CORD.
Just as he was about to hand it to Rosa, the door opened and his secretary came in again.
"Another cablegram, Mr. Woolf."
Quickly he ripped it open. His eyes skimmed through it and he felt a sudden relief surge through him.
MCALLISTER READY WHATEVER CASH NEEDED SPIKE SHEFFIELD. GIVE IT TO HIM GOOD.
Like the first cablegram, it was signed CORD.
He passed them both to Rosa.
She read them and looked up at him with shining eyes.
"We did it!" he said excitedly. He had started to pick her up in his arms when the door opened again.
"Yes, Miss Wilson?" he said in an annoyed voice.
The girl stood hesitantly in the doorway.
"I'm sorry to disturb you, Mr. Woolf," she said, "but another cablegram just arrived."
"Well, don’t stand there. Give it to me."
He looked at Rosa. "This one is for both of us," he said, handing it to her. "You open it."
She looked down at the envelope, then back at David.