“William,” answered Mr. Dawson, as though he expected unbelief: “listen calmly. Ruin stares us in the face—you, and me, and everybody!”
“What have you done?” cried the richest man in the world.
“Listen. Calm yourself.”
“Are you—ill?”
“Oh, I’m not crazy! If I were, I’d tell you that a man is manufacturing gold at this very minute. And yet, that is what I think.”
“What is the matter, Richard?” There was merely impatience now, in Mr. Mellen’s voice.
“There is a man who has discovered an inexhaustible supply of gold. He will not stop until he has a billion dollars. He is a Socialist—”