"
Peter smiled quietly. "Tell them our wishes are not mutual." Then he
turned to the newcomer. "It's all right," he said, "so far as the party
is concerned, Hummel. But I'm to foot the bill to do it."
"The devil! You don't mean--?"
Peter nodded his head.
"I'll give twenty-five thousand to the fund," said Hummel, gleefully.
"See if I don't."
"Excuse me, Mr. Stirling," said a man who had just come in.
"Certainly," said Peter promptly, "But I must ask the same favor of you,
as I am going down town at once." Peter had the brutality to pass out of
the front door instantly, leaving the reporter with a disappointed look
on his face.
"If he only would have said something?" groaned the reporter to himself.
"Anything that could be spun into a column. He needn't have told me what
he didn't care to tell, yet he could have helped me to pay my month's
rent as easily as could be."
As for Peter, he fell into a long stride, and his face nearly equalled
his stride in length. After he reached his quarters he sat and smoked,
with the same serious look.
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