“Well, I—­it don’t seem quite enough.  That—­that is a very valuable property—­very valuable.  It’s brim full of iron-ore, sir—­brim full of it!  And copper, coal,—­everything—­everything you can think of!  Now, I’ll tell you what I’ll, do.  I’ll reserve everything except the iron, and I’ll sell them the iron property for $15,000 cash, I to go in with them and own an undivided interest of one-half the concern—­or the stock, as you may say.  I’m out of business, and I’d just as soon help run the thing as not.  Now how does that strike you?”

“Well, I am only an agent of these people, who are friends of mine, and I am not even paid for my services.  To tell you the truth, I have tried to persuade them not to go into the thing; and I have come square out with their offer, without throwing out any feelers—­and I did it in the hope that you would refuse.  A man pretty much always refuses another man’s first offer, no matter what it is.  But I have performed my duty, and will take pleasure in telling them what you say.”

He was about to rise.  Hawkins said,

“Wait a bit.”

Hawkins thought again.  And the substance of his thought was:  “This is a deep man; this is a very deep man; I don’t like his candor; your ostentatiously candid business man’s a deep fox—­always a deep fox; this man’s that iron company himself—­that’s what he is; he wants that property, too; I am not so blind but I can see that; he don’t want the company to go into this thing—­O, that’s very good; yes, that’s very good indeed—­stuff! he’ll be back here tomorrow, sure, and take my offer; take it?  I’ll risk anything he is suffering to take it now; here—­I must mind what I’m about.  What has started this sudden excitement about iron?  I wonder what is in the wind? just as sure as I’m alive this moment, there’s something tremendous stirring in iron speculation” [here Hawkins got up and began to pace the floor with excited eyes and with gesturing hands]—­“something enormous going on in iron, without the shadow of a doubt, and here I sit mousing in the dark and never knowing anything about it; great heaven, what an escape I’ve made! this underhanded mercenary creature might have taken me up—­and ruined me! but I have escaped, and I warrant me I’ll not put my foot into—­”

He stopped and turned toward the stranger; saying: 

“I have made you a proposition, you have not accepted it, and I desire that you will consider that I have made none.  At the same time my conscience will not allow me to—.  Please alter the figures I named to thirty thousand dollars, if you will, and let the proposition go to the company—­I will stick to it if it breaks my heart!” The stranger looked amused, and there was a pretty well defined touch of surprise in his expression, too, but Hawkins never noticed it.  Indeed he scarcely noticed anything or knew what he was about.  The man left; Hawkins flung himself into a chair; thought a few moments, then glanced around, looked frightened, sprang to the door——­