Mr. Clutterbuck was almost in despair.
"If that's all you got to tell me," he said——
William Bailey put a hand on his shoulder. "Now there you are," he said, "that's just what I was afraid of. I give you a tip—it isn't a tip I'd give anybody else, and it's the very best tip I could give you. And because you don't see why it's a good tip, you're going to reject it."
"No I'm not, Mr. Bailey, really I'm not," said the unfortunate Clutterbuck. "But I don't understand—upon my word I don't understand."
"What's there to understand?" asked William Bailey. "There are the Anapootra Ruby Mines, and you just talk about them; that's easy enough. You bring them up at dinner; you add a postscript when you write a letter: 'By the way, have you heard about the Anapootra Ruby Mines?' Or you open a paper and say to the company: 'It's funny, but I don't see anything about the Anapootra Ruby Mines to-day.' You mayn't see why it will work wonders, but it will. By the way, have you ever seen the name in a paper?"
"I seem to have seen it somewhere," said Mr. Clutterbuck, not liking to confess his ignorance.
"Well, you haven't," replied William Bailey rudely. "You may bet your hat on that. If they'd been in the papers, there'd be nothing to talk about. But you talk about them long enough, and they'll get in the papers all right."
"But I don't see the connection," quavered Mr. Clutterbuck.
"Well, there it is," said William Bailey sighing, "there's the tip. If you try it and let it work, it will do marvels; and then you'll see what I've done."