"Rather. A top liner in his profession."
"Why did he commit suicide?"
"Caught in the Copper Pool, they think here."
With the cup at his lips he went on reading over its edge.
"Does it taste all right?" I asked and he grunted something that would have been "A 1" if it hadn't dropped into the coffee and been drowned.
My mind at rest about him I could give it to the morning sensation.
"What's the Copper Pool?" I asked.
"A badly named weapon to jack up prices and gouge the public, young woman. Just like a corner in hats. Suppose you could buy up all the spring hats, you could pretty near name your own figure on them, couldn't you?"
"They do that now without a corner," I said sadly.
"Well, they can't in copper. The Pool means that a bunch of financiers have put up millions to corner the copper market and skyrocket the price."