mmonplace.
It had acquired an individual distinction of its own. He looked up at
her with a clear, bold eye, in which, despite its gloss of good-humour,
she discerned a new authority.

The nervous and apprehensive lines had somehow vanished from the
countenance, and with them, oddly enough, that lethargic, heavy
expression which had been their complement. He was all vigour,
readiness, confidence, now. She deemed him almost handsome, this
curious, changeable brother of hers, as he beat with his fist in a
measured way upon the desk-top to emphasize his words, and fastened his
commanding gaze upon her.

"We took very nearly twenty thousand pounds to-day," he went on. "This
is the twenty-eighth of February. A fortnight ago today was the first
settlement. I wasn't here, but Semple was--and the working of it is all
in his hands. He kept as still as a mouse that first day. They had to
deliver to us 26,000 shares, and they hadn't got one, but we didn't make
any fuss. The point was, you see, not to let them dream that they were
caught in a trap. We didn't even put the price up to par. They had to
come to Semple, and say there didn't seem to be any shares obtainable
just at the moment, and what would he carry them over at? That means,
to let them postpone delivery for another fortnight. He was as smooth
as sweet-oil with them, and agreed to carry them over till today without
any charge at all. But today it was a little different. The price was up
ten shillings above par. That is to say, Semple arranged with a jobber,
on the quiet, d'ye see? to offer thirty shillings for our one-pound
shares. That offer fixed the making-up price. So then, when they were
still without shares to-day, and had to be carried over again, they had
to pay ten shillings' difference on each of twenty-six thousand shares,
plus the difference between par and the prices they'd sold at. That
makes within a few hundreds of 20,000 pounds in cash, for one day's
haul. D'ye see?"

She nodded at him, expressively. Through previous talks she had really
obtained an insight into the operation, and it interested her more than
she would have cared to confess.

"Well, then, we put that 20,000 pounds in our pockets," he proceeded
with a steady glow in his eyes. "A fortnight hence, that is March 14th,
we ring the bell on them again, and they march up to the captain's
office and settle a second time. Now what happens on the 14th? A jobber
makes the price for Semple again