to practically five thousand.
We offered a hundred thousand, you know.--But let me go on with my
story. I stood there, in front of our street-door, in a kind of trance.
The words of that Jew--'Sell Rubber Consols at three-quarters!'--buzzed
inside my head as if they would burst it open. I turned--and I happened
to see my Broker--the Scotchman, Semple, you know--coming along toward
me. Right at that minute, like a flash, something dawned on me. In less
than a second, I saw the whole damned rotten outfit turned upside down,
with me on top. I made a jump, and ran to meet Semple.

"'How many shares of ours have you bought?' I asked him, with a grip
tight on his arm.

"The little chap was looking mighty sick. He figured up in his mind.
'I'm afraid it's eight thousand five hundred, all told,' he said, in a
sort of Presbyterian whimper.

"'Well--how would these gentlemen go about it to deliver their
goods--that is, supposing we got a settlement?'

"I asked him this, and kept my eye on his face. He looked puzzled for a
minute. Then he put out his lip. Then he shot me a glance as sharp as a
razor, and we looked into one another's eyes.

"'They were shouting them out to me at three-quarters, a minute ago,' I
told him.

"He was onto the game like lightning. 'Wait for me in the office,' he
whispered. 'We'll go nap on this!'

"With that he was off like a streak. He stopped running just before he
got to the corner, though, and began walking slowly, sauntering along,
you know, as if his mind was on nothing but second-hand books. I watched
him out of sight--and then I went back, and up to the offices. The
furniture didn't scare me a bit this time. Why, I stopped and felt
of the brass-railing just outside the Board Room, and I said to
myself--'Pshaw! We could have you of solid gold, if we wanted to.'"

He paused here, and regarded his sister with what she felt was intended
to be a significant look. She shrank from the confession that its
meaning was Greek to her. "Well--and what next?" she asked, guardedly.

"Semple came back in twenty minutes or so--and the next morning he was
at it again--and what with him and his jobber, by George, on the quiet,
they picked up nearly eighteen thousand of our shares. Some they paid
fifteen shillings for, some they got at twelve-and-six and even ten.
That doesn't matter; it's of no more importance than the coppers you
give to crossing-sweepers. The thing was to get the shares--and by God
we