Page:Barr--Stranleighs millions.djvu/98

86 that money is no object, and see that whatever I wish done, is done promptly and at the moment set."

"Yes, my lord."

"From the time you leave London, Ponderby, until you return to this mansion, you are Lord Stranleigh of Wychwood. Do you comprehend that?"

"Yes, my lord."

"I am Edmund Trevelyan, a distant relative of the Stranleigh family. I'd allow you to call me Teddy, but I must not aspire so high. It might cause international complications."

"Yes, my lord."

"I am one of your business managers looking after your railway investments in America. Peter Mackeller here is the other business manager, looking after the Stranleigh mining properties."

"Yes, my lord."

"Now, Ponderby, from this moment, as a matter of practice, you will sink into oblivion that term 'my lord.

"Yes, sir."

"You will erase the word 'sir' from your vocabulary."

"Yes."

"In America, if the reporters succeed in gaining admission to your palatial apartments in whatever hotel in New York is the most expensive, you will be a man who knows nothing of business.