"There is no sacrifice, your lordship," he said slowly, "which my firm would hesitate to make in your interests and the interests of the Mandeleys estate. At the same time, the unexpected necessity for finding these sums of money is, I must confess, at times a strain upon us."
The Marquis nodded sympathetically. He rose to his feet, crossed the room towards his desk, which he unlocked with a key attached to a gold chain, and returned with a bundle of scrip in his hand.
"I have here, Mr. Wadham," he announced, "scrip in a very famous oil company, the face value of the shares being, I believe, a trifle over forty thousand pounds. I, in fact, paid that price for them at the beginning of the week."
The young lawyer uncrossed his legs and swallowed hard. He was prepared for many shocks, but this one seemed outside the region of all human probability.
"Did I understand your lordship to say that you had paid forty thousand pounds for them?" he gasped.
The Marquis assented with an equable little nod.
"I was somewhat favoured in the matter," he admitted, "as the value of the shares has, I believe, already considerably increased. The amount I actually paid for them was, in round figures, forty thousand and one hundred pounds--transfer duty, or something of that sort. I have little head for figures, as you know, Mr. Wadham. You had better take these--not for sale, mind, but for deposit at one of my banks. You will probably find that, under the circumstances, they will permit you to overdraw an additional five hundred pounds on my account, without embarrassing your own finances."
Mr. Wadham, Junior, took the bundle of scrip into his hand, and glanced hastily through it.
"The Pluto Oil Company of Arizona," he murmured reflectively.
"The name of the company is doubtless unknown to you," the Marquis observed indulgently; "they are, in fact, only just commencing operations--but it is the opinion of my friend and financial adviser, Mr. David Thain, that the forty thousand pounds' worth of shares you have in your hand will be worth at least two hundred thousand before the end of the year."
"Mr. David Thain, the multi-millionaire?" Mr. Wadham faltered.
The lawyer gripped the bundle hard in one hand, closed his eyes for a moment, opened them again and struck out boldly.