“If there is any way that I can be of assistance,” the other began.
But Ryder shook his head. “No,” he said; “there is nothing.”
“If I could give you my help in straightening out your own affairs—”
“They are beyond all help,” said Ryder. “I have nothing to begin on—I have not a dollar in the world.”
“That is hardly possible,” objected Montague.
“It is literally true!” he exclaimed. “I have tried every plan—I have been over the thing and over it, until I am almost out of my mind.” And he glanced about him at the confusion of papers, and leaned his forehead in his hands in despair.
“Perhaps if a fresh mind were to take it up,” suggested Montague. “It is difficult to see how a man of your resources could be left without anything—”
“Everything I have is mortgaged,” said the other. “I have been borrowing money right and left. I was counting on profits—I was counting on increases in value. And now see—everything is wiped out! There is not value enough left in anything to cover the loans.”
“But surely, Mr. Ryder, this slump is merely temporary. Values must be restored—”
“It will be years, it will be years! And in the meantime I shall be forced to sell. They have wiped me out—they have destroyed me! I have not even money to live on.”