Egyptian bonds,
minor Levantine loans, discounts in the Arabian and Persian
trades--these had been specialties of the Fromentins for
many years. Who could have expected to find them caught among
the "shorts" in Mexican rubber? It was Mexico, wasn't it,
that these Rubber Consols purported to be connected with?
Thorpe's Company, upon its commercial merits, had not been
considered at all by the gentlemen of the Stock Exchange,
at the time of its flotation. Men vaguely and with
difficulty recalled the fact of its prospectus,
when the "corner" in its shares was first talked about.
They looked it up in their lists and files, later on,
but its terms said nothing to them. Nobody discussed
the value of the assets owned by this Company, or the
probability of its paying a dividend--even when the
price bid for its shares was making the most sensational
upward leaps. How Thorpe stood with his shareholders,
or whether he had any genuine shareholders behind him
at all, was seen by the keen eyes of Capel Court to be
beside the question. Very likely it was a queer affair,
if the truth were known--but at least it had substance
enough in it to be giving the "wreckers" a lively time.
By the end of July it was understood that the fight
was better worth watching than anything that had been
seen in a long time.
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