erron, who was eating furiously
because he had just overheard Langdon say: "That was a great day for
pirates when they thought of taking aboard the lawyers as chaplains."

All the men were in high spirits; Dumont was boyish in his exuberance.
When he left home that morning he was four times a millionaire; now he
was at least twelve times a millionaire, through the magic of the
"merger." True, eight of the twelve millions were on paper; but it was
paper that would certainly pay dividends, paper that would presently
sell at or near its face value. And this success had come when he was
only thirty-four. His mind was already projecting greater triumphs in
this modern necromancy by which millionaires evoke and materialize
millions from the empty air--apparently. He was bubbling over with
happiness--in the victory won, in victories to be won.

Olivia tried him on several subjects, but the conversation dragged. Of
Pauline he would not talk; of Europe, he was interested only in the
comfort of hotels and railway trains, in the comparative merits of the
cooking and the wines in London and Paris. But his face--alert,
shrewd, aggressive--and his mode of expression made her feel that he
was uninteresting because he was thinking of something which he did not
care to expose to her and could not take his mind from. And this was
the truth. It was not until she adventured upon his business that he
became talkative. And soon she had him telling her about his
"combine"--frankly, boastfully, his face more and more flushed, for as
he talked he drank.

"But," he said presently, "this little matter to-day is only a fair
beginning. It seemed big until it was about accomplished. Then I saw
it was only a suggestion for a scheme that'd be really worth, while."
And he went on to unfold one of those projects of to-day's commerce and
finance that were regarded as fantastic, delirious a few years ago. He
would reach out and out for hundreds of millions of capital; with his
woolens "combine" as a basis he would build an enormous corporation to
control the sheep industry of the world--to buy millions of acres of
sheep-ranges; to raise scores of millions of sheep; to acquire and to
construct hundreds of plants for utilizing every part of the raw
product of the ranges; to sell wherever the human race had or could
have a market.

Olivia was ambitious herself, usually was delighted by ambition in
others. But his exhibit of imagination and en