Then, while Gregory started, Sally walked into the room.
Edmonds was disconcerted, but he made her a little inclination, and then sat down again, quietly determined to wait, for he fancied there was hostility in the swift glance she flashed at him.
"That's quite a smart team you were driving, Miss Creighton," he said.
Sally, who disregarded this, turned to Hawtrey.
"He came over on a little matter of business," said Hawtrey.
Hawtrey looked embarrassed, for her manner was not conciliatory. "Well," he admitted, "I have sold some."
Hawtrey did not answer, and Sally sat down. Her manner suggested that she meant to thoroughly investigate the matter, and Edmonds, who would have greatly preferred to get rid of her, decided that as this appeared impossible he would appeal to her cupidity. The Creightons were somewhat grasping folks, and he had heard of her engagement to Hawtrey.
"If you will permit me I'll try to explain," he said. "We'll say that you have reason for believing that wheat will go down and you tell a broker to sell it forward at a price a little below the actual one. If other people do the same it drops faster, and before you have to deliver you can buy it in at less than you sold it at. A good many dollars can be picked up that way."
"It looks easy," Sally admitted, with something in her manner which led him to fancy he might win her over. "Of course, prices have been falling. Gregory has been selling down?"
"He has. In fact, there's already a big margin to his credit," said Edmonds unsuspectingly.
"That is, if he bought in now he'd have cleared--several thousand dollars?"
Edmonds told her exactly how much, and then started in sudden consternation with rage in his heart, for she turned to Hawtrey imperiously.
"Then you'll write your broker to buy in right away," she said.
There was an awkward silence, during which the two men looked at one another until Edmonds spoke.
"Are you wise in suggesting this, Miss Creighton?" he asked.
Sally laughed harshly. "Oh yes," she said, "it's a sure thing. And I don't suggest. I tell him to get it done."
She turned again to Hawtrey, who sat very still looking at her with a flush in his face. "Take your pen and give him that letter to the broker now."