the tape; I simply waited and hoped and—­prayed.  Yes, I prayed as my mother taught me I should pray whenever I was helpless and could do nothing myself.  And I felt that God would not let the noble work of two such men be overthrown by those you were battling with.  In the midst of a calmness that I took for a good omen, you came.  Can you blame me for forgetting myself?  Mr. Brownley,” the voice was now calm and self-controlled, “tell me what you have done.  Where do we stand?” “There is little to tell,” Bob answered.  “Camemeyer and ‘Standard Oil’ have taken me into camp as they would take a stuck pig.  They have made a monkeyfied ass out of me, and we are ruined, and I have caused Mr. Randolph a heavy loss.  Roughly, I figure that of your four hundred thousand capital and the million four hundred thousand profit you had this morning, only your capital remains.”

Wishing to spare Bob, I interrupted and myself gave the girl briefly the details of what had happened.  She listened intently and seemed to take in all the trickery of the “System” masters; seemed to see just what it meant to us and to her.  But she made no comment, showed by no outward sign that she suffered.  As soon as I was through she turned to Bob, who had stood with his eyes fastened upon her face, as though somewhere out of its soft beauty must come an assurance that this was all a bad dream.

“Mr. Brownley,” she said, “let us figure up just where we stand, so that we may know what to do to recoup.  You have said so many times, since I have been here, that Wall Street is magic land; that no man may tell twenty-four hours ahead what will happen to him.  You have said it so many times that I believe it.  We know that this morning we were at the goal, that we were millions ahead, and all from twenty-four hours’ effort.  We have yet almost three months left, and I do not see why we have not just as much chance as we had day before yesterday.  Yes, and more, because we know more now.  Next time we will include the dividend cuts and the Senate duplicity in our figuring.”

We both dumbly stared in wondering admiration at this marvellous woman.  Was it possible that a girl could have such nerve, such courage?  Or had woman’s hope, so persistent where her loved ones are concerned, made Beulah Sands blind to the awfulness of the situation?  As I looked at her I could not doubt that she fully realised our position, that she was really suffering more than either of us, that she was only acting to ease Bob’s anguish.  Bob brought out his memoranda, and in half an hour we had the figures.  The total loss was nearly three millions.  As Beulah Sands’s 20,000 shares had cost less than ours and Bob figured to leave her capital of $400,000 intact, we felt some comfort.  Beulah Sands had watched the figuring with the keenness of an expert, and when Bob announced the final figures, which showed that she still had what she started with, she drew the sheet containing the totals to her.  “I was