nd withdrew.

Bobby, as calmly as he could, went on with his perusal of the
_Bulletin_. To deny that he was somewhat tense over the coming
interview would be foolish. Never had a quarter of an hour dragged so
slowly, but he waited it out, with five minutes more on top of it, and
then he telephoned to Brown to know if Stone was still there. He was
relieved to find that he was.

"Tell him to come in," he ordered.

If Stone was inwardly fuming when he entered the room he gave no
indication of it. His heavy face bore only his habitually sullen
expression, his heavy-lidded eyes bore only their usual somberness,
his heavy brow had in it no crease other than those that time had
graven there. With the deliberateness peculiar to him he planted his
heavy body in a big arm-chair opposite to Bobby, without removing his
hat.

"I don't believe in beating around the bush, Mr. Burnit," said he,
with a glance over his shoulder to make sure that the door was closed.
"Of course you're after something. What do you want?"

Bobby looked at him in wonder. He had heard much of Stone's bluntness,
and now he was fascinated by it. Nevertheless, he did not forget his
own viewpoint.

"Oh, I don't want much," he observed pleasantly, "only just your
scalp; yours and the scalps of a few others who gave me my education,
from Silas Trimmer up and down. I think one of the things that
aggravated me most was the recent elevation of Trimmer to the
chairmanship of your waterworks commission. Trivial as it was, this
probably had as much to do with my sudden determination to wipe you
out, as your having the Brightlight's poles removed from Market
Street."

Stone laid a heavy hand easily upon Bobby's desk. It was a strong
hand, a big hand, brown and hairy, and from the third pudgy finger
glowed a huge diamond.

"As far as Trimmer is concerned," said he, quite undisturbed, "you can
have his head any minute. He's a mutt."

"You don't need to give me Mr. Trimmer's head," replied Bobby, quite
as calmly. "I intend to get that myself."

"And as for the Brightlight," continued Stone as if he had not been
interrupted, "I sent Sharpe over to see you about that this morning. I
think we can fix it so that you can get back your two hundred and
fifty thousand. The deal's been worth a lot more than that to the
Consolidated."

"No doubt," agreed Bobby. "However, I'm not looking, at the present
moment, for a sop to the Brightlight Company. It will be time enoug