"Some talk of the deal," he ran on. "Well, I guess we expect it. Why should they keep quiet?"
The soldier pulled himself together, and taking the paper from the outstretched hand, he began to turn the leaves quickly.
"It is on page 3," he said. "Yes, that is it, if you would be good enough to read."
The clock ticked in a silent room for some minutes. Faber read the article to the end without moving a muscle of his usually expressive face. A great business man is often a great actor. He was one.
"There seems to have been a leakage," he said presently, and then, looking up, "Whom do you suspect?"
"I suspect! God in Heaven, what has suspicion to do with me?"
"I should have thought you were in the way of it—that is, if you take it seriously this side."
The old man wormed with impatience.
"The Soir has it; there will not be a paper in Paris without it to-morrow. Do you not see that it is, in effect, the letter I wrote to you on Tuesday last?"
"Who's to blame for that? I told you at the beginning not to write."