“How many shares did you buy, Mr. Mackeller?”
“In round numbers, three hundred thousand.”
“And how much did that cost me?”
“Again in round numbers, thirty-seven thousand, five hundred pounds. Some of the stock was bought as low as two-and-four, the bulk at half a crown, and a quantity of shares at two-and-seven and two-and-eight. I’m reckoning the lot to average half a crown a share.”
“How many shares does the company possess?”
“The authorized capital of the company is £250,000 in shares of one pound each. Fifty thousand shares were sold to provide working capital, and ten thousand allotted to me for forming the company, and securing the fifty thousand pounds without publicity.”
“Well, Mr. Mackeller, my head is useless so far as figures are concerned, but it seems to me, speaking heedlessly, that these men have promised to deliver to me sixty thousand shares, the bulk of which does not exist, while the rest is in our possession.”
“More than that, Lord Stranleigh,” replied Mackeller, “because I bought a quantity of shares in addition to the ten thousand allotted me; then three or four of my colleagues have not sold, including your friend, the Honorable John Hazel.”
“Well, then, it would appear that these syndicate johnnies have bitten off more than they can chew, as they say out West. How soon will they discover the particulars of the situation?”
“They doubtless know it now, my lord.”