"You take this remarkably coolly, I should say," he remarked.
"There's no use in getting excited—the eggs are smashed now. But just the same," returned O'Connor, with a flash of spirit, "I'm just as sore about this as if I owned every dollar of Salamander stock there is on the books."
The mention of the unit of currency reminded his companion of something else.
"What do you suppose the market is doing?" he said.
"I haven't the slightest idea," replied the other.
Murch lifted the receiver from the telephone at his elbow.
"Hello: give me Broad nine nine seven six. Is this Atwater and
Jenkins? Give me Mr. Atwater—this is Mr. Murch speaking. That you,
Billy? How's the market?"
He replaced the receiver with a snap.
"Everything off at the opening. Bad slump in Maryland Traction and P.
N. T."
"It ought to go off some more when the fire companies in general start liquidating. There will have to be a big unloading to raise the amount of cash necessary to pay those Boston losses. I suppose, though, the British companies will send the money across—they usually do, and that'll help a little. That's the worst of these fires—they hit you going and coming. Suppose we lose seven hundred thousand; well, before we get through we'll have to sell eight or nine hundred thousand dollars' worth of securities, at present prices, to pay it."