One of the penalties of success (according to the successful) being the malignant1 envy of those who have not succeeded, it is not surprising that in time there began to creep into Wall Street some stories that E. & W. was no better than it should be, nor even quite so good, and that there was no reason why the stock should be so high when solider securities were selling below par2.
The management, assisted by the entire E. & W. clique3, laughed all such “bear” stories to scorn, and when scorn seemed somewhat insufficient4 they greatly increased the volume of sales and maintained the price by the familiar, simple, but generally successful expedient6 of buying from one another through many different brokers7 in the stock-market. The bear party rallied within a day or two, and returned to the charge with an entirely9 new set of lies, besides an accidental truth or two; but the E. & W. clique was something of a liar5 itself, and arranged for simultaneous delivery, at different points on the street, of a lot of stories so full of new mineral developments on the line of the road, and so many new evidences of the management’s shrewdness, that criticism was silenced for a while.{221}
But bears must live as well as bulls, and the longer they remain hungry the harder they are sure to fight for their prey10: so the street was soon favored with a fresh assortment11 of rumors12. This time they concerned themselves principally with the alleged13 bad condition of the track and rolling stock in the West, and with doubts as to the mineral deposits said to have been discovered. The market was reminded that other railroad companies, by scores, had made all sorts of brilliant discoveries and announcements that had failed to materialize, and that some of these roads had been managed by hands that now seemed to be controlling E. & W.
Then the E. & W. management lost its ordinary temper and accused the bears of malignant falsehood. There was nothing unusual in this, in a locality where no one is ever suspected of telling the truth while he can make anything by lying. When, however, E. & W. issued invitations to large operators, particularly in the company’s stock, for a special excursion over the road, with opportunities for thorough investigation14, the bears growled15 sullenly16 and began to look for a living elsewhere.
The excursion-start was a grand success in the eyes of Mr. Marge, who made with it his first trip in the capacity of an investigating investor17. There were men on the train to whom Marge had in other days scarcely dared to lift his eyes in Wall Street, yet now they treated him as an equal, not only socially but financially. He saw his own name in newspapers of cities through which the party passed; his name had appeared in print before, but only among lists of{222} guests at parties, or as usher18 or a bridegroom’s best man at a wedding,—not as a financier. It was gratifying, too, to have presented to him some presidents of Western banks who joined the party, and be named to these financiers as one of the most prominent investors19 in E. & W.
He saw more, too, of his own country than ever before; his eyes and wits were quick enough to make him enter heartily20 into the spirit of a new enterprise or two which some of the E. & W. directors with the party were projecting. It might retard21 a little his accumulation of E. & W. stock, but the difference would be in his favor in the end. To “get in on the ground-floor” of some great enterprise had been his darling idea for years; he had hoped for it as unwearyingly as for a rich wife; now at last his desire was to be granted: the rich wife would be easy enough to find after he himself became rich. Unaccustomed though he was to slumbering22 with a jolting23 bed under him, his dreams in the sleeping-car were rosier24 than any he had known since the hair began to grow thin on the top of his head.
But as the party began to look through the car windows for the bears of the Rocky Mountains, the bears of Wall Street began to indulge in pernicious activity. They all attacked E. & W. with entirely new lots of stories, which were not denied rapidly enough for the good of the stock, for some of the more active managers of the E. & W. clique were more than a thousand miles away. Dispatches began to hurry Westward25 for new and bracing26 information, but the whole excursion-party had taken stages, a{223} few hours before, for a three days’ trip to see some of the rich mining-camps to which E. & W. had promised to build a branch. No answers being received, E. & W. began to droop27; as soon as it showed decided28 signs of weakness, and seemed to have no friends strong enough to support it, the bears sprang upon it en masse and proceeded to pound and scratch the life out of it. It was granted a temporary breathing-spell through the assistance of some operators in other stocks, who feared their own properties might be depressed29 by sympathy, but as soon as it became evident that E. & W. was to be the only sufferer all the bulls in the market sheathed30 their horns in bears’ claws and assisted in the annihilation of the prostrate31 giant who had no friends.
The excursion-party returned from the mines in high spirits: even the president of the company declared he had no idea that the property was so rich. He predicted, and called all present to remember his words, that the information he would send East would “boom” E. & W. at least ten points within ten days. Marge’s heart simply danced within him: if it was to be as the president predicted, his own hoped-for million by the beginning of the stagnant32 season would be nearer two. He smiled pityingly as Lucia’s face rose before him: how strange that he had ever thought seriously of making that chit his wife, and being gratified for such dowry as the iron trade might allow her father to give!
The stages stopped at a mining-village, twenty miles from the station, for dinner. The president said to the keeper of the little hotel,—{224}
“Is there any telegraph-station here?”
“There’s a telephone ’cross the road at the store,” said the proprietor33. “It runs into the bankin’-house at Big Stony34.”
“Big Stony?” echoed the president. “Why, we’ve done some business with that bank. Come, gentlemen, let’s go across and find out how our baby is being taken care of.”
Several of the party went, Marge being among them. The president “rang up” the little bank, and bawled,—
“Got any New York quotations35 to-day?”
“Yes,” replied a thin, far-away voice.
“How’s the stock market?”
“Pretty comfortable, considering.”
“Any figures on E. & W.?”
“El,” was the only sound the president could evolve from the noise that followed.
“Umph!” said he; “what does that mean? ‘El’ must be ‘twelve,’—hundred and twelve. Still rising, you see; though why it should have gone so high and so suddenly I don’t exactly see. Hello,” he resumed, as he turned again to the mouth-piece; “will you give me those figures again, and not quite so loud? I can’t make them out.”
Again the message came, but it did not seem any more satisfactory, for the president looked astonished, and then frowned; then he shouted back,—
“There’s some mistake; you didn’t get the right letters: I said E. & W.,—Eastern and Western. One moment. Mr. Marge, won’t you kindly36 take my place? My hearing isn’t very keen.”{225}
Marge placed the receiver to his ear, and shouted, “All right; go ahead.” In two or three seconds he dropped the receiver, turned pale, and looked as if about to fall.
“What is it?” asked several voices in chorus.
“He said, ‘E. & W. is dead as a smelt37; knocked to pieces two days ago.’ ”
“What is it quoted at now?” asked one, quickly.
True enough: who could want to know more than Marge? It was in a feeble voice, though, and after two or three attempts to clear his throat, that he asked,—
“How did it close to-day?”
Again, as the answer came back, Marge dropped the receiver and acted as if about to fall.
“What is it? Speak, can’t you?”
“Thirty-seven!” whispered Marge.
There was an outburst of angry exclamations38, not unmixed with profanity. Then nearly all present looked at the president inquiringly, but without receiving any attempt at an explanation, for the president was far the heaviest owner of E. & W. stock, and he looked as stony of face as if he had suddenly died but neglected to close his eyes.
Marge hastily sought the outer air; it seemed to him he would lose his reason if he did not get away from that awful telephone. Thirty-seven! he knew what that meant; his margin39 might have saved his own stock had the drop been to a little below par, but it had tumbled more than half a hundred points, so of course his brokers had closed the account when the margin was exhausted40, and Marge, who a fortnight{226} before had counted himself worth nearly a million dollars (Wall Street millions), was now simply without a penny to his credit in Wall Street or anywhere else; what money he chanced to have in his pocket was all he could hope to call his own until the first of the next month, when the occupants of his tenement-houses would pay their rent.
It was awful; it was unendurable; he longed to scream, to rave41, to tear his hair. He mentally cursed the bears, the brokers, the directors, and every one else but himself. He heard some of his companions in the store bawling42 messages through the telephone, to be wired to New York; these were veterans, who assumed from past experience that a partial recovery would follow and that they would partly recoup their losses. But what could he do? There was not on earth a person whom he could ask, by telegraph, for the few hundred dollars necessary to a small speculation43 on the ruins.
He heard the outburst of incredulity, followed by rage, as the passengers who had remained at the little hotel received the unexpected news, which now seemed to him to be days old. Then he began to suspect everybody, even the crushed president and directors. What could be easier, Marge said to himself, than for these shrewd fellows to unload quietly before they left New York, and then get out of reach so that they could not render any support in case of a break? He had heard of such things before. It certainly was suspicious that the crash should have come the very day after they got away from the telegraph-wires. Likely enough they now, through{227} their brokers, were quietly buying up all the stock that was being offered, to “peg it up,” little by little, to where it had been. The mere44 suspicion made him want to tear them limb from limb,—to organize a lynching-party, after the fashion of the Territory they were in, and get revenge, if not justice.
It was rather a dismal45 party that returned to New York from the trip over the E. & W. The president, fearing indignant Western investors, and still more the newspaper reporters, whom he knew would lie in wait for him until they found him, quietly abandoned the train before reaching Chicago, and went Eastward46 by some other route. A few of the more hardened operators began to encourage each other by telling of other breaks that had been the making of the men they first ruined, but they dropped their consoling reminiscences when Marge approached them; they had only contempt for a man who from his manner evidently was so completely “cleaned out” as to be unable to start again, even in a small way. The majority, however, seemed as badly off as himself; some of them were so depressed that when the stock of cigars provided specially47 for the excursion was exhausted they actually bought common pipes and tobacco at a way station, and industriously48 poisoned the innocent air for hundreds of miles.
This, then, was the end of Marge’s dream of wealth! Occasionally, in other days, he had lost small sums in Wall Street, but only he and his broker8 knew of it; no one ever knew in what line of stock he operated. But now—why, had not his{228} name been printed again and again among those of E. & W.’s strongest backers? Every one would know of his misfortune: he could no longer pose as a shrewd young financier, much less as a man with as large an income as he had time to enjoy.
Would that he had not been so conceited49 and careless as to mentally give up Lucia, who now, for some reason, persisted in appearing in his mind’s eye! Had he given half as much attention to her as to E. & W., she might now be his, and their wedding-cards might be out. And iron was still looking up, too! How could any one not a lunatic have become so devoted50 to chance as to throw away a certainty? for she had been a certainty for him, he believed, had he chosen to realize. Alas51! with her, as with E. & W., he had been too slow at realizing.
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1
malignant
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| adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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par
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| n.标准，票面价值，平均数量；adj.票面的，平常的，标准的 | |
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clique
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| n.朋党派系，小集团 | |
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insufficient
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| adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的 | |
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5
liar
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| n.说谎的人 | |
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expedient
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| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
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7
brokers
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| n.（股票、外币等）经纪人( broker的名词复数 )；中间人；代理商；（订合同的）中人v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的第三人称单数 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排… | |
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8
broker
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| n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排 | |
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9
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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10
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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11
assortment
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| n.分类，各色俱备之物，聚集 | |
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12
rumors
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| n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷 | |
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13
alleged
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| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
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14
investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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15
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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16
sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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investor
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| n.投资者，投资人 | |
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18
usher
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| n.带位员，招待员；vt.引导，护送；vi.做招待，担任引座员 | |
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investors
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| n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 ) | |
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20
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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retard
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| n.阻止，延迟；vt.妨碍，延迟，使减速 | |
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22
slumbering
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| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的现在分词形式） | |
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23
jolting
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| adj.令人震惊的 | |
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24
rosier
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| Rosieresite | |
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westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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26
bracing
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| adj.令人振奋的 | |
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27
droop
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| v.低垂，下垂；凋萎，萎靡 | |
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28
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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29
depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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30
sheathed
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| adj.雕塑像下半身包在鞘中的；覆盖的；铠装的；装鞘了的v.将（刀、剑等）插入鞘( sheathe的过去式和过去分词 )；包，覆盖 | |
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31
prostrate
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| v.拜倒，平卧，衰竭；adj.拜倒的，平卧的，衰竭的 | |
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32
stagnant
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| adj.不流动的，停滞的，不景气的 | |
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33
proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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34
stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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35
quotations
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| n.引用( quotation的名词复数 )；[商业]行情（报告）；（货物或股票的）市价；时价 | |
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36
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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37
smelt
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| v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼 | |
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38
exclamations
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| n.呼喊( exclamation的名词复数 )；感叹；感叹语；感叹词 | |
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39
margin
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| n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘 | |
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40
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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41
rave
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| vi.胡言乱语；热衷谈论；n.热情赞扬 | |
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42
bawling
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| v.大叫，大喊( bawl的现在分词 )；放声大哭；大声叫出；叫卖（货物） | |
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43
speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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44
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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45
dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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46
eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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47
specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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48
industriously
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49
conceited
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| adj.自负的，骄傲自满的 | |
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50
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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51
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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