her-in-law, than were ever yours."

"To say that to me," said Paul hotly, "is nothing less than sheer
impudence."

"My dear Paul (it does seem deuced odd to be talking to a little shrimp
like you as a grown-up brother-in-law. I shall get used to it presently,
I daresay). I flatter myself I am a man of the world. We're dealing with
one another now, as the lawyers have it, at arm's length. Just put
yourself in my place (you're so remarkably good at putting yourself in
other people's places, you know). Look at the thing from my point of
view. Accidentally dropping in at your offices to negotiate (if I could)
a small temporary loan from anyone I chanced to meet on the premises, I
find myself, to my surprise, welcomed with effusion into what I then
imagined to be your arms. More than that, I was invited here for an
indefinite time, all my little eccentricities unmentioned, overlooked. I
was deeply touched (it struck me, I confess, at one time that you must
be touched too), but I made the best use of my opportunities. I made hay
while the sun shone."

"Do you mean to make me lose my temper?" interrupted Paul. "It will not
take much more."

"I have no objection. I find men as a rule easier to deal with when they
have once lost their temper, their heads so often go too. But to return:
a man with nerve and his fair share of brains, like myself, only wants a
capitalist (he need not be a millionaire) at his back to conquer the
world. It's not by any means my first campaign, and I've had my
reverses, but I see victory in my grasp, sir, in my grasp at last!"

Paul groaned.

"Now you--it's not your fault, I know, a mere defect of constitution;
but you, as a speculator, were, if I may venture to put it so, not worth
your salt; no boldness, no dash, all caution. But your promising son is
a regular whale on speculation, and I may tell you that we stand in
together in some little ventures that would very probably make your hair
stand on end--_you_ wouldn't have touched them. And yet there's money in
every one of them."

"_My_ money!" said Paul savagely; "and it won't come out again."

"You don't know much about these things, you see," said Marmaduke; "I
tell you I have my eye on some fine openings for capital."

"Your pockets always were very fine openings for capital," retorted
Paul.

"Ha, ha, deuced sharp that! But, to come to the point, you were always a
sensible practical kind of a fellow, and you must see, that, for me t