“Very good,” said Geoffrey, “I will; but it means a good bit of money.”
“You buy it,” said old Prawle; “and whatever you do, don’t let it go; but buy it as cheaply as you can.”
Geoffrey stood looking at the old man for a few minutes, and in those few minutes his whole connection with the mine seemed to pass in review before him; and as it did, he asked himself whether he should be doing right in letting the old man invest his money like this.
“Well,” said Prawle, “what are you thinking about?”
“You,” he said sharply. “Suppose, when you have spent your savings on this mine, it should turn out a dead failure?”
“Well, what then?”
“You would lose something.”
“Well, I know that, don’t I? Do you suppose I’m a babby? There, I’ve bided my time, my lad, and I know what I’m doing. Are you ready?”
“Yes,” said Geoffrey.
“And you’ll stick to me, my lad, when the mine’s my property?”