"I've come a long way to see you."
"All right, I'll come," he said. Then he paused a moment, and looked at the Baron curiously. "And perhaps you'll tell me then," he added.
"Why I've come?"
"Yes; and why you've been buying. You were bought out. What do you want to come in again for?"
"I'll tell you all that now," said the Baron. "I've come because I thought I should like to see some more of you; and I've been buying because I fancy you'll make a success of it."
Willie Ruston pulled his beard thoughtfully.
"Don't you believe me?" asked the Baron.
"Let's wait a bit," suggested Ruston. Then, with a sudden twinkle of his eye, his holiday mood seemed to come back again. Seizing the Baron's arm, he pressed it, and said with a laugh, "I say, Baron, if you want to get control over Omofaga——"
"But, my dear friend——" protested the Baron.
"If you do—I only say 'if'—I'm not the only man you've got to fight. Well, yes, I am the only man."