That was it--with his head for figures. "I could snuff them all out," he thought. Captain Ablewhite had also said, "Drop in to-morrow at two or three." In compliance with this invitation, Jeremiah walked up the stairs of the house in Piccadilly at half-past two o'clock on the following day. In this--the being master of his time, left entirely to himself to do as he pleased--lay the great value of his situation with Miser Farebrother. He was his own master. With the miser eternally at the office looking over him, niggling and naggling at this and that, Jeremiah would have had but scant opportunities for attending to Number One. At the door of the outer of Captain Ablewhite's rooms stood a man-servant, who asked Jeremiah's name. "Mr. Pamflett," said Jeremiah. "Captain Ablewhite expects me." "If you will wait here a moment," said the man, "I will tell Captain Ablewhite." He returned very quickly, and Captain Ablewhite with him. "Ah, Mr. Pamflett," said the Captain. "Just one word." He drew Jeremiah aside: "What you see inside is private." "Not to be spoken of?" said Jeremiah rather mystified. "Not to a soul," said Captain Ablewhite. "Is that settled?" "Yes." "Come along, then." The rooms had undergone a transformation. There was an air of serious business about them and the twenty or thirty men assembled there. Every one of the men had a little book, which he consulted, and in which he was making calculations. At two tables sat two clerks with account-books. There was a "tape" in the room, and a man standing by it, reading the messages aloud. "False start," this man said aloud as Jeremiah Pamflett entered. "Go and help yourself," said Captain Ablewhite, pointing to the buffet, which was in its accustomed corner, crowded with bottles, glasses, cigars and sandwiches. CHAPTER XIII. JEREMIAH DISCOVERS A "SYSTEM" BY WHICH HE MUST MAKE A LARGE FORTUNE.