He brushed upright with the palm of his hand one of those little tufts of hair left on the side of his head, and he laid his plump fingers upon the lawyer's shoulder.
"Mr.Mangan," he said, "you listen to me.

I sell this man the controlling interests in a mine, shares which I have held for four and a half years and never drew a penny dividend.

I sell them to him, I say, at par.

Well, I need the money and it seems to me that I had given the shares a fair chance.

Within five weeks--five weeks, sir," he repeated, struggling to attune his voice to his civilised surroundings, "those shares had gone from par to fourteen and a half.