Forbes was swallowing a sob. "I said it to Osserman—that’s the president—I said it to him himself." "Well?" persisted Luke. "Well"—Forbes’s eyes met Huber’s—"it wasn’t any use." "Now, look here," said Luke. He put into his voice a calm that he did not feel. "Try to tell me just what happened. I can’t advise you till I know that, even if I’m not the business-fool I seem to have proved myself to be. First of all, Osserman sent you some sort of word, didn’t he?" "Yes, of course." "What was it?" "It was a letter—just a personal letter." "When did you get it?" "About eleven this morning." "So then you went over to the bank?" "Yes." "And asked to see this man Osserman?" "Yes." "And what did he say?" "Well," he said—"I can’t tell you exactly; he was careful not to use definite words; but careful to make his meaning clear." "What was his meaning, then?" "He said in effect that he understood you were interested in our Business." "What of it? That’s what I want to know, Forbes. What’s my interest in your firm got to do with your standing at the East County National?" "Oh, he didn’t say at first. At first he said he understood we were not sound." "So you told him he was mistaken and offered to show the books?" "Of course I did." Forbes’s chin shot upward. "I told him that the Forbes firm was one of the oldest and——" "Yes, yes. And then he mentioned me. How did I hurt the firm’s standing?" "He was really very plausible about that. I must say, Huber, that he rather opened my eyes to a phase of your political activities I hadn’t before thought of." "What phase?" "To be quite frank, he called your public utterances wild. He said they attacked credit and might shake it. He even intimated that if you were elected, you’d go in for a course of action—you had pledged yourself to go in for one that would upset credit altogether. And that’s true, Huber." Forbes gained a certain confidence. "When you come to think of it, the business interests of the city—I mean the sound conservative business interests—ought not to be made to suffer for the sins of the big financiers." Luke recaptured his composure. His face relaxed; he looked lazy and uninterested. "So I suppose," he said, "that this banker asked you to tell me to get out of the fight." "Yes, but of course——" "Really, that’s the highest testimony to the League’s strength that we’ve had yet." "Yes, but, of course, I told him I couldn’t do that." "What did he say then?" "He said he was afraid the City Chamberlain would withdraw all the city funds on deposit at the East County if the bank kept on carrying a loan you were interested in." "And you took all this like a child?" "I didn’t. You ought to know me better than that." "What did you do?" "I was indignant. I told you I was. I said I would not have a loan from a concern that interfered with the political convictions of its creditors. I said I would go somewhere else." "Did you go?"