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96 "Oh, ask me an easier one—or, rather, a harder one. I suppose he simply bought his way in."

"Do you think he suspected that Ponderby wasn't really Lord Stranleigh?"

"Oh, goodness knows what he suspected. I rather surmise that he did not twig the situation, because, you see, he wasn't looking for that sort of thing. I also gather that Flannigan left with his mind made up that Lord Stranleigh was merely a stupid fool, who by luck had tumbled into uncounted wealth. If this is so, it is all to our advantage, for it may make Flannigan careless; but be that as it may, the tussle comes on Thursday at three o'clock in the afternoon, and there I am depending on you to outbid all opposition at the auction sale. You will be quite ready with your special train for the public trial of the invention on Thursday morning at ten o'clock?"

"Quite ready."

"All right; I'll send out the invitations. We must lure the principal newspaper men aboard, and all these millionaires who have been so kind to me."

"Don't you think," suggested Mackeller, "that it would be better to postpone the public trial until we are sure who owns the patent? You see, we are unnecessarily coming right out into the open. Flannigan will then be certain that we are determined to acquire the invention."