CHAPTER XXXII. A LARGE OPERATION.
Scott found a letter awaiting him at the hotel, of the following purport:
"We are notified that the stock of Frost, Burks & Co., of Buffalo, will be sold at a great sacrifice. We append a list of articles that we would like to buy if they will be sold at, say sixty per cent. of the ordinary wholesale price. At that rate, you may buy without limit, or you can take the whole stock if a commensurate reduction should be made.
"Tower, Douglas & Co."
Scott went to Buffalo in the same train as Ezra Little, but in a different car, so that the latter did not know his humble cousin was on board. The earl went along, and proposed to look about the city while his young companion was engaged.
Scott took a cab, feeling that the emergency justified it, while Ezra Little waited a considerable time for a horse car. The result was that Scott was with the assignee twenty minutes before Mr. Little arrived.
When Scott was introduced, the assignee, a gentleman named Clark, regarded him impatiently.
"I've no time to waste with boys," he said. "I am very busy."
"I am a boy," replied Scott, quietly, "but I represent the firm of Tower, Douglas & Co., of New York. There is my card."
"Is this really so?" asked the assignee, almost incredulous.
"You can rely upon it. What could be my object in making a false representation?"