got up, lit a cigar and threw it away and lit another. The suspense was unendurable. Another message came from Van Zandt:

"Go to sleep until 11. Then wake up for the fireworks.' 99

Percy remarked that the broker must be excited since he was so mysterious. Mabel felt if she were to say anything she would become hysterical. They passed the intervening minutes as best they could, trying to talk of things remote from the subject their minds were on. But in the middle of it all Percy said:

"Edgar has declined to go in."

"Of course,

have heard.”

"she replied, "or you would

At 11 promptly they both went to the ticker. The Morton stocks, other than Great National, had been forced down several points, but their stock was still holding at 87 and the fractions. The transactions in that stock had been few for half an hour. Then came the explosions. A raid of formidable character began on the National. Brokers cropped up on all sides with offers to sell. It began to go down point by point until 84 was reached. A lull of a moment or two and there was another assault. It dropped to 80. Then the tape became hysterical.

Trembling like a leaf, Percy whispered as

if he did not dare to express the hope involved in his words:

"Edgar must be in after all."

Mabel could not speak in reply. A clerk rushed in to say:

"Tape's no good now. The market has broken. Edgar is a bear on Great National with both feet. Last sale 70."

Percy yelled.

"Cover," he cried. "Cover at 70. Get word to Van. Cover."

Another clerk ran in breathless.

"The bottom is out of the market. Morton has got out from under. Gives up support. A panic is on."

"Cover! Cover!" cried Percy. "For God's sake, cover at 70."

"You can cover at any old price," said another breathless clerk. "Great National is at 40."

Another message came from Van Zandt: "Got your orders. Could cover at less, for I'll dictate terms. Will obey orders though." "Cover at 70," was all Percy could say.

Rushing into the adjoining room, he flung his arms and head on a desk and cried like a child for the first time in twenty years.

Mabel, after a moment or two, stole in after him.

"Percy," she said, as she laid a gentle,

clinging hand on his shoulder, "rouse up. Take control of yourself. You have something to do."

He lifted his head. Then he stood up and with his arm about her waist he drew her to him, saying:

"It's your triumph, Mabel. You pointed the way. You suggested Edgar."

She disengaged herself with an adorable smile, saying:

"Someone will see us. Now bathe your eyes. Take my money, discharge your hypothecation and recover those certificates. Lose no time. You can repay me afterward."

He obeyed without a word. His mind was in working order again under the stimulus of Mabel's unexpressed fears. As he went he deposited the $600,000 Mabel had held for him during the hours of suspense in his bank and obtained a certified check for the amount of his hypothecation.

The broker he applied to was coldly severe. "I shall have to demand a certified check before I yield up those certificates, Mr. Dunbar," he said.

"It is there," said Percy.

The broker seemed reluctant to give them up, but in the end Percy secured them. With the other eighteen certificates not used Percy hastened to Smith Edgar, instructing him to

cancel all and square him on the books of the trust company. Then he went back to Mabel. The streets were a seething mass of excited people. But the noise was sweet music in his ears. Even the unseen stars were singing to him.

CHAPTER XXVII

THE WAGES OF GREAT WEALTH

WITH intense surprise and bitter resentment Percy woke up to the fact that his wonderfully successful operation was regarded by the public as quite the reverse of admirable.

By the press, not only of his own city, but of the country at large, he was severely and in some instances violently denounced. A Wall street trickster was the mildest term with which he was assailed, while some of the papers, not having the fear of juries in their hearts, called him a robber, declaring that if the constituted authorities were faithful to their sworn trusts J. Percival Dunbar would be within stone walls. By many it was charged that he had by glowing promises lured the small investors to embark their savings in the industrial in which he was a power, by fictitious arts had advanced the price of the stock, and when the trap was filled had sprung it while he rifled the pockets of his victims within it. Communities were discov