"In a half-dozen other things equally important?"

"Good Lord, Drennie, how can I answer all those questions off-hand? I don't carry a note-book in my yachting flannels."

Her voice was so serious that he wondered if it were not, also, a little contemptuous.

"Do you have to consult a note-book to answer those questions?"

"Those directorate jobs are purely honorary," he defended. "If I butted in with fool suggestions, they'd quite properly kick me out."

"With your friends, who are also share-holders, you could assume control of the Morning Intelligence, couldn't you?"

"I guess I could assume control, but what would I do with it?"

"Do you know the reputation of that newspaper?"

"I guess it's all right. It's conservative and newsy. I read it every morning when I'm in town. It fits in very nicely between the grapefruit and the bacon-and-eggs."

"It is, also, powerful," she added, "and is said to be absolutely servile to corporate interests."