Page:Dick Hamilton's Fortune.djvu/77

Rh "Is this the young man who has so much money?" asked the colonel, with a start of seeming surprise.

"Well, I don't know that it's such an awful pile," said Dick with a laugh, for he disliked having his wealth talked about by strangers.

"I've read lots about you," went on Colonel Dendon. "No, I'm afraid I haven't anything that you would care for. I only deal in big sums."

"Well, Dick can command large sums," put in Guy, w4th an uneasy laugh.

"I don't suppose you would care to take a hundred thousand dollars worth of mining securities of a gilt-edge kind?" asked the colonel, looking at Dick.

"No, I'm hardly up to that yet. I intend to do some investing sooner or later; but I'm going to begin small. A hundred thousand is a little too large for me just yet."

"I was afraid so," replied Colonel Dendon, with a queer smile. "Well, I must be going. I'm a very busy man."

He turned as if about to leave the room, and then he suddenly seemed to remember something.

"Now I think of it, I have a few securities that I might let your friend have as a favor to you," he said, addressing Simon. "They are mining stocks. I took them from a man who failed, and I know they are valuable. They are worth to-day half as much again as I paid for them. But, as a favor to Mr. Hamilton, I'd let him have them at