It is not a very easy matter for even a rich man, who
is engaged heavily in business, to lay down ten thousand dollars at
call."
"Five thousand will not do, Mr. Grind."
"Jasper has lost, to my certain knowledge, twenty thousand dollars in
three months."
"So much?"
"At least that sum. Money came in so fast, that he grew a little wild
in his speculations, and played his cards with the dashing boldness
of a gambler while in a run of luck. I cautioned him, but to no good
purpose. One of his latest movements had been to put fifty or sixty
thousand dollars in a cotton factory?"
"Poh! What folly."
"A most egregious blunder. But he fancies himself an exceedingly
shrewd man."
"He has been remarkably fortunate in his operations."
"So he has. But he is more indebted, I think, to good luck than to a
sound judgment. He has gone up to dizzy height so rapidly, that his
weak head is already beginning to swim."
"What has become of that pretty little ward of his?" asked Martin,
somewhat abruptly.
"Why didn't you put that question to him?" replied Grind. "You would
have been more likely to get a satisfactory answer."
"I may do so after I have the ten thousand dollars in my pocket. That
was rather a shameful business, though; wasn't it? I never had a very
tender conscience, but I must own to having suffered a few twinges
for my part in the transaction.
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