He rose and reached out for his hat, and Hutton, who watched him cross the room, was once or twice on the point of calling him back. Hutton did not speak, however, since he fancied that Nasmyth would presently return of his own accord––which was an expectation that proved unwarranted.
The office was on the second floor of a big stone building, and, as he descended the stairway, Nasmyth fancied he caught sight of Martial in the entrance-hall. Before he could be quite sure, the man turned down a corridor, and Nasmyth, who did not trouble himself about the matter, went out into the street. He was not altogether satisfied that he had done wisely, but he meant, at least, to wait until events should prove him wrong.
A few minutes later, Martial strolled into the office where Hutton sat, and smiled at him suggestively. He was also, as Acton had once told Nasmyth, interested in the land exploitation business, and it was evident that Hutton had expected him.
“Nasmyth has been here,” Martial observed; “I saw him on the stairway. I suppose you got hold of him?”
Hutton’s gesture was forcibly expressive of annoyance. “As a matter of fact, I didn’t,” he confessed. “The man’s either considerably smarter than I gave him credit 215 for being, or a thick-headed, obstinate fool. The one’s as hard to handle as the other. I don’t know which he is, and it doesn’t greatly matter. The result’s the same.”
“I guess it’s the latter;” and Martial laughed. “Well, since you can’t come to terms, have you any notion what his programme is?”
“It’s not a sure thing that he has one. Anyway, he didn’t mention it. We’ll let him wait a day or two. It’s quite likely he’ll try the Charters people.”
Both of them smiled, for it was then not an unusual thing for the men interested in such affairs to put their heads together and take a joint hand in any deal that seemed to warrant it, and when they did so, the results were not, as a rule, encouraging to the outsider.
Martial looked at his comrade suggestively.
“I had a talk with Charters yesterday,” he said. “He told me that if there was anything in it, he didn’t expect us to let the thing go.”