I am quite willing to end this fight.
It was not I who began it."
Higgins drew a little breath of relief. He was perhaps the poorest of
the group, and it was his stock which Duge had been handling so
roughly. "Thank heavens!" he said. "Now we can have a moment's breathing
time, to see what we can do for these fellows who want to teach us how
to manage our affairs."
"In the first place," Weiss said, "what about that paper we signed? I
can understand your wanting to hold it over us while we were at war. It
was a fair weapon, and you had a right to it, but now we are united
again you can see, of course, that although your name isn't on it, it
would practically mean ruin to our interests if the other side once got
hold of it."
"If I had that paper," Duge said quietly, "I would tear it up at this
moment, but I regret to say that I have not. It was stolen during
my illness."
"We know that," Weiss answered. "We know even in whose hands it is."
Phineas Duge looked up inquiringly.
"Norris Vine has it," Weiss continued. "We have offered him a million,
but he declines to sell. He would have used it for his paper before now,
and we should have been on the other side of the ocean, but for the fact
that John Drayton advised him not to.
Pages:
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215