know, I'm sure. Maybe I was soft-hearted. We don't always
know why we do things in business. There's a great deal more in the
weather where big money is moving than you might think. For instance,
there was never a great revolution in winter. But as for making people
lose their money, those who can't keep it ought not to have it.
They're a danger to society, and half the time it's they who upset the
market by acting like lunatics. They get a lot of sentimental pity
sometimes, those people; but after all, if they didn't try to cut in
without capital, and play the game without knowing the rules, business
would be much steadier and there would be fewer panics. They're the
people who get frightened and run, not we. The fact is, they ought
never to have been there. That's why I believe in big things myself.'

He paused, having apparently reached the end of his subject.

'Were you with the poor girl when she died?' asked the lady presently.

'No. She'd dined with a party and was in their box, and they were the
last people who saw her. You read about the explosion. She bolted
from the box in the dark, I was told, and as she couldn't be found
afterwards they concluded she had rushed out and taken a cab home. It
seemed natural, I suppose.'

'Who found her at last?'

'A man called Griggs--the author, you know. He carried her to the
manager's room, still alive. They got a doctor, and as she wanted
to see a woman, they sent for Cordova, the singer, from her
dressing-room, and the girl died in her arms. They said it was heart
failure, from shock.'

'It was very sad.'

'I'm sorry for poor Bamberger,' said Mr. Van Torp thoughtfully. 'She
was his only child, and he doted on her. I never saw a man so cut up
as he looked. I wanted to stay, but he said the mere sight of me drove
him crazy, poor fellow, and as I had business over here and my passage
was taken, I just sailed. Sometimes the kindest thing one can do is
to get out. So I did. But I'm very sorry for him. I wish I could do
anything to make it easier for him. It was nobody's fault, I suppose,
though I do think the people she was with might have prevented her
from rushing out in the dark.'

'They were frightened themselves. How could any one be blamed for her
death?'

'Exactly. But if any one could be made responsible, I know Bamberger
would do for him in some way. He's a resentful sort of man if any one
does him an injury. Blood for blood is Bamberger's motto, every time