Mr. Herzog arched his eyebrows with a sort of amazed inquisitiveness and said nothing, intending his silence as a snub. But he changed his mind and said: “They were very cheap.”
The richest man in the world turned toward Grinnell. Before he could ask any questions the young man said pleasantly: “You told me so yourself. Don’t you remember, Mr. Mellen?”
“Did you buy any, Mr. Grinnell?” Mel-len’s voice had a serious ring. The young man’s face took on a boyishly confidential look. He said:
“I bought some for my father-in-law. He had been waiting for them to go down. So had I. You see, my marriage was to come off as soon as I had invested his money.”
Mellen’s eyes opened wide, and Dawson, in a very quiet tone, asked: “And did you invest yours as well?”
“It seems to me,” said Grinnell, “that we are drifting toward family matters—”
“I beg your pardon,” said the president stiffly.
“I understood,” the young man said apologetically, “that you wished to speak to me on some business matter. I haven’t overdrawn my account, have I?”
“Perhaps we had better discuss this at the bank, Mr. Grinnell; if you could come—”
“I’m very sorry, Mr. Dawson, but I start on my wedding tour in an hour. I have no business secrets from Mr. Herzog, so if it is a business matter we may discuss it here. In all probability I would repeat our conversation to him.”