understand--"

"No," said Neergard; "I haven't."

"It's rather out of their usual, I believe--"

"So they say. But Long Island acreage needn't beg favours now. That's
all over, Captain Selwyn. Fane, Harmon & Co. know that; Mr. Gerard ought
to know it, too."

Selwyn looked troubled. "Shall I consult Mr. Gerard?" he repeated. "I
should like to if you have no objection."

Neergard's small, close-set eyes were focused on a spot just beyond
Selwyn's left shoulder.

"Suppose you sound him," he suggested, "in strictest--"

"Naturally," cut in Selwyn dryly; and turning to his littered desk,
opened the first letter his hand encountered. Now that his head was
turned, Neergard looked full at the back of his neck for a long minute,
then went out silently.

* * * * *

That night Selwyn stopped at his sister's house before going to his own
rooms, and, finding Austin alone in the library, laid the matter before
him exactly as Neergard had put it.

"You see," he added, "that I'm a sort of an ass about business methods.