The Mena weekly star., 1907-01-17
A Contract in Wheat.
eY ARTHUR cHAMgERlAIN.

wheat within 24 hours or forfeit oul contract, and that smashes us Marchmont has corncred the market and won't sell at any price"
 Don't you be fooled, Cartwright l We're caught, I know; but March mont must sell to realize, and all his talk about not selling is bluff. Whats his price? That's all we want to know"
 Cartwright, confidential clerk to Aberlcy, shrugged his shoulders. He won't sell, MT. Aberlcy," he re- peated, dCggedly.
 Don't tell me that again, sir Aberley cried "He will sell-he shall sell--" He pulled short up. gasping; while Cartwright sprang towards him in sudden alarm. T. let my temper get the best of me- yes, yes; that's right; man of my build can't afford to get excited. No brandy-a little water-well, Mir. Cartwright, if we fail, we fail That's Shakespeare, isn't 1t? There's 24 hours, anyway, and we'll trust to the chapter of accidents; that's all there is left for us"
 .Aberley left the office shortly; the men and women whom he met he recognized merely as moving obsta- cles in his way. He felt, dully, that he wanted to get where it was quiet where he could think. He was numb with the sense of failure; he could not make the phantom seem a reality. He-fail? He had rid den financial gales where hundreds had made shipwreck; he had exulted in his foresight, in his shrewdnss, in his infalh;ble prescience. He sank down wearily upon a bench in the first square that he came to, staring at the nursemaids and children with unseeing eyes.
 He realized presently, in vague fashion, that he was not the only i occupant of the bench; a girl of 1 about F years was seated at the far ther end, and as Aberley looked more closely-for he had a curious fond- ness for children--he saw that her eyes were filled with tears which she I tried to check while her little shoul- ders heaved with sobs. Aberley felt a slight relief from his despair as he leaned towards her. Lost? ?" he in terrogated.
 The little girl turned her pleading eyes to his. No" she said, gravely ! "I'm not lost; I'm trying to think I came here to think; but I can't | think it out all straight-not yet. Please don't be bothered; I'll go away. .wou1un wonder, said Aber- lev, with a sense of being two men at once, If it isn't about time for you to go home; and if you don't mind. Ill walk along with you. I've want cd to do some thinking myself
 The little girl looked up at him, tactitly consenting You're in busi- ness, l guess, like my papa, i" she said, tentatively.
 "Yes," assented Aberley, briefly "I am in business"
 "Then-" the little girl hesitated. and Aberley smiled at her encourag- ingly. The phantom of failure had slipped temporarily into the back ground.
 sePerhaps,' she went on, 'you can tell me something-is all the wheat cornered ?"
 Aberley drew a short, stabbing breath. "What dye mean?" he said, almost roughly.
 The little girl stared at his sud den change of tone, but went on bravely: "Why, you see, l was hid ing under the sofa in the library after luncheon, and heard my papa tell a man he thought he'd cor nered all the wheat, but there was big lot that had slipped through his fingers -'and if we can't get it at our figure l heard papa say, we're ruined, Aberley will snap it up and hammer us to pieces Oh, don't you think papa can get that lot Of wheat?"
 Aberley was hurrying along at q pace that kept the little girl trotting at his side. If he could only reach a pay telephone before Cartwright left the office. Five minutes mln- would settle it he could trust Cartwright to get track of the wheat--to buy it t--he would win the deal vet His credit was better than Marchmont's, he could pay practical ly any price for it. Aberley felt a sudden tug at his hand as the crowd
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