I shall
expect to see you at luncheon time. If you are asked questions as to why
you are dealing in these shares to such an extent, you can say that the
friend for whom you are acting desires to boom copper, and is going on
the low price of the metal at the moment. They will think you a fool,
and perhaps may not trouble to conceal their opinion after they have
finished the business. You must endeavor to support the character. I
have no doubt but that you will be successful."

Aynesworth moved towards the door.

Once more Wingrave called him back. He was leaning a little forward
across the table. His face was very set and cold.

"There is a question which I wish to ask you, Aynesworth," he said. "It
concerns another matter altogether. Do you know who sent the Marconigram
to Dr. Travers, which brought him to New York to meet his wife?"

"I do not," Aynesworth answered.

"It was sent by someone on board the ship," Wingrave continued. "You
have no suspicion as to whom it could have been?"

"None!" Aynesworth answered firmly. "At the same time, I do not mind
telling you this. If I had thought of it, I would have sent it myself."

Wingrave shrugged his shoulders.

"It is perhaps fortunate for the continuation of our mutual relations
that you did not think of it," he remarked quietly. "I accept your
denial. I shall expect you back at one o'clock."

At a few minutes after that hour the two men sat down to luncheon.
Wingrave at that time was the possessor of six thousand shares in the
Royal Hardwell Copper Mine, which had cost him, on an average, two
dollars twenty-five. The news of the dealing, however, had got about,
and although derision was the chief sentiment amongst the brokers, the
price steadily mounted. A dozen telegrams were sent out to the mine, and
on receipt of the replies, the dealing became the joke of the day. The
mine was still deserted, and no fresh inspection had been made.
The price dropped a little. Then Wingrave bought a thousand more by
telephone, and it rose again to four. A few minutes before closing time,
he threw every share of which he was possessed upon the market, and the
next morning Royal Hardwells stood at one dollar seventy-five.

For a week Wingrave pursued the same tactics, and at the end of that
time he had made twenty thousand dollars. The brokers, however, now
understood, or thought they understood, the situation. No one bought for
the rise; they were all sellers. Wingrave at on