“It would take a bolder man than I,” said I with a smile at the audacity of the idea.
Mrs. Knapp smiled sadly in response.
“Do you think, Henry,” she asked hesitatingly, “do you think that Mr. Knapp is quite himself?”
My mind leaped at the recollection of the Wolf figure in the opium-dens. But I choked down the thought, and replied calmly:
“He certainly has a vigorous business head on his shoulders.”
“I wish you could tell me about his business affairs,” said Mrs. Knapp wistfully. “But I know you won't.”
“You wouldn't think much of me if I did,” I said boldly.
“It would be right to tell me,” she said. “But I mustn't keep you standing here. Good night.”
I walked down the steps, and joined my waiting guards with a budget of new thoughts and feelings to examine.
The three days that followed were days of storm and stress in the market; a time of steady battle in the Stock Exchange, of feints and sallies on stocks which we did not want, of “wash sales” and bogus bargains, of rumors on rumors and stratagems on stratagems—altogether a harvest season for the Father of Lies.