"No," said the visitor, with a snarl, "I oughtn't to be, but I do. If the dear brother wants any amount, there it, is; but if I want it--cold shoulder." "So it is, my dear fellow; some are favourites for a time, some are not: Let me see. He's engaged to the rich doctor's daughter, isn't he?" "Oh yes, bless me," said Jessop. "All the fat and gravy of life come to him." The young lawyer threw one leg over the other and clasped his hands about his knee. "Ah! yes," he said seriously, "the distribution of money and honour in this world is very unequal. Clive is on that mine, isn't he?" "Oh, yes; consulting engineer and referee scientific, and all the confounded cant of it. As for a good thing--well, I'm told not to grumble, and to be content with my commission and all the shares I can get taken up." "Does seem hard," said Wrigley. "Only for a year or two, eh? And then a sale and a burst up?" "Don't you make any mistake about that, old man," said Jessop sulkily. "It's a big thing." "Then why wasn't it taken up before?" "Because people are fools. They've been so awfully humbugged, too, over mines. This is a very old mine that the governor has been trying to get hold of on the quiet for years, but he couldn't work it till old Lord Belvers died. It has never been worked by machinery, and, as you may say, has only been skinned. There are mints of money in it, my boy, and so I tell you." Wrigley smiled. "What is your commission on all the shares you place?" "Precious little. Eh? Oh, I see; you think I want to plant a few. Not likely. If you wanted a hundred, I couldn't get them for you." "No, they never are to be had." "Chaff away. I don't care. You know it's a good thing, or else our governor wouldn't have put his name to it and set so much money as he has." "To come up and bear a good crop, eh? There, I won't chaff about it, Jessop, boy. I know it's a good thing, and you ought to make a rare swag out of it." "So that you could too, eh?" "Of course; so that we could both make a good thing out of it. One is not above making a few thou's, I can tell you. Lead, isn't it?" "Yes, solid lead. None of your confounded flashy gold-mines." "But they sound well with the public, Jessop. Gold--gold--gold. The public is not a Bassanio, to choose the lead casket." "It was a trump ace, though, my boy." "So it was. But you are only to get a little commission out of sales over this, eh?" "That's all; and it isn't worth the candle, for there'll be no more to sell. The shares are going up tremendously." "So I hear--so I hear," said Wrigley thoughtfully; "and you are left out in the cold, and have to come borrowing. Jessop, old man, over business matters you and I are business men, and there is, as the saying goes, no friendship in business." "Not a bit," said Jessop, with an oath. "But we are old friends, and we have seen a little life together." "Ah! we have," said Jessop, nodding his head.