“The whole of it.”
“No, I was not quite out of the reach of surprises, after all. Why, how you talk! Do you know what our crop is going to foot up?”
“Two and a half million sterling—maybe a little more.”
“Well, you’ve got your statistics right, any way. Now, then, do you know what the margins would foot up, to buy it at sixty days?”
“The hundred thousand pounds I came here to get.”
“Right, once more. Well, dear me, just to see what would happen, I wish you had the money. And if you had it, what would you do with it?”
“I shall make two hundred thousand pounds out of it in sixty days.”
“You mean, of course, that you might make it if——”
“I said ‘shall’.”
“Yes, by George, you did say ‘shall’! You are the most definite devil I ever saw, in the matter of language. Dear, dear, dear, look here! Definite speech means clarity of mind. Upon my word I believe you’ve got what you believe to be a rational reason, for venturing into this house, an entire stranger, on this wild scheme of buying the wool crop of an entire colony on speculation. Bring it out—I am prepared—acclimatized, if I may use the word. Why would you buy the crop, and why would you make that sum out of it? That is to say, what makes you think you——”