Dinky-Dunk looked about at me quickly, as though in search of some touch of malice in that statement. He seemed bewildered, in fact, to find that I was able to smile at him.
“But that, Chaddie, was nearly four long years ago,” he reminded me, with a morose and meditative clouding of the brow. And I knew exactly what he was thinking about.
“I’ll know better how to go about it this time,” I announced with my stubbornest Doctor Pangless grin.
“But there are two things you haven’t taken into consideration,” Dinky-Dunk reminded me.
“What are they?” I demanded.
“One is the matter of ready money.”
“I’ve that six hundred dollars from my Chilean nitrate shares,” I proudly announced. “And Uncle Carlton said that if the Company ever gets reorganized it ought to be a paying concern.”
Dinky-Dunk, however, didn’t seem greatly impressed with either the parade of my secret nest-egg or the promise of my solitary plunge into finance. “What’s the other?” I asked as he still sat frowning over his empty pipe.
“The other is Lady Alicia herself,” he finally explained.
“What can she do?”