“Ah, Mr. Steele, I am so sorry we were out when you called last evening. It was a little dinner to which I had accepted an invitation more than a week ago, little dreaming that such a financial storm was about to break over our heads. Sit down, Steele, sit down. What can I do for you?”
“You can lend me twenty-one thousand dollars.”
The smile faded from the cherubic face of the Colonel, and a shade of melancholy took its place.
“You mean, then, that your margins have all but disappeared?”
“That is exactly what I mean.”
“Would twenty-one thousand save you?”
“You can tell that better than I, Colonel, being more in the confidence of the Rockervelts. I offer you as security nearly three times the amount in Northern Pacific stock.”
The Colonel slowly shook his head.
“I shouldn’t ask for security at all, Mr. Steele, if I had the ready money, but this unexpected crisis has tied up all the funds at my disposal.”
“Unexpected! Do you mean to tell me you did not know the dividend was to be passed?”