"Now that we understand each other, let's get down to business!" she began.
"To business?" he snarled.
"Yes, this is the situation: you can't run for the legislature; you don't want to! You have squeezed every dollar you can get out of the Democrats here." She sniffed at the word. "They have lost confidence in you as manager of their political ends. They've begun to suspect your game. It's only a question of hours, I might say of one hour, before you get your walking papers, so to speak; for they are mad, Mike Prim. They are as angry as men always are when they realize that they've been duped and robbed——"
"If you were not a woman you couldn't sit there and say such things to me. Anyhow, I won't stand it! What's your business, as you call it?" he exclaimed, heaving his huge bulk from the chair and coming to his feet.
"Sit down! Sit down, Mr. Prim. I am here to make you a definite proposition!"
"Make it!" he growled, still standing, his feet wide apart, glowering down at her.
"The Co-Citizens' Foundation is prepared to purchase your papers——"
"My papers?"
"Yes, your letters, your political correspondence."
"Think they are valuable?"