“He will give your statement no credence whatever.”

“But we can prove it to him.”

“On the contrary, you will find yourself unable to do this.”

“Didn’t Harris show you that list?”

“Yes; but that was some days ago.”

“You’ve unloaded, eh?  That won’t help you any.  We’ll find out who’s got it.”

“You need not take any trouble about the matter, as I am quite ready to give you the necessary information.  Miss Gorham now holds the shares.”

“Gorham’s daughter?” queried Harris.  “Does he know it?”

“I really don’t know whether Miss Gorham has advised her father or not; that is her affair.”

“Well, we’ll see that he does know it,” stormed Brady; “and will also see that he knows how you’ve unloaded it on her.”

“You may find some difficulty,” Covington replied, suavely.  “The certificates, you know, never stood in my name.  I simply acted as the young lady’s agent.  If you can make any capital out of that, you are at perfect liberty to do so.  Was there any other detail in connection with this matter which you wished to discuss with me?  Mr. Harris and you have been most confidential, and I might possibly feel inclined to reciprocate.”

“You know too damned much already,” retorted Brady, savagely.  “I was a fool not to put the deal through before Gorham got into the game.  After that it was too late—­the stockholders would never have stood for our extra rake-off after he put them wise.”

Harris’s face paled.  “You don’t mean that there’s danger of our getting thrown down, do you?” he queried in a tense voice.  “I’ve put every dollar I own and some I don’t own into this pool with you.”

Brady struck him familiarly on the back and laughed.  “You are in hard when you show the white feather like that.  Cheer up.  There’s no question of being thrown down.  What do you take me for?  It’s only a question of whether or not we can get all there is in it—­that’s what I’m worrying about.  Gorham’s been getting next to Littleton and Graham all summer.  I’ve tried to find out just what he was up to, but he’s smarter in covering his tracks than I am to uncover ’em, even if he ain’t quite so smart in some other directions.  He’s been in to see me several times, and there hasn’t been a word to make me think that things ain’t going through just as we planned ’em; but if they are, what’s he monkeying round with those other fellows for?  That’s what I want to know.  If our friend here feels like reciprocating, as he says he does, now’s his chance.”

Covington watched the two men closely.  He may have enjoyed the fact that the course of the conversation had turned, but if so he gave no evidence of it.

“You have placed me in possession of certain information which obviously would not assist in carrying out your plans,” he remarked, suggestively.  “Now, this whole transaction, as I informed Mr. Harris, is in Mr. Gorham’s hands.  Under certain conditions, I might not feel it incumbent upon me to interfere.”