“Well,” he said one morning, “how are you getting along, boy? Swimmingly I suppose? I saw the water coming out at a fine rate.”
“Yes,” said Geoffrey, “we’ve got all the machinery fixed as far as was necessary, and the pumping has begun.”
“And you are going to make my hundred pounds come back to me, eh?”
“Well, not very likely,” said Geoffrey, “unless you buy fresh shares of the new proprietors. What do you say?”
“Bah!” exclaimed the old man; and they smoked on in silence for a time.
“Might do worse,” said Geoffrey.
“Rubbish! I tell you it will all end in a smash-up. You get your money regularly, and don’t let them have any arrears.”
“Oh, that’s all right,” said Geoffrey. “So you think there will, be another failure?”
“Sure of it I shall buy that piece of ground yet for a house. Sure to fail.”
“So old Prawle says.”