“Would there be any use in my seeing him?”

Herbert smiled.  Singleton would not turn against him; Sylvia had made her influence felt.

“Not the slightest,” he answered.  “You can take that for granted.”

His visitor pondered for a moment or two; and then he crumpled the report in his hand, growing red in the face.

“You seem content with this production.  It looks as if you had meant to back out.”

Herbert looked at him tranquilly.

“Well,” he said, “that’s my intention now; and I don’t think that you can induce me to alter it.  I can’t see that we would be justified in floating the concern.”

“But it was you who suggested it and led us on!  What about the money we have already spent?”

“It’s gone.  I’m sorry, but things don’t always turn out right.  When I first mentioned the matter, the prospects looked good; investigation places them in a less favorable light, for which you can hardly hold me responsible.  You took a business risk.”

The other man angrily flung the report on the table.

“This has been a blow to me, and I’m far from appreciating the course you’ve taken.  But what about the older concern?  Though we don’t seem to have turned out much rubber yet, I suppose its position is still satisfactory?”

Herbert saw suspicion in the man’s face and he rang a bell.

“I think you had better satisfy yourself; I have the necessary particulars here.”

He indicated some books on a neighboring shelf; and then added, when a clerk appeared: 

“Will you bring me the extract of our working expenses that I asked you to make out?”

The clerk came back with a sheet of figures, which Herbert handed to his visitor with one of the books, and the man spent some time carefully examining them.

“Everything looks satisfactory; I’ve no fault to find,” he said at length.  “But I feel very sore about your giving up the new undertaking.”

“It can’t be helped,” explained Herbert.  “If it’s any comfort to you, I dropped as much money over preliminary expenses as you did.”

After a little further conversation, his visitor left and Herbert resumed his work.  On the whole, the interview had been less embarrassing than he expected, and though it was likely that the rest of his colleagues would call and expostulate, he was ready to meet them.  His excuse for abandoning the project was, on the face of it, a good one; but he had no thought of giving these men, who were largely interested in the original company, a word of warning.  It was undesirable that they should sell their shares until he had disposed of his.  They had, he argued, the same opportunities for forecasting the course of the market and gaging the trend of investors’ ideas as he enjoyed, and if they did not make use of them, it was their fault.  The stock had reached a satisfactory premium, which was all that he had promised; he could not be expected to guarantee its remaining at the high level.