"Why not? To work myself into a frenzy will not help me. There are worse misfortunes."
"I cannot imagine them, Cohen. Ruined? Absolutely ruined?"
"Absolutely ruined," answered Aaron, with a smile.
"And it is only yesterday that you were----" He could not continue, and Aaron took up his words.
"It is only yesterday that I was on the top of the tree. A dangerous height, Mr. Moss, but I must bear the fall. If, when they climb the ladder of fortune, men would but be careful to make the lower rungs secure! But prosperity makes them reckless. Do not look so mournful. Happiness is as easily found in poverty as in riches."
"It may be, after all, a false alarm," groaned Mr. Moss.
"Let us hope so; though there is no smoke without a fire. We will wait till to-morrow."
"Will you not come with me to the City now to ascertain whether it is true or false?"
"No. It will only trouble me, and it will not affect the result. I will wait till to-morrow."
So marked was the contrast between his cheerful and Mr. Moss's despondent mood that it really seemed as if it were his friend's fortune that was imperilled instead of his own. He was standing by the door, and hearing a knock he opened it.