"So you don't want to sell those shares, Mr. Wingate?"
"I have decided not to," was the calm reply.
"Any particular reason?"
"None," Wingate acknowledged, "except that I am not very anxious to have any business relations with Mr. Phipps."
"And for the sake of that prejudice," Dredlinton observed, "you can afford to refuse such a profit as he offered you?"
"I have other reasons for not wishing to sell," Wingate declared. "I have a very high opinion of Mr. Phipps' judgment as a business man. If the shares are worth so much as that to him, they are probably worth the same amount for me to keep."
Lord Dredlinton shook his head.
"Quite a fallacy, Wingate," he pronounced. "Phipps, as a matter of fact, is offering you considerably more than the shares are worth, because with their help he means to bring off a big thing."
"If he relies upon my shares," was the indifferent reply, "I am afraid the big thing won't come off."
"You won't sell, then?"