"
That seemed natural enough, so I changed the subject. As we entered his
house, I said:
"I'll not go up to the drawing-room. Make my excuses to your mother, will
you? I'll turn into the little smoking-room here. Tell your sister--and say
I'm going to stop only a moment."
Sam had just left me when the butler came.
"Mr. Ball--I think that was the name, sir--wishes to speak to you on the
telephone."
I had given Ellerslys' as one of the places at which I might be found,
should it be necessary to consult me. I followed the butler to the
telephone closet under the main stairway. As soon as Ball made sure it was
I, he began:
"I'll use the code words. I've just seen Fearless, as you told me to."
Fearless--that was Mitchell, my spy in the employ of Tavistock, who was
my principal rival in the business of confidential brokerage for the high
financiers. "Yes," said I. "What does he say?"
"There has been a great deal of heavy buying for a month past."
Then my dread was well-founded--Textiles were to be deliberately rocketed.
"Who's been doing it?" I asked.
"He found out only this afternoon. It's been kept unusually dark. It--"
"Who? Who?" I demanded.
"Intrepid," he answered.
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