mless by the precautions he had already taken. "Well, keep your hair
on," he said, quietly. "If there were fifty applications, they wouldn't
matter the worth of that soda-water cork. Won't you have a drink?"

Semple, upon reflection, said he would. The unmoved equipoise of the big
man visibly reassured him. He sipped at his bubbling tumbler and smacked
his thin lips. "Man, I've had an awful fright," he said at last, in the
tone of one whose ease of mind is returning.

"I gave you credit for more nerve," observed the other, eyeing him in
not unkindly fashion over his glass. "You've been so plumb full of sand
all the while--I didn't think you'd weaken now. Why, we're within two
days of home, now--and for you to get rattled at this late hour--you
ought to be ashamed of yourself."

The Scotchman looked into the bottom of his glass, as he turned it
thoughtfully round. "I'm relieved to see the way you take it," he said,
after a pause. With increased hesitation he went dryly on: "I've never
enquired minutely into the circumstances of the flotation. It has not
seemed to be my business to do so, and upon advice I may say that the
Committee would not hold that such was my business. My position is quite
clear, upon that point."

"Oh, perfectly," Thorpe assented. "It couldn't possibly be any of your
business--either then, or now." He gave a significant touch of emphasis
to these last two words.

"Precisely," said Semple, with a glance of swift comprehension. "You
must not think I am asking any intrusive questions. If you tell me
that--that there is no ground for uneasiness--I am verra pleased indeed
to accept the assurance. That is ample information for my purposes."

"You can take it from me," Thorpe told him. He picked up a red book from
a side table, and turned over its pages with his thick thumb. "This
is what Rule 59 says," he went on: "'NO APPLICATION WHICH HAS FOR ITS
OBJECT TO ANNUL ANY BARGAIN IN THE STOCK EXCHANGE SHALL BE ENTERTAINED
BY THE COMMITTEE, UNLESS UPON A SPECIFIC ALLEGATION OF FRAUD OR WILFUL
MISREPRESENTATION.' Shall be entertained, d'ye see? They can't even
consider anything of the sort, because it says 'specific,' and I tell
you plainly that anything 'specific' is entirely out of the question."

The Broker lifted his sandy brows in momentary apprehension. "If it
turns upon the precise definition of a word," he remarked, doubtingly.

"Ah, yes,--but it doesn't," Thorpe reassured him. "See here--I'll te