At eleven o’clock Mr. Phineas Hull rose from the chair which sat before his solid mahogany desk, and confronted his partner.
“I’ll tell you, Ben,” he said, “I’m afraid we can’t make this. We’ve hypothecated so much of this stock around town that we can’t possibly tell who’s doing what. I know as well as I’m standing18 on this floor that some one, I can’t say which one, is selling us out. You don’t suppose it could be Cowperwood or any of those people he sent to us, do you?”
“How should I know, Phineas?” he inquired, scowling20 in troubled thought. “I don’t think so. I didn’t notice any signs that they were interested in stock-gambling. Anyhow, we had to have the money in some form. Any one of the whole crowd is apt to get frightened now at any moment and throw the whole thing over. We’re in a tight place, that’s plain.”
For the fortieth time he plucked at a too-tight collar and pulled up his shirt-sleeves, for it was stifling21, and he was coatless and waistcoatless. Just then Mr. Hull’s telephone bell rang—the one connecting with the firm’s private office on ’change, and the latter jumped to seize the receiver.
“Two thousand shares of American offered at two-twenty! Shall I take them?”
The man who was ’phoning was in sight of another man who stood at the railing of the brokers’ gallery overlooking “the pit,” or central room of the stock-exchange, and who instantly transferred any sign he might receive to the man on the floor. So Mr. Hull’s “yea” or “nay” would be almost instantly transmuted23 into a cash transaction on ’change.
“What do you think of that?” asked Hull of Stackpole, putting his hand over the receiver’s mouth, his right eyelid24 drooping25 heavier than ever. “Two thousand more to take up! Where d’you suppose they are coming from? Tch!”
“Well, the bottom’s out, that’s all,” replied Stackpole, heavily and gutturally. “We can’t do what we can’t do. I say this, though: support it at two-twenty until three o’clock. Then we’ll figure up where we stand and what we owe. And meanwhile I’ll see what I can do. If the banks won’t help us and Arneel and that crowd want to get from under, we’ll fail, that’s all; but not before I’ve had one more try, by Jericho! They may not help us, but—”
Actually Mr. Stackpole did not see what was to be done unless Messrs. Hand, Schryhart, Merrill, and Arneel were willing to risk much more money, but it grieved and angered him to think he and Hull should be thus left to sink without a sigh. He had tried Kaffrath, Videra, and Bailey, but they were adamant26. Thus cogitating27, Stackpole put on his wide-brimmed straw hat and went out. It was nearly ninety-six in the shade. The granite28 and asphalt pavements of the down-town district reflected a dry, Turkish-bath-room heat. There was no air to speak of. The sky was a burning, milky29 blue, with the sun gleaming feverishly30 upon the upper walls of the tall buildings.
Mr. Hand, in his seventh-story suite31 of offices in the Rookery Building, was suffering from the heat, but much more from mental perturbation. Though not a stingy or penurious32 man, it was still true that of all earthly things he suffered most from a financial loss. How often had he seen chance or miscalculation sweep apparently strong and valiant33 men into the limbo34 of the useless and forgotten! Since the alienation35 of his wife’s affections by Cowperwood, he had scarcely any interest in the world outside his large financial holdings, which included profitable investments in a half-hundred companies. But they must pay, pay, pay heavily in interest—all of them—and the thought that one of them might become a failure or a drain on his resources was enough to give him an almost physical sensation of dissatisfaction and unrest, a sort of spiritual and mental nausea36 which would cling to him for days and days or until he had surmounted37 the difficulty. Mr. Hand had no least corner in his heart for failure.
As a matter of fact, the situation in regard to American Match had reached such proportions as to be almost numbing38. Aside from the fifteen thousand shares which Messrs. Hull and Stackpole had originally set aside for themselves, Hand, Arneel, Schryhart, and Merrill had purchased five thousand shares each at forty, but had since been compelled to sustain the market to the extent of over five thousand shares more each, at prices ranging from one-twenty to two-twenty, the largest blocks of shares having been bought at the latter figure. Actually Hand was caught for nearly one million five hundred thousand dollars, and his soul was as gray as a bat’s wing. At fifty-seven years of age men who are used only to the most successful financial calculations and the credit that goes with unerring judgment39 dread40 to be made a mark by chance or fate. It opens the way for comment on their possibly failing vitality41 or judgment. And so Mr. Hand sat on this hot August afternoon, ensconced in a large carved mahogany chair in the inner recesses42 of his inner offices, and brooded. Only this morning, in the face of a falling market, he would have sold out openly had he not been deterred43 by telephone messages from Arneel and Schryhart suggesting the advisability of a pool conference before any action was taken. Come what might on the morrow, he was determined44 to quit unless he saw some clear way out—to be shut of the whole thing unless the ingenuity45 of Stackpole and Hull should discover a way of sustaining the market without his aid. While he was meditating46 on how this was to be done Mr. Stackpole appeared, pale, gloomy, wet with perspiration47.
“Well, Mr. Hand,” he exclaimed, wearily, “I’ve done all I can. Hull and I have kept the market fairly stable so far. You saw what happened between ten and eleven this morning. The jig’s up. We’ve borrowed our last dollar and hypothecated our last share. My personal fortune has gone into the balance, and so has Hull’s. Some one of the outside stockholders, or all of them, are cutting the ground from under us. Fourteen thousand shares since ten o’clock this morning! That tells the story. It can’t be done just now—not unless you gentlemen are prepared to go much further than you have yet gone. If we could organize a pool to take care of fifteen thousand more shares—”
“No more of that,” he was saying, solemnly. “It can’t be done. I, for one, won’t sink another dollar in this proposition at this time. I’d rather throw what I have on the market and take what I can get. I am sure the others feel the same way.”
Mr. Hand, to play safe, had hypothecated nearly all his shares with various banks in order to release his money for other purposes, and he knew he would not dare to throw over all his holdings, just as he knew he would have to make good at the figure at which they had been margined50. But it was a fine threat to make.
Mr. Stackpole stared ox-like at Mr. Hand.
“Very well,” he said, “I might as well go back, then, and post a notice on our front door. We bought fourteen thousand shares and held the market where it is, but we haven’t a dollar to pay for them with. Unless the banks or some one will take them over for us we’re gone—we’re bankrupt.”
Mr. Hand, who knew that if Mr. Stackpole carried out this decision it meant the loss of his one million five hundred thousand, halted mentally. “Have you been to all the banks?” he asked. “What does Lawrence, of the Prairie National, have to say?”
“It’s the same with all of them,” replied Stackpole, now quite desperate, “as it is with you. They have all they can carry—every one. It’s this damned silver agitation—that’s it, and nothing else. There’s nothing the matter with this stock. It will right itself in a few months. It’s sure to.”
“Will it?” commented Mr. Hand, sourly. “That depends on what happens next November.” (He was referring to the coming national election.)
“Yes, I know,” sighed Mr. Stackpole, seeing that it was a condition, and not a theory, that confronted him. Then, suddenly clenching51 his right hand, he exclaimed, “Damn that upstart!” (He was thinking of the “Apostle of Free Silver.”) “He’s the cause of all this. Well, if there’s nothing to be done I might as well be going. There’s all those shares we bought to-day which we ought to be able to hypothecate with somebody. It would be something if we could get even a hundred and twenty on them.”
“Very true,” replied Hand. “I wish it could be done. I, personally, cannot sink any more money. But why don’t you go and see Schryhart and Arneel? I’ve been talking to them, and they seem to be in a position similar to my own; but if they are willing to confer, I am. I don’t see what’s to be done, but it may be that all of us together might arrange some way of heading off the slaughter52 of the stock to-morrow. I don’t know. If only we don’t have to suffer too great a decline.”
Mr. Hand was thinking that Messrs. Hull and Stackpole might be forced to part with all their remaining holdings at fifty cents on the dollar or less. Then if it could possibly be taken and carried by the united banks for them (Schryhart, himself, Arneel) and sold at a profit later, he and his associates might recoup some of their losses. The local banks at the behest of the big quadrumvirate might be coerced53 into straining their resources still further. But how was this to be done? How, indeed?
It was Schryhart who, in pumping and digging at Stackpole when he finally arrived there, managed to extract from him the truth in regard to his visit to Cowperwood. As a matter of fact, Schryhart himself had been guilty this very day of having thrown two thousand shares of American Match on the market unknown to his confreres. Naturally, he was eager to learn whether Stackpole or any one else had the least suspicion that he was involved. As a consequence he questioned Stackpole closely, and the latter, being anxious as to the outcome of his own interests, was not unwilling54 to make a clean breast. He had the justification55 in his own mind that the quadrumvirate had been ready to desert him anyhow.
“Why did you go to him?” exclaimed Schryhart, professing56 to be greatly astonished and annoyed, as, indeed, in one sense he was. “I thought we had a distinct understanding in the beginning that under no circumstances was he to be included in any portion of this. You might as well go to the devil himself for assistance as go there.” At the same time he was thinking “How fortunate!” Here was not only a loophole for himself in connection with his own subtle side-plays, but also, if the quadrumvirate desired, an excuse for deserting the troublesome fortunes of Hull & Stackpole.
“Well, the truth is,” replied Stackpole, somewhat sheepishly and yet defiantly57, “last Thursday I had fifteen thousand shares on which I had to raise money. Neither you nor any of the others wanted any more. The banks wouldn’t take them. I called up Rambaud on a chance, and he suggested Cowperwood.”
As has been related, Stackpole had really gone to Cowperwood direct, but a lie under the circumstances seemed rather essential.
“Rambaud!” sneered58 Schryhart. “Cowperwood’s man—he and all the others. You couldn’t have gone to a worse crowd if you had tried. So that’s where this stock is coming from, beyond a doubt. That fellow or his friends are selling us out. You might have known he’d do it. He hates us. So you’re through, are you?—not another single trick to turn?”
“Not one,” replied Stackpole, solemnly.
“Well, that’s too bad. You have acted most unwisely in going to Cowperwood; but we shall have to see what can be done.”
Schryhart’s idea, like that of Hand, was to cause Hull & Stackpole to relinquish59 all their holdings for nothing to the banks in order that, under pressure, the latter might carry the stocks he and the others had hypothecated with them until such a time as the company might be organized at a profit. At the same time he was intensely resentful against Cowperwood for having by any fluke of circumstance reaped so large a profit as he must have done. Plainly, the present crisis had something to do with him. Schryhart was quick to call up Hand and Arneel, after Stackpole had gone, suggesting a conference, and together, an hour later, at Arneel’s office, they foregathered along with Merrill to discuss this new and very interesting development. As a matter of fact, during the course of the afternoon all of these gentlemen had been growing more and more uneasy. Not that between them they were not eminently60 capable of taking care of their own losses, but the sympathetic effect of such a failure as this (twenty million dollars), to say nothing of its reaction upon the honor of themselves and the city as a financial center, was a most unsatisfactory if not disastrous61 thing to contemplate62, and now this matter of Cowperwood’s having gained handsomely by it all was added to their misery63. Both Hand and Arneel growled64 in opposition65 when they heard, and Merrill meditated66, as he usually did, on the wonder of Cowperwood’s subtlety67. He could not help liking68 him.
There is a sort of municipal pride latent in the bosoms69 of most members of a really thriving community which often comes to the surface under the most trying circumstances. These four men were by no means an exception to this rule. Messrs. Schryhart, Hand, Arneel, and Merrill were concerned as to the good name of Chicago and their united standing in the eyes of Eastern financiers. It was a sad blow to them to think that the one great enterprise they had recently engineered—a foil to some of the immense affairs which had recently had their genesis in New York and elsewhere—should have come to so untimely an end. Chicago finance really should not be put to shame in this fashion if it could be avoided. So that when Mr. Schryhart arrived, quite warm and disturbed, and related in detail what he had just learned, his friends listened to him with eager and wary70 ears.
It was now between five and six o’clock in the afternoon and still blazing outside, though the walls of the buildings on the opposite side of the street were a cool gray, picked out with pools of black shadow. A newsboy’s strident voice was heard here and there calling an extra, mingled71 with the sound of homing feet and street-cars—Cowperwood’s street-cars.
“I’ll tell you what it is,” said Schryhart, finally. “It seems to me we have stood just about enough of this man’s beggarly interference. I’ll admit that neither Hull nor Stackpole had any right to go to him. They laid themselves and us open to just such a trick as has been worked in this case.” Mr. Schryhart was righteously incisive73, cold, immaculate, waspish. “At the same time,” he continued, “any other moneyed man of equal standing with ourselves would have had the courtesy to confer with us and give us, or at least our banks, an opportunity for taking over these securities. He would have come to our aid for Chicago’s sake. He had no occasion for throwing these stocks on the market, considering the state of things. He knows very well what the effect of their failure will be. The whole city is involved, but it’s little he cares. Mr. Stackpole tells me that he had an express understanding with him, or, rather, with the men who it is plain have been representing him, that not a single share of this stock was to be thrown on the market. As it is, I venture to say not a single share of it is to be found anywhere in any of their safes. I can sympathize to a certain extent with poor Stackpole. His position, of course, was very trying. But there is no excuse—none in the world—for such a stroke of trickery on Cowperwood’s part. It’s just as we’ve known all along—the man is nothing but a wrecker. We certainly ought to find some method of ending his career here if possible.”
Mr. Schryhart kicked out his well-rounded legs, adjusted his soft-roll collar, and smoothed his short, crisp, wiry, now blackish-gray mustache. His black eyes flashed an undying hate.
At this point Mr. Arneel, with a cogency74 of reasoning which did not at the moment appear on the surface, inquired: “Do any of you happen to know anything in particular about the state of Mr. Cowperwood’s finances at present? Of course we know of the Lake Street ‘L’ and the Northwestern. I hear he’s building a house in New York, and I presume that’s drawing on him somewhat. I know he has four hundred thousand dollars in loans from the Chicago Central; but what else has he?”
“Well, there’s the two hundred thousand he owes the Prairie National,” piped up Schrybart, promptly75. “From time to time I’ve heard of several other sums that escape my mind just now.”
Mr. Merrill, a diplomatic mouse of a man—gray, Parisian, dandified—was twisting in his large chair, surveying the others with shrewd though somewhat propitiatory76 eyes. In spite of his old grudge77 against Cowperwood because of the latter’s refusal to favor him in the matter of running street-car lines past his store, he had always been interested in the man as a spectacle. He really disliked the thought of plotting to injure Cowperwood. Just the same, he felt it incumbent78 to play his part in such a council as this. “My financial agent, Mr. Hill, loaned him several hundred thousand not long ago,” he volunteered, a little doubtfully. “I presume he has many other outstanding obligations.”
Mr. Hand stirred irritably.
“Well, he’s owing the Third National and the Lake City as much if not more,” he commented. “I know where there are five hundred thousand dollars of his loans that haven’t been mentioned here. Colonel Ballinger has two hundred thousand. He must owe Anthony Ewer79 all of that. He owes the Drovers and Traders all of one hundred and fifty thousand.”
On the basis of these suggestions Arneel made a mental calculation, and found that Cowperwood was indebted apparently to the tune48 of about three million dollars on call, if not more.
“I haven’t all the facts,” he said, at last, slowly and distinctly. “If we could talk with some of the presidents of our banks to-night, we should probably find that there are other items of which we do not know. I do not like to be severe on any one, but our own situation is serious. Unless something is done to-night Hull & Stackpole will certainly fail in the morning. We are, of course, obligated to the various banks for our loans, and we are in honor bound to do all we can for them. The good name of Chicago and its rank as a banking center is to a certain extent involved. As I have already told Mr. Stackpole and Mr. Hull, I personally have gone as far as I can in this matter. I suppose it is the same with each of you. The only other resources we have under the circumstances are the banks, and they, as I understand it, are pretty much involved with stock on hypothecation80. I know at least that this is true of the Lake City and the Douglas Trust.”
“We are not obligated to Mr. Cowperwood for anything so far as I know,” continued Mr. Arneel, after a slight but somewhat portentous82 pause. “As Mr. Schryhart has suggested here to-day, he seems to have a tendency to interfere72 and disturb on every occasion. Apparently he stands obligated to the various banks in the sums we have mentioned. Why shouldn’t his loans be called? It would help strengthen the local banks, and possibly permit them to aid in meeting this situation for us. While he might be in a position to retaliate83, I doubt it.”
Mr. Arneel had no personal opposition to Cowperwood—none, at least, of a deep-seated character. At the same time Hand, Merrill, and Schryhart were his friends. In him, they felt, centered the financial leadership of the city. The rise of Cowperwood, his Napoleonic airs, threatened this. As Mr. Arneel talked he never raised his eyes from the desk where he was sitting. He merely drummed solemnly on the surface with his fingers. The others contemplated84 him a little tensely, catching85 quite clearly the drift of his proposal.
“An excellent idea—excellent!” exclaimed Schryhart. “I will join in any programme that looks to the elimination86 of this man. The present situation may be just what is needed to accomplish this. Anyhow, it may help to solve our difficulty. If so, it will certainly be a case of good coming out of evil.”
“I see no reason why these loans should not be called,” Hand commented. “I’m willing to meet the situation on that basis.”
“And I have no particular objection,” said Merrill. “I think, however, it would be only fair to give as much notice as possible of any decision we may reach,” he added.
“Why not send for the various bankers now,” suggested Schryhart, “and find out exactly where he stands, and how much it will take to carry Hull & Stackpole? Then we can inform Mr. Cowperwood of what we propose to do.”
To this proposition Mr. Hand nodded an assent, at the same time consulting a large, heavily engraved87 gold watch of the most ponderous88 and inartistic design. “I think,” he said, “that we have found the solution to this situation at last. I suggest that we get Candish and Kramer, of the stock-exchange” (he was referring to the president and secretary, respectively, of that organization), “and Simmons, of the Douglas Trust. We should soon be able to tell what we can do.”
The library of Mr. Arneel’s home was fixed89 upon as the most suitable rendezvous90. Telephones were forthwith set ringing and messengers and telegrams despatched in order that the subsidiary financial luminaries91 and the watch-dogs of the various local treasuries92 might come and, as it were, put their seal on this secret decision, which it was obviously presumed no minor93 official or luminary94 would have the temerity95 to gainsay96.
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collapse
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| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
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hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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ostensible
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| adj.(指理由)表面的，假装的 | |
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banking
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| n.银行业，银行学，金融业 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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untoward
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| adj.不利的，不幸的，困难重重的 | |
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liquidate
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| v.偿付，清算，扫除；整理，破产 | |
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fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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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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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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scrambling
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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tortuous
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| adj.弯弯曲曲的，蜿蜒的 | |
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momentary
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crevices
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dike
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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irritable
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| adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的 | |
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scowling
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的现在分词 ) | |
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stifling
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irritably
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transmuted
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eyelid
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drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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adamant
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| adj.坚硬的，固执的 | |
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cogitating
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| v.认真思考，深思熟虑( cogitate的现在分词 ) | |
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granite
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| adj.花岗岩，花岗石 | |
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milky
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| adj.牛奶的，多奶的；乳白色的 | |
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feverishly
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suite
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penurious
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valiant
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limbo
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alienation
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nausea
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surmounted
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| 战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
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numbing
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| adj.使麻木的，使失去感觉的v.使麻木，使麻痹( numb的现在分词 ) | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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vitality
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| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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recesses
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| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
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deterred
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| v.阻止，制止( deter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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meditating
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| a.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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perspiration
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| n.汗水；出汗 | |
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48
tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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digit
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| n.零到九的阿拉伯数字，手指，脚趾 | |
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margined
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| [医]具边的 | |
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clenching
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的现在分词 ) | |
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slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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coerced
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| v.迫使做( coerce的过去式和过去分词 )；强迫；（以武力、惩罚、威胁等手段）控制；支配 | |
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unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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justification
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| n.正当的理由；辩解的理由 | |
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professing
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| 声称( profess的现在分词 )； 宣称； 公开表明； 信奉 | |
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defiantly
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| adv.挑战地，大胆对抗地 | |
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sneered
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| 讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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relinquish
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| v.放弃，撤回，让与，放手 | |
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eminently
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| adv.突出地；显著地；不寻常地 | |
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disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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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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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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meditated
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| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
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subtlety
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| n.微妙，敏锐，精巧；微妙之处，细微的区别 | |
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liking
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| n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 | |
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bosoms
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| 胸部( bosom的名词复数 )； 胸怀； 女衣胸部（或胸襟）； 和爱护自己的人在一起的情形 | |
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wary
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| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
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mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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incisive
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| adj.敏锐的，机敏的，锋利的，切入的 | |
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cogency
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| n.说服力；adj.有说服力的 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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propitiatory
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| adj.劝解的；抚慰的；谋求好感的；哄人息怒的 | |
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grudge
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| n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做 | |
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incumbent
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| adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的 | |
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ewer
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| n.大口水罐 | |
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hypothecation
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| n.抵押，担保契约 | |
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assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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portentous
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| adj.不祥的，可怕的，装腔作势的 | |
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retaliate
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| v.报复，反击 | |
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contemplated
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| adj. 预期的 动词contemplate的过去分词形式 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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elimination
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| n.排除，消除，消灭 | |
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engraved
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| v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中） | |
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ponderous
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| adj.沉重的，笨重的，(文章)冗长的 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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rendezvous
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| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
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luminaries
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| n.杰出人物，名人（luminary的复数形式） | |
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treasuries
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| n.（政府的）财政部( treasury的名词复数 )；国库，金库 | |
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minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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luminary
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| n.名人，天体 | |
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95
temerity
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| n.鲁莽，冒失 | |
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gainsay
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| v.否认，反驳 | |
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