s of experiments at
home, so that I might pass for a female clerk or needy bushel-woman,
and be free to pursue my investigations unobserved. In this guise I
spent a number of days in wandering about the business streets of the
city, attentive not only to what went on in the offices of Francis Prime
and Company and Roger Dale, but to the countless sights and sounds of
bustling trade, which I experienced now for the first time. At first I
did not dare to appear too frequently in the street which was the centre
of my interest, but a dangerous fascination led me to become bolder and
more adventurous as I became familiar with the surroundings. From under
the obscurity of arches and from behind pillars I noted daily who
entered the doors of the new firm, and endeavored to get an idea of the
amount of business that it transacted. In this respect I was somewhat
disappointed, for although customers were by no means lacking, there was
a dearth of patronage as compared with that enjoyed by the banking-house
across the street. During the morning hours there was an incessant
stream of people coming and going up and down the marble steps of the
great building on the first floor of which were the offices of Roger
Dale; and by far the larger proportion of this number went no farther,
for I could see them through the broad plate-glass windows, chatting
and grouped about a coil of tape that ran out with a snake-like movement
into a basket on the floor. There were ladies too who drove up to the
door in their carriages and were shown into the back office, and who
when they came out again were attended by Mr. Dale himself, bowing
obsequiously. He was stouter than when I saw him last, and quite bald;
and he had a different suit of a prominent check-pattern for every day
in the week. He seemed immensely popular with his customers, and was
slapped by them on the back incessantly, and most of them he slapped
back in return. But toward certain individuals he adopted a quite
different style of behavior; for he listened to what they said with
deference, gave them the most comfortable seat in the office, and opened
the door for them when they went away. These I judged to be capitalists
and men of influence, whose business he wished to secure. Some of them
never came again, but others would return in the afternoon and be
closeted with him for hours.

To all this I could not help giving attention, for it was forced on me,
as I have indicated, by way