Part 38 (1/2)

'Hullo, Harrison!'

'How do you do, Crosse? How are you, Mrs. Crosse?'

'How do you do? I'll just order tea if you will excuse me.'

Ordering tea seemed to involve a good deal of splas.h.i.+ng water. Maude came back with a merrier face.

'Is this a good paper, Mr. Harrison?'

'What is it? Financial Whisper! No, the most venal rag in the city.'

'Oh, I am so glad!'

'Why?'

'Well, you know, we bought some shares to-day, and it calls our mine a preposterous one.'

'Oh, is that all. Who cares what the Financial Whisper says! It would call the Bank of England a preposterous inst.i.tution if it thought it could bear Consols by doing so. Its opinion is not worth a halfpenny. By the way, Crosse, it was about those shares that I called.'

'I thought you might. I have only just got back myself, and I saw by your wire that you had bought them all right.'

'Yes, I thought I had better let you have your contract at once.

Settling day is on Monday, you know.'

'All right. Thank you. I will let you have a cheque. What--what's this?'

The contract had been laid face upwards upon the table. Frank Crosse's face grew whiter and his eyes larger as he stared at it. It ran in this way -

13a THROGMORTON STREET.

Bought for Francis Crosse, Esq.

(Subject to the Specific Rules and Regulations of the Stock Exchange.) Pounds 200 El Dorado Proprietaries at 4.75 950 0 0 Stamps and Fees 4 17 6 Commission 7 10 0 962 7 6

For the 7th inst.

'I fancy there is some mistake here, Harrison,' said he, speaking with a very dry pair of lips.

'A mistake!'

'Yes, this is not at all what I expected.'

'O Frank! Nearly a thousand pounds!' gasped Maude.

Harrison glanced from one of them to the other. He saw that the matter was serious.

'I am very sorry if there has been any mistake. I tried to obey your instructions. You wanted two hundred El Dorados, did you not?'

'Yes, at four and ninepence.'