“I don’t think—I know.”
“Definite again. How do you know?”
“Because France has declared war against Germany, and wool has gone up fourteen per cent. in London and is still rising.”
“Oh, in-deed? Now then, I’ve got you! Such a thunderbolt as you have just let fly ought to have made me jump out of my chair, but it didn’t stir me the least little bit, you see. And for a very simple reason: I have read the morning paper. You can look at it if you want to. The fastest ship in the service arrived at eleven o’clock last night, fifty days out from London. All her news is printed here. There are no war-clouds anywhere; and as for wool, why, it is the low-spiritedest commodity in the English market. It is your turn to jump, now . . . . Well, why, don’t you jump? Why do you sit there in that placid fashion, when——”
“Because I have later news.”
“Later news? Oh, come—later news than fifty days, brought steaming hot from London by the——”
“My news is only ten days old.”
“Oh, Mun-chausen, hear the maniac talk! Where did you get it?”
“Got it out of a shark."
