se. I think
I oughtn't to keep it now. [_He takes it, places it gently upon the
table; they sit facing each other; she speaks more cheerfully and
briskly._] I came to see you on a matter of business, too.

CARTER: Well, then, I'll just be--

NORA: Oh, no! Please stay, Mr. Carter! It's a factory matter. [CARTER
_coughs and sits._ NORA _continues, not pausing for that._] It was about
that great stock of wire you had your purchasing agent buy just before
the--before you went away, Mr. Gibson.

GIBSON: I'm glad to see you looking so well, Miss Gorodna.

NORA: Thank you! If you remember, you must have ordered him to buy all
the wire of our grade that was in the market at that time. At any rate,
we found ourselves in possession of an enormous stock that would have
lasted us about three years.

GIBSON: Yes. That's what I wanted.

NORA: As it happened it turned out to be a very good investment, Mr.
Gibson, because in less than a month it had gained about nine per cent.
in value, and three weeks ago a man came to us and offered to take it
off our hands at a price giving us a twenty-two per cent. profit!

GIBSON: Yes; I should think he would.

NORA: So of course we sold it.

GIBSON [_checks an exclamation, merely saying_]: Did you?

NORA: Naturally we did! Twenty-two per cent. profit in that short time!
Now it just happens that we've got to buy some more ourselves, and we
can't get hold of any, even at the price that we sold it, because it
seems to have kept going up. I thought perhaps you might know where to
get some at the price you bought the other, and you mightn't mind
telling us.

GIBSON: No; I wouldn't mind telling you. I'd like to tell you.

NORA: You think there isn't any?

GIBSON: I'm sure there isn't any.

NORA: Then I'm afraid we'll have to get some back from the people we
sold to. Of course I'm anxious to show the great financial improvement
as well as other improvements. That's partly my province and Mr.
Carter's, our committee chairman, besides our regular work.

GIBSON: Mr. Mifflin tells me that you had a sort of general manager for
a while at first.

CARTER: Oh, that was Hill, the head bookkeeper. He left. He was a
traitor to the comrades.

GIBSON: Hill? He knew quite a little about the business. Why did he
leave?

CARTER: Why, that Coles-Hibbard factory went and offered him a big
salary to come over there; more than he thought he could get cooeperatin'
with us.

NORA: Hill was always a