We did so, and Redmond's daughter did not keep us waiting long. She sailed down a broad stairway and stood smiling under the glaring lamps, very slight and slim and graceful, so that it seemed fitting Haldane should bend over the hand she gave him.
"There is no need for my poor compliments after the verdict of the multitude; but did you sing that song to us?" he said.
"Yes," said the girl quietly, while the smile sank out of her eyes. "We have a good many friends and hear much gossip, so I knew at once who was directing the attack on Lane's company. As to the song—I had some slight education down East, you know—its choice was not without a meaning. You will remember how, on the eve of battle, Shakespeare's ghosts prophesied to one man ruin and to another victory?"
"Yes," said Haldane, looking puzzled, "I think I do."
"Then"—and Ailin Redmond seemed to shiver a little—"do you think there are no ghosts on the prairie?"
"I have not met any of them," said Haldane; and the girl answered with infectious gravity: "That does not prove there are none; and, even if you call it a childish fancy, I felt as I sang that they will bring you victory to-morrow."
"You are far too clever and pretty to fill your head with such fancies, my dear," said Haldane. And when we went out into the open he repeated, with a shrug of his shoulders: "In spite of her talents, that is a most uncomfortable young woman; but heaven send her prophecy comes true."
Again I passed a restless night, but our agent procured us admission into the inner precincts of the exchange on the morrow, and as I listened to the eager shouting and watched the excited groups surge about the salesmen, I began to comprehend the fascination that speculation wields over its votaries. Our little spectacled broker, however, held my eye as he flitted to and fro, and now and then with a strident cry gathered a mob of gesticulating men about him. Somebody accepted his offers on each occasion, and he approached us with an almost dismayed expression when the market closed at noon.
"You are an old hand at this business, sir, but I feel it's my duty to warn you that things don't look well," he said. "Your friends of the opposition are evidently able to stand considerable hammering. The sum you mentioned would be no use now to pull us straight; and unless there's a break pretty soon they'll squeeze you like a screw vice on settling day. It would be hard to figure the price they'll make you pay."
"You don't suppose I haven't foreseen such a contingency," said Haldane. "The break will probably come this afternoon—if not, to-morrow. Tell your allies to sell further small lots down at a moderate reduction."