was at first an odd figure there. There was something flash about his
appearance, and his heavy double watch-chain and diamond shirt-studs
gave him the look of an ephemeral adventurer. But he soon took his cue,
the diamonds disappeared, and the dress was toned down. There seemed to
be two models in the Board, the smart and neat, and the hayseed style
adopted by some of the most wily old operators, who posed as honest
dealers who retained their rural simplicity. Mr. Ault adopted a middle
course, and took the respectable yet fashionable, solid dress of a man
of affairs.

There is no other place in the world where merit is so quickly
recognized as in the Stock Exchange, especially if it is backed by brass
and a good head. Ault's audacity made him feared; he was believed to
be as unscrupulous as he was reckless, but this did not much injure his
reputation when it was seen that he was marvelously successful. That
Ault would wreck the market, if he could and it was to his advantage, no
one doubted; but still he had a quality that begot confidence. He kept
his word. Though men might be shy of entering into a contract with Ault,
they learned that what he said he would do he would do literally. He was
not a man of many words, but he was always decided and apparently open,
and, as whatever he touched seemed to thrive, his associates got the
habit of saying, "What Ault says goes."

Murad Ault had married, so it was said, the daughter of a boarding-house
keeper on the dock. She was a pretty girl, had been educated in a
convent (perhaps by his aid after he was engaged to marry her), and
was a sweet mother to a little brood of charming children, and a devout
member of her parish church. Those who had seen Mrs. Ault when her
carriage took her occasionally to Ault's office in the city were much
impressed by her graceful manner and sweet face, and her appearance gave
Ault a sort of anchorage in the region of respectability. No one would
have accused Ault of being devoted to any special kind of religious
worship; but he was equally tolerant of all religions, and report said
was liberal in his wife's church charities. Besides the fact that he
owned a somewhat pretentious house in Sixtieth Street, society had very
little knowledge of him.

It was, however, undeniable that he was a power in the Street. No other
man's name was oftener mentioned in the daily journals in connection
with some bold and successful operation. He seemed to thrive