ect."

"Singularly so. A slight prick is enough to wipe you out within an
hour. It's merciful the time is so short."

"That," said Herbert, "was not quite what I meant. I was thinking of
the effect upon the gentlemen who wish to launch this company."

"The risk isn't attached to their end of the business," Singleton dryly
pointed out.

Herbert did not answer. While he sat, with knitted brows, turning over
some of the papers in front of him. Singleton looked about. Hitherto
his life had been spent in comfortless and shabby English lodgings, in
the sour steam of tropic swamps, and in galvanized iron factories that
were filled all day with an intolerable heat. As a result of this, his
host's library impressed him. It was spacious and furnished in
excellent taste; a shaded silver lamp stood on the table, diffusing a
restricted light that made the room look larger; a clear wood fire
burned in the grate. The effect of all he saw was tranquilizing; and
the house as a whole, inhabited, as it was, by two charming, cultured
women, struck him as a delightful place of rest. He wondered with
longing whether he would have an opportunity for coming back to it.

Then his host looked up.

"Have you any strong objections to recasting this report?" he asked.
"Don't mistake me. I'm not asking you to color things in any way; I
want simple facts. After what you have told me, I can't consider the
prospects of our working the concessions very favorable."

Singleton was surprised; Lansing's attitude was puzzling, considering
that he had suggested the flotation of the projected company.

"Do you want the drawbacks insisted on?" he asked.

Herbert smiled.

"I don't want them mitigated; state them clearly. Include what you
told me about the trouble with the natives, and the poisoned arrows."

Then a light broke in upon Singleton. He had not placed his host in
the same category with Mrs. Lansing and Sylvia. It looked as if he had
changed his plans and wished to prevent the company from being formed.
This caused Singleton to consider how far he would be justified in
assisting him. He could honestly go some length in doing so, and,
having fallen a victim to Sylvia's charm, he was willing to do his
utmost.

"There's no doubt that some of the facts are discouraging," he said.

Herbert looked at him keenly.

"That is what struck me. Suppose you think the thing over and bring me
down a fresh report a week from to-day. S