riage. "Home!" Charles cried gloomily to the coachman as we
took our seats in the brougham. And all the way to Mayfair he leaned
back in his seat, with close-set lips, never uttering a syllable.

Before he retired to rest, however, in the privacy of the
billiard-room, I ventured to ask him: "Charles, will you unload
Golcondas to-morrow?" Which, I need hardly explain, is the slang of
the Stock Exchange for getting rid of undesirable securities. It
struck me as probable that, in the event of the invention turning
out a reality, Cloetedorp A's might become unsaleable within the
next few weeks or so.

He eyed me sternly. "Wentworth," he said, "you're a fool!" (Except
on occasions when he is _very_ angry, my respected connection
_never_ calls me "Wentworth"; the familiar abbreviation,
"Sey"--derived from Seymour--is his usual mode of address to
me in private.) "_Is_ it likely I would unload, and wreck the
confidence of the public in the Cloetedorp Company at such a
moment? As a director--as Chairman--would it be just or right of
me? I ask you, sir, _could_ I reconcile it to my conscience?"

"Charles," I answered, "you are right. Your conduct is noble. You
will not save your own personal interests at the expense of those
who have put their trust in you. Such probity is, alas! very rare in
finance!" And I sighed involuntarily; for I had lost in Liberators.

At the same time I thought to myself, "_I_ am not a director. No
trust is reposed in _me_. _I_ have to think first of dear Isabel and
the baby. Before the crash comes _I_ will sell out to-morrow the
few shares I hold, through Charles's kindness, in the Cloetedorp
Golcondas."

With his marvellous business instinct, Charles seemed to divine
my thought, for he turned round to me sharply. "Look here, Sey,"
he remarked, in an acidulous tone, "recollect, you're my
brother-in-law. You are also my secretary. The eyes of London will
be upon us to-morrow. If _you_ were to sell out, and operators got to
know of it, they'd suspect there was something up, and the company
would suffer for it. Of course, you can do what you like with your
own property. I can't interfere with _that_. I do not dictate to
you. But as Chairman of the Golcondas, I am bound to see that the
interests of widows and orphans whose All is invested with me should
not suffer at this crisis." His voice seemed to falter. "Therefore,
though I don't like to threaten," he went on, "I am bound to give
you warning: _i