"Look here, Doctor, you are not yourself."

"Not myself? How can a man be himself under such circ.u.mstances.

Suppose, though, that I could get them back from the man. He only took them as a favour."

"Did he pay you?" said Clive eagerly.

"Yes."

"A cheque?"

"No," said the Doctor. "I was not going to run any more risks. No cheque: for the residue I insisted upon Bank of England notes and gold."

"And you were paid like that?"

"Yes."

"Then you have gone too far to retreat."

"Oh no, not if we offer the man what he said he would be content with-- an eighth. That's half-a-crown to the hundred pounds, isn't it?"

"Half-a-crown to the hundred pounds!" said Clive furiously. "Why, as soon as the truth's known--"

"They won't be worth that, eh?" said the Doctor dolefully.

"Oh, Doctor Praed!" cried Clive furiously. "You telegraph to me to come and help you when you have thrown your money into the gutter, and it has been picked up and is gone. It is a swindle--an imposition."

"Yes, I've found out that," said the Doctor bitterly. "But what are the shares worth then, really?"

"What I told you, sir--double the price they were when so many were apportioned to you. This is some cursed jugglery: a trick--a scare--a false alarm to influence the price of the `White Virgin' shares in the market."

"What!"

"There isn't a word of truth in the report."

"Not a word of truth in the report?"

"No, sir. The mine is exceeding my greatest hopes. She teems with ore which grows richer in silver every day. In six months' time the shares will be worth four times what they are now."

"But--but--the papers!--look at the papers," cried the Doctor.

"What for? They only give the reports on 'Change--the facts that the mine is reported to be in a state of collapse, and that consequently every one has rushed to realise, and make what little he could for what is supposed to be nearly worthless paper."

"But--tell me again--are you sure that the report is false?"

"Who could know better than I, who have been down every day, who have watched every working, examined each skep of ore that came up, and a.s.sayed every pig of lead and ingot of silver. Doctor, I should have thought that you could have trusted me."

The Doctor sank down into his patients' chair, and stared at his visitor aghast.

"Clive Reed--Clive, my boy--is--is this true?"

"You know it is true, sir!" cried the young man savagely, as he now took up the Doctor's role of patrolling the room. "Do you, who have known me from a boy, ask me whether I would have deliberately swindled you into putting your savings into a worthless venture?"

"No, no, not wilfully, my boy, but by a mistake."

"Mistake! There was no mistake. Doctor, an enemy hath done this thing, and people are only too ready to believe the evil instead of the good.

Well, I'm glad I know. But how is it that no report has reached me at the mine? Why, of course: I have seen no paper for days. I am so busy that I often do not open them when they come over from the town."

"Then--then this really is a false report, Clive?"

"Literally false, sir, and you have thrown your thousands away."

The Doctor groaned.

"No, no: not yet. There is hope. Look here. I must buy those shares back at once."

"Bah!" exclaimed Clive. "Look here, Doctor: if I were dangerously ill I would sooner trust you than any man in London; but in money matters I think just as my poor father thought."

"That I was a mere baby? Yes, he always told me so," said the Doctor, with a sigh. "But I made a lot of money, too."

"Yes, sir, but couldn't keep it," cried the young man angrily.

"Don't--don't jump on me now I'm down, Clive, my boy," cried the Doctor piteously. "I have been an old fool. I ought to have trusted you that you would warn me. But you were away; all London was ringing with the business, and in my rage and disappointment I thought I was doing right."

"I suppose so," said Clive bitterly.

"But it is not too late. We'll go up to your brother at once."

"My brother will only be too glad to triumph over you."

"But this Mr Wrigley?"

"Knew perfectly well what he was about, or he would not have bought."

"But I must buy again, if not from him--from some one else."

"You cannot. As soon as the truth is known the shares will go back to their old place at a bound, and then in the reaction rise rapidly, for the public will grasp that the mine must be as it is, exceedingly valuable."

"But before the truth is known."

"I shall go and get it made known on 'Change the moment it is open, sir."

"But--but if you waited a little while, Clive, to give me time, I--"

"My old friend--my father's trusted companion would not ask me to wait an instant before crushing a blackguardly conspiracy, sir. I cannot wait, and if I can trace this business to the source, I'll do it, if it costs me thousands."

"You--you don't think that Jessop--"

"No!" cried Clive fiercely. "I don't--I won't think such a thing of my own brother. He ousted me in one great aim of my life; he is a spendthrift, and dishonourable enough; but, hang it, no, I won't give him the credit for this."