place seemed to him to be dense with people either profoundly
agitated or swelling with obscure cunning, yet he learnt that the place
was comparatively empty, that the great political convulsion of the last
few days had reduced transactions to an unprecedented minimum. In one
huge place were long avenues of roulette tables, each with an excited,
undignified crowd about it; in another a yelping Babel of white-faced
women and red-necked leathery-lunged men bought and sold the shares of
an absolutely fictitious business undertaking which, every five minutes,
paid a dividend of ten per cent and cancelled a certain proportion of
its shares by means of a lottery wheel.

These business activities were prosecuted with an energy that readily
passed into violence, and Graham approaching a dense crowd found at its
centre a couple of prominent merchants in violent controversy with teeth
and nails on some delicate point of business etiquette. Something still
remained in life to be fought for. Further he had a shock at a vehement
announcement in phonetic letters of scarlet flame, each twice the height
of a man, that "WE ASSURE THE PROPRAIET'R. WE ASSURE THE PROPRAIET'R."

"Who's the proprietor?" he asked.

"You."

"But what do they assure me?" he asked. "What do they assure me?"

"Didn't you have assurance?"

Graham thought. "Insurance?"

"Yes--Insurance. I remember that was the older word. They are insuring
your life. Dozands of people are taking out policies, myriads of lions
are being put on you. And further on other people are buying annuities.
They do that on everybody who is at all prominent. Look there!"

A crowd of people surged and roared, and Graham saw a vast black screen
suddenly illuminated in still larger letters of burning purple. "Anuetes
on the Propraiet'r--x 5 pr. G." The people began to boo and shout
at this, a number of hard breathing, wildeyed men came running past,
clawing with hooked fingers at the air. There was a furious crush about
a little doorway.

Asano did a brief calculation. "Seventeen per cent per annum is their
annuity on you. They would not pay so much per cent if they could see
you now, Sire. But they do not know. Your own annuities used to be a
very safe investment, but now you are sheer gambling, of course. This is
probably a desperate bid. I doubt if people will get their money."

The crowd of would-be annuitants grew so thick about them that for some
time they could move neither