e expectancy prevailed. For two weeks the office force had
been busily at work, preparing inventories and balance sheets. The
firm of French and Company, Limited, manufacturers of crashes and
burlaps and kindred stuffs, with extensive mills in Connecticut, and
central offices in New York, having for a long time resisted the siren
voice of the promoter, had finally faced the alternative of selling
out, at a sacrifice, to the recently organised bagging trust, or of
meeting a disastrous competition. Expecting to yield in the end, they
had fought for position--with brilliant results. Negotiations for a
sale, upon terms highly favourable to the firm, had been in progress
for several weeks; and the two partners were awaiting, in their
private office, the final word. Should the sale be completed, they
were richer men than they could have hoped to be after ten years more
of business stress and struggle; should it fail, they were heavy
losers, for their fight had been expensive. They were in much the same
position as the player who had staked the bulk of his fortune on the
cast of a die. Not meaning to risk so much, they had been drawn into
it; but the game was worth the candle.

"Nine fifty-five," said Kirby. "Five minutes more!"

He strode over to the window and looked out. It was snowing, and the
March wind, blowing straight up Broadway from the bay, swept the white
flakes northward in long, feathery swirls. Mr. French preserved his
rigid attitude, though a close observer might have wondered whether it
was quite natural, or merely the result of a supreme effort of will.

Work had been practically suspended in the outer office. The clerks
were also watching the clock. Every one of them knew that the board of
directors of the bagging trust was in session, and that at ten o'clock
it was to report the result of its action on the proposition of French
and Company, Limited. The clerks were not especially cheerful; the
impending change meant for them, at best, a change of masters, and for
many of them, the loss of employment. The firm, for relinquishing its
business and good will, would receive liberal compensation; the
clerks, for their skill, experience, and prospects of advancement,
would receive their discharge. What else could be expected? The
principal reason for the trust's existence was economy of
administration; this was stated, most convincingly, in the prospectus.
There was no suggestion, in that model document, that co