Just as I can detect a
counterfeit bill at sight, my boy, so can I put my ringer on these
money-getters when the poison of money-getting for money's sake
begins to work in their veins. I don't mean the laying up of money
for a rainy day, or the providing for one's family. Every man
should lay up a six-months' doctor's bill, just as every man
should lay up money enough to keep his body out of Potter's Field.
It's laying up the SURPLUS that hurts."
Peter had his arm firmly locked in mine now.
"Now that concern of Breen & Company, where I found my error, are
no better than the others. They are new to this whirlpool, but
they will soon get in over their heads. I think it is only the
third or fourth year since they started business, but they are
already floating all sorts of schemes, and some of them--if you
will permit me in confidence, strictly in confidence, my dear boy
--are rather shady, I think: at least I judge so from their
deposits."
"What are they, bankers?" I ventured. I had never heard of the
firm; not an extraordinary thing in my case when bankers were
concerned.
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