owned. His cold blood inclined him to be deliberate; the
ophidian habit, slow-moving until ready to strike. He saw no reason for
risking a venture which became safer the further it progressed.
Furthermore, he disliked direct, unsolicited advice. Ignoring Ives's
remark he asked:

"How are his investments going?"

Ives grinned again. "Down. Who put him into United Thread? Do you know,
sir?"

"Horace Vanney. He has been tipping it off quietly to the club lot.
Wants to get out from under, himself."

"There's one thing about it, though, that puzzles me. If he took old
Vanney's tip to buy for a rise, why did he go after the Sippiac Mills
with those savage editorials? They're mainly responsible for the
legislative investigation that knocked eight points off of United
Thread."

"Probably to prove his editorial independence."

"To whom? You?"

"To himself," said Marrineal with an acumen quite above the shrewdness
of an Ives to grasp.

But the latter nodded intelligently, and remarked: "If he's money-crazy
you've got him, anyway, sooner or later. And now that he's woman-crazy,
too--"

"You'll never understand just how sane Mr. Banneker is," broke in
Marrineal coldly. He was a very sane man, himself.

"Well, a lot of the sane ones get stung on the Street," moralized Ives.
"I guess the only way to beat that game is to get crazy and take all the
chances. Mr. Banneker stands to drop half a year's salary in U.T. alone
unless there's a turn."

Marrineal delivered another well-thought-out bit of wisdom. "If I'm any
judge, he wants a paper of his own. Well ... give me three years more of
him and he can have it. But I don't think it'll make much headway
against The Patriot, then."

"Three years? Bussey and The Searchlight ought to hold him that long.
Unless, of course, he gets over his infatuation in the meantime."

"In that case," surmised Marrineal, eyeing him with distaste, "I suppose
you think that he would equally lose interest in protecting her from The
Searchlight."

"Well, what's a woman to expect!" said Ives blandly, and took his
dismissal for the day.

It was only recently that Ives had taken to coming to The Patriot
office. No small interest and conjecture were aroused among the
editorial staff as to his exact status, stimulus to gossip being
afforded by the rumor that he had been, from Marrineal's privy purse,
shifted to the office payroll. Russell Edmonds solved and imparted the
secret to Banneker.

"I