a familiarity
fostered by long and friendly associations rather than declining years.
Why a man in his prime and at the apex of his usefulness should drop
out of harness so suddenly when he appeared to be in the best of
health, was something of a mystery. Not a few missed his genial
companionship, and were frank enough to say so on those rare occasions
when Nat Lawson now put in an appearance at the Club. For a while
rumors were rife, but gradually these subsided as his absence became a
custom.

It was to that very end that the founder of the Interprovincial Loan &
Savings Company made his retirement so literal. There were times when
the inquisitiveness of his friends was hard to combat, when the
temptation to give expression to the hidden springs of indignation that
had been born within him was almost irresistible. So, acting upon his
better judgment, he gradually relegated himself to the background of
affairs till his tall, distinguished-looking figure was no longer a
familiar sight in public places. But if his white hair, his carefully
trimmed Van Dyke beard and wide moustache no longer singled him out in
gatherings of his former associates his carriage lost none of its
alertness, his glance none of its customary fearlessness. Nathaniel
Lawson was biding his time.

Like so many successful men who have risen to places of wealth and
influence, Lawson had begun as a poor boy, struggling upward over
untold difficulties by pluck and determination. In his case, however,
the rewards of the struggle had been swept from his reach at the very
pinnacle of achievement by what appeared to be an exceptionally bold
piece of financial buccaneering. He belonged to the older generation
which had grown up accustomed to seeing business carried on by
individuals or on a partnership basis; joint stock companies, combines
and holding companies had been a development of his later days. It had
taken him a lifetime to build up his financial business from very small
beginnings, until it had become the big organization now known as the
Interprovincial Loan & Savings Company. And because it was his nature
to be generous and kindly "Old Nat" had fallen victim to misplaced
confidence.

In those early years of struggle conservative methods and plain honesty
had been not the least of his assets. It was upon these sound
principles that he had relied throughout. The small deposits of the
working classes, more or less ignored by his ear