eed
of pretending that it had been. If he knew anything of men and their
manners, his titled friend would not object to a change of topic.

"Lord Chaldon," he said abruptly, "we've talked enough about general
matters. While you're here, we might as well go into the subject of the
Company. Our annual meeting is pretty nearly due--but I think it would
be better to have it postponed. You see, this extraordinary development
of dealing in our shares on the Stock Exchange has occupied my entire
attention. There has been no time for arranging the machinery of
operations on our property in Mexico. It's still there; it's all right.
But for the time being, the operations in London are so much more
important. We should have nothing to tell our shareholders, if we
brought them together, except that their one-pound shares are worth
fifteen pounds, and they know that already."

The Marquis had listened with a shrewdly attentive eye upon the
speaker's face. The nervous affection of his eyelids gave him now a
minute of blinking leisure in which to frame his comment. "I have not
heard that my shares are worth fifteen pounds," he said then, with a
direct, meaning little smile.

"No," Thorpe laughed, leaning comfortably back in his chair. "That's
what I want to talk to you about. You see, when the Company was started,
it was impossible to foresee that this dealing in our ordinary shares
would swamp everything else. If things had taken their usual course,
and we had paid our attention to Mexico instead of to the London Stock
Exchange, my deferred vendor's shares, two thousand of which you hold,
would by this time be worth a good bit. As it is, unfortunately, they
are outside of the deal. They have nothing to do with the movement of
the ordinary shares. But of course you understand all that."

Lord Chaldon assented by an eloquent nod, at once resigned and hopeful.

"Well--that is contrary to all my expectations--and intentions," Thorpe
resumed. "I don't want you to suffer by this unlooked-for change in the
shape of things. You hold two thousand shares--only by accident they're
the wrong kind of shares. Very well: I'll make them the right kind
of shares. I'll have a transfer sent to you tomorrow, so that you can
return those vendor's shares to me, and in exchange for them I'll give
you two thousand fully-paid ordinary shares. You can sell these at once,
if you like, or you can hold them on over one more settlement, whichever
you please.