closed; some alleged loose screw
in sugar trade was given as the reason.

With the order closing down the refineries, the stock began to tumble.
Within thirty minutes it had slumped off six points. There came a call
for further margins, and Mr. Harley offered Storri's French stock.

The security was undeniable, but a technicality got in the way to trip
Mr. Harley. The French securities were original shares, issued in
Storri's name. On the back, however, there was no Storri signature
making the usual assignment in blank. The shares, in their present
shape, would not be received. Mr. Harley flew to a nearby telephone and
called up Storri.

"There is not time for me to get there!" cried that designing gentleman
excitedly. He was a half-mile away. "Don't hesitate; clap my name on the
backs of the certificates yourself. They don't know my signature; and no
one will think of questioning it, coming through your hands."

There was no other way; thereupon Mr. Harley, in a ferment with tumbling
prices, picked up a pen, and, with the best intentions in life, forged
Storri's name. Then he hurried to the broker's and got up the margins.

It was not a squall, it was a storm, and sugar was broken off at the
roots, falling twenty points. Storri, on his private deal, made two
hundred thousand, while Messrs. Harley and Storri, on their joint
account, lost forty thousand dollars--twenty thousand for each. In the
clean-up, Storri paid his losses and got back his French shares. He
smiled an evil smile as he contemplated Mr. Harley's attempts to mock
his signature.

"He loses twenty thousand," commented Storri, "and that should more than
offset those seven thousand lost by me when he refused to protect my
deals. As for these," and here Storri ran a dark, exultant glance over
his imitated signatures, "every one of them makes a reason why my good
friend, Mr. Harley, must now please me and obey me in everything he
does. After all, is it a destiny beneath his jowlish fat deserts, that
an American pig should become slave to a Russian noble?"

CHAPTER VII

HOW RICHARD GAINED IN KNOWLEDGE

Congress came together at noon upon the first Monday in December, and
obedient to the mandate of the caucus Mr. Frost was made Speaker Frost.
The eruptive Mr. Hawke wore an injured air, and when the drawing for
seats took place, selected one in a far back row, as though retiring
from public life. Mr. Hawke subsequently refused to serve as chair