Rolfe had a shaven chin, a weathered complexion, thick brown hair; the penumbra of middle-age had touched his countenance, softening here and there a line which told of temperament in excess.

At this moment his manner inclined to a bluff jocularity, due in some measure to the bottle of wine before him, as also was the tinge of colour upon his cheek; he spoke briefly, but listened with smiling interest to his guest's continuous talk.

This ran on the subject of the money-market, with which the young man boasted some practical acquaintance.
'You don't speculate at all ?' Morphew asked.
'Shouldn't know how to go about it,' replied the other in his deeper note.
'It seems to me to be the simplest thing in the world if one is content with moderate profits.

I'm going in for it seriously--cautiously--as a matter of business.

I've studied the thing--got it up as I used to work at something for an exam.