Alma record., 1914-02-05
CHAPTER I.
The Crash.

Falled! calculated John Valian
blankly, and the hat he held dropped
to the claret-colored rug like a hug,
white splotch OF sudden fright. "Th,
orporation-failed!
The young man was the glass o
fashion, from the silken ribbon on the
spotless Panama to his pear-gray gait
ers, and well favored-a 1.-the stalwar
hgure, with wide-set hazel eyes anC
strong brown hair waving back from
a candid forehead
Never had his innocuous and but
ter-fy existence known a surprise
more startling. He had swung into
the room with all the nonchalant hab
its. the ingrained certitude of the man
born with achievement ready-made In
his hands. And a single curt state
ment-like the ruthless blades of q
pair of shears-had shipped across
the one splendid scarlet thread In the
woof that constituted life as he knew
1t. He had knotted his lavender scarf
that morning a vice-president of the
valiant Corporation-one Of the great
est and most successful of modern.
day organizations; he sat now In the
fading afternoon trying to realize that
the huge fabric, without warning. had
toppled to its fall.
How solid and changeless Il had
always seemed-that great business
fabric woven by the father he could
so dimly remember! His own invested
fortune had been derived from the
great corporation the elder Valiant
had founded and controlled until his
death. With almost unprecedented
earnings, 1t had stood as a very Glib
raltar Of finance. a type and sign of
brilliant organization. Now, on the
heels Of a trusts dissolution which
would be nine-days wonder, the vast
structure had crumbled up like card
board. The rains had descended and
the floods had come, and ii had fallen,
The man at the desk had wheeled
in his revolving chair and was looking
at the trim athletic back blotting the
daylight, with a smile that was little
short OF a covert sneer He was one
Of the local managers of the corpora
tion whose ruin was to be that days
sensation, colorless man who had ac-
quired middle age with his first long
trousers and had been dedicated to the
commercial treadmill before he had
bought safety-raZor He despised all
loiterers along the primrose paths, and
John Valiant was but q decorative fig
urehead
Valiant started as the other spoke at
his elbow. He had come to the win
dow and was looking down at the
pavement. How quickly some news
spreads!'
For the first time the young man
noted that the street below was filling
with a desultory crowd He distin-
guished knot of Italian laborers talk
ing with excited gesticulations "a
smudged plasterer, tools in hand
clerks, some hatless and with thin
alpaca coastal peering at the voice
less front of the great building, and
all, he imagined, with a thriving fear
in their faces. AS he watched. a wom-
an, coarsely dressed, ran across the
street, her handkerchief pressed to her
eyes.
The notice has gone up on the
door, said the manager. Il sent word
to the police. Crowds are ugly some
times"
valiant drew sudden sharp breath
The corporation down in the mire.
with crowds at it's doors ready to
clamor for money entrusted to it, the
aggregate savings of widow and or
phan, the piteous boarded sums earned
by labor over which pinched sickly
faces had burned the midnight oil!
The older man had turned back to
the desk to draw narrow typewrit-
ten slip of paper from a pigeonhole.
Here" he said, lis list of the bonds
Of the subsidiary companies recorded
IN your name. These are all, of
engulfed in the larger failure.
You have, however, your private for.
-une. If you take my advice, by the
way" he added significantly, you'll
make sure of keeping that"
What do you inean?" John Va
liant faced him quickly.
The other laughed shortly. "a word
o the wise," he quoted. Its very |
rood living abroad. There's a boat
eaving tomorrow"
A dull red sprang into the younger
ace. You mean"
Look at that crowd down there
'ou can hear them now. There'll be !
! legislative investigation, of course.
md the devil1l get the hindmost."
ie struck the desk-top with his hand.
Have you ever seen the bills for this
urniture? Do you know what that
ug under your feet cost? Twelve
an old Persian. What
o you suppose the papers will do to
hat? Do you think such things will