“Do you think,” asked he, “that I am the kind of person to stand and wait while you feel your way? Because if you do, the sooner you undeceive yourself the better. Things that I take in hand are carried out like a flash of lightning. You have been playing while I and Catenac have been working, and nothing remains to be done but to act.” “Act! What do you mean?” “I mean that offices have been taken in the Rue Vivienne, that the articles of association have been drawn up, the directors chosen, and the Company registered. The printer brought the prospectus here yesterday; you can begin sending them out to-morrow.” “But----” “Read it for yourself,” said Mascarin, handing a printed paper to him. “Read, and then, perhaps, you will be convinced.” Croisenois, in a dazed sort of manner, accepted the paper and read it aloud. COPPER MINES OF TAFILA, ALGERIA. Chairman: THE MARQUIS HENRI DE CROISENOIS. Capital: Four Million Francs. This company does not appeal to that rash class of speculators who are willing to incur great risks for the sake of obtaining for a time heavy dividends. The shareholders in the Tafila Copper Mining Company, Limited, must not look for a dividend of more than six, or at the utmost seven, per cent. “Well,” interrupted Mascarin, “what do you think of this for a beginning?” “It seems fair enough,” answered De Croisenois, “but suppose others than those whose names you have in your black list take shares, what do you say we are to do then?” “We should simply decline to allot shares to them, that is all. See the Article XX. in the Articles of Association. ‘The Board of Directors may decline to allot shares to applicants without giving any reason for so doing.’” “And suppose,” continued the Marquis, “that one of our own people dispose of his share, may we not find our new shareholder a thorn in our side?” “Article XXI. ‘No transfer of stock is valid, unless passed by the Board of Directors, and recorded in the books of the Company,’” read out Mascarin. “And how will the game be brought to a conclusion?” “Easily enough. You will advertise one morning that two-thirds of the capital having been unsuccessfully sunk in the enterprise, you are compelled to apply for a winding-up of the Company under Article XVII. Six months afterwards you will announce that the liquidation of the Company has, after all expenses have been paid, left no balance whatsoever. Then you wash your hands of the whole thing, and the matter is at an end.” Croisenois felt that he had no ground to stand upon, but he ventured on one more objection. “It seems rather a strange thing to launch this enterprise at the present moment. May it not interfere with my marriage prospects? and may not the Count de Mussidan decline to give me his daughter and risk her dowry in this manner? One moment, I--” The agent sneered and cut short the tergiversations of the Marquis.