y, Mr. de Vinne agreed.

"Eighteen shillings it shall be. You're a hard devil," he said. "Now,
shall we settle this in the morning?"

"Settle it now," said Bones. "I've a contract note and a cheque book."

De Vinne thought a moment.

"Why, sure!" he said. "Let's have your note."

Bones took a note from his pocket, unfolded it, and laid it on the
table, then solemnly seated himself at Mr. de Vinne's desk and wrote
out the cheque.

His good fortune was more than Mr. de Vinne could believe. He had
expected Bones to be easy, but not so easy as this.

"Good-bye," said Bones. He was solemn, even funereal.

"And, my friend," thought Mr. de Vinne, "you'll be even more solemn
before the month's out."

He saw Bones to the door, slapped him on the back, insisted on his
taking another cigar, and stood outside on the pavement of Cadogan
Square and watched the rear lights of Bones's car pass out of sight.
Then he went back to his study telephone and gave a number. It was the
number of Mr. Fred Pole's house, and Fred Pole himself answered the
call.

"Is that you, Pole?"

"That's me," said the other, and there was joy in his voice.

"I say, Pole," chuckled de Vinne, "I shall save you a lot of trouble."

"What do you mean?" asked the other.

"I've sold Bones my shares and yours too."

There was a deep silence.

"Did you hear me?" asked de Vinne.

"Yes, I heard you," said the voice, so strange that de Vinne scarcely
recognised it. "How many did you sell?" asked Pole.

"A hundred and eighty thousand. I thought I could easily fix it with
you."

Another silence.

"What did Bones say to you?"

"He told me he wouldn't do any more business with you."

"Good Heavens!" groaned Pole, and added, "Gracious Heavens!"

"Why, what's the matter?" asked de Vinne quickly, scenting danger.

"That's what he said to me," moaned the other. "Just hang on. I'll be
round in a quarter of an hour."

Mr. Fred Pole arrived under that time, and had a dreadful story to
unfold. At nine o'clock that evening Bones had called upon him and had
offered to buy his shares. But Bones had said he would not under any
circumstances----

"Buy my shares?" said de Vinne quickly.

"Well, he didn't exactly say that," said Fred. "But he gave me to
understand that he'd rather buy the shares from me than from anybody
else, and I thought it was such an excellent idea, and I could fix it
up with you on the telephone, so I sold him----"