“Well, no, not a first rate one. Polly’s prejudiced, and she won’t let me put it in here; but I’m playing my cards to get it adopted in the President’s house, and _then_ it’ll go—don’t you doubt it. I shall not need this one for the present, Washington; you may take it down to some boarding-house and give it a trial if you like.” CHAPTER XVIII. Washington shuddered slightly at the suggestion, then his face took on a dreamy look and he dropped into a trance of thought. After a little, Sellers asked him what he was grinding in his mental mill. “Well, this. Have you got some secret project in your head which requires a Bank of England back of it to make it succeed?” p184.jpg (28K) The Colonel showed lively astonishment, and said: “Why, Hawkins, are you a mind-reader?” “I? I never thought of such a thing.” “Well, then how did you happen to drop onto that idea in this curious fashion? It’s just mind-reading, that’s what it is, though you may not know it. Because I _have_ got a private project that requires a Bank of England at its back. How could you divine that? What was the process? This is interesting.” “There wasn’t any process. A thought like this happened to slip through my head by accident: How much would make you or me comfortable? A hundred thousand. Yet you are expecting two or three of—these inventions of yours to turn out some billions of money—and you are _wanting_ them to do that. If you wanted ten millions, I could understand that—it’s inside the human limits. But billions! That’s clear outside the limits. There must be a definite project back of that somewhere.” The earl’s interest and surprise augmented with every word, and when Hawkins finished, he said with strong admiration: “It’s wonderfully reasoned out, Washington, it certainly is. It shows what I think is quite extraordinary penetration. For you’ve hit it; you’ve driven the centre, you’ve plugged the bulls-eye of my dream. Now I’ll tell you the whole thing, and you’ll understand it. I don’t need to ask you to keep it to yourself, because you’ll see that the project will prosper all the better for being kept in the background till the right time. Have you noticed how many pamphlets and books I’ve got lying around relating to Russia?” “Yes, I think most anybody would notice that—anybody who wasn’t dead.” “Well, I’ve been posting myself a good while. That’s a great and, splendid nation, and deserves to be set free.” He paused, then added in a quite matter-of-fact way, “When I get this money I’m going to set it free.” “Great guns!” “Why, what makes you jump like that?”