cussed my position, twisted and turned my arguments, chipped and split
my reasoning, smoothed off the corners, and then polished up the subject
so that it might retain its old-time lustre for the bedazzlement of the
customer whose favorable decision he meant to have.

As ever, Mr. Rogers' arguments were plausible and intelligent. The
subscriptions were coming in at such a rate it would be dangerous to
allot as little as five millions; there might be talk, and an
investigation which would so affect the market later that we could have
no second section. Then where should we be with our millions of Butte,
Montana, and other Boston stocks? And where would our friends be--and
the public? On and on he spun, lulling my fagged brain with his specious
arguments until the change of plan seemed robbed of its poison and I
swallowed it.

"Lawson," he concluded, "every dollar of the additional five millions
will be kept intact and, with the first five millions, will be at all
times behind the price, and as you are going to have the handling of it
how can there be any wrong or any more danger because of it than if it
were only five millions?"

I gave in, agreed to go back to the Waldorf and take hold of the lever
again. I left him, driving uptown by way of Broad and Wall streets so I
might see the crowds outside the Stock Exchange and in front of James
Stillman's money trap. By the time I reached the hotel I had recovered
some of my optimism, and went to work to catch up with the mail and
messages accumulated in my absence. At three o'clock I called up Mr.
Rogers. He was very jubilant. At the stroke of twelve, he told me, it
required four big policemen to close the bank doors in the faces of
hundreds of belated subscribers; that it had been decided that those
inside the building were legally entitled to pass in their subscriptions
and at that moment they were still doing so. Sacks of mail still awaited
opening; it would be well toward midnight before the last of the
subscriptions were tabulated. Stillman was making a tremendous effort to
get at an approximate statement in time for me to deal it out to the
newspapers before they went to press at midnight.

"How does it look to Stillman now?" I asked.

"He cannot tell much about it yet," Mr. Rogers replied, "although he can
see far enough ahead to be sure even your estimate was too low. It will
be at least fifty millions."

"And about our big subscription--have you and Mr. Rockefe