Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1907-09-26
The Roupell Mystery


the Ardennes Charcoal and Peat Com
pany. You know it was never earned ;
but we decided that it would De best to
pay one"
Well, the consequence was you placed
the bonds at par, didn't your"
AT par to the public, of course, but
Herr Goldstein's commission took the gilt
off the gingerbread. However, he took
them all at eighty-ive. I could not have
placed them to such good advantage"
The interest comes due on the six
tenth. I suppose it is useless to cross
that bridge until we come to it."
Before. the sixteenth this dock COM
pany will be foated. The banks profit
on that will more than meet the interest
Of the Charcoal and Peat Company
bonds"
And if it isn't hoated?' hazarded
Chabot.
IF it isn't foated the inevitable crash
will begin, or it can be averted in an
other way, my dear Chabot, about which
l cannot talk at present. But we will not
anticipate evil. Come, you must accom-
pany me TO the Bourse this morning. l
have heavy deal pending, and shall need
your assistance"
As the Vicomte de Valiar and Jules
Chabot left the Office of the Mutual
Credit and Trust Company a small-sized
man issued from a cafe on the opposite
side of the street and walked in an ap-
parently careless and preoccupied manner
in the same direction. He followed them
until they turned into brokers' Office.
Presently they came forth again, and in
company with a third person continued to
walk in the direction of the Bourse.
This third person was Herr Max Gold
stein, one of the shrewdest dealers in Sc
curities in the whole of Paris. He was
the broker to whom the vicomte had en-
trusted the sale of the first mortgage
bonds of the Ardennes Charcoal and Peat
Company. He was a heavy, thickset fell
low, with little, cunning eyes, which had
been set together as closely as nature
would allow; had not an enormous nose
grown between them, he would perhaps
have had only one large eye in the center.
He had a habit of cooking up his head
when in conversation, and of listening
with his mouth wide open. He had COM
menced life in Berlin as a bootblack with
a secondhand outfit. At the conclusion
of the first days work he had accumu-
lated enough to buy the best outfit in the
city. In a week he had concluded that
open air work was not to his liking and
took his business off the street into a
basement, where he thrived apace.
Then the brilliant idea struck him of
buying and selling theater tickets at cut
rates. From this he gravitated into lot
teries: from lotteries into small curb
stone speculations. Hardly able to write
his own name, the trading instinct was so
strongly developed in him that in ten
years he had accumulated a very consid-
cradle fortune.
Why Herr Goldstein had not continued
his uninterrupted career Of prosperity in
Berlin was a mystery to his friends in
Paris. As he seemed to have plenty of
money, however, none of them had ever
dreamed of inQuiring why he preferred
the French to the German capital as a
base for his financial operations. After
all, was it any of their business?
Herr Goldstein was about forty-fve
years of age, but looked considerably
older. Constant fighting with all sorts
and conditions of men had left deep fur
rows across his forehead. Ladies said
that without doubt he was a very UMPIRE
possessing man. He seemed to have some
extraordinary influence with the vicomte,
and people were lost in conjecture as to
what that could be.
The small followed de Valiar, NJ. Cha
bot and Herr Goldstein to the very en-
trance of the Bourse Unable to obtain
admission to the floor, he had recourse to
the gallery. 1t was nearly empty. An
old lady and a young couple from the
country, evidently on their honeymoon
trip, were its sole occupants. He sat in
the gallery for upward of an hour, his
gaze constantly on the floor of the ex-
change where the vicomte, the broker
ever at his elbow, moved restlessly from
group to group, manipulating his deals.
When Herr Goldstein left the Bourse
twenty minutes later unaccompanied by
his companions, the small man tapped him
on the elbow. The broker started vio-
stronger; a perceptible flush overspread
his features.
"Galliard!' he gasped. Pm glad to
see you!'
LAS good a hand at a lie as ever, amt
you. Kaufman" sneered the small man.
Hush, don't breathe that name here
whispered the broker, looking around him
nervously. That belongs to the past
Come with me. Come to my Office, where
we can be alone. How long have you
been in PARISH"
about six months
During which time"
During which time 1 have been work
ing-for whom do you think?"
Il don't know. You have got into
business, perhaps for yourself-or you
would, if you had sufficient capital. If a
good friend-if l, for instance, showed
you how you could make some money it
would suit you, would it not?'
NO, l have a pretty good berth, thank
you"
1T is a perfect gold mine for you !;
if you will only hold your tongue"
The small man only smiled significantly.
The two walked on side by side until
the brokers' Office was reached
Come in" said the broker, in coax
ing voice, ''and tell me what you want"
The small man passed in through the
open door and went into the brokers'
Office.
''See that under no circumstances am
disturbed was the instruction Herr Max
gave to his clerk. Il have important
business with this gentleman"
Four O'Clock came, and Herr Gold
stein came out and sent the clerk home
1t was an hour earlier than usual, but
the clerk was glad to get away. He lived
in small fat and had wife and four
children to support. He could take his
time now and walk home instead of pay
ing for a seat in an omnibus. The hours
went by. 1t was past midnight when the
two men came out of the inner Office and
into the street.
Il live on the other side. Student
quarters said Goldstein. Come with
me, I'll put you up for the night We
must cross by the Pont Neuf."
You must make it fifty thousand"
said the small man. as they went along
That's cheap enough. Old friends
shouldn't be hard on each other"