rs who are in a panic about Sycamore. I suppose I owe
something to the community myself--after--"

She gave him her quick, radiant smile.

He nodded gravely.

"All right, Lois. I'll remember that. And I'll tell you something else,
now that we're on business matters. The First National Bank over the way
there is built up in the air too high; it's got all the weaknesses of
the Holton family--showy without any real bottom to it. Some of their
stock has always been owned around through the state--quite a bunch of
it--and Bill has had to sell part of his own holdings lately; he's got
only a scant majority. I've been picking up a little myself, on the
quiet. After Tom gets through with the Holtons, I doubt if Bill's going
to be able to hold on. I know his line of customers; I guess I could
tell you about every piece of paper he's got. It's a poor line, wobbly
and uncertain. There was a new examiner here not long ago, and he stayed
in town two or three days when he usually cleans up in a day. Banking is
a business, Lois, not a pastime, and Bill isn't a banker; he's a
promoter. Do you get the idea?"

"I think I see the point, but if his bank's going to smash, why don't
you keep away from it? There's a double liability on national bank
stock, isn't there? Seems to me that's the reason I never bought any."

"Right, Lois; but I don't intend the First shall bust. It won't do me or
my bank or the town any good to have it go to smash. A town of the size
of this don't live down a bank failure in one generation. It soaks clear
in. I've got enough now to assert my rights as a stockholder, only I'm
keeping under cover; there's no use in screaming in the newspapers. I
haven't anything against Bill Holton, and if he pulls through, all
right; but if he can't--well, I've never wanted to nationalize this
bank, but that would be one way of doing it."

"You seem to be full of large thoughts, brother. You may play with my
money all you like in your charitable games, with a few reservations. I
like to eat and I don't want to spend my old age in the poorhouse.
There's cash enough here to run me for some time and you can use half of
that in any way you like. I'll take any chance you do, and you'll find
I won't cry if the boiler bursts. My Seattle real estate is all
right--and I mean to hold fast to it. Now I want to do something for
Phil; I want to make sure she never comes to want. That's only right,
you know."

She waited for his affirmat