He colored as her brown eyes met his in one of her flashing glances. She mentioned Hornbrook Creek in her low, caressing voice as though it were only an item of landscape, and the report of the engineers might have been a pirate's round-robin, hidden in an old sea chest from the way she spoke of it. It was inconceivable that she had prepared for this interview. She touched her pompadour lightly with the back of her hand--the smallest of hands--and he was so lost in admiration of the witchery of the gesture that he was disconcerted to find her eyes bent upon him keenly. "Of course, it's got to be developed--like anything else," he replied. "But--the fixed charges--and that sort of thing?" He wished she would not say "that sort of thing." The phrase as she used it swept everything before it like a broom. "It's a delicate matter, the sale of bonds," she continued. "I suppose if they turn out badly the investors have the bad manners to complain." "Well, it's up to the broker to satisfy them. My father taught me that," he went on largely. "He promoted a great number of schemes and nobody ever had any kick. You may have heard of the Sycamore troubles--well, I'm personally assuming the responsibility there. I deeply regret, as you may imagine, that there should be all this talk, but I'm going to pull it out. It's only fair to myself to say to you that that's my attitude. There's a lot of spite work back of it; you probably realize that." He wanted to say that Tom Kirkwood was the malignant agent in the situation, but he shrank from mentioning the lawyer. He wished Phil would come down and terminate an interview that was becoming increasingly disagreeable. "What do you consider those Sycamore bonds worth, Mr. Holton?" "Par!" he ejaculated. "You really think so?" "My word of honor! There's not a better 'buy' in the American market," he affirmed solemnly. "You can dispose of them at full face value?" she queried, arching her brows, her eyes full of wonder. "I'll pay that for any you have, Mrs. Holton," he threw out at a venture, feeling that it was a "safe" play. "Then I have twenty of them, and I believe I'll sell. You may bring me a check to-morrow. I shall have the bonds here at, say, three o'clock." She glanced carelessly at the watch on her wrist, and murmured something about Phil's delay. The bond transaction was concluded, so far as she was concerned; she spoke now of the reported illness of the Czar. She had visited St. Petersburg and appeared to be conversant with Russian politics.