The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1911-07-22

you ASSp ~ w, always, at the expense
OF your health and your family? Yol
know that DR.. Dexter warned you tt
take a rest last month, and you laugh
ed at him, and"
oh, Dexter!" he derided. "He
doesn't understand. Neither do you
little girl. Why. What'll / do, anyhow
No." His mouth Strengthened into q
firm, hard line; he had settled the
matter, man-like, forgetting the orig
inal issue-her happiness, not his own
mo. ] can't give 1t up. 1t would be
foolishness with-with my prospects
my career. No, you don't understand
He decided to comfort her with 8
platitude: "'Men must work and
women must weep you know
"Why?" she cried, rebelliously
why must we weep? Why must
men work incessantly?"
1.-THE law of life," he told her with
portentous gravity.
Naturally enough, perhaps, the ele,
ment of the unforeseen figures largely
In the life Of the Street. On the fol
lowing aftrnoon, Steeie's deal In Inter
state Tunnel came to an unexpected
end--to a successful elimination I'M
expectedly sudden The clique of men
who, desiring to obtain control Of the
Interstate Tunnel Company, had COM
bined their interests and put Steele at
their head, allowing him full discre-
tion-thereby forming what is termed
a "blind poor'-had calculated that his
campaign would be one of weeks, IL
not Of months, before their object was
attained.
As it happened, however, another
combination had been formed with
precisely the same object, thereby Gre
ating an unusual demand for Tunnel
Common--so unusual, in fact, that the
market price went up by leaps and
bounds, and the trading in Tunnel
Common became the feature Of the
day. Steele and those brokers who
acted by his orders bought steadily,
at the market; the opposition bought
as steadily, If less successfully.
But, about two o'clock in the after
noon, the ticker ceased to record
transactions in Tunnel Common; the
demand had outlasted the supply; a
natural corner" had resulted. Steele
and his opponents between them had
bought up every available share In
addition to large number Of shares
In excess Of the total issue-the out
como of persistent "short" selling by
the bear element.
When he realized what had hap
pened, Steele told himself that his
work for the day was done. He could
return to his Office and count the
gains and receive the congratulations
Of his associates. The shorts were
squealing in agony, but that was their
affair; he would settle with them to-
morrow.
AS he was about to leave the floor,
however, the staccato rapping Of the
gavel on the rostrum made him pause;
he knew, or suspected, what was COM
ing. and would not have missed IL for
much. A slight lull succeeding the
frenzied uproar that had prevailed In
the board room, he was able to hear
the chairman's voice as it doomed out
over the heads of the brokers. an
nouncing the suspension OF Belden &
Tausig.
Steele smiled grimly under his mus
tache.
'Belden will think twice, I guess,
before he monkeys with the buzz saw
again." he thought as he crossed
Broad street to the Mills building.
At the same time he was both sur
prised and disappointed to find that
be was experiencing nothing of ella
lion; he, who had Rugged jealousy to
himself the hope OF such a just ven
seance during all the years of his en-
nifty with Belden, felt the glow of ac-
somplishment barely warm in his
breast. Rather, indeed, he was con-
scious of dull depression, a 1istless
weariness, as though he were an old
nan, drugged with years. Which |
Steele was not.
Even his success in obtaining the |
IOutl VI VI 1utS1 SGdt0 L uuuCl SGGMGO u 1
;awdry, futile thing. He found him
,elf walking slowly, his step lacking
ts accustomed springiness, his head
lrooping and hot and heavy, his feet
ike leaden weights. He was tired,
le assumed, waking up to the fact |
hat he had been working hard and |
7ery steadily for many days.
And when he found Belden, the OBJ
loxious, humbly waiting him in the
int room, the keen edge Of his graft |
ication was blunted by that same, |
gray apathy. He did not care-now.
1t was not until Belden approached |
him with his insinuating whine that |
vas colored with something Of his
,ne-time patronizing disdain-I say,t
lin, my boy"-that the change came.
t was utterly without generalization
IN steele's part, something entirely |
outside Of his calculations. When the
hateful accents fell upon his ear;
Steele seemed to lose control OF him
'elf; for the time the room swan be-
me him; he was shaken by a little I
Just Of febrile rage, which, he later
must have seemed child
SHY sniteful.