The Pit

five minutes ahead of the stroke of the gong; and the throng of brokers and clerks that surged in and about the Pit itself was so great th

ighths, and the Bulls had prophesied and promised that the magic legend "Dolla

had the trading sagged or languished. The air of the Pit was surcharged with a veritable electricit

eir unseen and mysterious friend who daily, weekly, was making them richer. The Bears were scarcely visible. The Great Bull in a single superb rush had driven them nearly out of the Pit. Growling, grumbling they had retreated, and only at distance dared so much as to bare a claw. Just the formi

ing of the gong, and the roar of the Pit as it began to get under way, with a prolonged rumbling trepidation like the advancing of a great flood, he threw his cigar away and stepped out from the public room

on the instant filled the air in front of the window, he was all at

now you, d

r turne

a lame wing since yesterday, and if I don't watch, the others would drive her off. The pouter brute y

newcomer, laconically

t dark, and his face-smooth-shaven and triangulated in shape, like a cat's-was dark as well. The eyebrows were thin and black, and

He wore a white waistcoat, drab gaiters, a gold watch and chain, a jewelled scarf pin, and a se

pocket handkerchief as he spoke. "There are othe

an the 'Unk

damned fool," return

rther than a vaguely felt increase of self-esteem. He seemed to feel more important in his own eyes; he would have liked to have his friends see him just now talking with this man. "Crookes was saying to-day-" he would observe when next he met an acquaintance. For C. H. Crookes was conceded to be the "biggest man" in La Salle Street.

ssler, combing his short

e one, long, angular, loose-jointed; the other, tight, trim, small, and compact. The one os

ut to continue Crookes

said. "Wh

ertain friends at a distance, while above them, on the topmost step of the Pit, a half-dozen others, their arms at fullest stretch, threw the hand signals that interpreted the fluctuations in the price, to their associates in the various parts of the building. Again and again the cheers rose, v

okes, "they did get

rade, that did not feel the thrill. The news flashed out to the world on a hundred telegraph wires; it was called to a hundred offices across the telephone lines. From every door

urned to

day-at Kinsley's? I'd like

invitation, Crookes, with a succinct no

met not only Crookes, but his associate Sweeny, and another gentleman b

?" Freye, a German-American, was a quiet fellow, very handsome, with black side whiskers and a humourous, twinkling eye. The three were members of the Board of Trade, and were always associ

ss that for the moment left Cressler breathless, announced that they were preparing

Sweeny had talked himself breathless, and all the preliminaries were out of the way. Then he remark

t of the market. We've let him have his way now for three or four months. We figured we'd let him run

d to object, "you forge

nd tapped his f

d, "that there won't be mu

going to sell him right out o' the market, so we are. Simpl

shook h

eculating years ago. And, besides, to sell short on this

!" muttere

xplain to you, Cha

a little while, and Sweeny, his chair tipped back against the wall, his hands clasped behind his head,

time the lunch table was one litter of papers-letters, cont

"well, Charlie, do you see the

er heard of, Billy," answered Cressler. "

we can count

ared Cressler, stoutl

e proposition, from a fresh point of view, winding up with the excla

ld cock. You boys are all youngsters. I've got a little money left and a little business, and I want to grow old quiet-like.

ldn't make Bear sentiment with the public, with just the lift o' one forefinger? Why, he owns most of the commercial columns of the dailies already. D'ye think he couldn't swam

r. "You'll win, of course. Crookes & Co. are like Rothschild-earthquakes couldn't budge 'em. Bu

rlie," said Freye, good-h

old as I am, and have been through three panics, and have known what it me

at once, "that we're not speculating-that the othe

tting up from the table. "You convince me that your clique is not a speculative

orrow?" asked Sweeny, as th

u any good," pe

e same?" the other insisted. An

and the two leaders watched Cressler's broad

s the cock of the cow-yard in his day, and the thing is in the blood. He gave himself clean, clean away when he let o

Freye, "we've g

s scheme o' yours yet. Why is Crookes so keen on having him in? I'm not so

ave that element in the clique before we can approach Stires & Co. We may have to get a pile of money from them, and they're apt to be scary and

m, "I thought Crookes was going to put us wise t

ld copper the individual. There was a great big jag of wheat sold to Liverpool a little while

! we're after big ga

chalk; anyhow not until he's so far in, he can't pull out. He and Jadwin are good friends, I'

he portico of the Illinois Trust to escape a drenching. All the passers-by close at hand were making for the same shelter, and among th

end came panting up the steps, "as the wha

e portico, their coat collars turned up

last, "I see we got 'dol

Jadwin, nodding,

"I suppose you are sorry, now t

ng off the end of a cigar. "No,

good and all t

ood an

ng to find out who he is. Crookes, though, was saying to me-Cal Crookes, you know-he was saying he didn't care who he was. Crookes

w that I'm out of the game. Real estate is too lively now to think of anything else; keeps me on the keen jump early and late. I tell you what, Charlie, this city isn't half grown yet. And do you know, I've noticed anothe

Rookery, close at hand. But he had no more than settled h

voice. "Hello, is that you, J.? Well, in the matter of

then he added, "I guess we had

seen together nowadays. Don't ask for me. Go right into the smoking-room. I'll be there. And, by the way, I shall expect a reply from Minn

ed Jadwin. "I wasn't home to din

nd if I call you up on your residence telephone, there's al

cheon to-morrow. It can't be helped. By the way, I met Cressler this afternoon, Sa

. "Better hang up, J. There's big risk telepho

n hour later Laura was called t

o-night?" she cried blankly i

ssible, old gir

?" she i

building and loan

that. Why don't you let

arning of Gretry still fresh in

orrow noon and explain it all to you. Good-by.... Laur

y door closing. The receiver was silent and dead; and he knew that hi

n," and promptly negotiations were opened between the clique and the great banking house of the Stires. But meanwhile Jadwin and Gretry, foreseeing no opposition, realising the incalculable advantage that their knowledge of the possibility of a "corner" gave them, were, quietly enough, gathering in the grain. As early as the end of March Jadwin, as incidental to his contemplated corner of May wheat, had bought up a full half of the small supply of cash wheat in Duluth, Chicag

th of the news of the French import duty, and had considered the deal "big." Well, he was a different man since that time. Then he had been suspicious of speculation, had feared it even. Now he had discovered that there were in him powers, capabilities, and a breadth of grasp hitherto unsuspected. He could control the Chicago wheat market, and the man who could do that might well call himself "great," without presumption. He knew that he overtopped them all-Gretry, the

irled once upon itself, forty million strong, in the eddy which he told himself he mastered. The afternoon waned, night came on. The day's business was to be gone over; the morrow's campaign was to be planned; little, unexpected side issues, a score of them, a hundred of them, cropped out from hour to hour; new decisions had to be taken each minute. At dinner time he left the office, and his horses carried him home again, while again their hoofs upon the asphalt beat out unceasingly the monotone of the one refrain, "Wheat-wheat-wheat,

would unchain the tempest in the Pit to-morrow morning. Wheat-wheat-wheat, wheat-wheat-wheat! Instantly the jaded senses braced again, instantly the wearied mind sprang to its post. He turned out the lights, he locked the front door. Long since the great house was asleep. In the cold, dim silence of the earliest dawn Cu

she was angry, hurt, and grieved that he should leave her so much alone. But there wer

mes he thought he saw reproach and appeal in her dark eyes, at times anger and a pride cruelly w

ade itself. I happened to stand between two sets of circumstances, and they made me do what I've done. I couldn't get out of it now, with all the good will in

e receipt of her invitation, and after the play had the party to supper in his apartments, that overloo

m Landry. He was, it appeared, sick, and in bed. The day's work on the Board of Trade had quite used him up for the moment, and his doctor f

ut he's worried and fidgety to beat all I ever saw, this last week; and now this eve

t the door of her home and t

e three of us came home this way. Remember? It was the nig

uildings were all lit up. See," she added, as they drove up to the house, "there's

nd shut himself thus in the library, and toiled on till early dawn. She enjoyed no companionsh

her hand a moment at the door. "Shall you be at home

red. "Yes, I shall be

t motionless in his place, looking out of the window with unseeing eyes. Hi

studio, let himself in, and, throwing aside his hat and coat, sat down without lighting the gas in front

igarettes and ash trays at his elbow. Then he lit the tall lamp of corroded bronze, with its heavy silk shade, that stood on a table in the angle of the room, drew the curtains, put a fresh log upon the f

in the charge of the faithful Evans; and no mater how long he was absent, he never returned thither without a sense of welcome a

ainst it here and there. On every hand the eye rested upon some small masterpiece of art or workmanship. Now it was an antique portrait bust of the days of decadent Rome, black marble with a bronze tiara; now a framed page of a fourteenth-century version of "Li Quatres Filz d'Aymon," with an illuminated letter of miraculous workmanship; or a Renaissance gonfalon of silk once white but now brown with age, yet in the centre blazing with the escutcheon and quarterings of a dead queen. Between the windows stood

. In an adjoining room a clock chimed the half hour of one, an

rm against the overhanging shelf, and resting his forehead against

appy and lonely. Oh, fool, fool to have left her when you might have stayed! Oh,

y, as they had planned, he read aloud to her from Rossetti. Nothing could have been more conventional than their conversation, nothing more impersonal. But on his way home one feature of th

ticipation of the next meeting filled all his waking hours. He refused to think; he resigned himself to the drift of the current. Jadwin he rarely saw.

e away so much these days, I'm afraid she would be lonesome if it wasn

always present. How-Corthell asked himself-did she regard the affair? She gave him no sign; she never intimated that his presence was otherwise than agreeable. Was this tacit acquiescence of hers an enco

its opening, later on in the spring. They had taken the decision so unexpectedly that she had no time to tell him of the change in her plans. Corthell wondered if she had-as a matter of fact-forgotten all about her appointment with him. He never quite understood the incident, and afterwards asked himself whether or no he could be so sure, after all, of the estrangement between the husband and wife. He guessed it to be possible that on this occasion Jadwin had suddenly decided to give himself a holiday, and that Laura had been quick to ta

ew, he passed the night down town, and upon those occasions when he managed to get home after the day's work, he was exhausted

Laura's marriage-the party "sat out on the front stoop." For a wonder, Jadwin was able to be present. Laura had prevailed upon him to give her this evening and the evening of the follo

ned with the Jadwins at the great North Avenue house and afterwards t

to keep by her husband continually. She even managed to get him away from the others, and t

full of her pro

ittle-a little bit-early, and you could drive me out to the restaurant there in the park, and we could have dinner ther

ning. Dear old girl, honestly, I-I don't belie

t sudden

gan, her voice falteri

but you must let me

; but, uneasy at her silence, he began an elaborate explana

o, no, I don't mind. Of

ee, don't yo

I see," she ans

"we had better be g

had a hard day's work. I'm thirsty, too," he added, as

om, she stood alone a moment in the darkened room looking out into the street. She felt t

lone?" said Corthell

ed about

d. "I came to say good ni

d, as she gave him hers.

n-soon, will you? Co

Corthell felt her hand, as it lay in his, c

you Wednesday th

n his grip, and sudde

quietly. Jadwin's step

ispered, and in ano

l those who were around her. At times her gaiety filled the whole of her beautiful house; at times she shut herself in her apartments

ums" of the city. But no sooner had her friends readjusted their points of view to suit this new development than she was off upon another tangent,

the role of Lady Macbeth, built a stage in the ballroom at the top of the house, and, locking herself in, rehearsed

that croaks the entrance of

ying with tireless avidity, and frightening Aunt Wess' with her declaration that "she might go on the stage

him love her, to have him with her. Without his company, great heavens, her life would be lonely beyond words and beyond endurance. Besides, was it to be thought, for an instant, that she, she, Laura Jadwin, in her pitch of pride, with a

evening in question, Laura said to him, after a

ung it in my own particular room upstairs-my sitting-room-so as to have it where I can see it always. I love it now. But," she added, "I am not sur

with me, and tell m

deep skins, the walls wainscotted half way to the ceiling, in dull woods. Shelves of books were everywhere, together with potted plants and tall brass lamps. A long "Mad

and how much you have impressed your individuality upon it. I should have known that you lived here. If you

dicating where it hung. "Doesn't it

nd that she had but to incline the canvas a l

e held the picture in place. "Of course. I

and talking of it. And then, without remembering just how it had happened, Laura found h

was so warm, I raised the windows and I sat here for hours looking out over the lake. I could hear it lapping and washing against the shore-almost like a sea. And it was so still, so still; and I was thinking of the time when I was a little girl back at Barrington, years and years ago, picking whortle-berries dow

. Part of her-one of those two Laura Jadwins who at different times, but with equal right called themselves "I," knew just what effect her words, her pose, would have upon a man who sympathised with her, who loved her. But the other Laura Jadwin would have resented as petty, as even

and all this wealth, what does it amount to?" Her voice was the voice of Phedre, and the gesture of lassitude with which s

is a-weary of

inely aching with real sadness, and that the tears which

I would give it all gladly, gladly, to be that little black-haired girl again, back in Squire Dearborn's water lot; with my hands stained with the whortle-b

the secret. It was love-even the foolish boy and girl

ap, and, musing, turned the rings

k so?" he asked

ng forward in his chair, looked with vague eyes across the room. And no interval of time since his return, no words that had eve

hell turned

"that your life is without love now

made n

been yours, just the same; it has lain at your door, it has looked-oh, God knows with what longing!-through your windows. You have never stirred abroad that it has not followed you. Not a footprint of

while neither spoke. The clock on the table ticked steadily. In the distance, through the open window, came the i

ay this summer," she said. "Don't you think it would be

ritically ab

kly. "There is no backgro

it off at the top

to put brass 'plaques' or p

I know you want to. You will

ch he had bought in a Viennese pawnshop, heart-shaped and topped with a small ducal coronet of worn gold. On o

the matches into his hand. "You see the red stain still on the inside; and-smell," he added, as she took it from him.

low him further than the threshold of the room,

soon after Corthell's departure she heard Page, Landry Court, and Mrs. Wessels come in; then at length rousing from her reverie she prepared for bed

x. She glanced at it a moment, indifferently; but her mind was full of other things

s place. Landry Court, Page, and Aunt Wess' were there; for occasionally nowadays, when the tri

s he prepared to go down town after breakfast. "I always see hi

wered Lau

real sorry not to get home here before he left. I've never heard him play on that big organ, and I've been wanting to f

reasons, she had the stupidity to add: "And we were in t

her usual ride, but she had not been away from

lowest ambling walk. That which had so abruptly presented itself to her mind was the fact that Corthell's match box-his name engr

herself. Yet, for all that, the maids or the housekeeper often passed through it, on their way to the suite beyond, and occasionally Page or Aunt

so much as glanced at the room before leaving the house that morning. The serva

ess of the predicament, the small meanness of her situation struck across her face like the f

g all her self-control, she went on her way with deliberate slowness, so t

crop, she mounted to her sitting-room a

ng of the heart, stopped short. The little heart-shaped match box was gone, and on the couch in

centre of the room, her lips tight pressed, the fingers of one gloved hand drumming rapidly upon her riding-crop. She

d she felt so degraded as now, when, moving with such softness and swiftness as she could in her agitation command, she went here and there about the room, peering i

f an hour, was obliged to give over searching. She was certain the match box lay upon the maho

h time among the drawers and shelves, she was all at once aware, even without

Page?" she asked. "I want to drop a

the room. "I thought, maybe," she added, gravely, as she drew the heart-shaped match box from her pocket,

ge's hand, with a violence that sent it spin

n? What do I care if Curtis should find it here? What's it to me that

e, was perfectly calm und

tell us this morning at breakfast that you and he were in the art gallery the whole evening? I thought,"

lery the whole evening. So we were. We did-I do remember now-we did come up here for an instant, to see how my pi

pointed to a silver pen tray on the mahogany table, hidden behind a book rack

ed. "Really, you manage very

r riding-crop i

ke me forget myself;" s

ge, quietly, "that you've don

crop down and

ust what do you mean? Sit down," she commanded, flinging a hand towa

ing. She met her sister

ed, "that it made no difference to you

exclaimed Laura

so when you came in? I was not a

this day on. What I do is my affair; I'll ask nobody's advice. I'll do as I please, do you understand?" The tears sprang to her eyes, the sobs strangled in her throat. "I'll do as I please, as I please," and with the words she sank down in the chair by her d

, running forward. But Laura, on h

cked herself to and fro. "Don't you touch me. Go away from me; go away from me. I hate you; I hate y

on the couch, face downward. Her

r, but to all her sister's consolations Laura, h

let me alone. D

off the hat, loosened the scarf around Laura's neck, and then deftly, silently, while her sister lay inert and sobbing beneath her hands,

r caresses. The better part of an hour went by; Page, knowing her sister's n

into long, shuddering breaths, and at length

ogne from my dressing-tabl

r, she added: "And my hand mirro

word upon the subject

was searching the shelves of the library for a book with which to while awa

-wait," she added. Then, after a moment's tho

eat white rug before the empty fireplace. Her hands were behind her

"I told the servant I was not at home. But I ch

antel, and as she spoke the last words he looked at her quickly. As usual, they wer

you," continued Laura. The

come to see

a moment did not speak. Then at last, hi

I offe

ook he

was a long silence. The artist looked at the floor his han

ca. I should not have believed that I was strong enough to trust myself. Then"-he looked at her steadily. His words came from

es

even the little that is left to me now. I-I-" He turned away quickly and walked to a window and stood a moment, his back turned, l

this-it can do no harm now that I am to leave you-answer me

osed h

ot the righ

ld have told me so.... If I promise you," he went on. "If I promise you to go aw

ook he

y much for me to look forward to in the little time that yet remains. I d

"for you to see me again? Why will you make me

e partly raised a clenched fist and let it fall slowly upon the ba

not. Never, never say that to

en! Not a day of my life since that I have not regretted it. You could have loved m

u go?" s

ay you could not

"I could not, I could not," she murmured, monotonou

defensive hand, but he caught the arm itself to him and, before she could resist, had kissed it again and aga

wrenched through her, to her very finger tips, with

, and stood off from him, erect and rigid, a fine, delicate, trembling vibr

all she had

e you once mo

ing, only go, go

nother moment she hear

vening with me? Just us two, here at home-or I'll go out with you. I'll do anything you say." She looked at him steadily an instant. "It is not-not easy for a woman to

fter Laura had given Corthell his dismissal. As she spok

can go to the devil! And we won't go out either; we'll stay right here. You g

wn his knife and fork, and looked

r old evenings again,

" demanded his wife.

ing," he

there was.

ght now," he return

d. "You must tell

ted a mom

days I've had," he put his fingers to his forehead between his e

eada

or other, inside. I'll take a good long rest this summer, as soon as we can get away. Another month or six weeks, and I'll have things ship-shape and so as I can leave them. Then we'll go up to G

to dinner to-night. But you can expect me by eight o

ife good-by, Laura put

mes-Oh," she cried, suddenly "if I thought you did not love me-love me better than anything, anything-I could not love you; Curtis, I could not, I could not. No, no," she cried, "don't interrupt. Hear me out. Maybe it is wrong of me to feel that way, but I'm only a woman, dear. I love

o the house, however, the door-man met him in the hall, and, as he took his master's hat and stick,

movable reflectors that were used to throw a light upon the pictures in the topmost rows was burning brilliantly. It was turned from Jadwin as he

Jadwin was ta

ejaculated, stopping

ns, ornaments, and swinging pendan

ised. "Isn't it superb? Do you remember Bernhardt-and that scene in the Emperor Justinian's box at the amphitheatre?

rl!" gasped Jadwin,

beautiful," c

bout guess you

a kitchen-maid, but you must believe that I am not. I would rather be ugly and have you think me beautiful, than to be t

rvently. "But-Lord, what will you do next? Whate

de me love you enough to be your wife, Laura Dearborn would have been a great actress. I feel it in my finger tips. Ah!" she cried, suddenly flinging up her head til

d. "I thought you were

's from Racine's 'Athalie,' and the wicked queen has had this terrib

it were, in the centre

je n'ai plus trouve q'un horrible melange D'os et de chair meurtris et traines dans la fange, Des

he words yet, in spite of himself, carried a

ck her pal

says," she cried.

bn

knew I could m

king his head, bewildered even yet. "We

" returned Laura, "you've j

er gayer. Her vivac

e on the organ. I have the costume upstairs now. Wait! I will, I will! Sit right where you are-no, fix the attachment to the organ while I'm gone

incredibly short time, gowned as Bizet's cigarette girl,

egan the

dance, and play

do you know anything a

verything about anything I choos

e spurting from the floor, and her whole body seemed to move with the same wild, untamed spirit as a tongue of fire. The castanets snapped like

ts far across the room and dropped u

ad to come out. Come over here and sit by me.

for him among the cushions. "That was wonderful. Bu

dn't

t when you are your old self, quiet, and calm, and dignified. It's when you are quiet that yo

it is. But now I'll be quiet. Now we'll talk. Have you

t that queer feeling in my head did come back as I wa

me do something for it. And I've been m

I'll lie down here a bit, and you play something for me. Something quie

organ, played the music she knew he liked best-old songs, "Daisy Dean," "Lo

aused, he nodded his

we used to measure our heights-we children. And the fireplace was there," he added, gesturing with his arm, "and there was the wood box, and over here was an old kind of dresser with drawers, and the torty-shell cat always had her kittens under there. Honey, I was happy then. Of course I've got you now, and that's all the difference in the world. But you're the only thing that does make a difference. We've got a fine place and a mint of money I suppose-and I'm proud of it. But I don't know.... If they'd let me be and put us two-just you and me-back in the old house with the bare floors a

sat by him, and took his head in her lap, sm

my husband again. Oh, you are a man, Curtis; a great, strong, kind-hearted man, with no little graces, nor petty

id Jadwin, str

to read to you

pretty good, i

came a step in th

at up,

urbed," she exclaimed under her b

d the servant. "Said he wis

ickly to Jadwin, "tell him you're n

sitting up. "He wouldn't come here himse

l. And even through the thick curtains they could h

owed the servant right

ng, threw a fold of the couch cover over her costume as Gret

place on the couch heard the rapidly spoken

for it!" Gre

e was as incisive and qui

are going to take hold to-morrow. There'll be hell to pay in the

with

a gang back of him-besides, he's got good credit with the

n. Don't get scared. Crook

'd like to kno

es and me in this game. One of us two has got to control t

ific Hotel right away. Court is there already. It was him, nervy little cuss, that found out about Crookes. C

head upon her lap, in the quiet and stillness of her hour, the distant rumble came to her ears. Somewhere, far off there in the darkness of the night, the great forces were manoeuvring for position once more. To-morrow would come the grapple, and one or the other must fall-her husband or the enemy. Ho

st him at the very moment she

him, as he kissed her good-by. "Oh, d

od-by, old girl. Don't kee

her hast

said, turning t

ght, Mrs

by, ol

ed toward

down there at the bank, an

gs of the entrance fell to place.

place, listening, one fis

uckles tighter and tighter over her lips, she pressed her fingers to her eyes, she slowly clasped and reclasped her hands, listening for what she did not know. She thought of her husband h

adows. Only a point or two of light illuminated the place. The gold frames of the pictures reflected it dully; the massive organ pipes, just outlined in faint blurs of

mb, and little rosetted slippers, Laura Jadwin lay half hidden among the cushions of the couch. If she wept, she wept in silence, and

am alone, a