Mr. Lock’s face disclosed the fact that he had summoned all his faculties--and he was a man of many faculties--to the task that lay before him. Various things had irked and annoyed him that morning, but in order to retain the mien of diplomacy he was compelled to seem to ignore them. There could be no doubt, for example, that he bitterly resented the presence of Richard at this interview, but what could he do save swallow the affront? The whole situation was a humiliating one for Simon Lock, who was much more accustomed to dictate terms than to have terms dictated to him. Still, it was to his credit as a man of nerve and a man of resource that he was able to adapt himself to unusual circumstances. He had a triple feat to perform--to keep his dignity, to be diplomatic, and to be firm. He had come with a precise end in view, and he was willing to sacrifice everything to that end. Behold him, therefore, in the drawing-room at Queen’s Farm--him, the demi-god of the City, trying to show a pleasant and yet a formidable face under extraordinary trials. ‘It is true,’ said Raphael Craig, ‘that I expected you. But it was my instinct more than anything else that led me to expect you. You come, I presume, about the shares of La Princesse Mine.’ ‘Exactly,’ said Simon Lock. ‘You have contracted to sell more of these shares than you can supply, and the price has risen?’ ‘Exactly,’ said Simon Lock, smiling cautiously. Raphael Craig was, so far, courtesy itself. ‘And you wish to get the bargain cancelled?’ ‘I am prepared to pay for the accommodation.’ ‘And to get the bargain cancelled,’ Craig pursued, ‘you come to me.’ ‘I come to you,’ repeated Simon Lock. ‘Yet you could have no direct knowledge that I had any influence over these shares.’ ‘No direct knowledge,’ said Lock; ‘but an indirect knowledge. Perhaps,’ he added, in a peculiar tone, ‘I know more than you guess.’ ‘As for example?’ ‘Perhaps I could answer the question, which certainly demands an answer, how you, a mere manager of a branch of our bank, in receipt of a not excessive salary, found the money to become a power on the Westralian market. As the chairman of the directors of the bank I have, I think, Mr. Craig, the right to put that question.’ ‘You have first to prove that I indeed am a power on the Westralian market.’ ‘The proof of that is in the mere fact that I--I--am here at the present moment.’ Raphael Craig smiled. ‘You are correct,’ he said. ‘That fact is a proof in itself. I admit that I am a power. To save unnecessary words, I frankly admit that I hold La Princesse Mine in the hollow of my hand. You have come to the proper person, Mr. Lock. We meet at last. And am I to understand that one object of your visit here is to discover how I became possessed of the means which a manipulator of markets must possess?’ ‘I confess I should like to know from your own lips.’