“Steady, steady! Not so fast!” Acherley let the mask fall, and, drawing himself to his full height—and tall and lean, in his long riding coat shaped to the figure, he looked imposing and insolent enough—he tapped his teeth with the handle of his riding whip. “Not so fast, man! Think it over!”—with an ugly smile. “I’ve been of use to you. It is your turn to be of use to me. I want to be rid of these shares.” “Naturally. But we don’t wish to take them, Mr. Acherley.” Acherley glowered at him. “You mean,” he said, “that the bank can’t afford to take them? If that’s your meaning——” “It does not suit us to take them.” “But by G—d you’ve got to take them! D’you hear, sir? You’ve got to take them, or take the consequences! I went into this to oblige you.” “Not at all,” Ovington said. “You came into it with your eyes open, and with a view to the improvement of your property, if the enterprise proved a success. No man came into it with eyes more open! To be frank with you——” But Acherley cut him short. “Oh, d—n all that!” he cried. “I did not come here to palaver. The long and short of it is you’ve got to take the shares, or, by Gad, I go out of this room and I say what I think! And you’ll take the consequences. There’s talk enough in the town already as you know. It only needs another punch, one more good punch, and you’re out of the ring and in the sponging house. And your beautiful bank you know where. You know that as well as I do, my good man. And if you want a friend instead of an enemy you’ll oblige me, and no words about it. That’s flat!” The room was growing dark. Ovington stood facing such light as there was. He looked very pale. “Yes, that’s quite flat,” he said. “Very good. Then what do you say to it?” “What I said before—No! No, Mr. Acherley!” “What? Do you mean it? Why, if you are such a fool as not to know your own interests——” “I do know them—very well,” Ovington said, resolutely taking him up. “I know what you want and I know what you offer. It is, as you say, quite flat, and I’ll be equally—flat! Your support is not worth the price. And I warn you, Mr. Acherley, and I beg you to take notice, that if you say a word against the solvency of the bank after this—-after this threat—you will be held accountable to the law. And more than that, I can assure you of another thing. If, as you believe, there is going to be trouble, it is you and such as you who will be the first to suffer. Your creditors——”