"Well, I heard this morning from good authority that the mine will never pay, that the whole thing is a swindle, and was a swindle from the beginning."
"Ah! what a world is this," said Kleinwort with a pious and resigned expression of countenance.
"I do not think it is too late for you to sell," suggested Mr. Werner.
The German shrugged his shoulders.
"It matters not to me," he replied.
"I thought you said you had shares," remarked his companion.
"So I have; but they are in pledge don't you call it. That dear Forde wanted them and he has got them. How nice it is when a man has got what he wants."
"Kleinwort, I am afraid you are a great rogue," observed Mr. Werner severely.
"Ditto to you half countryman of mine own," answered the other raising his hat with a gesture of mock deference. "Have you been to St. Vedast to-day? No. Neither have I. Seemed best, I thought, to leave poor Forde to digest that neat little paragraph in the 'Times' without disturbance!"