“Is there another twenty stockbrokers whom you could trust?”
“Yes.”
“Suppose at twelve o’clock to-day, exactly to the minute, your twenty went to the offices of the other twenty, would they find in those offices some one to sell them this stock?”
“Yes.”
“Even if the principal were absent?”
“Yes.”
“Before selling, would the syndicate score of stockbrokers communicate with each other, or with their principals?”
“I don’t know. It would depend on their instructions.”
“Suppose they refused to sell when a bona fide offer was made?”
“Then the stock would instantly rise, and your five thousand pounds would not be needed. I see what you mean, Lord Stranleigh. You are going to make what they call a bluff. But, you see, they’d instantly unload the stock on you. They wouldn’t refuse to sell.”