"That is the most important thing of all," rejoined Hardy. "That is,
next to your shrewdness and tact; everything depends upon you, really,
and whether you can fool Smith. It is a great thing in our favour that
you have been taking him up lately."

"Are you coming to the point or are you not?" demanded the shipbroker.

Hardy looked cautiously round the room, and then, drawing his chair close
to the bed, leaned over the prostrate man and spoke rapidly into his ear.

"What?" cried the astounded Mr. Swann, suddenly sitting up in his bed.
"You--you scoundrel!"

"It's to be done," said Hardy.

"You ghoul!" said the invalid, glaring at him. "Is that the way to talk
to a sick man? You unscrupulous rascal!"

"It'll be amusement for you," pleaded the other, "and if we are
successful it will be the best thing in the end for everybody. Think of
the good you'll do."

"Where you get such rascally ideas from, I can't think," mused the
invalid. "Your father is a straightforward, honest man, and your
partner's uprightness is the talk of Sunwich."

"It doesn't take much to make Sunwich talk," retorted Hardy.

"A preposterous suggestion to make to a man of my standing," said the
shipbroker, ignoring the remark. "If the affair ever leaked out I should