inted out to him, however, there were
disadvantages in the position which he must take into consideration. His
acceptance of the opportunity would work such losses to the public and
to my friends that though the responsibility might be laid to Braman and
Foster, I would fight so viciously that no one would be spared. Besides,
between the Addicks scandal and that other which we agreed must
unquestionably lurk in the hasty appointment of the receiver, the whole
affair must eventually be ventilated in court. It is always hard for Mr.
Rogers to forego an advantage, but by this time he was tired of the
wrangle and wanted peace, and, moreover, he did not relish the thought
of court proceedings, so he admitted that my reasoning was good, and
promised to do anything in his power to assist us.

CHAPTER XXIII

TWO GENTLEMEN OF FRENZIED FINANCE

The enemy did not leave us long in suspense. Next day Braman and Foster
arrived in New York, bursting with a noble wrath at the failure of their
coup in Philadelphia. An outrage had been worked upon them, upon the
public, upon the majesty of the law. To hear their ravings one might
have supposed them the evangelists of Justice righteously denouncing a
desecration of the sacred altar; or, that we had deprived them of an
inalienable right they had possessed to our property. It would have been
humorous if the conditions had been less tragic.

No defender of property right is so vociferous as the financier who,
having appropriated his neighbor's goods, argues that possession
constitutes legal ownership. On a country road I once almost rode over
two hoboes, who were so busy wrangling with one another that they had
not heard my approach. I gathered that one of them, having filched a
collection of laundry from a farmer's backyard, had placed it in charge
of his mate while he went off for a second helping, and had returned
just in time to stop the latter from decamping with the swag. The talk
the original purloiner was giving his ungrateful assistant was one of
the best expositions of virtue and honesty I've ever listened to.

We met the following Monday and in reply to my request that we talk
things over, Foster delivered himself of an exalted exposition of the
rights of deluded stockholders, the majesty of the law, and the stern
duties of Mr. Braman, who, for the time being, had departed his private
self and, until further notice, existed only as a rigid arm of the
court. Just as I