"Exactly," said Mr. Howard Murpoint. "An earl pleases, and—pardon me, my lord—soothes the monetary public, as you are aware."
The earl frowned, if a slight contraction of the eyebrows can be called a frown.
"I am already on the board of several of your companies, Mr. Murpoint, at your request."
"Certainly at my request, my lord; but you have not undertaken any responsibility, and I trust, have found your reward."
"Eh? Yes," said the earl. "To put it plainly, I have received certain shares as an equivalent for the use of my name, and they have paid tolerably well."
"Very well, I think," said Howard Murpoint, with quiet and smiling emphasis.
"Tolerably well," resumed the earl, as if he had not been interrupted. "But as you seem to attach so much importance to my—the fact of my name appearing on the list of the Penwain Mine Company, it has occurred to me that—ahem!—it may be worth more than I receive for it. I speak plainly."
"I am honored by your candor," said Howard Murpoint, with a crafty smile. "You have forgotten, while enumerating the equivalents received, some slight service which I have been enabled to render you."
"Loans, my dear sir," said the earl, "loans; which, of course, I shall pay. Merely loans."
It was Mr. Murpoint's turn to "ahem!"