ed partner, and by the time the Rockhaven Granite Company was
duly organized and well on toward success, had conceived another and
perhaps more excusable swindle (if any swindle is excusable), it being
not only to rob the investors in Rockhaven, but Hill as well, and then
leave for a foreign clime. But the launching of Rockhaven necessitated
outlay. Hill really held the purse-strings, so Weston, the plausible,
shrewd schemer, bided his time. But the road to success became
difficult. Each successive outlay was whined about and opposed by Hill,
who, shallow in his conceit, lacked the courage of his rascality. When
Winn was sent to Rockhaven, and money to pay men must follow, and each
successive item and advertisement in the _Market News_ (both
high-priced) only made him wince the more, it required all of Weston's
optimistic arguments to keep him from backing out. But when returns from
the sale of this absolutely worthless stock came in, Hill smiled, and
when some thirty thousand shares had been sold and, by reason of
Simmons' manipulation, it was quoted on 'change at six dollars per
share, his eyes glittered like those of a hungry shark. No thought of
the honest and confiding men and women who had contributed to swell the
total, and would share in the inevitable loss, came to him. No qualms of
conscience, no sense of guilt, no fear of retribution! only the miser's
lust of gain and the swelling of his abnormal self-esteem. And so
gratified was he in this partial success, and so eager to pocket its
results, that, had Weston now proposed dividing receipts and absconding,
he would have consented with alacrity.

Of those who were to be the dupes of this precious pair a word will now
be said. They comprised a varied list, from poorly paid clerks who had
caught the gambling fever to Winn's aunt who, since she believed in
Weston, and being baited on by the deceptive dividend, had invested
almost her entire fortune. There was one cashier in a bank who had
"utilized" about three of the many thousands he had access to, an
innocent and underpaid stenographer in Weston & Hill's office who
persuaded her widowed mother to draw her all from the savings bank and
buy Rockhaven, and scores of small investors, trustees for estates; and
even sane business men, lured by the early and unexpected dividend and
anxious to share in the rapid advance, bought, what they at heart feared
was worthless. And so the bubble grew apace, and Weston and his
h