LEVER. [With lifted brows.] Please don't imagine that I want you to put money in.
COLONEL. Confound it, sir! D 'you suppose I take you for a Company promoter?
LEVER. Thank you!
COLONEL. [Looking at him doubtfully.] You've got Irish blood in you—um? You're so hasty!
LEVER. If you 're really thinking of taking shares—my advice to you is, don't!
COLONEL. [Regretfully.] If this were an ordinary gold mine, I wouldn't dream of looking at it, I want you to understand that. Nobody has a greater objection to gold mines than I.
LEVER. [Looks down at his host with half-closed eyes.] But it is a gold mine, Colonel Hope.
COLONEL. I know, I know; but I 've been into it for myself; I've formed my opinion personally. Now, what 's the reason you don't want me to invest?
LEVER. Well, if it doesn't turn out as you expect, you'll say it's my doing. I know what investors are.
COLONEL. [Dubiously.] If it were a Westralian or a Kaffir I would n't touch it with a pair of tongs! It 's not as if I were going to put much in! [He suddenly bends above the papers as though magnetically attracted.] I like these Triassic formations!