'Things are looking up,' Henry stammered, feebly facetious.
'It's nearly a record price,' said Snyder complacently. 'But you're a sort of a record man. And when they believe in a thing over there, they aren't afraid of making money talk and say so.'
'Nay, nay!' thought Henry. 'This is too much! This beats everything! Either I shall wake up soon or I shall find myself in a lunatic asylum.' He was curiously reminded of the conjuring performance at the Alhambra.
He said:
'Thanks awfully, I'm sure!'
A large grandiose notion swept over him that he had a great mission in the world.
'That's all I have to say to you,' said Mark Snyder pawkily.
Henry wanted to breathe instantly the ampler ether of the street, but on his way out he found Geraldine in rapid converse with the middle-aged and magnificently-dressed woman who thought that a lift could go up and down at once. They became silent.
'Good-morning, Miss Foster,' said Henry hurriedly.
Then a pause occurred, very brief but uncomfortable, and the stranger glanced in the direction of the window.