The Market-Place

said Thorpe, half an hour later: "you neve

d themselves in the cold grate. Above the mantel hung an enlarged photograph of a scowling old man. Thorpe's gaze recurred automatically at brief intervals to this portrait-which somehow produced the effect upon him of responsibility fo

k-shop on the floor below remained like snuff in his nostrils. Somewhere underneath, or in the wainscoting at the side, he could hear the assiduous gnawing of a rat. Wa

say that," replied

simply from her temples into a knot behind, was of that palest brown which assimilates grey. Her face, long, plain, masculine in contour and spirit

en knew what part of the world you were in more than once in two or three years. How should I know whether you were going to succeed, when I didn't even know what it was you were at? Certainly you hadn't succeeded here in London-but elsewhere you might or

iously intent glance, "you never said to yourself: 'I KNOW he's

expressed fatigued failure to comprehend why

g about getting rich; you kept the idea before you of sometime, at a stroke, finding yourself a millionaire. That's been the idea of your life. But what do I know about all that? My work has been to keep a roof over my head-to keep the little business from disappearing altogether. It

st wish you'd never sent me that four hundred pounds at all. What it means is that they've had two years at schools where now I shan't be able to k

d not dull the gleam in Thorpe's eyes. He even beg

told you there'd be more where that came from, and that I stood to pull off the great event-even t

you in your misfortunes-you know that well enough-but you're very tiresome with that eternal harping on what I believed and what I didn't believe. Now, are you going to stop to supper or not?-because i

the hotel till I'd settled my bill," sugge

leave your things there, and buy what little you want-I don't imagine, from what I've seen, that your wardrobe

to her chair. With his thick hands on his sister's

y, eh, Lou?" he said, as he s

tracted gaze she was bending upon the fireless grate. Something extraordinary, unaccountable, was in the manner of her brother. She recalled that, in truth, he was more than half a stranger to her. How could she tell what wild, uncanny second nature had not grow

ung herself out of the chair, and, wheeling, seized its back and drew it between them as

stammering-"What i

blankly at her for a further moment. Then

-to hear some different kind of news. I've been playing it rather low down

n the chair-back. Her breathing troubled her as she reg

ng to me about-about your Co

l truth-but I was taking a rise out of you all the same." He seemed so unaffectedly plea

ome in-that there weren't enough applications for shares to pay flotation expenses-those were your own words. Of course, I don't pretend to underst

he case-as a general rule," he

urse-I don't unde

lf, and motioning her to the other chair. "But yes, of course you will. You're a business woman. You k

o supper? I must send Annie

tel before I go to bed, if I feel like it. But say!"-the thought suddenly struck him-"if you

rule, you know. I don't like to break it. I'm always queer next day if I do. But now

ht, and spread his bulky shoulders backward. His grey

ear Louisa, I'm not the sort that gets broken. I b

words over his shoulder; again he held her absorbed gaze with his. He took his hands often from his pockets, to illustrate o

of his, as he related them, turned upon the obstacles and fatal pitfalls which treachery and malice had put in his path. He seemed, by his account, to have been a hundred times almost within touch of the goal. In China, in the Dutch Indies, in those remoter parts of Australia which were a waterless waste when he knew them and might have owned them, and now were yielding fabulous millions to fellows who had tricked and swindled him-everywhere he had missed by just a hair'

hat there was nowhere in this rapid and comprehensive narrative any allusion to industry of the wage-earning sort. Apparently, he had done no work at all, in the bread-winner's sense of the word. This was so like Joel that it was t

varying phases of a chronic trouble about where the true boundary of Guatemala ran-but she failed clearly to understand much about it all. His other schemes and mishaps she had followed readily enough. Somehow when they came to Mexico, however, she saw everything jumbled and distorted, as through a haze. Once or twice she interrupted him to ask questions, but he seemed to attach such slight importance to her comprehending these details that she forbore. Only one fact was it necessary to grasp about t

im there. When he came to London, however, there were villains and to spare. He moved to the mantel, when he arrived at this stage of the story, and made clear a space fo

man who talked about millions. It was true that he had sent her four hundred pounds for the education of her son and daughter; it was equally true that he had brought with him to London a sum which any of his ancestors, so far as she knew about them, would have deemed a fortune, and which he treated as merely so much oil, with which to lubricate the machinery of his great enterprise. She had heard, at various times, the embittered details of the disappearance of this money, little by little. Nearly a quarter of it, all told, had been app

he heard and could learn about them testified to the strength of their position in the City. Because they displayed a certain amiability of manner toward him and his project, he allowed himself to make sure of their support. It grew to be a certainty in his mind that they would see him through. He spent a good deal of money in dinners

the market; in consideration of their finding the ready money for this exploitation, they were to have for themselves two-fifths of the shares in the Company ultimately to be floated. They listened to these details, and to his enthusiastic remarks about the project itself, with rather p

of haggling with them. He misunderstood their first show of impatience at this, and persevered in the face of their tacit rebuffs. Then, one day, a couple of them treated him with overt rudeness, and he, astonished

iliated him, curiously enough, as no o

s after all. But to him, their offense swallowed up all the other indignities suffered during the years of his Ishmaelitish wanderings. A sombre lust for vengeance upon them took root in his very soul. He hated

against the mantel, these vagabond memories of hers took poi

but I don't count it as anything at all by comparison with the fact that I make it at their expense. Yo

It occurred to her that she must have been almost asleep. "But did I

es-it takes the breath away, doesn't it? But best of all-a thousand times best of all-practically every dollar of it comes out of those Kaffir swine-the very men that tried to rob me, and that have been trying to ruin me ever since. I tell you what I wish, Louise-I wish to God there could only

after reflection, "it

d suddenly accentuated itself, she arose, took a ma

took fresh note of the room-the faded, threadbare carpet, the sparse old furniture that had seemed ugly to even his uninformed

y, within a month's time, old lady, you'll be riding in the Park in your own carriage, with niggers folding t

of her lifted brows: "Barouche? That'

rusty old black gown drawn back by one hand from the snapping sparks. "No," she said, slow

lustily. "But that's no reason why I sho

drawing her chair closer to the hearth. "It's years since I've lit this fire before

ubbing his hands over the reluctant

at it was all about," she reminded him. "You see I'm completely in the dark. I only hear you say tha

of relief. "If you'll draw me a glass of that beer of yours, I'll tell you all about it. It's not a thing for everybod

d merrily after her: "No more beer when that k