Then he wheeled suddenly and
threw himself into his chair.
"Well, Jack," he answered with an indrawn sigh,--"if you must
know, I'm on the wrong side of the market."
"Stocks?"
"Not exactly. The bottom's fallen out of the Warehouse Company."
Jack's heart gave a rebound. After all, it was only a question of
money and this could be straightened out. He had begun to fear
that it might be something worse; what, he dared not conjecture.
"And you have lost money?" Jack continued in a less eager tone.
"A whole lot of money."
"How much?"
"I don't know, but a lot. It went up three points to-day and so I
am hanging on by my eyelids."
"Well, that's not the first time men have been in that position,"
Jack replied in a hopeful tone. "Is there anything more,--
something you are keeping back?"
"Yes,--a good deal more. I'm afraid I'll have to let go. If I do
I'm ruined."
Jack kept silent for a moment. Various ways of raising money to
help his friend passed in review, none of which at the moment
seemed feasible or possible.
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