CHAPTER XV.
HOW RICHARD MET INSPECTOR VAL When, prior to the hour of Mr.Gwynn's dinner, Richard talked with Mr.
Bayard, the burden of their conversation was Northern Consolidated, and what manner of report might be expected from Senator Hanway's committee.
Mr.Bayard was sure the members of the osprey pool designed a "bear" campaign.

For all that, he could not overstate the importance of getting possession of the Hanway report the moment it was prepared.

Mr.Bayard's belief in a "bear" movement to occur was only a deduction; it was not information--he did not know.

There was no such thing as being positive until the written report was in Mr.Bayard's hands.

He would then have absolute knowledge of the pool's intentions.