Page:Robert Barr - Lord Stranleigh Philanthropist.djvu/271

 "Ah, now you're sneering. I shall, of course, take my customers wherever I can find them."

"Naturally. But you don't quite catch my objection. Why should you make a dead set at Selwyn's? Why not tackle someone your own size; the Bank of England, for choice?"

"We've got into the persiflage stage again, I'm sorry to notice. Excuse me if I bring the conversation down to a common-sense level. I have now explained to you my plans for establishing a new bank."

"Yes; and I don't like them."

"You will soon recognise their success."

"Probably, but I should not respect them any more on that account."

"Are you hedging, Stranleigh?"

"No."

"You'll do what you promised?"

"Your question is superfluous, Peter. I shall not add what I think of it."

"Will you lend me fifty thousand pounds on my note of hand?"

"Yes."

"Will you deposit a hundred thousand pounds in my new bank?"

"Yes, if you insist on it."