“She’ll have it,” interrupted Conover. “She’ll have enough to make her the richest woman in this burg,--an’ it’ll be in her own name, too. As for shakin’ folks like me,--if I haven’t got my own foot hold there by that time,--she’ll do that too. I’ll see that she does.” “And yet you’re fond of her?” “That’s why I’m doin’ it, son. An’ remember you’ll keep on bein’ the only one besides the Hawardens that knows anything ’bout my share in the deal. Speakin’ of ‘deals,’ Blacarda means trouble for us.” “In the Steeloid affair?” queried Caine. “I thought you’d won that fight.” “I won that, but there’s another a-comin’. I got a tip on it same time I heard of the incorp’ration, to-day. Blacarda pulls a pretty big oar in the Legislature. He’s back of that Starke Anti-Combine bill we side-tracked early in the session. If the Starke bill passes, then goodbye to our Steeloid corner! I’ve a tip he’s renewed it an’ tryin’ to rush it through before the session closes. It’s to be sprung on the Assembly, Monday. An’ he figgers on gettin’ it railroaded through. If it once passes the Assembly, we’re goners. For he’s got the State Senate where he wants it. An’ the Gov’nor’s on his side. Owns a nice block of stock in Blacarda’s comp’ny. So it all hangs on the Assembly.” “You take it coolly--considering you stand to lose something like a million dollars.” “A man who can’t keep his feet warm an’ his head cool has about as much show in finance as a tallow dog chasin’ an asbestos cat through hell,” observed Caleb, oracularly. “He goes up with a puff and there ain’t any remains to look for. I’m not in the Steeloid deal to cure me of weak heart or that tired feelin’. I’m in to win. An’ I’m goin’ to.” “But the Assembly?” “I’m not afraid about the Assembly. So long as I’m on hand myself, in the lobby, to hand out kicks or kisses, I’ll be able to kill the Starke bill. I’ve gone up to the Capital before, on what looked like a losin’ fight. An’ I’ve licked the obstinate one into shape, an’ scared some backbone into the weak one, an’ put a little bank-note oil on the rusty ones--an’ swung enough of ’em into line to give me the votes I needed. I know this Assembly pretty well. I know who to count on an’ who not to. I know who to buy, who to bully an’ who to promise. If I sent up anyone else, he’d make a fizzle of the thing. But, somehow, in all my business deals, I find if I’m on the ground myself I can make folks do what I want. You saw how that was, to-day, at the Club. If I’d been away, an’ you or anyone else representin’ me, I’d a’ been kicked out of the Arareek so far that I’d a-landed in another State. But I swung ’em. An’ I’ll swing ’em at the Capital. It’ll be a narrow squeak, but I’ll do it.” “In other words, if you are there in person, the day the bill comes up, you can kill it. Otherwise not. Suppose you’re sick, or--”