All Story Magazine, December 1913 — page 66: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

776 My hand fell away from the lapel of the other man’s coat, and I stared stupidly into his face for a moment or two. ‘‘ Sorry, old chap; can’t cover. wiped out.” Whether he heard me or not amid that babel of tongues I do not know. He didn’t say anything; just nodded and turned away. I found the street again. Everything was blurred, and I felt a little sick—light-headed, you know? Faces swept past me in an incessant stream; some white and drawn and fearful; some cadaverous and sneak- ing; others merely curious, and some that laughed! . Jostled upon right and left, deaf- ened by the roar of the curb-market, I wanted to get away from it—as far away as possible. Somehow or other I came to Bat- tery Park. A vacant seat beckoned me, and I watched in a dull sort of way the peo- ple go in and out of the aquarium; followed the movements of the tugs and lighters and ferries on the river, and saw a Liverpool boat sweep out past Governor's Island, leaving a trail of black smoke behind her. I didn’t care a rap about my forty- five hundred. My responsibility for Margaret's share dwarfed that. If I had only sold at two hundred! Ahead was the blank wall of fail- ure; a pitilessly thick and high ar- rangement of facts that did not even take the trouble to explain themselves; and behind that wall—in an apartment up-town—a girl was waiting for re- lease from a lie and to hear that I had won. Something stuck in my throat, and the things round about me became un- certain. Margaret seemed to go a long way off, step by step toward the mar- riage that was so hateful to her— looking back in pitiful appeal. A strange heaviness descended upon me. I felt as if I had intruded a few yards into a sort of paradise and been I'm THE ALL-STORY MAGAZINE. suddenly and rudely chucked out into the gutter of the world. I was sorry there would be no elope- ment with a Christmassy effect—and I wanted to tell her so; was even sel- fish enough to want to tell her that if the lack of money made no difference to her it made none to me. I could work and earn— There I stopped with a jerk, and came to my senses as if a pail of cold water had been thrown over me. I’d have to work, of course, but it would be bad enough for one to live on what I could earn; two would prob- ably starve. Fortunately, I told myself in a fee- ble effort to find one little ray of sun- shine, Campbell's Harlem Loan Com- pany had the bulk of the jewelry; and when I thought of that I wondered if he had been caught in the avalanche. Whether he had or not I felt I could prevail upon him to give Margaret back her toys, and allow me to owe him four thousand, even though I hadn't the faintest idea when I would be able to discount the debt. Unquestionably, the responsibility was mine. I had been too confident and too greedy; had placed too much reliance upon Rollins and his friend. That they had blundered with me was the only bit of satisfaction I had. Be- tween them, however, they divided it; that purchase of “fifty thousand at two hundred and fifty’ meant a loss of ten million! I thought I would like to see how Rollins took a smash like that, and glancing at my watch, saw that it was quarter of one. But I was denied the privilege just then. A messenger accosted me when I arrived at the exchange entrance and delivered a note from Rollins saying that he “ regretted very much that the urgent nature of his business, et cetera,’ but he hoped to meet me at dinner that evening as arranged. The financial district was in the hands of the police, who were trying to regulate a noonday crowd, swelled comicloooks.com