money-bag is empty at that," Lee rejoined,
coolly. "And the time will expire and the company be a shell before
it's granted, at the rate courts move."

The New Yorker considered. Finally he began to re-button his
overcoat.

"I'll leave the offer open," said he. "I was uncertain before about
returning, but I'll probably do so now. You'll find as the pinch comes
that my proposition will look better--and we might pay you two or
three thousand so you'll not go out strapped. Besides, if we took over
and completed the project, it would save your face; you wouldn't be
wholly discredited; you would be able to get a job somewhere
afterward. Might as well make the most you can for yourself out of a
bad mess. Think it over, Bryant." He set his cap on his head with a
conclusive air.

Lee pointed at a chair by the table.

"Sit down for a moment; there's another matter." He crossed to his
desk, put his hand in a drawer for something, and came back. "Look at
that," he said, tossing a revolver cartridge on the table before
Gretzinger.

The man picked it up and turned it over between thumb and finger,
examining it with mingled surprise and curiosity.

"What about it?" he questioned.

"I understand you're interested in a certain young lady," Bryant
stated, smoothly.

Gretzinger straightened on his seat, flashing his look up to the
other's. A sudden tightening of his lips accompanied the action and he
ceased to revolve the cartridge he held.

"I'll not discuss my personal affairs with you or----"

"When they touch mine, you will," was the answer.

"Are you jealous?" Gretzinger asked after a pause, with a trace of
insolence. "Believe you are. I thought, along with your other
shortcomings, you weren't capable of even that. Now that we're
talking, I'll say that I've taken Ruth round and found her
entertaining. What about it? And I've given her my opinion of the way
you've run this work, because she asked for it. I told her that you
had botched the business from the beginning. I told her you were
unpractical, incompetent, small-gauged, and lightweight, and would
make a failure of everything you touched. There you have it all.
Well?"

Bryant's brows twitched for an instant.

"I guessed as much." He stood staring in silence at the table, but
presently brought himself to attention. "Honour is something you don't
understand. So I thought that bullet might focus your mind on possible
consequences."

"What's all this rot!"