take the papers.] Perhaps we'd better
close the sitting, sir; sorry to have bored you.

COLONEL. Now, now! Don't be so touchy! If I'm to put money in, I'm
bound to look at it all round.

LEVER. [With lifted brows.] Please don't imagine that I want you to
put money in.

COLONEL. Confound it, sir! D 'you suppose I take you for a Company
promoter?

LEVER. Thank you!

COLONEL. [Looking at him doubtfully.] You've got Irish blood in
you--um? You're so hasty!

LEVER. If you 're really thinking of taking shares--my advice to you
is, don't!

COLONEL. [Regretfully.] If this were an ordinary gold mine, I
wouldn't dream of looking at it, I want you to understand that.
Nobody has a greater objection to gold mines than I.

LEVER. [Looks down at his host with half-closed eyes.] But it is a
gold mine, Colonel Hope.

COLONEL. I know, I know; but I 've been into it for myself; I've
formed my opinion personally. Now, what 's the reason you don't want
me to invest?

LEVER. Well, if it doesn't turn out as you expect, you'll say it's
my doing. I know what investors are.

COLONEL. [Dubiously.] If it were a Westralian or a Kaffir I would
n't touch it with a pair of tongs! It 's not as if I were going to
put much in! [He suddenly bends above the papers as though
magnetically attracted.] I like these Triassic formations!

[DICK, who has hung the last lantern, moodily departs.]

LEVER. [Looking after him.] That young man seems depressed.

COLONEL. [As though remembering his principles.] I don't like
mines, never have! [Suddenly absorbed again.] I tell you what,
Lever--this thing's got tremendous possibilities. You don't seem to
believe in it enough. No mine's any good without faith; until I see
for myself, however, I shan't commit myself beyond a thousand.

LEVER. Are you serious, sir?

COLONEL. Certainly! I've been thinking it over ever since you told
me Henty had fought shy. I 've a poor opinion of Henty. He's one of
those fellows that says one thing and does another. An opportunist!

LEVER. [Slowly.] I'm afraid we're all that, more or less. [He sits
beneath the hollow tree.]

COLONEL. A man never knows what he is himself. There 's my wife.
She thinks she 's----By the way, don't say anything to her about
this, please. And, Lever [nervously], I don't think, you know, this
is quite the sort of thing for my niece.

LEVER. [Quietly.] I agree. I mean to get her out of it