Tip nodded. "We still think maybe you can be brought to see our side of it."
"We don't want to do anything we'd all be sorry for," Felix Craft nipped in significantly.
"Hear the clanking chains," said Billy. "The man's threatening me, I do believe."
Craft returned his stare woodenly.
"You see," Tip remarked, "we expect to do a li'l business this year."
"Do you think this will be a good year for business?" Billy cocked a questioning eyebrow.
"We hope so, we hope so," pronounced Tip. "I'll be open with you, Bill. If you keep on nosing into our affairs the way you've started in, we'll lose money. Couldn't help but lose it. You didn't take office till the first of January and business won't be done in any volume till well into the year——"
"When the ground is hard," interrupted Billy, "and the volume of business won't be apt to leave telltale tracks. I get the innards of your meaning."
"Exactly. So you see how absolutely necessary it is for us to be sure that you won't horn into any of our li'l deals."
"We intend to be sure," declared Craft.