“Just before I left the hotel,” he said, “I received some cables with news that won’t be known to the public for several days at least. I am going to gather in as much of the stock as I can. If you get some at the opening to-morrow you will be buying it at the same time and at the same price as I. I give you my word that Borneo Tin will surely advance. You are the only person that I have told this to. Absolutely the only one!”
She thanked him and then she told him that she didn’t know anything about speculating in stocks. But he assured her it wasn’t necessary for her to know any more than he had told her. To make sure she heard it correctly he repeated his advice to her:
“All you have to do is to buy as much Borneo Tin as you wish. I can give you my word that if you do you will not lose a cent. I’ve never before told a woman—or a man, for that matter—to buy anything in my life. But I am so sure the stock won’t stop this side of 200 that I’d like you to make some money. I can’t buy all the stock myself, you know, and if somebody besides myself is going to benefit by the rise I’d rather it was you than some stranger. Much rather! I’ve told you in confidence because I know you won’t talk about it. Take my word for it, Mrs. Livingston, and buy Borneo Tin!”
He was very earnest about it and succeeded in so impressing her that she began to think she had found an excellent use for the five hundred dollars I had given her that afternoon. That money hadn’t cost me anything and was outside of her allowance. In other words, it was easy money to lose if the luck went against her. But he had said she would surely win. It would be nice to make money on her own hook—and tell me all about it afterwards.
Well, sir, the very next morning before the market opened she went into Harding’s office and said to the manager:
“Mr. Haley, I want to buy some stock, but I don’t want it to go in my regular account because I don’t wish my husband to know anything about it until I’ve made some money. Can you fix it for me?”
Haley, the manager, said, “Oh, yes. We can make it a special account. What’s the stock and how much of it do you want to buy?”
She gave him the five hundred dollars and told him, “Listen, please. I do not wish to lose more than this money. If that goes I don’t want to owe you anything; and remember, I don’t want Mr. Livingston to know anything about this. Buy me as much Borneo Tin as you can for the money, at the opening.”
Haley took the money and told her he’d never say a word to a soul, and bought her a hundred shares at the opening. I think she got it at 108. The stock was very active that day and closed at an advance of three points. Mrs. Livingston was so delighted with her exploit that it was all she could do to keep from telling me all about it.
It so happened that I had been getting more and more bearish on the general market. The unusual activity in Borneo Tin drew my attention to it. I didn’t think the time was right for any stock to advance, much less one like that. I had decided to begin my bear operations that very day, and I started by selling about ten thousand shares of Borneo. If I had not I rather think the stock would have gone up five or six points instead of three.