"Hey?"
"James could do it."
"Are you mad, Tom? We know what James can do. I ain't denyin' that he's a wonder, but he can't copy them chairs so that you and I, not to mention the rest of 'em, wouldn't know the difference if the new four was shoved alongside o' the old four."
"Right!"
"Then what the 'ell are you at?"
Sinking his voice to a hoarse whisper, and leaning forward across the desk, the great Tomlin unfolded his scheme.
"I propose this," he said deliberately. "James can make eight chairs out of them four by breaking up the four, half and half, half of the old in each."
"Um!" said Quinney.
"If the worst came to the worst," continued Tomlin, "if any of 'em did drop on to the fact that the set of eight had been very considerably restored, what of it?"
"Um!" repeated Quinney.