"Not unless you are free for the evening," returned the other; "are you?"
"I'm awfully sorry—"
"Oh, all right. Let me know when you expect to be free—telephone me at my rooms—"
"I'll let you know when I see you here to-morrow," said the boy; but Selwyn shook his head: "I'm not coming here to-morrow, Gerald"; and he walked leisurely into Neergard's office and seated himself.
"So you have committed the firm to the Siowitha deal?" he inquired coolly.
Neergard looked up—and then past him: "No, not the firm. You did not seem to be interested in the scheme, so I went on without you. I'm swinging it for my personal account."
"Is Mr. Erroll in it?"
"I said that it was a private matter," replied Neergard, but his manner was affable.
"I thought so; it appears to me like a matter quite personal to you and characteristic of you, Mr. Neergard. And that being established, I am now ready to dissolve whatever very loose ties have ever bound me in any association with this company and yourself."
Neergard's close-set black eyes shifted a point nearer to Selwyn's; the sweat on his nose glistened.