"Not yet. We're in correspondence with London people, and they'll probably come out. When they do," continued Wimperley, eying the other man meaningly, "we'll turn them over to you." "Is that it?" The voice had a profundity of meaning. Wimperley nodded. "I thought you'd understand. You got us in, and now you've got to pull us out." "And pull myself out too," said Clark dryly. "Thanks." "Would you prefer that the works stay idle with you or get busy without you?" interjected Birch pointedly. "When it comes to that--if it does--I'll let you know. In the meantime--?" "Don't turn a wheel except for town utilities, and now we'd like to see Bowers. You probably don't realize what we've been through in Philadelphia. Consolidated isn't what you'd call gilt edged just now, and the corners are knocked off our reputation as business men. I just mention this in case you feel aggrieved." Clark grinned suddenly. "I'm not worrying either about my stock or my business reputation. Your difficulty is that you don't see why any one else should pull through where we didn't." Wimperley nodded. "There's something in that. What we've got now is the job of making Consolidated stock worth something--by earnings. It means cutting out the dead wood--our own dead wood, and I don't fancy the contract. It hurts to chop down the tree you helped to plant--but it's the only way out of it. There will probably be months before this machine will start up again, and move toward permanent success." A day or two afterwards the two directors went back to Philadelphia, where they reported to Stoughton and Riggs that the screws were on tight. Save only the pumps and generators, not a wheel turned in the Consolidated. Birch's conclusion was that millions more were needed. Consolidated stock settled down to a nominal value that fluctuated with conflicting reports of new capital having been found, but the whole affair was flat--indescribably flat. And meantime Birch--with the unprofitable burden on his shoulders--made pilgrimages to test the financial pulse, and for months returned empty handed. In St. Marys it seemed that Arcadia might be reborn,--not the old time Arcadia with its sleepy village atmosphere, but a modern one in which folk made up their minds to live on the profits of past years. The car service was reduced, and half the street lamps removed. There were empty houses in the new streets, and the property which once passed through Manson's hands could have been re-bought at the original price. Filmer and the rest reduced their stock, while the whole overbuilt, overgrown town settled down to wait till, after a weary interval, Clark got off the train with two strangers and drove up to the big house on the hill. In half an hour Bowers, who was expecting them, completed the quartet.