to come down on the floor.
There was a jolly eagerness in their demands, and the Prince, as he
went, seemed to hesitate as though he were quite game for the
adventure. But he disappeared, and though the Bears and the Bulls
waited a little while for him, he did not reappear. Those who knew
that a full twelve-hour program could only be accomplished by following
the timetable with rigid devotion had had their way.

From the Stock Exchange the Prince went to the Sub-Treasury, and
watched, fascinated, the miracle work of the money counters. The
intricacies of currency were explained to him, and he was shown the men
who went through mounds of coin, with lightning gestures separating the
good from the bad with their instinctive finger-tips and with the
accuracy of one of Mr. Ford's uncanny machines. He was told that the
touch of these men was so exquisite that they could detect a "dud" coin
instantly, and, to test them, such a coin was produced and marked, and
well hidden in a pile of similar coins. The fingers of the teller went
through the pile like a flash, and as he flicked the good coins towards
him, and without ceasing his work, a coin span out from the mass
towards the Prince. It was the coin he had marked.

V

Passing among these business people and driving amid the quick crowds,
the Prince had been consolidating the sense of intimate friendship that
had sprung up on the previous day. A wise American pressman had said
to me on Tuesday:

"New York people like what they've read about the Prince. They'll come
out today to see if what they have read is true. Tomorrow they'll come
out because they love him. And each day the crowds will get better."

This proved true. The warmth of New York's friendliness increased as
the days went on. The scene at the lunch given by the New York Chamber
of Commerce proved how strong this regard had grown. The scene was
remarkable because of the character and the quality of the men present.
It was no admiration society. It was no gathering of sentimentalists.
The men who attended that lunch were men not only of international
reputation, but of international force, men of cautious fibre
accustomed to big encounters, not easily moved to emotion. And they
fell under the charm of the Prince.

One of them expressed his feelings concerning the scene to me.

"He had it over us all the time," he said, laughing. "There we were,
several hundreds of grey-headed, hardened old