Page:Robert Barr - Lord Stranleigh Philanthropist.djvu/292

 chauffeur. Your number must have been taken half-a-dozen times since we left the bank."

"Oh, that's all right! I think you and Mr. Mackeller are acquainted?"

"I have met him." Corbitt's strong jaws snapped like a steel trap.

"I have brought you together to suggest a compromise."

"To speak quite frankly, my lord"

"Sit down, Alexander, and drop the 'my lord'; then speak as frankly as you like."

"I expected this gentleman would make an appeal to you," continued Corbitt. "That is why I asked that my option should run for a month. Even you cannot interfere with it until twenty-eight days are past. A writ has already been issued. The Surrey and Southern Counties Bank is insolvent."

"You are, then, determined to smash it?" enquired Stranleigh.

"Quite."

"Help yourself to a peach, Corbitt. They are really first-rate."

Corbitt took one. Mackeller had risen once more, in spite of his lordship's look of protest.

"Lord Stranleigh, I beg you to do me the justice of acknowledging that I made no appeal to you."