"I know all that. It's time we got one."
"In the second place Comer & Mathison are jobbers."
"I'll get a special price from Carnegie."
"In the third place it would cost a barrel of money to send a man to
England."
Mitchell swallowed hard. "I'll pay my own way."
Mr. Comer regarded the speaker with genuine astonishment. "You'll pay your way? Why, you haven't got any money."
"I've got a thousand dollars—or the wife has. It's our nest-egg."
"It would take five thousand to make the trip."
"I'll make it on one. Yes, and I'll come back with that job. Don't you see this panic makes the thing possible? Yes, and I'm the one man to turn the trick; for it's right in my line. I'll see the Carnegie people at Pittsburgh. If they quote the right price I'll ask you for a letter, and that's all you'll have to do. Will you let me go?"
"What sort of a letter?"