It was a wet and chilly night, and Singleton sat in an easy chair beside the hearth in his city quarters with an old pipe in his hand. The room was shabbily furnished, the hearthrug had a hole in it, the carpet was threadbare, and Singleton\'s attire harmonized with his surroundings, though the box of cigars and one or two bottles and siphons on the table suggested that he expected visitors. The loose Tuxedo jacket he had bought in America was marked by discolored patches; his carpet slippers were dilapidated. His means, though long restricted, would have warranted better accommodations; but his clothes were comfortable and he did not think it worth while to put on anything smarter. There was a vein of rather bitter pride in the man, and he would not, out of deference to any other person\'s views, alter conditions that suited him.

A notebook lay beside him and several bulky treatises on botany were scattered about, but he had ceased work and was thinking. After the shadow and silence of the tropical bush, to which he was most accustomed, the rattle of the traffic in the wet street below was stimulating; but his reflections were not pleasant. He had waited patiently for another invitation to Lansing\'s house, which had not arrived, and a day or two ago he had met Sylvia Marston, upon whom his mind had steadily dwelt, in a busy street. She had bowed to him courteously, but she had made it clear that she did not expect him to stop and speak. It had been a bitter moment to Singleton, but he had calmly faced the truth. He had served his purpose, and he had been dropped. Now, however, a letter from one of the people he was expecting indicated that he might again be drawn into the rubber-exploiting scheme.

The two gentlemen who had called on Herbert were shown in presently.

"It was I who wrote you," the first of them said; "this is my colleague, Mr. Nevis."

Singleton bowed.

"Will you take that chair, Mr. Jackson?" He turned to the other man.
"I think you had better have this one; it\'s comparatively sound."

He was aware that they were looking about his apartment curiously, and no doubt inferring something from its condition; but this was of no consequence. He had learned his value and meant to insist on it, without the assistance of any signs of prosperity.

"I couldn\'t get up to town, as you suggested," he resumed when they were seated. "I\'ve been rather busy of late."

"That\'s generally the case with us," Jackson said pointedly.

He was a thin man, very neatly and quietly dressed, with a solemn face and an air of importance. Nevis was stouter and more florid, with a brisker manner, but the stamp of the city was plainly set on both.

"Well," said Singleton, "I\'m at your service, now you\'re here. The cigars are nearest you, Mr. Nevis, and I can recommend the contents of the smaller bottle. It\'s a Southern speciality and rather difficult to get in England."

Nevis hesitated. He thought it better that the interview should be conducted on strictly business lines, while to accept the proffered hospitality would tend to place him and the man he wished to deal with on a footing of social equality. But it was desirable not to offend Singleton, and he lighted a cigar.

"To begin with, I must ask if you are still in any way connected with
Mr. Lansing?" he said.

"No," answered Singleton with some grimness. "You can take it for granted that he has done with me."

"That clears the ground. We have been considering the report you wrote for him. In our opinion, it was, while not encouraging, hardly sufficient to warrant his abandoning the project, in which, as you have been told, we were associated with him."

"He may have had other motives," Singleton suggested.

Nevis nodded gravely, as if in appreciation of his keenness.

"That," he said, "is what occurred to us. But what is your idea of the scheme?"

"It\'s clearly stated in the report."

Jackson made a sign of impatience.

"We\'ll leave the report out and come to the point. Can the rubber, which you say is really to be found, be collected and brought down to the coast without incurring a prohibitive expense?"

"Yes," said Singleton. "But you must understand me. The methods generally adopted in such cases would be bound to fail. You would require an overseer with rather exceptional technical knowledge, who must, besides this, be quite free from the usual prejudices on the native question. They would, no doubt, be a little difficult to avoid, since at first he would have to put up with a few attempts upon his life; but, if he could combine resolution and strict justice with a conciliatory attitude, the attempt would cease, and I think he could earn you a fair return on a moderate outlay."

Jackson laughed.

"So far as my experience goes, such men are scarce. But I\'d better say that we had you in mind when we made this visit. Do you think you could do anything, if we sent you out?"

"Yes," said Singleton quietly; "I believe I could make the venture pay.
Whether I\'d think it worth while is another matter."

"Then," Nevis interposed, "it\'s simply a question of terms?"

"Oh, no. You may be surprised to hear that payment is not the first consideration; though it\'s true. I\'m interested in certain investigations which can be carried out only in the tropics. However, you\'d better make your offer."

Nevis did so, and Singleton pondered for a few moments.

"The remuneration might suffice, provided that I was given a percentage on the product and one or two special allowances; but before going any farther I must understand your intentions. I\'m a botanist, and have no wish to be made use of merely for the purpose of furthering some stock-jobbing scheme. Do you really want this venture put upon a satisfactory working footing?"

"I\'ll explain," said Nevis. "The fact is, Lansing let us in rather badly. We spent a good deal of money over this concession, and we\'re anxious to get it back. Since we can\'t float the thing on the market at present, we have formed a small private syndicate to develop the property, though we may sell out in a year or two if you can make the undertaking commercially successful. I think you could count on the purchasers\' continuing operations."

"Have you considered what Lansing\'s attitude may be?"

"It won\'t matter. He has gone out of the business, convinced that the thing\'s no good; he cleared off most of his rubber shares, for a similar reason. This raises another point—the original company\'s possessions lie in the same region, though ruled by another state, and things are going badly there. If you could get across and see what could be done, we would pay an extra fee."

Singleton lighted a cigar and leaned back in his chair with a thoughtful expression, and for a minute or two they left him alone. They were keen business men, but they knew that their usual methods would not serve them with this shabbily-dressed, self-possessed botanist.

"Well," he said at length, "your suggestion rather appeals to me, but there\'s the difficulty that another matter claims my attention. Though it isn\'t strictly in my line, I\'ve been asked to go out to Canada and assist in the production of a variety of wheat that will ripen quickly; in fact, I was looking up some information bearing on the matter when you came in. It\'s a remarkably interesting subject."

They were clever enough to see that this was not an attempt to enhance the value of his services; the man was obviously a botanical enthusiast, and Nevis showed signs of attention. He had once or twice thought that something might be made out of Canadian land companies.

"One could imagine that," he said. "I understand that it\'s a matter of high importance."

"The development of the whole northern portion of the prairie country depends on the success of the experiments that are being made," Singleton went on. "Their summers are hot but short; if they can get a grain that ripens early, they can cultivate vast stretches of land that are now, from economic reasons, uninhabitable, and it would make farming a more prosperous business in other tracts. Crops growing in the favored parts are occasionally frozen. It\'s a coincidence that a day or two ago I got a letter inquiring about that kind of wheat from a friend in Canada who is, as it happens, farming with a cousin of Lansing\'s." Then he laughed. "All this, however, has nothing to do with the object of your visit. Give me a few more minutes to think it over."

There was silence except for the rattle of wheels outside while he smoked half a cigar; then he turned to his companions.

"I\'ll go out and undertake your work. I believe you\'re acting wisely, and that Lansing will be sorry after a while that he threw away his interest in the scheme."

They discussed the details of the project and then the business men went away, satisfied. Shortly afterward Singleton took a letter out of a paper rack, and when he had read it he leaned back in his chair, lost in pleasant recollections. Some years earlier, he had by chance fallen in with a lad named West when fishing among the Scottish hills. The young man\'s sister and elder brother were staying with him at the remote hotel in which Singleton had quarters, and somewhat to his astonishment they soon made friends with him.

Poverty had made him reserved; he knew that he was a little awkward and unpolished, but the Wests had not attempted to patronize him. Their cordiality set him at his ease; he liked the careless, good-humored lad; Ethel West, grave-eyed, direct, and candid, made a strong impression, and he had been drawn to the quiet lawyer who was much older than either. They spen............