ary pre-eminence revealed to my view. Then sanity
asserted itself, and I remembered that if there was a conspiracy I was
its ringleader, that I myself for months past had thought intensely of
nothing but dollars. Why, then, should I resent the eager desires of
others to attach to their own bank accounts some of the money which I
was proclaiming from the housetops any one who desired might have for
the asking? Many of these men, moreover, who sought my assurance of the
safety of their little ventures, had earned the private word by
thoughtful service and friendly attentions. Dollars were food and drink
and fine raiment; were music, pictures, and theatres; were horses and
dogs; were green fields, blossoming trees, and the open air of heaven;
were liberty, release from sordid cares, from servitude--and why should
I, who had helped myself in bountiful measure to the good things in
life's cornucopia, feel superior when confronted by the lusts I myself
had been instrumental in arousing? I laughed at my egregious virtue and
dropped off to sleep.

CHAPTER XXVI

DEVILTRY AFOOT

Thursday, May 4, 1899, dawned as fair a spring morning as ever set off
sacrificial rite or triumphal jubilee--a day of buoyant, delicious airs
which set the blood throbbing in the veins and ambition thrilling in the
heart--a day for action, achievement, for wild gallops along country
lanes, for swift motion on land or water. I looked out of my lofty
parlor window far up Fifth Avenue's long vista of mansions and palaces
to where the sunlight glittered on the tender verdancy of Central Park.
A trickle of cabs and carriages headed southward already had begun the
descent to Wall Street. Almost the first call over the telephone came
from Mr. Rogers, asking for the morning's news. I told him there was not
a cloud on our sky, not a single breeze but blew from the right quarter
to fill our sails. "And what were my movements?" To stick to my rooms
right handy for anything. Was there a sinister thought, I wonder, behind
the "Good, I agree with you," that came back from him in his heartiest
tones? "I will look after things down-town and we can keep each other
posted at near intervals."

It was as busy a forenoon as man ever lived through. My Boston wire kept
up a constant ringing; Chicago, Philadelphia, and other long distance
points showered in messages. A direct wire to Wall Street informed me of
the progress of events in the financial maelstrom. All w