echoes of his words came back from some of their constituents, and Lyons was referred to as certain to be one of the strong men of the House if he returned to Congress.  He went home at the close of the session in a contented frame of mind so far as his political prospects were concerned, but he was not free to enjoy the congratulations accorded him for the reason that his business ventures were beginning to give him serious solicitude.  The trend of the stock market was again downward.  In expectation of a rise from the previous depression, he had added to the line of shares which Williams & Van Horne were carrying for him.  A slight rise had come, sufficient to afford him a chance to escape from the toils of Wall street without loss.  But he needed a profit to rehabilitate his ventures in other directions—­his investments in the enterprises of his own state, which had now for some months appeared quiescent, if not languishing, from a speculative point of view.  Everything pointed, it was said, to a further advance as soon as Congress adjourned.  So he had waited, and now, although the session was over, the stock market and financial undertakings of every sort appeared suddenly to be tottering.  He had not been at home a month before prices of all securities began to shrink inordinately and the business horizon to grow murky with the clouds of impending disaster.  To add to his worry, Lyons was conscious that he had pursued a fast and loose mental coarse in regard to the railroad bill in which his broker, Williams, was interested.  He had given Williams to understand that he would try to see his way to support it; yet in view of his late prominence in Washington, as a foe of legislation in behalf of moneyed interests, he was more than ever averse to casting a vote in its favor.  The bill had not been reached before adjournment, a result to which he had secretly contributed, but it was certain to be called up shortly after Congress reassembled.  It disturbed him to feel that his affairs in New York were in such shape that Williams could embarrass him financially if he chose.  It disturbed him still more that he appeared to himself to be guilty of bad faith.  His conscience was troubled, and his favorite palliative of conciliation did not seem applicable to the case.

CHAPTER VIII.

Until this time the course of financial events in Benham since its evolution from a sleepy country town began had been steadily prosperous.  There had been temporary recessions in prices, transient haltings in the tendency of new local undertakings to double and quadruple in value.  A few rash individuals, indeed, had been forced to suspend payments and compound with their creditors.  But there had been no real set back to commercial enthusiasm and speculative gusto.  Those who desired to borrow money for progressive enterprises had found the banks accommodating and unsuspicious, and to Benham initiative it yet appeared that the development of the resources of the neighborhood by the unwearying, masterful energy of the citizens was still in its infancy.