into the world of speculation and bought a thousand shares of Indiana Smelter on a twenty per cent. margin. This transaction, which represented to his mind the inevitable challenge at

cted. Speculation was in the air, triumphant and insidious. The whole market was sweeping up irresistibly. The times were dramatic. Golden opportunity seemed within every one's grasp. E

ght of his $50,000, so modestly invested in four per cent. bonds obsessed him. What was worse was that each time he had refused to follow a tip of Marsh or DeLancy or a dozen new-found friends, he secretl

nly refused such an alliance. But Doris, undaunted, returned to the charge, amazing him at times with the pertinency of her information, which she picked up from the wives and daughters, from those who came as suitors, or as mere fr

een cloth of the gambling table. She had information of the most explicit sort. A great combination of Middle Western Smelters had been held up for several weeks by the ref

d, really impressed, for Drake wa

the firs

d you get you

and I keep my secrets too. Just remember if

w right you've been,

e slightest doubt. Can't you trust me just this once? Don't you know that I'm working for you? Oh, it's such an opportuni

nvinced, suspecting the source of her in

" She nodded energetically.

ing him the embarrassmen

eyes sparkling with the delight of her own machinations. "I'll tell you how I'll do it. Next week's my birthday. I'll ask him to give me the ti

I w

nto his arms at this victory

u!" she cried, tightening her arms about his neck, with

" he thought, excited too, and aloud

manage you!" she said, laughing. "Now sit down and

nd after much hesitation a thousand for his own account at 104?. It was a good risk; the stock had been stable for years; even if the combination did not go through, there was little danger of a rapid fall; and if it

as only a clever ruse to conceal his real intentions, quits for reimbursing Doris afterward with a check, according to a famous precedent? Perhaps he even suspected that he, Bojo, had put Doris up to it and was taking this method

arsh was busily culling half a dozen newspapers, while Fred was yawning over the eggs and coffee, when the mail was brought in by the grinning Oriental

ns-do honor our humble palace, pink envelope, heavily scented. I say, Bojo, I've gone in deep on your precious stock, two hundred shares-all I

and opening the formal announcement of his broker's p

got a tip from another angle, one of the lawyers involved. I'm g

n't told yo

e!" said Marsh, but DeLancy

o call for a fitting, two letters from clients, personal fr

o d

ou make lots and lots of money! Wouldn't Dad be surprised? He asked me to-night in the funny gruff way he puts on, 'How's that young man of yours getting on? Have they got his hide yet?' Won't it be a joke on him? By the way, I dined

much

ri

wfully influential. Be s

re of letters-enthusiasm, solicitude, ambition, and clever worldly advice, but lacking the one not

he thought of the opening of the market and the sound of the tick

seem quite a man's work-this messenger service, and the contemplation of those above him, the men at the sheets and the office clerks, inspired him with a distaste. Often he remembered his conversation with his father and talks with Granning, the matter-of-fact; comparing their outlook on the life wi

itude of the Street overpowered him, the skyscrapers without tops dwarfed him, its jargon mystified him, as the colossal scale of the operations he saw seemed to rob him of the sense of his own individuality. But gradually

ate youths and assured him that they were there by right, to take away from them what had been foolishly given and pay them back in experience. He took their chaffing in good humor, seeking their compa

il night, until the day when he should know of his own knowledge of men and things. He worked hard, following Drake's advice, seeking information from men rather than from books, checking up what each told him by what the next man had to say

his progress had not been entirely due to his own glaring accomplishments, but that the name