"You will fight us?" he asked.
The short-circuiter of corporations laughed.
"We'll put you out of business, if you insist on it. Anything to oblige. Better light a fresh cigar before you go."
Tom helped himself from the box on the table.
"You have it to do, Mr. Dracott. On the day you have hammered Chiawassee Limited down to a dead proposition, you can have my pipe patents at the figure named. If you will meet me at the office of Hanchett, Goodloe and Tryson to-morrow morning at ten o'clock, we will put it in writing. Good night."
XXXIV
THE SMOKE OF THE FURNACE
Hoping always for the best, after the manner prescribed for optimistic gentlemen who successfully exploit their fellows, Mr. Duxbury Farley did not deem it necessary to confide fully in his son when the representative of American Aqueduct broke off negotiations abruptly and went back to New York.