“He will attempt to make contact with you, so that you can assure him you are not selling your ten percent. Or that you will sell it to him, and not to me. He will first try to cable you. He may even try to take a train to New York, if he can find one so late. But he will be unable to reach you, because you will have departed. All attempts to reach you will fail. He will not know if you are holding or selling. He will be in a state of great anxiety. And why? All because he hates me, and does not want me to have any part in his railroad. There will be wailing, gentlemen, and gnashing of teeth.

“On Monday morning, Cyrus MacDuff or his agents will be trying to buy shares in the Hudson Ohio Railroad. They will be urgent. They’ll bid up the price of the shares. But there will be scarcely any shares to be bought.

“In fact, my agents will sell them a few of my own shares, to keep things lively. But not nearly as many as they will need. The market will see. The market will become excited. And then the market will remember something else. It will remember because my agents will be pointing it out. ‘If Gabriel Love gets control of the Hudson Ohio,’ they’ll say, ‘then he’ll join the Niagara to it, and the value of the Niagara Railroad will multiply many times.’ While MacDuff’s men are scouring the market for Hudson Ohio shares, the share price of Niagara will go up like a rocket. It’s a good bet, after all. And during that time, I shall sell my Niagara shares. By day’s end, I expect to be out of it.”

“And during this time, you want me to do nothing?” said Master.

“You will not be here, you will know nothing. But following our previous meeting, you have already left secret instructions with your broker.”

“If the price of Hudson Ohio ever passes one twenty, he’s to sell half of them for the best price he can get.”

“Reasonable instructions, such as any investor might leave. And I think they’ll go much higher. By that time the whole market will be after those shares. Nobody’s going to know what’s going on. I shall be selling my own shares too. We’ll both have a handsome profit, Mr. Master. Very handsome indeed.”

“It’s beautiful,” said Sean.

“Its beauty,” said Mr. Love benevolently, “is that everybody gets what he wants. I shall be out of the market with a big profit. Mr. Master here will have a profit too, with no risk. Even the people who bought Niagara will do well. Because once he discovers I’m out of it, Mr. MacDuff will have no reason not to do the obvious thing, and join the Niagara to the Hudson Ohio, giving value to their shares. Even MacDuff will have what he wants, because he will surely end the day with an absolute controlling interest in the Hudson Ohio.” And here Mr. Love’s watery blue eyes not only grew hard, but seemed miraculously to narrow, until his whole face, instead of resembling Santa Claus, reminded you of a large, white rat. “But,” he whispered, “he will have paid me through the nose to get it.”