Page:Barr--Stranleighs millions.djvu/82

70 company just double the amount of money that Mitcham thought would be necessary."

"But why didn't Mitcham insist on a controlling share of the stock of this company? Why didn't he make it a sine qua non that he should have fifty-one shares out of every hundred?"

"He did."

"And obtained it?"

"Obtained it without a murmur."

"You say that Sarsfield-Mitcham has the voting control of this company?"

"Absolutely."

"Then what the deuce is he howling about, with double the money that he required and a majority of the shares allotted to him?"

"He isn't growling. He is living, perfectly happy, in a fool's paradise. His daughter cannot even persuade him that he is in danger. It is she who sees what is ahead."

"Well, Peter, in spite of your compliment to my brain, the girl sees a great deal further ahead than I do. If you give me complete control of a company; if, after that, you double the capital I need, and if the company possesses an invention as useful as you indicate, I'd snap my fingers at Wall Street, Flannigan, and the London Stock Exchange combined. Isn't this young woman of yours just a trifle over-suspicious?"

"I don't think so. She is dealing with some of