ms. I'll agree to them whatever they are, and
I'll live up to the very letter of them, however hard."

I may mention that it is a peculiar characteristic of Addicks that one
may talk to him as though he were a pick-pocket, and he will not resent
it, if it is "business." Where H. H. Rogers would flash into a Vesuvius
of wrath, the Delaware statesman only smiles.

Addicks by no means convinced me of his sincerity. I decided I would
test him pretty thoroughly before I went further. So I said: "This seems
the proper time for a clean statement from you as to just where you and
your companies stand."

I did not believe this man could make an absolutely truthful statement
on any subject of importance, but I knew enough of his real position to
protect me from being fooled. What was my surprise, therefore, when in
the most open way possible he calmly spread before me a condition of
affairs far worse than the worst I knew. He was, indeed, bankrupt and
his corporation was in little better shape.

As soon as I could catch my breath I said:

"No wonder you refused my proposition last night. If your bankers had
dreamed of this state of affairs, they would have had a receiver
to-day. You cannot meet my terms. You cannot even carry out the ones you
yourself offered."

Addicks leaned back on the cushions of his chair in the easiest, most
_insouciant_ way imaginable. He grinned. "That's true," he replied, "but
I never give up a ship till I feel her bump the bottom, and I am sure
that, bad as things are, you and I can pull them out and whip Rogers to
a standstill."

It was a remarkable situation. Here was one of the most ruthless
financial schemers of the age cornered for slaughter, and he had put
himself absolutely at the mercy of the man who had bitterly fought him
and whom he knew hated his kind. Yet he was as cool and collected as a
bunch of orange blossoms at a winter's wedding.

The man's supreme nerve astounded me, yet I could not help admiring him.
I saw through his game, yet his assurance fascinated me. I thought a
minute. I said to him: "Addicks, I'm really sorry for you, and I'll
promise you here now to keep what you've told me sacred. What's more,
I'll stop fighting you. I'll cover my shares and without doing any one
any harm I'll help make prices a bit better for your securities."

He smiled, said "Thank you!" and continued looking at me as though he
awaited something further, a quizzical, expectant smile on his fac