“Idon’tknowthatIagreewithyou，“answeredSirRobert。“Iamnotsurethatinthelongrunweshouldnotdobetterforalittlemoreofthearticle。Formypart，althoughitwillnothurtuspublicly，forthethingwillneverbenoticed，IamsorrythatwehavelostVernon，verysorryindeed。Idon’tthinkhimafool，andawkwardastheymaybe，Irespecthisqualities。“
“SodoI，sodoI，“answeredMr。Haswell，“andofcoursewehaveactedagainsthisadvicethroughout，whichmusthavebeenannoyingtohim。
Theschemeashesuggesteditwasafairbusinesspropositionthatmighthavepaidtenpercent。onasmallcapital，butwhatisthegoodoftenpercent。toyouandme？Wewantmillionsandwearegoingtogetthem。Well，heiscomingtoTheCourtto-morrow，andperhapsafterallweshallbeabletoarrangematters。I’llgiveBarbaraahint；shehasgreatinfluencewithhim，andyoumightdothesame，Aylward。“
“MissChampershasgreatinfluencewitheveryonewhoisfortunateenoughtoknowher，“answeredSirRobertcourteously。“Butevenifshechoosestouseit，Idoubtifitwillavailinthiscase。Vernonhasbeenmakinguphismindforalongwhile。Ihavewatchedhimandamsureofthat。To-nighthedeterminedtotaketheplungeandIdonotthinkthatweshallseeanymoreofhiminthisoffice。Haswell，“headdedwithsuddenenergy，“Itellyouthatoflateourluckhasbeentoogoodtolast。Theboom，therealboom，cameinwithVernon，andwithVernonIthinkthatitwillgo。“
“Atanyrateitmustleavesomethingprettysubstantialbehinditthistime，Aylward，myfriend。Whateverhappens，withinaweekweshallberich，reallyrichforlife。“