t him; but Alice, was on the go all
night and half the day. Oliver had sold his racing automobile to a
friend--he was a man of family now, he said, and his wild days were
over. He had got, instead, a limousine car for Alice; though she
declared she had no need of it--if ever she was going to any place,
Charlie Carter always begged her to use his. Charlie's siege was as
persistent as ever, as Montague noticed with annoyance.

The great law case was going forward. After weeks of study and
investigation, Montague felt that he had the matter well in hand; and
he had taken Mr. Hasbrook's memoranda as a basis for a new work of his
own, much more substantial. Bit by bit; as he dug into the subject, he
had discovered a state of affairs in the Fidelity Company, and, indeed,
in the whole insurance business and its allied realms of banking and
finance, which shocked him profoundly. It was impossible for him to
imagine how such conditions could exist and remain unknown to the
public--more especially as every one in Wall Street with whom he talked
seemed to know about them and to take them for granted.

His client's papers had provided him with references to the books;
Montague had taken this dry material and made of it a protest which had
the breath of life in it. It was a thing at which he toiled with deadly
earnestness; it was not merely a struggle of one man to get a few
thousand dollars, it was an appeal in behalf of millions of helpless
people whose trust had been betrayed. It was the first step in a long
campaign, which the young lawyer meant should force a great evil into
the light of day.

He went over his bill of complaint with Mr. Hasbrook, and he was glad
to see that the work he had done made its impression upon him. In fact,
his client was a little afraid that some of his arguments might be too
radical in tone--from the strictly legal point of view, he made haste
to explain. But Montague reassured him upon this point.

And then came the day when the great ship was ready for launching. The
news must have spread quickly, for a few hours after the papers in the
suit had been filed, Montague received a call from a newspaper
reporter, who told him of the excitement in financial circles, where
the thing had fallen like a bomb. Montague explained the purpose of the
suit, and gave the reporter a number of facts which he felt certain
would attract attention to the matter. When he picked up the paper the
next morning, however