much before."

"Oh, what the--what the deuce!" he protested, impatiently. "Don't
interrupt me now! Well, I went on down the street. The members of the
Stock Exchange were coming out of 'the house,' and making up little
groups on the pavement. They do business inside, you know, until closing
time--this day it happened to be four o'clock--and then they come out
and deal in the street with one another, with the kerb-stone mob, who
are not allowed inside, standing round to watch the thing. I came along
into the thick of these fellows; they were yelling out all sorts of
things--'East Rands,' 'Oroyas,' 'Lake View Centrals,' and what not, but
these went in one ear and out the other. If there ever was a man with no
stomach for the market it was me. But then someone roared out:

"'At seven-eighths, sell Rubber Consols! Sell five hundred Rubber at
seven-eighths! Sell five hundred at three-quarters! At three-quarters
you have 'em! Rubber Consols! Sell a thou. at three-quarters!'

"This thing went into my brain like a live coal. I stopped and looked
up at the fellow--and by God, it was one of the men I've been
talking about--one of those Kaffir scoundrels. I wish I was better at
remembering names--but I knew his face. There were some of the others
around him, and they laughed at me, and he laughed at me. Oh, they had
a heap of fun out of me--for a minute or two. Pretty good fun, too! I
guess they'll remember it quite a while."

"Go on!" Louisa adjured him. The obvious proximity of the dramatic
climax drew her forward in her chair, and brought a glow of expectation
to her eyes.

"I got myself away from that crowd somehow--I think I was afraid if I
stayed I'd strangle the one who was shouting on the steps--and I went
toward my office. But when I got to the door, I didn't have the courage
to go in. I'd furnished it better, I suppose, than any other office
in Austin Friars, and I had a kind of feeling that the sight of those
carpets, and oak-tables and desks, and brass-railings and so on would
make me sick. I owed for 'em all, bear in mind----"

"But--Joel," the sister interposed. "One thing I don't understand. How
many people had applied for shares? You haven't mentioned that."

A fleeting smile lighted up the saturnine gloom of his present mood. "It
was hardly worth mentioning," he answered, with bitter mirth. "Between
five and six thousand shares were subscribed, all told. I think the
withdrawals by telegraph brought it down