"But they were genuine then. You don't seem to get the position."
"I do not."
Sigsbee H. Waddington moistened his lips.
"Have you ever heard of the Finer and Better Motion Picture Company of Hollywood, Cal.?"
"Kindly keep to the point. My time is limited."
"This is the point. Some time ago a guy who said he was a friend of mine tipped me off that this company was a wow."
"A what?"
"A winner. He said it was going to be big and advised me to come in on the ground floor. The chance of a lifetime, he said it was."
"Well?"
"Well, I hadn't any money,—not a cent. Still, I didn't want to miss a good thing like that, so I sat down and thought. I thought and thought and thought. And then suddenly something seemed to say to me 'Why not?' That pearl necklace, I mean. There it was, you get me, just sitting and doing nothing and I only needed the money for a few weeks till this Company started to clean up and ... well, to cut a long story short, I sneaked the necklace away, had the fake stones put in, sold the others, bought the stock, and there I was, so I thought, all hotsy-totsy."