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Rh had in it no trace of boredom. It was a new experience for his lordship. He had never met a man just like Mr. Preston before. When Mackeller haltingly came to a conclusion, Mr. Preston spoke for the first time, and his tones reminded Stranleigh of chilled steel, so much so that the young man's fancy lightly turned to thoughts of making railroad iron out of them, and a smile came to his lips which certainly appeared misplaced in that ungracious room.

"Do I understand you to affirm, Mr. Mackeller, that I ever promised any traffic arrangements with the so-called Gorham branch?"

"You have never done so to me, Mr. Preston," said Peter, "but your agent certainly intimated that if we"

Mr. Preston interrupted: "If our agent made any promise on behalf of the Great Southern Railway, it should have been set down in writing, countersigned by myself."

Mackeller sat dumb. This was exactly what Lord Stranleigh had told him at the club a few nights before.

Stranleigh spoke very quietly.

"May I ask, Mr. Preston, if you disclaim the agent referred to? Is he, or is he not, in the employment of the Great Southern Railway Company?"

"He is in the employment of our company, Lord Stranleigh, but he has no power to bind us to any