nterlocked his fingers and twiddled his thumbs as he
contemplated this latest evidence of earthly difficulty and
uncertainty. Time and chance certainly happened to all men, and here
was one opportunity of paying out those who had been nagging him. To
take this stock at one-fifty on loan and peddle it out swiftly and
fully at two-twenty or less would bring American Match crumbling about
their ears. When it was selling at one-fifty or less he could buy it
back, pocket his profit, complete his deal with Mr. Stackpole, pocket
his interest, and smile like the well-fed cat in the fable. It was as
simple as twiddling his thumbs, which he was now doing.

"Who has been backing this stock here in Chicago besides yourself and
Mr. Hull?" he asked, pleasantly. "I think that I already know, but I
should like to be certain if you have no objection."

"None in the least, none in the least," replied Mr. Stackpole,
accommodatingly. "Mr. Hand, Mr. Schryhart, Mr. Arneel, and Mr.
Merrill."

"That is what I thought," commented Cowperwood, easily. "They can't
take this up for you? Is that it? Saturated?"

"Saturated," agreed Mr. Stackpole, dully. "But there's one thing I'd
have to stipulate in accepting a loan on these. Not a share must be
thrown on the market, or, at least, not before I have failed to respond
to your call. I have understood that there is a little feeling between
you and Mr. Hand and the other gentlemen I have mentioned. But, as I
say--and I'm talking perfectly frankly now--I'm in a corner, and it's
any port in a storm. If you want to help me I'll make the best terms I
can, and I won't forget the favor."

He opened the bag and began to take out the securities--long
greenish-yellow bundles, tightly gripped in the center by thick elastic
bands. They were in bundles of one thousand shares each. Since
Stackpole half proffered them to him, Cowperwood took them in one hand
and lightly weighed them up and down.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Stackpole," he said, sympathetically, after a moment of
apparent reflection, "but I cannot possibly help you in this matter.
I'm too involved in other things myself, and I do not often indulge in
stock-peculations of any kind. I have no particular malice toward any
one of the gentlemen you mention. I do not trouble to dislike all who
dislike me. I might, of course, if I chose, take these stocks and pay
them out and throw them on the market to-morrow, but I have no desire
to do anything