“They are generally supposed to be, my lord, but in the case we were just speaking of, some of them tell me they have oversold; that is to say, they have promised to deliver shares which are not at present in their possession, a rather reckless thing to do.”
“Oh! then it was the stockbrokers who made that mistake, was it?”
“Yes, some of them exceeded their instructions. They knew that there were in existence some two hundred and fifty thousand shares, and when our shrewd friend here, Mr. Mackeller, approached them for five or ten thousand, some of them imagining they could get practically as many more as they desired—for the stock had been kicking about London for a week with no takers, and, being temporarily blinded by the commission they were to receive, and the fact that the purchase was a cash transaction, which I imagine they had some doubt of Mr. Mackeller’s ability to make good—they pressed upon him more shares than had been given them to sell, and now they are in rather a panic. I think I am correct in saying, Mr. Mackeller, that in several instances you were offered more shares than you asked for?”
“I didn’t ask for shares at all,” gruffly responded Mackeller, “but I learn from my brokers that in all instances they were offered more shares than they required, but my instructions were definite enough, which were to accept and pay for all the shares they could get. In one or two cases, my brokers telephoned to me for instructions, and I suppose that’s how the news got out that they were acting for me, and if these brokers of yours thought they were pushing farther into a corner a man already there, they can’t expect much sympathy from me when they find themselves in the corner instead.”
“Ah, no one would be optimistic enough to expect sympathy from you, Mr. Mackeller,” pursued the lawyer.
“Then they won’t be disappointed when they don’t get it,” curtly commented Mackeller.
“I beg your pardon, Mr. Hahn,” interposed Stranleigh, “but am I to take it you have come to see me on behalf of these unfortunate stockbrokers?”
“No, my lord. I represent Mr. Conrad Schwartzbrod and his colleagues.”
“Oh! and who is Mr. Schwartzbrod?”
Before the solicitor could reply, Mackeller said, with lowering brows: