He was terrified by the openness of his
tactics. It seemed to him that any man must be able to perceive what he
was driving at, but he desperately assured himself that after all
Hubbard could not possibly have any reason to suspect him of a design
of pumping him.
"Oh, there are plenty of safe investments," the sitter said, as if the
matter were one of no great moment. Then, looking at his watch, he
added, "I must go in fifteen minutes. I have an engagement."
Fenton dared not risk another direct trial, but he skirted about the
subject on which his thoughts were fixed. His attempts, however, though
ingenious, were fruitless; and he saw Hubbard step down from the dais
where he posed, with a baffled sense of having failed utterly.
"The country is really beginning to look quite spring-like," he said,
as he stood by while his sitter put on his overcoat.
He spoke in utter carelessness, simply to avoid a silence which would
perhaps seem a little awkward; but the shot of accident hit the mark at
which his careful aim had been vain.
"Yes, it is," the other responded. "I was out of town with Staggchase
yesterday, looking at some meadows we talk of buying for a factory
site, and I was surprised to see how forward things are."
Yesterday Mrs. Staggchase had casually mentioned to Fred Rangely that
her husband had gone to Feltonville; and at the St.
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