Tommy felt himself on the verge of becoming annoyed, but he subdued his feelings and answered with what you might call a smile of earnestness.
“Yes, sir—pure friendship. I can't think of a better reason in this world for a man who is not a hog or a dog in the manger.”
“H'm! Nothing personal in your remarks, I take it.” And the colonel fixed his fiercely frowning eyes on Tommy. He had inherited the bulk of his great fortune, but loved to play at doing business with a martial air.
“Sure, it's personal. Rivington, who is my best friend, happens to be your son. That's my reason. I consider it a very good reason. Even if I wanted to sell stock to a stranger, I wouldn't be allowed to do so.”
“Sell stock, hey?”
Tommy did not like the colonel's voice nor his look nor the suggestion of a sneer. So he said: “Won't you please read that statement, Colonel? Just a moment, please. I'd like to say something before you begin.”
The colonel looked at him over his eye-glasses and Tommy, his voice ringing with his own sense of the sacredness of his mission, said:
“Whether you take some of the stock or not, I want you to understand very clearly, sir, that every word of that paper is true. I vouch for it personally from my own knowledge. And though it won't hurt the company in the slightest if you should decide not to make Rivington one of our stockholders, it will be a great disappointment to me not to have my friends with me in the work that I propose to devote my life to. Now won't you please read on?”
The colonel without another word began to read the statement that Thompson had prepared for Tommy's benefit. When he finished he pursed up his lips and frowned. He tapped the papers meditatively with his finger-tips for fully a minute before he spoke.
“Tommy, I never mix altruism with business. When I give money I give it. When I invest money I expect all the profit that I am legitimately entitled to.”