“This is a double fault of mine,” he said with a deprecatory smile; “I’ve intruded myself upon you, and now I’m going to intrude a matter of business.” Mr. Cartwright frowned, whereupon Mr. Meredith cleared his throat impatiently. “Well, sir,” said Mr. Cartwright. For an instant a smile that was not in the least deprecatory quivered in the corners of the stockbroker’s mouth. “You gentlemen are trustees of the Bagsbury estate, are you not?” The two old men nodded, and their faces grew a shade redder; for they were thinking of Mr. Moffat, the disaffected, the revolutionary, the schismatic, the bane of their hitherto peaceful existence. It was not necessary, however, to speak of Mr. Moffat, so they merely nodded. “I thought of that the moment I saw you together,” Myers went on, “and it occurred to me that you were precisely the men I wanted to see. A large block of the stock in Bagsbury and Company’s Savings Bank was placed in my hands this morning for sale. The owner gave me no further instructions, and I suppose his idea was that I sell it on the stock exchange, in the open market. There would be no difficulty about that, for everybody knows that the stock’s a gilt-edged investment.” He paused to give them plenty of time to think, and then went on:-- “Bank affairs are like family affairs; if you can settle them without an appeal to the general public, it’s somewhat better. This is a large block of stock, and offering it in the open market would attract attention. I don’t know that it would do any harm. This bank’s too solid to be hurt that way. But it seemed to me that if I could sell it privately, it would be better. In any case, it wants to be settled up by to-morrow morning. I was very fortunate in finding you here together. It occurred to me that you trustees might want to buy it for the Bagsbury estate.” Again the two old gentlemen frowned, and again the stockbroker smiled almost imperceptibly. For the estate, indeed! That would mean, no doubt, another snub from the intolerable Moffat. “Or, of course, for any other party. I shall be very glad, indeed, if you gentlemen can relieve me of the matter.” “It was most praiseworthy of you to make this attempt to dispose of the stock quietly,” said Cartwright, with ponderous condescension. “I cannot applaud your delicacy too highly. A public sale would undoubtedly arouse impertinent curiosity and set idle tongues to wagging. We shall be glad to consider your proposition. Er--who is the present holder of the stock?” “There is nothing to make a mystery about. I know of no reason in the world why I should not tell you it, except--(he was something of a practical humorist, this stockbroker)--except that I have no explicit instructions giving me the right to tell you.” “You decline to tell me--”