Page:Edgar Jepson--the four philanthropists.djvu/38

32 Morton. "I keep dinning into the ears of my poor old men that you do your work better and cheaper than their old fossils; but they are set in their groove." "Oh, that's all right, my dear fellow. Wait till you're a senior partner; I shall wallow in work. Good-by." And I left him.

When I came out of the house I went through the gardens in the hope of seeing my pretty vision once more; but she had gone. I went back to the Temple and into the chambers of a friend who supplemented his briefs by incursions into the city. He chanced to know all about the new Fertilizer Company, and told me the very thing I wanted to hear—that it had been floated with such success that even now the directors must be on the point of dividing the spoil. He could not give me an introduction to Driver.

I took a hansom to the city and tried my stockbroker, and after him I tried a West African director of my acquaintance. Neither of them could give me the introduction I needed, so I took another hansom and drove to Chelubai's rooms in Jermyn Street.

I told him what I had learned about Pudleigh and the Fertilizer Company, that the Directors were on the point of dividing the spoil. He, too, was somewhat slack; and before discussing the matter he mixed a couple of brandies and sodas.