, Ed?"

"Yes; I have. What are you driving at?"

"D-done it if I hadn't b'en here, wouldn't you?"

"Yes, and more too," said Mr. Batch.

"W-wouldn't make much difference to you if I wasn't here--would it?"

"Great Scott, Jethro, what do you mean?" cried the railroad president,
in genuine alarm; "you're not going to pull out, are you?"

"W-wouldn't make much odds if I did--would it, Ed?"

"The devil it wouldn't!" exclaimed Mr. Balch. "If you pulled out, we'd
lose the North Country, and Peleg, and Gosport, and nobody can
tell which way Alva Hopkins will swing. I guess you know what he'll
do--you're so d--d secretive I can't tell whether you do or not. If you
pulled out, they'd have their bill on Friday."

"H-hain't under any obligations to you, Ed--am I?"

"No," said Mr. Batch, "but I don't see why you keep harping on that."

"J-dust wanted to have it clear," said Jethro, and relapsed into
silence.

There was a fireproof carpet on the Throne Room, and Mr. Batch flung
down his cigar and stamped on it and went out. No wonder he could not
understand Jethro's sudden scruples about money and obligations--about
railroad money, that is. Jethro was spending some of his own, but not in
the capital, and in a manner which was most effective. In short, at the
very moment when Mr. Batch stamped on his cigar, Jethro had the victory
in his hands--only he did not choose to say so. He had had a mysterious
telegram that day from Harwich, signed by Chauncey Weed, and Mr. Weed
himself appeared at the door of Number 7, fresh from his travels,
shortly after Mr. Batch had gone out of it. Mr. Weed closed the door
gently, and locked it, and sat down in a rocking chair close to Jethro
and put his hand over his mouth. We cannot hear what Mr. Weed is saying.
All is mystery here, and in order to preserve that mystery we shall
delay for a little the few words which will explain Mr. Weed's
successful mission.

Mr. Batch, angry and bewildered, descended into the rotunda, where he
shortly heard two astounding pieces of news. The first was that the
Honorable Heth Sutton had abandoned the Florizel cigars and had gone
home to Clovelly. The second; that Mr. Bijah Bixby had resigned the
claw-hammer and had ceased to open the packing cases in the Railroad
Room. Consternation reigned in that room, so it was said (and this was
true). Mr. Worthington and Mr. Duncan and Mr. Lovejoy were closeted
there with Mr. Flint, and the door was locked and the t