bewildered, he stood on the steps and
counted the gold he happened to have in his pockets. It amounted to
some fifty dollars. To all intents and purposes, that embraced his
entire capital. In the present emergency his stocks and bonds were of
no avail whatever to him. He thought of the cables, but gold could not
be cabled--only more credit, which in this grim crisis went for
nothing. It was as if he had suddenly been forced into bankruptcy.
His fortune temporarily had been swept away.

If that was true of his own, it must be equally true of Marjory's. She
was no wealthier now than the sum total of the gold she happened to
have in her possession. The thought came to him at first as a shock.
What was she going to do? She was upon the point of leaving, and her
plans must have been suddenly checked. She was, in effect, a prisoner
here. She was stranded as completely as if she were any penniless
young woman.

Then some emotion--some feeling indistinctly connected with the
grandfather who had crossed the plains in forty-nine--swept over him.
It was a primitive exultation. It made him conscious of the muscles in
his back and legs. It made him throw back his head and square his
shoulders. A moment before, with railroads and steamships at her
command, with a hundred men standing ready to do her bidding in
response to the magic of her check-book, she had been as much mistress
of her little world as any ancient queen.

Sweaty men were rushing fruits from the tropics, silks from India,
diamonds from Africa, caviar from the north; others were making ready
fine quarters in every corner of the globe; others were weaving cloths
and making shoes; others were rehearsing plays and music--all for her
and others like her, who had only to call upon their banks to pay for
all this toil. Instead of one man to supply her needs, she had a
thousand, ten thousand. With the machinery of civilization working
smoothly, she had only to nod--and sign a check.

Now, overnight, this had been changed. The machinery was to be put to
other uses. Ships that had been carrying silks were needed for men
with rifles. Railroads were for troops. The sweat of men was to be in
battle. Servants were to be used for the slaughter of other servants.
With nations at one another's throats, the very basis of credit, mutual
trust and esteem, was gone. She and others like her did not count.
Men with the lust for blood in their hearts could not bothe