oked with a dulled, abstracted eye at these papers, lying
on the desk, and especially at the blue pencil-lines upon them, as he
pondered many things. Their statement, thus scattered broadcast to the
public, seemed at once to introduce a new element into the situation,
and to leave it unchanged. That influence of some sort had been exerted
to get this story into these papers, it did not occur to him for an
instant to doubt. To his view, all things that were put into papers
were put there for a purpose--it would express his notion more clearly,
perhaps, to say for a price. Of the methods of Fleet Street, he was
profoundly ignorant, but his impressions of them were all cynical. Upon
reflection, however, it seemed unlikely to him that Lord Plowden had
secured the insertion of these rumours. So far as Thorpe could fathom
that nobleman's game, its aims would not be served by premature
publicity of this kind.

Gradually, the outlines of a more probable combination took shape in
his thoughts. There were left in the grip of the "corner" now only
two victims,--Rostocker and Aronson. They owed this invidious
differentiation to a number of causes: they had been the chief sellers
of stock, being between them responsible for the delivery of 8,500
Rubber Consols shares, which they could not get; they were men of larger
fortune than the other "shorts," and therefore could with safety be
squeezed longest; what was fortunate for him under the circumstances,
they were the two men against whom Thorpe's personal grudge seemed able
to maintain itself most easily.

For these reasons, they had already been mulcted in differences to the
extent of, in round numbers, 165,000 pounds. On the morrow, the twelfth
of September, it was Thorpe's plan to allow them to buy in the shares
they needed, at 22 or 23 pounds per share--which would take from them
nearly 200,000 pounds more. He had satisfied himself that they could,
and would if necessary, pay this enormous ransom for their final escape
from the "corner." Partly because it was not so certain that they could
pay more, partly because he was satiated with spoils and tired of the
strain of the business, he had decided to permit this escape.

He realized now, however, that they on their side had planned to escape
without paying any final ransom at all.

That was clearly the meaning of these paragraphs, and of the
representations which had yesterday been made to the Stock Exchange
Committee. He had