"By building a town."
"Sumptuous Cæsar! Building a town without any running arrangement over the Great Southern Railway!"
"Yes; we thought once the town was built, the directors of the Southern Railway, or rather, the general manager, for from what I learn the directors have very little to do with it, would, for the sake of the road, give us the train service we needed."
"But that was very easily found out, surely? They either would, or they wouldn't. If they wouldn't, it was folly to build the town, and if they would there could be no objection to their stating so in writing."
Mackeller drew his handkerchief across his brow.
"Yes," he said, disconsolately, "everything you state is so sensible and so accurate that I almost regret resolving to tell you about it. It's easy to show where we were wrong after the event."
"Oh, come now, Peter, that's hardly fair. I'm not one of the I-told-you-so league. I would have said the same at the time, if I had been asked. From what you have already revealed, I gather that Sir Phillip Sanderson is simply a sentimental muddler of affairs. The quibbling with himself by paying dividends that weren't earned, strikes me as not only dishonest but idiotic."
"Yes, but you won't wait until you hear what's
