e's cautiousness which he would be too polite to
put into words.

"If you'd sooner write to Clifford and have his agreement to the scheme
in black and white ..." was his studiously, chilly reply.

Olive put in a word: "I dislike all those niggling formalities."

"Business is business," quoted her father sententiously.

"Besides, Clifford will be back before the prospectus goes to the
public."

"Probably," agreed Larssen. "But in case he is not back in time, we're
to go ahead just as if he were here. That's what he told me before he
left Paris. Didn't he write you to that effect, Sir Francis?"

"I heard nothing from him."

"But I showed you my telegram," answered Olive. "Clifford said to refer
to Mr Larssen for all details."

"I must think matters over," said the baronet obstinately.

Lars Larssen had been studying his man through half-closed eyelids, and
he now summed him up with penetrating accuracy. It was not suspicion
that made Sir Francis hesitate, but petty dignity. He had become huffed.
He felt that his dignity had not been sufficiently studied in the
transaction. Matters had been arranged over his head without formally
consulting him. It was "not the thing"--"not good form."

To attempt to force matters would merely drive him into deeper
obstinacy.

And yet it was _vital_ to Larssen's plan that Sir Francis should go
ahead with the work of the flotation quickly--should go ahead with it in
the full belief that Clifford Matheson had agreed to the scheme and to
the use of his name. It was vital that Sir Francis should take the whole
responsibility of the flotation on to his own shoulders. He was to make
use of his son-in-law's name with the other prospective Directors and on
the printed prospectus just as though Matheson were personally
sanctioning it.

Larssen himself planned to remain in the background and pull the wires
unseen. When the revelation of Matheson's death came to light--as it
inevitably must in the course of time--Letchmere would be so far
involved that he would be forced to shoulder responsibility for the use
of Matheson's name.

To try to rush matters with Sir Francis would perhaps wreck the whole
delicate machinery of the scheme. Larssen quickly resolved to get at him
in indirect fashion through Olive, and accordingly he answered evenly:

"Think it over by all means. There's plenty to consider. Take the draft
scheme and look it through at your leisure.... Now what's the plan of
am