, 1896-03-12

rral sending III their bids at lO5 and 1906
and 107.
But when at Washington the bids
were opened, the weary clerks hearing
"10f 10, ""l04 ll-I2," till they went
almost to sleep as they wrote down the
scarcely varying numbers, all Of a sud
den a bolt fell like lightning from Ju-
piter. The reading clerk, almost az
sleepy as the rest, cried out: Zone hun
bred and twenty-five! Mr.. George Lar
kin Of New Bedlam offers 1875 for 10
bonds of the new ~issue!"
Every sleepy clerk i'll the room start
ed up i'll amazement. 'Who is Mr..
George Lari;in:" And his bid was en-
tered as by far the highest bid in the
calendar.
Tho next evening every journal in
that great empire, which extended from
ocean to ocean, had a biography of Mr..
George Larkin. These biographies were
made up generally from the informal
ton given i'll the directory of New Bed
lam. One of them therefore described
Eir. George Larkin az the leading man
at the Varieties. Another said that Mr..
George LGIkin was engaged in a profit
able thread and needle business in the
lower wards Of New Bedlam. Another
said that Mr.. George Larliu had won
his distinction as Il reporter for the
press. But all persons agreed that Mr..
George LaTkin was Il person of great
importance in the financial community,
and that he was a patriot of the first
water. 1t was generally agreed also
that his foresight with regard to ma
tional affairs was well nigh perfect. and
that no person knew so we'll as he did
when stocks would rise and when they
would fall. Our readers will remem-
Der how Oh a previous occasion the
whole turn Of the stock market was
changed by the sudden purchase of p.
L. and l.. This purchase is now attrib-
uted to the foresight of Mr.. Larkin."
Gertrude, on that particular evening,
did not happen to open her newspaper,
If she had, she would have known that
her lover was that day the man most
talked about in the whole world. After
this, she was SO overwhelmed by her
correspondence from different people
who wanted her TO introduce them to
Mr.. George Larkin that she had no
time to open the newspapers for six
months. She never knew. therefore, why
Mr.. George Iarkin suddenly attained
the prominence III all social walks, in
walks of finance and indeed in the es-
TEEN of his fellow coun,rymen, which
she had gained. She did know that, two
nv thr.n lpyr pf,.r,r,rl I,n ,n,,a -, IN
see her looking like a new man. He
stood erect where his head had hung
low, he had a cheerful smile on his face
where he had looked detected when she
snubhed him. In fact, she did not dare
10 suub him. She knew that he was a
person of much more importance in the
estimate of the world thar she was. And
when George Larkin, for the first time
in his life, gained the courage to ask
Gertrude if she would marry him and
make him happy for the rest of his life,
Gertrude had no thought Of saying any
thing but yes. So much is even Il good
girl governed uncousciously by the tone
of the people who are around her.
1t is an unimportant thing to add, but
this great empire rose from its depres-
sion on the strength of Mr.. George Lar
kin's offers to the treasury. Everybody
saw that he was right, and nobody else
vas right. -Four per cents rose to high
or line than had ever been known in his.
tory. The reputation of Mr.. Larkin as .
financier was established. Rothschilds
and Belmonts and other bankers of this
world begged for his advice, and offered
him places in their firms. These he was
not SO foolish as to accept. But he lived
a happy life with the woman he had
loved. and he had the glad consciousness
that, by the way, he had saved his o
try .-Edward Everett Hale in Chicago
Inter Ocean.