ve me to do the work?" she demanded. "That's
just like a man!"

"I'm glad they're gone," Cosden admitted. "It gives me just the chance
I've been waiting for: will you marry me?"

"Again?" Edith inquired.

"No; just this once."

"It would serve you right if I did!"

"I dare you to!"

"No! no! no! no!" she cried.

"Give me an option for thirty days."

"You silly!" she laughed. "For a sensible man you can be more kinds of
foolish than any one I know."

"Flattery doesn't hurt anybody unless he swallows it," Cosden retorted
complacently.

Whither their gibes would have carried them is needless to consider, for
they were interrupted by the approach of a motor-car up the driveway.

"Monty has made a quick trip," Cosden observed, "now you can satisfy
your curiosity."

"On the contrary," Edith retorted rising, "the plot thickens. That is
Harry Thatcher. What in the world has happened to send him motoring down
here at ten o'clock in the morning?"

They passed through the hallway to the _porte cochere_ on the opposite
side of the house. Thatcher was just descending from the car.

"Hello!" he greeted Edith, who was ahead. "Where's Marian?"

"Up-stairs. What brings you home at this time of day?"

"Don't disturb her yet," he exclaimed, disregarding her question. "I
want a word with Cosden first. You'll excuse us?"

Locking his arm through Cosden's Thatcher led him back onto the piazza
which the two had just left.

"What's wrong?" Cosden asked. "Market gone to pieces?"

"It's hell,--nothing less," Thatcher answered, speaking with an
excitement unnatural to him. "I left New York at four o'clock this
morning. I've come to you, Cosden, as a last resort. We've fought each
other on every deal we've ever been in, so you understand how hard I'm
pushed. If you're fixed so that you can put me next to a bunch of cold,
hard cash, you can have anything I control at a fraction of its value.
This is your chance to make your everlasting fortune if you can command
the cash."

"You don't mean it!" Cosden exclaimed. "Are you caught as bad as that?"

"Worse than that. Securities are dropping out of sight. Germany will
declare war inside of a week, and there is danger of other big nations
becoming involved. If they do, God only knows what will happen to the
money system of the world; it is strained already to the breaking-point.
You may thank Heaven, Cosden, that your investments are not in
speculative stocks! But we're losing