An African Millionaire: Episodes in the Life of the Illustrious Colonel Clay Page 6

  VI

  THE EPISODE OF THE GERMAN PROFESSOR

  That winter in town my respected brother-in-law had little timeon his hands to bother himself about trifles like Colonel Clay.A thunderclap burst upon him. He saw his chief interest in SouthAfrica threatened by a serious, an unexpected, and a crushingdanger.

  Charles does a little in gold, and a little in land; but hisprincipal operations have always lain in the direction of diamonds.Only once in my life, indeed, have I seen him pay the slightestattention to poetry, and that was when I happened one day torecite the lines:--

  Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear.

  He rubbed his hands at once and murmured enthusiastically, "I neverthought of that. We might get up an Atlantic Exploration Syndicate,Limited." So attached is he to diamonds. You may gather, therefore,what a shock it was to that gigantic brain to learn that science wasrapidly reaching a point where his favourite gems might become allat once a mere drug in the market. Depreciation is the one bugbearthat perpetually torments Sir Charles's soul; that winter he stoodwithin measurable distance of so appalling a calamity.

  It happened after this manner.

  We were strolling along Piccadilly towards Charles's club oneafternoon--he is a prominent member of the Croesus, in PallMall--when, near Burlington House, whom should we happen to knockup against but Sir Adolphus Cordery, the famous mineralogist, andleading spirit of the Royal Society! He nodded to us pleasantly."Halloa, Vandrift," he cried, in his peculiarly loud and piercingvoice; "you're the very man I wanted to meet to-day. Good morning,Wentworth. Well, how about diamonds now, Sir Gorgius? You'll have tosing small. It's all up with you Midases. Heard about this marvellousnew discovery of Schleiermacher's? It's calculated to make youdiamond kings squirm like an eel in a frying-pan."

  I could see Charles wriggle inside his clothes. He was mostuncomfortable. That a man like Cordery should say such things, inso loud a voice, on no matter how little foundation, openly inPiccadilly, was enough in itself to make a sensitive barometersuch as Cloetedorp Golcondas go down a point or two.

  "Hush, hush!" Charles said solemnly, in that awed tone of voicewhich he always assumes when Money is blasphemed against. "_Please_don't talk quite so loud! All London can hear you."

  Sir Adolphus ran his arm through Charles's most amicably. There'snothing Charles hates like having his arm taken.

  "Come along with me to the Athenaeum," he went on, in the samestentorian voice, "and I'll tell you all about it. Most interestingdiscovery. Makes diamonds cheap as dirt. Calculated to supersedeSouth Africa altogether."

  Charles allowed himself to be dragged along. There was nothing elsepossible. Sir Adolphus continued, in a somewhat lower key, inducedupon him by Charles's mute look of protest. It was a disquietingstory. He told it with gleeful unction. It seems that ProfessorSchleiermacher, of Jena, "the greatest living authority on thechemistry of gems," he said, had lately invented, or claimed tohave invented, a system for artificially producing diamonds, whichhad yielded most surprising and unexceptionable results.

  Charles's lip curled slightly. "Oh, I know the sort of thing," hesaid. "I've heard of it before. Very inferior stones, quite smalland worthless, produced at immense cost, and even then not worthlooking at. I'm an old bird, you know, Cordery; not to be caughtwith chaff. Tell me a better one!"

  Sir Adolphus produced a small cut gem from his pocket. "How's thatfor the first water?" he inquired, passing it across, with a broadsmile, to the sceptic. "Made under my own eyes--and quiteinexpensively!"

  Charles examined it close, stopping short against the railings inSt. James's Square to look at it with his pocket-lens. There was nodenying the truth. It was a capital small gem of the finest quality.

  "Made under your own eyes?" he exclaimed, still incredulous. "Where,my dear sir?--at Jena?"

  The answer was a thunderbolt from a blue sky. "No, here in London;last night as ever was; before myself and Dr. Gray; and about to beexhibited by the President himself at a meeting of Fellows of theRoyal Society."

  Charles drew a long breath. "This nonsense must be stopped," he saidfirmly--"it must be nipped in the bud. It won't do, my dear friend;we can't have such tampering with important Interests."

  "How do you mean?" Cordery asked, astonished.

  Charles gazed at him steadily. I could see by the furtive gleam inmy brother-in-law's eye he was distinctly frightened. "Where _is_the fellow?" he asked. "Did he come himself, or send over a deputy?"

  "Here in London," Sir Adolphus replied. "He's staying at my house;and he says he'll be glad to show his experiments to anybodyscientifically interested in diamonds. We propose to have ademonstration of the process to-night at Lancaster Gate. Willyou drop in and see it?"

  Would he "drop in" and see it? "Drop in" at such a function! Couldhe possibly stop away? Charles clutched the enemy's arm with anervous grip. "Look here, Cordery," he said, quivering; "this is aquestion affecting very important Interests. Don't do anything rash.Don't do anything foolish. Remember that Shares may rise or fall onthis." He said "Shares" in a tone of profound respect that I canhardly even indicate. It was the crucial word in the creed of hisreligion.

  "I should think it very probable," Sir Adolphus replied, with thecallous indifference of the mere man of science to financialsuffering.

  Sir Charles was bland, but peremptory. "Now, observe," he said, "agrave responsibility rests on your shoulders. The Market dependsupon you. You must not ask in any number of outsiders to witnessthese experiments. Have a few mineralogists and experts, if youlike; but also take care to invite representatives of the menacedInterests. I will come myself--I'm engaged to dine out, but Ican contract an indisposition; and I should advise you to askMosenheimer, and, say, young Phipson. They would stand for themines, as you and the mineralogists would stand for science. Aboveall, don't blab; for Heaven's sake, let there be no prematuregossip. Tell Schleiermacher not to go gassing and boasting ofhis success all over London."

  "We are keeping the matter a profound secret, at Schleiermacher'sown request," Cordery answered, more seriously.

  "Which is why," Charles said, in his severest tone, "you bawled itout at the very top of your voice in Piccadilly!"

  However, before nightfall, everything was arranged to Charles'ssatisfaction; and off we went to Lancaster Gate, with a profoundexpectation that the German professor would do nothing worth seeing.

  He was a remarkable-looking man, once tall, I should say, from hislong, thin build, but now bowed and bent with long devotion to studyand leaning over a crucible. His hair, prematurely white, hung downupon his forehead, but his eye was keen and his mouth sagacious. Heshook hands cordially with the men of science, whom he seemed toknow of old, whilst he bowed somewhat distantly to the South Africaninterest. Then he began to talk, in very German-English, helping outthe sense now and again, where his vocabulary failed him, by wavinghis rather dirty and chemical-stained hands demonstratively abouthim. His nails were a sight, but his fingers, I must say, had thedelicate shape of a man's accustomed to minute manipulation. Heplunged at once into the thick of the matter, telling us briefly inhis equally thick accent that he "now brobosed by his new brocessto make for us some goot and sadisfactory tiamonds."

  He brought out his apparatus, and explained--or, as he said,"eggsblained"--his novel method. "Tiamonds," he said, "were nozzingbut pure crystalline carbon." He knew how to crystallise it--"zatwas all ze secret." The men of science examined the pots and panscarefully. Then he put in a certain number of raw materials, andwent to work with ostentatious openness. There were three distinctprocesses, and he made two stones by each simultaneously. Theremarkable part of his methods, he said, was their rapidity andtheir cheapness. In three-quarters of an hour (and he smiledsardonically) he could produce a diamond worth at current pricestwo hundred pounds sterling. "As you shall now see me berform,"he remarked, "viz zis simple abbaradus."

  The materials fizzed and fumed. The Professor stirred them. Anunpleasa
nt smell like burnt feathers pervaded the room. Thescientific men craned their necks in their eagerness, and lookedover one another; Vane-Vivian, in particular, was all attention.After three-quarters of an hour, the Professor, still smiling, beganto empty the apparatus. He removed a large quantity of dust orpowder, which he succinctly described as "by-broducts," and thentook between finger and thumb from the midst of each pan a smallwhite pebble, not water-worn apparently, but slightly rough andwart-like on the surface.

  From one pair of the pannikins he produced two such stones, andheld them up before us triumphantly. "Zese," he said, "are genuinetiamonds, manufactured at a gost of fourteen shillings andsiggspence abiece!" Then he tried the second pair. "Zese," he said,still more gleefully, "are broduced at a gost of eleffen andninebence!" Finally, he came to the third pair, which he positivelybrandished before our astonished eyes. "And zese," he cried,transported, "haff gost me no more zan tree and eightbence!"

  They were handed round for inspection. Rough and uncut as theystood, it was, of course, impossible to judge of their value. Butone thing was certain. The men of science had been watching close atthe first, and were sure Herr Schleiermacher had not put the stonesin; they were keen at the withdrawal, and were equally sure he hadtaken them honestly out of the pannikins.

  "I vill now disdribute zem," the Professor remarked in a casualtone, as if diamonds were peas, looking round at the company. Andhe singled out my brother-in-law. "One to Sir Charles!" he said,handing it; "one to Mr. Mosenheimer; one to Mr. Phibson--asrepresenting the tiamond interest. Zen, one each to Sir Atolphus,to Dr. Gray, to Mr. Fane-Fiffian, as representing science. You willhaff zem cut and rebort upon zem in due gourse. We meet again atzis blace ze day afder do-morrow."

  Charles gazed at him reproachfully. The profoundest chords of hismoral nature were stirred. "Professor," he said, in a voice ofsolemn warning, "_Are_ you aware that, _if_ you have succeeded, youhave destroyed the value of thousands of pounds' worth of preciousproperty?"

  The Professor shrugged his shoulders. "Fot is dat to me?" heinquired, with a curious glance of contempt. "I am not a financier!I am a man of science. I seek to know; I do not seek to make afortune."

  "Shocking!" Charles exclaimed. "Shocking! I never before in my lifebeheld so strange an instance of complete insensibility to theclaims of others!"

  We separated early. The men of science were coarsely jubilant. Thediamond interest exhibited a corresponding depression. If this newswere true, they foresaw a slump. Every eye grew dim. It was aterrible business.

  Charles walked homeward with the Professor. He sounded him gently asto the sum required, should need arise, to purchase his secrecy.Already Sir Adolphus had bound us all down to temporary silence--asif that were necessary; but Charles wished to know how muchSchleiermacher would take to suppress his discovery. The Germanwas immovable.

  "No, no!" he replied, with positive petulance. "You do notunterstant. I do not buy and sell. Zis is a chemical fact. We mustbublish it for the sake off its seoretical falue. I do not carefor wealse. I haff no time to waste in making money."

  "What an awful picture of a misspent life!" Charles observed to meafterwards.

  And, indeed, the man seemed to care for nothing on earth but theabstract question--not whether he could make good diamonds or not,but whether he could or could not produce a crystalline form ofpure carbon!

  On the appointed night Charles went back to Lancaster Gate, as Icould not fail to remark, with a strange air of complete and painfulpreoccupation. Never before in his life had I seen him so anxious.

  The diamonds were produced, with one surface of each slightly scoredby the cutters, so as to show the water. Then a curious resultdisclosed itself. Strange to say, each of the three diamonds givento the three diamond kings turned out to be a most inferior andvalueless stone; while each of the three intrusted to the care ofthe scientific investigators turned out to be a fine gem of thepurest quality.

  I confess it was a sufficiently suspicious conjunction. The threerepresentatives of the diamond interest gazed at each other withinquiring side-glances. Then their eyes fell suddenly: they avoidedone another. Had each independently substituted a weak and inferiornatural stone for Professor Schleiermacher's manufactured pebbles?It almost seemed so. For a moment, I admit, I was half inclined tosuppose it. But next second I changed my mind. Could a man of SirCharles Vandrift's integrity and high principle stoop for lucre'ssake to so mean an expedient?--not to mention the fact that, even ifhe did, and if Mosenheimer did likewise, the stones submitted to thescientific men would have amply sufficed to establish the realityand success of the experiments!

  Still, I must say, Charles looked guiltily across at Mosenheimer,and Mosenheimer at Phipson, while three more uncomfortable orunhappy-faced men could hardly have been found at that preciseminute in the City of Westminster.

  Then Sir Adolphus spoke--or, rather, he orated. He said, in his loudand grating voice, we had that evening, and on a previous evening,been present at the conception and birth of an Epoch in the Historyof Science. Professor Schleiermacher was one of those men of whomhis native Saxony might well be proud; while as a Briton he mustsay he regretted somewhat that this discovery, like so manyothers, should have been "Made in Germany." However, ProfessorSchleiermacher was a specimen of that noble type of scientific mento whom gold was merely the rare metal Au, and diamonds merely theelement C in the scarcest of its manifold allotropic embodiments.The Professor did not seek to make money out of his discovery. Herose above the sordid greed of capitalists. Content with the gloryof having traced the element C to its crystalline origin, he askedno more than the approval of science. However, out of deference tothe wishes of those financial gentlemen who were oddly concerned inmaintaining the present price of C in its crystalline form--in otherwords, the diamond interest--they had arranged that the secretshould be strictly guarded and kept for the present; not one of thefew persons admitted to the experiments would publicly divulge thetruth about them. This secrecy would be maintained till he himself,and a small committee of the Royal Society, should have time toinvestigate and verify for themselves the Professor's beautifuland ingenious processes--an investigation and verification whichthe learned Professor himself both desired and suggested.(Schleiermacher nodded approval.) When that was done, if theprocess stood the test, further concealment would be absolutelyfutile. The price of diamonds must fall at once below that of paste,and any protest on the part of the financial world would, of course,be useless. The laws of Nature were superior to millionaires.Meanwhile, in deference to the opinion of Sir Charles Vandrift,whose acquaintance with that fascinating side of the subject nobodycould deny, they had consented to send no notices to the Press, andto abstain from saying anything about this beautiful and simpleprocess in public. He dwelt with horrid gusto on that epithet"beautiful." And now, in the name of British mineralogy, he mustcongratulate Professor Schleiermacher, our distinguished guest, onhis truly brilliant and crystalline contribution to our knowledgeof brilliants and of crystalline science.

  Everybody applauded. It was an awkward moment. Sir Charles bit hislip. Mosenheimer looked glum. Young Phipson dropped an expressionwhich I will not transcribe. (I understand this work may circulateamong families.) And after a solemn promise of death-like secrecy,the meeting separated.

  I noticed that my brother-in-law somewhat ostentatiously avoidedMosenheimer at the door; and that Phipson jumped quickly into hisown carriage. "Home!" Charles cried gloomily to the coachman as wetook our seats in the brougham. And all the way to Mayfair he leanedback in his seat, with close-set lips, never uttering a syllable.

  Before he retired to rest, however, in the privacy of thebilliard-room, I ventured to ask him: "Charles, will you unloadGolcondas to-morrow?" Which, I need hardly explain, is the slang ofthe Stock Exchange for getting rid of undesirable securities. Itstruck me as probable that, in the event of the invention turningout a reality, Cloetedorp A's might become unsaleable within thenext few weeks or so.

  He eyed me ster
nly. "Wentworth," he said, "you're a fool!" (Excepton occasions when he is _very_ angry, my respected connection_never_ calls me "Wentworth"; the familiar abbreviation,"Sey"--derived from Seymour--is his usual mode of address tome in private.) "_Is_ it likely I would unload, and wreck theconfidence of the public in the Cloetedorp Company at such amoment? As a director--as Chairman--would it be just or right ofme? I ask you, sir, _could_ I reconcile it to my conscience?"

  "Charles," I answered, "you are right. Your conduct is noble. Youwill not save your own personal interests at the expense of thosewho have put their trust in you. Such probity is, alas! very rare infinance!" And I sighed involuntarily; for I had lost in Liberators.

  At the same time I thought to myself, "_I_ am not a director. Notrust is reposed in _me_. _I_ have to think first of dear Isabel andthe baby. Before the crash comes _I_ will sell out to-morrow thefew shares I hold, through Charles's kindness, in the CloetedorpGolcondas."

  With his marvellous business instinct, Charles seemed to divinemy thought, for he turned round to me sharply. "Look here, Sey,"he remarked, in an acidulous tone, "recollect, you're mybrother-in-law. You are also my secretary. The eyes of London willbe upon us to-morrow. If _you_ were to sell out, and operators got toknow of it, they'd suspect there was something up, and the companywould suffer for it. Of course, you can do what you like with yourown property. I can't interfere with _that_. I do not dictate toyou. But as Chairman of the Golcondas, I am bound to see that theinterests of widows and orphans whose All is invested with me shouldnot suffer at this crisis." His voice seemed to falter. "Therefore,though I don't like to threaten," he went on, "I am bound to giveyou warning: _if_ you sell out those shares of yours, openly orsecretly, you are no longer my secretary; you receive forthwith sixmonths' salary in lieu of notice, and--you leave me instantly."

  "Very well, Charles," I answered, in a submissive voice; though Idebated with myself for a moment whether it would be best to stickto the ready money and quit the sinking ship, or to hold fast by myfriend, and back Charles's luck against the Professor's science.After a short, sharp struggle within my own mind, I am proud to say,friendship and gratitude won. I felt sure that, whether diamondswent up or down, Charles Vandrift was the sort of man who would cometo the top in the end in spite of everything. And I decided to standby him!

  I slept little that night, however. My mind was a whirlwind. Atbreakfast Charles also looked haggard and moody. He ordered thecarriage early, and drove straight into the City.

  There was a block in Cheapside. Charles, impatient and nervous,jumped out and walked. I walked beside him. Near Wood Street a manwe knew casually stopped us.

  "I think I ought to mention to you," he said, confidentially,"that I have it on the very best authority that Schleiermacher,of Jena--"

  "Thank you," Charles said, crustily, "I know that tale, and--there'snot a word of truth in it."

  He brushed on in haste. A yard or two farther a broker paused infront of us.

  "Halloa, Sir Charles!" he called out, in a bantering tone. "What'sall this about diamonds? Where are Cloetedorps to-day? Is itGolconda, or Queer Street?"

  Charles drew himself up very stiff. "I fail to understand you,"he answered, with dignity.

  "Why, you were there yourself," the man cried. "Last night at SirAdolphus's! Oh yes, it's all over the place; Schleiermacher of Jenahas succeeded in making the most perfect diamonds--for sixpenceapiece--as good as real--and South Africa's ancient history. In lessthan six weeks Kimberley, they say, will be a howling desert. Everycostermonger in Whitechapel will wear genuine Koh-i-noors forbuttons on his coat; every girl in Bermondsey will sport a rivierelike Lady Vandrift's to her favourite music-hall. There's a slumpin Golcondas. Sly, sly, I can see; but _we_ know all about it!"

  Charles moved on, disgusted. The man's manners were atrocious.Near the Bank we ran up against a most respectable jobber.

  "Ah, Sir Charles," he said; "you here? Well, this is strange news,isn't it? For my part, I advise you not to take it too seriously.Your stock will go down, of course, like lead this morning. Butit'll rise to-morrow, mark my words, and fluctuate every hour tillthe discovery's proved or disproved for certain. There's a finetime coming for operators, I feel sure. Reports this way and that.Rumours, rumours, rumours. And nobody will know which way to believetill Sir Adolphus has tested it."

  We moved on towards the House. Black care was seated on SirCharles's shoulders. As we drew nearer and nearer, everybody wasdiscussing the one fact of the moment. The seal of secrecy hadproved more potent than publication on the housetops. Some peopletold us of the exciting news in confidential whispers; someproclaimed it aloud in vulgar exultation. The general opinion wasthat Cloetedorps were doomed, and that the sooner a man clearedout the less was he likely to lose by it.

  Charles strode on like a general; but it was a Napoleon brazeningout his retreat from Moscow. His mien was resolute. He disappearedat last into the precincts of an office, waving me back, not tofollow. After a long consultation he came out and rejoined me.

  All day long the City rang with Golcondas, Golcondas. Everybodymurmured, "Slump, slump in Golcondas." The brokers had more businessto do than they could manage; though, to be sure, almost every onewas a seller and no one a buyer. But Charles stood firm as a rock,and so did his brokers. "I don't want to sell," he said, doggedly."The whole thing is trumped up. It's a mere piece of jugglery. Formy own part, I believe Professor Schleiermacher is deceived, or elseis deceiving us. In another week the bubble will have burst, andprices will restore themselves." His brokers, Finglemores, had onlyone answer to all inquiries: "Sir Charles has every confidence inthe stability of Golcondas, and doesn't wish to sell or to increasethe panic."

  All the world said he was splendid, splendid! There he stationedhimself on 'Change like some granite stack against which the wavesroll and break themselves in vain. He took no notice of the slump,but ostentatiously bought up a few shares here and there so as torestore public confidence.

  "I would buy more," he said, freely, "and make my fortune; only,as I was one of those who happened to spend last night at SirAdolphus's, people might think I had helped to spread the rumourand produce the slump, in order to buy in at panic rates for myown advantage. A chairman, like Caesar's wife, should be abovesuspicion. So I shall only buy up just enough, now and again, tolet people see I, at least, have no doubt as to the firm futureof Cloetedorps."

  He went home that night, more harassed and ill than I have everseen him. Next day was as bad. The slump continued, with varyingepisodes. Now, a rumour would surge up that Sir Adolphus haddeclared the whole affair a sham, and prices would steady a little;now, another would break out that the diamonds were actually beingput upon the market in Berlin by the cart-load, and timid old ladieswould wire down to their brokers to realise off-hand at whateverhazard. It was an awful day. I shall never forget it.

  The morning after, as if by miracle, things righted themselves ofa sudden. While we were wondering what it meant, Charles received atelegram from Sir Adolphus Cordery:--

  "The man is a fraud. Not Schleiermacher at all. Just had a wirefrom Jena saying the Professor knows nothing about him. Sorryunintentionally to have caused you trouble. Come round and see me."

  "Sorry unintentionally to have caused you trouble." Charles wasbeside himself with anger. Sir Adolphus had upset the share-marketfor forty-eight mortal hours, half-ruined a round dozen of wealthyoperators, convulsed the City, upheaved the House, and now--heapologised for it as one might apologise for being late ten minutesfor dinner! Charles jumped into a hansom and rushed round to seehim. How had he dared to introduce the impostor to solid men asProfessor Schleiermacher? Sir Adolphus shrugged his shoulders. Thefellow had come and introduced himself as the great Jena chemist;he had long white hair, and a stoop in the shoulders. What reasonhad _he_ for doubting his word? (I reflected to myself that on muchthe same grounds Charles in turn had accepted the Honourable DavidGranton and Graf von Lebenstein.) Besides, what object could thecreature have for this
extraordinary deception? Charles knew onlytoo well. It was clear it was done to disturb the diamond market,and we realised, too late, that the man who had done it was--ColonelClay, in "another of his manifold allotropic embodiments!" Charleshad had his wish, and had met his enemy once more in London!

  We could see the whole plot. Colonel Clay was polymorphic, like theelement carbon! Doubtless, with his extraordinary sleight of hand,he had substituted real diamonds for the shapeless mass that cameout of the apparatus, in the interval between handing the pebblesround for inspection, and distributing them piecemeal to the men ofscience and representatives of the diamond interest. We all watchedhim closely, of course, when he opened the crucibles; but when oncewe had satisfied ourselves that _something_ came out, our doubts wereset at rest, and we forgot to watch whether he distributed thosesomethings or not to the recipients. Conjurers always depend uponsuch momentary distractions or lapses of attention. As usual, too,the Professor had disappeared into space the moment his trick wasonce well performed. He vanished like smoke, as the Count and Seerhad vanished before, and was never again heard of.

  Charles went home more angry than I have ever beheld him. I couldn'timagine why. He seemed as deeply hipped as if he had lost histhousands. I endeavoured to console him. "After all," I said,"though Golcondas have suffered a temporary loss, it's a comfortto think that you should have stood so firm, and not only stemmedthe tide, but also prevented yourself from losing anything at allof your own through panic. I'm sorry, of course, for the widowsand orphans; but if Colonel Clay has rigged the market, at leastit isn't YOU who lose by it this time."

  Charles withered me with a fierce scowl of undisguised contempt."Wentworth," he said once more, "you are a fool!" Then he relapsedinto silence.

  "But you declined to sell out," I said.

  He gazed at me fixedly. "Is it likely," he asked at last, "I wouldtell _you_ if I meant to sell out? or that I'd sell out openly throughFinglemore, my usual broker? Why, all the world would have known,and Golcondas would have been finished. As it is, I don't desire totell an ass like you exactly how much I've lost. But I _did_ sell out,and some unknown operator bought in at once, and closed for readymoney, and has sold again this morning; and after all that hashappened, it will be impossible to track him. He didn't wait for theaccount: he settled up instantly. And he sold in like manner. I knownow what has been done, and how cleverly it has all been disguisedand covered; but the most I'm going to tell you to-day is justthis--it's by far the biggest haul Colonel Clay has made out of me.He could retire on it if he liked. My one hope is, it may satisfyhim for life; but, then, no man has ever had enough of making money."

  "_You_ sold out!" I exclaimed. "_You_, the Chairman of the company!_You_ deserted the ship! And how about your trust? How about the widowsand orphans confided to you?"

  Charles rose and faced me. "Seymour Wentworth," he said, in his mostsolemn voice, "you have lived with me for years and had everyadvantage. You have seen high finance. Yet you ask me that question!It's my belief you will never, never understand business!"