o come in for transfer, in small lots of from ten to
twenty shares, and inside a week not a certificate stood in Sharpe's
name. All the stock held by Williams also came in for transfer. Bobby
went immediately to see Sharpe, and, very much concerned, inquired
into the meaning of this. Mr. Sharpe was as pleasant as Christmas
morning.

"To tell you the truth, Mr. Burnit," said he, "there were several very
good reasons. In the first place, I needed the money; in the second
place, you were insistent upon control and abused it; in the third
place, since the increased capitalization and change of management the
quotations on Brightlight Electric dropped from one-seventy-two to
one-sixty-five, and I got out before it could drop any lower. You will
give me credit for selling the stock privately and in small lots where
it could not break the price. However, Mr. Burnit, I don't see where
the sale of my stock affects you in any way. You have the Brightlight
Electric now in good condition, and all it needs to remain a good
investment is proper management."

"I'm afraid it needs more than that," retorted Bobby. "I'm afraid it
needs to be in a position to make more money for other people than for
myself;" through which remark it may be seen that, though perhaps a
trifle slow, Bobby was learning.

Another lesson awaited him. On the following morning every paper in
the city blazed with the disquieting information that the Consumers'
Electric Light and Power Company and the United Illuminating and Fuel
Company were to be consolidated! Out of the two old concerns a
fifty-million-dollar corporation was to be formed, and a certain
portion of the stock was to be sold in small lots, as low, even, as
one share each, so that the public should be given a chance to
participate in this unparalleled investment. Oh, it was to be a
tremendous boon to the city!

Bobby, much worried, went straight to Chalmers.

"So far as I can see you have all the best of the bargain," Chalmers
reassured him. "The Consumers', already four times watered and quoted
at about seventy, is to be increased from two to five million before
the consolidation, so that it can be taken in at ten million. The
Union, already watered from one to nine million in its few brief
years, takes on another hydraulic spurt and will be bought for twenty
million. Of the thirty million dollars which is to be paid for the old
corporation, nineteen million represents new water, the most of w