gift of statement and dignified style of delivery. Both
the bills against which he spoke were passed by the Republican majority,
but echoes of his words came back from some of their constituents, and
Lyons was referred to as certain to be one of the strong men of the
House if he returned to Congress. He went home at the close of the
session in a contented frame of mind so far as his political prospects
were concerned, but he was not free to enjoy the congratulations
accorded him for the reason that his business ventures were beginning to
give him serious solicitude. The trend of the stock market was again
downward. In expectation of a rise from the previous depression, he had
added to the line of shares which Williams & Van Horne were carrying for
him. A slight rise had come, sufficient to afford him a chance to escape
from the toils of Wall street without loss. But he needed a profit to
rehabilitate his ventures in other directions--his investments in the
enterprises of his own state, which had now for some months appeared
quiescent, if not languishing, from a speculative point of view.
Everything pointed, it was said, to a further advance as soon as
Congress adjourned. So he had waited, and now, although the session was
over, the stock market and financial undertakings of every sort appeared
suddenly to be tottering. He had not been at home a month before prices
of all securities began to shrink inordinately and the business horizon
to grow murky with the clouds of impending disaster. To add to his
worry, Lyons was conscious that he had pursued a fast and loose mental
coarse in regard to the railroad bill in which his broker, Williams, was
interested. He had given Williams to understand that he would try to see
his way to support it; yet in view of his late prominence in Washington,
as a foe of legislation in behalf of moneyed interests, he was more than
ever averse to casting a vote in its favor. The bill had not been
reached before adjournment, a result to which he had secretly
contributed, but it was certain to be called up shortly after Congress
reassembled. It disturbed him to feel that his affairs in New York were
in such shape that Williams could embarrass him financially if he chose.
It disturbed him still more that he appeared to himself to be guilty of
bad faith. His conscience was troubled, and his favorite palliative of
conciliation did not seem applicable to the case.

CHAPTER VIII.

Until this tim