He was silent a minute when I got through. Then he laid his cigar aside and stretched out his hand to me.
"And the reason, Nance—the reason for it all?"
I looked up at him. I'd never heard him speak like that.
"The reason?" I repeated.
"Yes, the reason." He had caught my hand.
"Why—to down that tiger Trust—and beat Tausig."
He laughed.
"And that was all? Nonsense, Nance Olden, there was another reason. There are other tiger trusts. Are you going to set up as a lady-errant and right all syndicate wrongs? No, there was another, a bigger reason, Nance. I'm going to tell it to you—what!"
I pulled my hand from his; but not before that fat waiter who'd come in without our noticing had got something to grin about.
"Beg pardon, sir," he said. "This message must be for you, sir. It's marked immediate, and no one else—"