Well, did you see the girl?"
Littleson nodded.
"I saw her," he answered drily. "I fancy things are not moving our way
particularly just now, Weiss."
"She has not the paper after all?" Weiss exclaimed.
"She has had it and parted with it," Littleson answered.
Weiss removed his unlit cigar from his mouth, and drew a little breath.
"You d----d fool!" he said. "You bungled things, then?"
"I scarcely see where the bungling comes in," Littleson answered. "I
offered her a hundred thousand dollars for that paper. She took the tip
and got it somehow. How could I tell that she had another scheme in
her mind?"
"One hundred thousand dollars!" Weiss muttered. "Better have offered her
a million and made sure of it. We shall have to pay that now, I expect.
Who's got it?"
"She would not tell me," Littleson answered.
Weiss felt his forehead. It was wringing wet. He went to the cupboard,
poured out another drink, and lit his cigar.
"Did she give you any idea?" he asked.
"None at all!" Littleson answered. "Some one seems to have outbid us. I
only know that it was not Phineas."
Weiss leaned back in his chair.
"It just shows," he said under his breath, "what fools the shrewdest of
us can be sometimes.
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