"I
presume that you will wish to consult with Mr. Price. I have made
known my terms to you, and I have nothing more to say. Either you
will accept the terms, or I shall drop everything else, and prepare
to fight you at every step. I expect to receive the stock by this
evening's mail, and I am obliged to ask you to favour me with a
decision by to-morrow noon, so that we can close the matter up
without delay."
And with that he bowed formally and took his departure.
The next morning's mail brought him a letter from William E.
Davenant. "My dear Mr. Montague," it read. "It is reported to me
that you have thirty-five hundred shares of the stock of the
Northern Mississippi Railroad which you desire to sell at fifty
dollars a share. If you will bring the stock to my office to-day, I
shall be glad to purchase it."
Having received the letters from the South, Montague went
immediately. Davenant was formal; but Montague could catch a
humorous twinkle in his eye, which seemed to say, quite
confidentially, that he appreciated the joke.
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