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 on my system, I 'll—I 'll see you through," said Wilton.

"Thank you—ah, thank you. You 're very kind. I 'm sure I should enjoy myself immensely."

"We have overlooked the fact," the doctor whispered to me, "that your friend proposed to buy the Great Buchonian."

"He is worth anything from twenty to thirty million dollars—four to five million pounds," I answered, knowing that it would be hopeless to explain.

"Really! That is enormous wealth. But the Great Buchonian is not in the market."

"Perhaps he does not want to buy it now."

"It would be impossible under any circumstances," said the doctor.

"How characteristic!" murmured the lawyer, reviewing matters in his mind. "I always understood from books that your countrymen were in a hurry. And so you would have gone forty miles to town and back—before dinner—to get a scarab? How intensely American! But you talk exactly like an Englishman, Mr. Sargent."

"That is a fault that can be remedied. There 's only one question I 'd like to ask you. You said it was inconceivable that any man should stop a train on your road?"

"And so it is—absolutely inconceivable."

"Any sane man, that is?"

"That is what I meant, of course. I mean, with excep—"

"Thank you."