He could retire on it if he liked. My one hope is, it may satisfy
him for life; but, then, no man has ever had enough of making money."
"_You_ sold out!" I exclaimed. "_You_, the Chairman of the company!
_You_ deserted the ship! And how about your trust? How about the widows
and orphans confided to you?"
Charles rose and faced me. "Seymour Wentworth," he said, in his most
solemn voice, "you have lived with me for years and had every
advantage. You have seen high finance. Yet you ask me that question!
It's my belief you will never, never understand business!"
VII
THE EPISODE OF THE ARREST OF THE COLONEL
How much precisely Charles dropped over the slump in Cloetedorps
I never quite knew. But the incident left him dejected, limp, and
dispirited.
"Hang it all, Sey," he said to me in the smoking-room, a few
evenings later. "This Colonel Clay is enough to vex the patience of
Job--and Job had large losses, too, if I recollect aright, from the
Chaldeans and other big operators of the period."
"Three thousand camels," I murmured, recalling my dear mother's
lessons; "all at one fell swoop; not to mention five hundred yoke of
oxen, carried off by the Sabeans, then a leading firm of speculative
cattle-dealers!"
"Ah, well," Charles meditated aloud, shaking the ash from his
cheroot into a Japanese tray--fine antique bronze-work.
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