"By the way, Jenkins, has
that memorandum I spoke of been drawn up?" he turned to a clerk.
With a sheet of foolscap in his hand, he invited Mahony with a beck of
the chin to re-enter his room. "Half a moment! Now, doctor, if you
happen to have a little money lying idle, I can put you on to a good
thing--a very good thing indeed. I don't know, I'm sure, whether you
keep an eye on the fluctuations of the share-market. If so, you'll no
doubt have noticed the . . . let me say the extreme instability of
'Porepunkahs.' After making an excellent start, they have dropped till
they are now to be had at one-twentieth of their original value."
He did not take much interest in mining matters was Mahony's reply.
However he knew something of the claim in question, if only because
several of his acquaintances had abandoned their shares, in disgust at
the repeated calls and the lack of dividends.
"Exactly. Well now, doctor, I'm in a position to inform you that
'Porepunkahs' will very shortly be prime favourites on the market,
selling at many times their original figure--their ORIGINAL figure,
sir! No one with a few hundreds to spare could find a better investment.
Now is the time to buy."
A few hundreds! . . . what does he take me for? thought Mahony; and
declined the transaction off-hand. It was very good of Mr. Ocock to
think of him; but he preferred to keep clear of that kind of thing.
"Quite so, quite so!" returned Ocock suavely, and dry-washed his hands
with the smile Mahony had never learnt to fathom.
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