looked at each other.
'What do you make of that?' said Kenyon.
'I'm sure I do not know. In the first place, he is gone for a week.'
'Yes; that one thing is certain.'
'Well now, John, one of two things has to be done. We have either to trust this Longworth, or we have to go on alone without him. Which is it to be?'
'I am sure I don't know,' answered Kenyon.
'But, my dear fellow, we have come to a point when we must decide. You are, evidently, suspicious of Longworth. What you say really amounts to this: that he, for some reason of his own, which I confess I cannot see or understand, desires to delay forming this company until it is too late.'
'I didn't say that.'
'You say what practically amounts to that. Either he is honest or he is not. Now, we have to decide to-day, and here, whether we are going to ignore him and go on with the forming of the company, or work with him. Unless you can give some good reason for doing otherwise, I propose to work with him. I think it will be very much worse if he leaves us now than if he had never gone into it. People will ask why he left.'
'Probably he wouldn't leave, even if you wanted him to do so. He has your signature to an agreement, and you have his.'
'Certainly.'
'I do not see how we can help ourselves.'
'Then I think these suspicions should be dropped, because you cannot work with a man whom you suspect of being a rascal.'
'I quite admit of the justice of that, so I shall say nothing more. Meanwhile, do you propose to wait until he comes back?'
'I shall write him to-night and ask him what he intends to do. I shall tell him, as I have told him before, that time is pressing, and we want to know what is being done.'
'Very well,' said John; 'I will wait till you get the answer to your letter. In the meantime, I do not see that there is anything to do but occupy this gorgeous office as well as I can, and wait to see what turns up.'
'That is my own idea. I think, myself, it is rather unfair to suspect a man of being a villain when he has really done nothing to show that he is one.'
To this John made no answer.
The next day Kenyon occupied the new offices, and set himself to the task of getting accustomed to them. The first day a few people dropped in, made inquiries about the mine, took some printed matter, and generally managed to ask several questions to which Kenyon was unable to reply. On the second day a number of newspaper men called—advertising canvassers, most of them, who left cards or circulars with Kenyon, showing that unless a commercial venture was advertised in their particular papers it was certain not to be a success. One very swell individual, with a cast of countenance that betokened a frugal, money-making, and shrewd race, asked Kenyon for a private interview. He said he belonged to the Financial Field, the great newspaper of London, which was read by every investor both in the City and in the country. All he wanted was some particulars of the mine.
Had the company been formed yet?
No, it had not.
When did they intend to go to the public?
That Kenyon could not say.
What was the peculiarity about the mine which constituted its recommendation to investors?
Kenyon said the full particulars would be found in the printed sheet he handed him, and with profuse thanks the newspaper man put it in his pocket.
How had the mine paid in previous years?
It had paid a small dividend.
On what amount?
That Kenyon was not prepared to answer.
How long had it been in operation?
For several years.
Had it ever been placed on the London market before?
Not so far as Kenyon was aware.
Who was at present interested in the mine?
That Mr. Kenyon did not care to answer, and he further stated, so far as giving out advertisements was concerned, he was not yet prepared to do any advertising. The visitor, who had taken down these notes, said his object was not to get an advertisement, but to obtain information about the mine. People could advertise in his paper or not, as they chose. The journal was such a well-known medium for reaching investors that everyone who knew his business advertised in it as a matter of course, and so they kept no canvassers, and made no applications for advertisements.
'The chances are,' said the newspaper man, as he took his leave, 'that our editor will write an editorial on this mine, and, in order that there may be no inaccuracy, I shall bring it to you to read, and shall be very much obliged if you will correct any mistakes.'
'I shall be glad to do so,' returned Kenyon, as the representative of the Financial Field took his leave.
The newspaper men were rather hard to please, and to get rid of; but John had a visitor on the afternoon of the second day who almost caused his wits to desert him. He looked up from his desk as the door opened, and was astonished to see the smiling face of Edith Longworth, while behind her came the old lady who had been an occupant of the carriage when John had taken his drive to the west.
'You did not expect to see me here among the investors who have been calling upon you, Mr. Kenyon, did you?'
Kenyon held out his hand, and said:
'I am very pleased indeed to see you, whether you come as an investor or not.'
'And so this is your new office?' she cried, looking round. 'How you have blossomed out, haven't you? These offices are as fine as any in the City.'
'Yes,' said John; 'they are too fine to suit me.'
'Oh, I don't see why you should not have handsome offices as well as anyone else. You have been in my father's place of business, of course. But it is not so grand as these rooms.'
'I think that helps to show the absurdity of ours. Your father's house is an old-standing one, and this gives us an air of new riches which, I must confess, I don't like, especially as we have not the riches.'
'Then, why did you agree to have such offices? I suppose you had something to say about them?'
'Very little, I must own. They were engaged while I was in the North, and after they had been engaged, of course I did not like to say anything against them.'
'Well, and how is the mine getting on? You have not applied to me yet to fulfil my offer, which I think was a very fair one.'
'I have not needed to do so,' said Kenyon.
'Ah, then, subscriptions are coming in, are they? Where is the list?'
'We have no list yet. We are waiting for your cousin, who is in the North.'
'In the North!' said Edith, with her eyes open wide. 'He is not in the North; he is in Paris, and we expect him home to-night.'
'Oh, indeed!' said John, who made no further comment.
'Now, where's your subscription-list? Oh, you told me you have none yet. Very well; this sheet of paper will do.' And the young woman drew some lines across the paper, heading it, 'The Canadian Mica-mine.' Then underneath she wrote the name Edith Longworth, and after it—'For ten thousand pounds.' 'There! I am the first subscriber to the new company; if you get the others as easily, you will be very fortunate.'
And, before John could thank her, she laughingly turned to her companion, and said:
'We must go.'
CHAPTER XXV.
When