"What can I do for you, Mr. Harrington?" he purred.
I cut into the meat of the matter at once.
"Do you mean that you wish to sell your property?" he asked indifferently.
"Not a bit of it."
"Then how can I help you, Mr. Harrington?" he inquired blandly.
"You can take your hand off the banks, and let us get a living."
He shrugged his shoulders deprecatingly, as if I gave him credit for too much power, and we had it out at some length. He had no interest in the Meat Products Company. If the corporation went into the hands of a receiver, he and his friends might consider buying it up, and he was willing to discuss terms if we wished to deal in a friendly manner before it reached the courts. I rose from my chair as if to go.
"Very well, Mr. Strauss," I said dryly. "You have made it impossible for us to get any money in Chicago, but you don't own the earth. There is money in New York—about four hundred thousand dollars lying there for me at this moment."
"To pay the interest on your bonds!" he shot back, showing how closely he had followed us.