ild its own water-plant, and
of course run the present company out of business. Not a thing in it!
All bluff. He'll get the stock, I suppose. What's that?' he broke off to
a clerk who came with a message. 'Wants 500 preferred does he? Buyer
30? Very well, he can't have it. Say so from me. Now,' he resumed to me,
'take a cigar by the way. And don't buy any more Petunias until I tell
you the right moment. Do you see where your Amalgamated Electric has
gone to?'"

"I had seen this. It had scored a 20-point rise since my purchase of
it; and I felt very sorry that I had not taken Mr. Beverly's advice
and bought a thousand shares. It had been on a day when I had felt
unaccountably cautious, and I had taken only two hundred and fifty
shares of Amalgamated Electric. There are days when one is cautious and
days when one is venturesome; and they seem to have nothing to do with
results."

"'They're going to increase the dividend,' said Mr. Beverly, as I smoked
his excellent cigar. 'It's good for twenty points higher by the end of
the week. I had just got mother a few more shares.'"

"I left Mr. Beverly's office the possessor of two thousand shares of
Amalgamated Electric, and also entirely reassured about my Petunias. He
always made me feel happy."

"His keen laughing brown eyes, and crisp well-brushed hair, and big
somewhat English way of chaffing (he had gone to Oxford, where he had
rowed on a winning crew) carried a sense of buoyant prosperity that went
with his wiry figure and good smart London clothes. His face was almost
as tawny as an Indian's with the outdoor life that he took care to lead.
I was always flattered when he could spare any time to clap me on the
shoulder and crack a joke."

"Amalgamated Electric had risen five more points before the board closed
that afternoon. This was the first news that I told Ethel."

"'Richard,' said she, 'I wish you would sell that stock to-morrow.'"

"But this I saw no reason for; and on Tuesday it had gained seven points
further. Ethel still more strongly urged me to sell it. I must freely
admit that." And the narrator paused reflectively.

"Thank you, Richard," said Ethel from the sofa. "And I admit that I
could give you no reason for my request, except that it all seemed so
sudden. And--yes--there was one other thing. But that was even more
silly."

"I believe I know what you mean," replied Richard, "and I shall come to
it presently. If any one was silly, it was not you."