“Mr. Bourdillon?” The broker stared, unable on the instant to recall his thoughts, and from the way in which he wiped his bald and steaming head with a yellow bandanna, it was plain that he had just got something of moment off his mind. “Pheugh! What times!” he ejaculated, fanning himself and breathing hard. “What a morning! You’ve heard, I suppose? Everitt’s are gone. Gone within the hour, d—n them! Oh, Bourdillon? It was Bourdillon you asked for? To be sure, it’s Mr. Ovington, isn’t it? I thought so; I never forget a face, but he didn’t tell me that you were here. By Jove!” He raised his hands—he was a portly gentleman, wearing a satin under-vest and pins and chains innumerable, all at this moment a little awry. “By Jove, what a find you have there! Slap, bang, and tip to the mark, and no mistake! Hard and sharp as nails! I take off my hat to him! There’s not a firm,” mopping his heated face anew, “within half a mile of us that wouldn’t be glad to have him! I’ll take my Davy there are not ten men in country practice could have pushed the deal through, and squeezed eleven thousand in cash out of Snell & Higgins on such a day as this! He’s a marvel, Mr. Ovington! You can tell your father I said so, and I don’t care who says the contrary.” “But is he here?” Clement cried, dancing with impatience. “Is he here, man?” “Gone to the India House this—” he looked at his watch—“this half-hour, to complete. He had to drop seven per cent. for cash on the nail—that, of course! But he got six thousand odd in Bank paper, and five thou. in gold, and I’m damned if any one else would have got that to-day, though the stuff he had was as good as the ready in ordinary times. My partner’s gone with him to Leadenhall Street to complete—glad to oblige you, for God knows how many clients we shall have left after this—and they’ve a hackney coach waiting in Bishopsgate and an officer to see them to it. You may catch him at the India House, or he may be gone. He’s not one to let the grass grow under his feet. In that case——” “Send a clerk with me to show me the Office!” Clement cried. “It’s urgent, man, urgent! And I don’t know my way inside the House. I must catch him.” “Well, with so much money—here, Nicky!” The broker stepped aside to make room for a client who came up the stairs three at a time. “Nicky, go with this gentleman! Show him the way to the India House. Transfer Office—Letter G! Sharp’s the word. Don’t lose time.—Coming! Coming!” to some one in the office. “My compliments to your father. He’s one of the lucky ones, for I suppose this will see you through. It’s Boulogne or this—” he made as if he held a pistol to his head—“for more than I care to think of!”