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.