The nearness of the goal exasperated
him. She was not the girl to wait and he knew that it must be now or
never. A friend lent him five thousand dollars on his personal note and he
bought railway stocks on margin. They went up and he held them for a
higher rise: they fluctuated, dragged, dropped below the level at which he
had bought, and slowly continued their uninterrupted descent. His broker
called for more margin; he could not respond and was sold out.
What followed came about quite naturally. For several years he had been
cashier in a well-known banking-house. When the note he had given his
friend became due it was obviously necessary to pay it and he used the
firm's money for the purpose. To repay the money thus taken, he increased
his debt to his employers and bought more stocks; and on these operations
he made a profit of ten thousand dollars. Miss Talcott rode in the Park,
and he bought a smart hack for seven hundred, paid off his tradesmen, and
went on speculating with the remainder of his profits. He made a little
more, but failed to take advantage of the market and lost all that he had
staked, including the amount taken from the firm. He increased his over-
draft by another ten thousand and lost that; he over-drew a farther sum
and lost again. Suddenly he woke to the fact that he owed his employers
fifty thousand dollars and that the partners were to make their semi-
annual inspection in two days.
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