“Not so much as ourselves. They do not possess even the few words concerning it that we do.”
“But will not your friend divulge the identity of our enemies?” asked Griffin, “not if we take him into partnership with us, and allow him to share in the huge profits which must accrue if anything is actually recovered?”
“I thought that your opinion upon the whole story was a negative one,” remarked the Doctor with a strangely wily look.
The Professor, bent upon writing a learned article in the Contemporary, giving a story that should startle the world, held his breath for a moment. But only for a single instant.
“Well,” he answered without hesitation, “at first I was, it is true, inclined to regard it as an amazing piece of fiction, but after certain researches and study I have now come to the conclusion that there may be more truth in it than would at first appear. I, of course, regard it from a scholar’s point of view, and not from that of a financier.”
“I believe in money,” declared the ugly little man frankly. “It should be put forward, when ripe, as a sound financial proposition—just as, no doubt, its discoverer, Peter Holmboe, intended to put it forward.”
“Then if so, why will not your friend Mullet join forces with us? It would surely be to his advantage!”
“Because he’s tied to the other side.”
“If it has not prevented him from supplying us in secret with this copy of the document, it surely would not prevent him assisting us further, and placing us upon our guard regarding the actions of our enemies. Have you no idea, Doctor, how these other people obtained a copy of Holmboe’s statement? It surely could not have been kicking about the streets, having in view the fact that he was so careful to destroy it before his death.”
“I haven’t any idea how they obtained it, or even their names. My friend will tell me nothing.”