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.
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